“Improve to bite off more than you can chew”

——High toughness, easy-to-weld TMCP + tempered Q370qE bridge steel was first available. The Tongjiang Railway Bridge Project in the Sino-Russian border high-cold area requires low-temperature impact toughness and weldability of -43°C. The team members broke through the shackles of the original railway bridge standards, formulated new technical standards, and proposed the use of TMCP+ tempering process to produce high-toughness, easy-to-weld Q370qE. This enabled Shouqin Company to become the first steel mill in China to use this process. MBEC has always used the technical standards provided by Shouqin Company when purchasing TMCP + tempered Q370qE.

——The production of Q500qE bridge steel is the first stable and efficient mass production in China. On April 29, 2015, Shouqin Company received the “Suggestions for Qualification of Q500qE Bidding for Wuhu Bridge Project” issued by MBEC. The tender required a nil ductility transition (NDT) temperature verification test, an isothermal fracture test, and a wide-plate tensile test of the welded joint. The tests were difficult and time was tight. Team members worked together to give play to their wisdom. Relying on their years of technical accumulation and hard study, in June 2015, they passed the third party nil ductility transition (NDT) temperature verification test and isothermal fracture test. What’s more, Shouqin Company was the only steel mill that had passed the wide-plate tensile test of welded joints. The technical research and development of Shouqin Q500qE and the quality of its products were highly recognized by the experts of MBEC and Shouqin successfully won the bid for that project.

——To achieve the supply of weather-resistant bridge steel in the three-standard systems of national standard, American standard, and European standard. Weather-resisting bridge steel has become an important development trend of high-performance bridge steel. By optimizing the composition system and improving production processes, Shouqin Company successfully completed the research and development of weather-resistant bridge steel products such as Q345qENH, Q420qENH, and Q420qFNH. High weather resistance index, good corrosion resistance, supporting welding materials, technology, surface stabilization treatment and so on ensure that Shougang weather-resistant bridge steel once again reach the domestic frontier, and the products are applied in the British intercontinental highway bridge, the Venezuelan naked weather-resistant bridge, the Liaoning Pingdingbao Bridge and the Guanting Reservoir Weather-Resistant Bridge projects.

——A breakthrough was made in the research and development of bridge steel composite plates. With the rapid development of bridge construction, the demand for new material bridge steel composite plates was put forward. Shouqin Company combined the needs of the Pingtan Strait Bridge and took the lead in the development of the normalized and TMCP + tempered Q370qD+316L bridge steel composite plates, which were supplied in bulk in this project. The first application of the bridge steel composite plates was realized. The delivery of the 345qENH + 316L bridge steel composite plates was also successfully applied to the Guanting Reservoir Weather-Resistant Bridge to achieve the first application of the domestic weather-resistant bridge composite plate.

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After years of continuous advancement in the innovative practice of bridge steel technology, by the end of 2017, Shougang successfully completed the research and development of the project “Development and Application of Low Yield Ratio, Easy-to-Weld High-performance Bridge Steel for Extra-large Steel Bridges”, and the proposed multiphase organization cooperative control technology solved the technical problem of the high yield ratio of high strength steel plate produced by TMCP process; original performance integrated control technology for the extremely thick bridge steel of “low-temperature rolling + on-line forced cooling + self-tempering” was established; the evaluation of the results of the Chinese Society for Metals (CSM) was passed, the overall level reached the international advanced level, and what’s more, the flex ratio control, extra-thick plate production technology and so on reached the international leading level.

From 2015 to 2017, the market share of Shougang’s steel products in the domestic market ranked first in three consecutive years. The cumulative supply of high-performance bridge steel was 550,000 tons, and the market share of high-strength bridge steel above 420 MPa grade was over 81%. In 2017, Shouqin Company was rated as an A-class enterprise and outstanding manufacturer of bridge plates in the national steel industry chain.

Shougang and Lugou Bridge

Although the Lugou Bridge is a stone bridge, silver ingot and iron tenons are connected to the key parts. In 1967, it was widened and repaired. In 1986, the old bridge was consolidated and restored. In 1971 and 1985, a new bridge was built next to the Lugou Bridge successively.

In 1986, before the suspension of motor vehicles on the bridge, the Lugou Bridge was one of the channels for the transportation of Shougang materials. The Shougang Lugou School of Engineering, which was established at the end of 1989, was named after the original Shougang Refractory Factory on the banks of the Lugou Bridge as it was inside this factory. This cadre school, which was once known as Shougang’s “Whampoa Military Academy”, trained a large number of young talents.

The water of the Yongding River has nurtured the growth of the 100-year-old Shougang. The development of Shougang also feeds the life of the Yongding River.

More than a decade ago, just 1.2 kilometers north of the Lugou Bridge, there was a steel slag mountain covering an area of more than 300 mu. This was formed after Shougang selected it to pile up steel slag produced from steelmaking in 1964 and reached about 3 million tons in the early 1990s.

In order to protect the environment, from the beginning of 2005, in accordance with the Beijing Municipal Government’s decision to relocate steel slag mountains, Shougang completely eliminated the steel slag mountain that was piled up for several decades and was 25 meters high near the Lugou Bridge after a three-year effort. Shougang also adopted the method of combining pollution sources and resource recycling to turn waste into treasure. It took the lead in the research, development and production of steel slag grinding powder projects in China, and its products were widely used in Olympic venues. Among them, the steel slag dry-mix mortar products developed by Shougang were also successfully applied to the Bird’s Nest project.

After Shougang’s steel main process in Beijing stopped production in 2010, Shougang began to re-plan the original steel slag mountain area. In recent years, through the technical breakthrough, Beijing Shougang Resources Comprehensive Utilization Technology Development Co., Ltd. located at No.96 Lugou Bridge North Road has formed Shougang’s self-integrated and innovative construction waste recycling core processing technology. In terms of resource utilization of construction waste, the company has developed products such as recycled dry mix mortar, recycled blocks, and recycled inorganic compounds and gradually embarked on the road of comprehensive green utilization of solid waste materials with the features of Shougang and independent intellectual property rights.