Programme nominated for the Innovation of the Year Steelie Award 2023
The widespread application of advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) is a critical way to lighten automobiles, which is conducive to energy conservation, emissions reduction, and improved safety.
However, in order to meet the different requirements (such as high formability, easy welding, high surface, and liquid brittleness resistance), the production process of high-strength steel for automobiles often faces complicated component design, high energy consumption and low efficiency, which not only leads to high production and manufacturing costs, but also significantly increases CO2 emissions per tonne of steel.
Therefore, Ansteel launched a revolutionising steel manufacturing technique based on the ‘plain material’ concept. More specifically, the technique first designs a unified alloy composition of targeted products by material integration calculation. Then it constructs multiple microstructures with process adjustments to achieve the final mechanical properties of the steel products with multiple strength levels.
With the successful application in AHSS, the technique makes the material’s genetic engineering technology be applied in industrial production, building a brand new integrated design platform for the entire process and opening up a new path of ‘low-carbon, low-cost, high-performance’ green and intelligent manufacturing in the steel industry.
The technique has been conducted at Ansteel, and more than ten types of XPAnsteel® products in the 590, 780, 980, and 1180MPa grades have been produced. With an output of over 34,900 tonnes yearly, over 6,980 tonnes of crude steel are eliminated, and 11,590 fewer tonnes of CO2 are emitted annually, and the revenue reached 38,606,170 euros.
This technology was shortlisted for the 2022 Scientific Innovation China Pilot Technology (low-carbon green manufacturing field).