-- World’s First 100% Ultra-Thin, High-Permeability Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel Production Line Starts to Run

Technical personnel discussed solutions to technological problems.

Editor’s Note: This section now features the “Shougang Cultural Cards” series to carry out the Shougang Group’s Party committee’s strategy for inheriting and developing Shougang’s outstanding corporate culture, promote the synergy between “branding and cultural development,” and advance the forging of cultural hallmarks such as “a decade of meticulous refinement,” “together toward the future,” and “charging onto new tracks.” Thanks for your attention.

Introduction to the Card

Through technological innovation, the crown jewel of the steel industry shines even brighter. The world’s first specialized production line for 100% thin-gauge, high-permeability grain-oriented electrical steel has been put into operation at Beijing Shougang Co., Ltd. Through employing pioneering technologies, it has broken stranglehold challenges in electromagnetic performance, plate geometry, and coating quality control through independent innovation and integration. The products can achieve a minimum thickness of 0.15 millimeters, meeting the power industry’s demand for high-quality steel and supporting key national infrastructure projects. The line has an annual production capacity of 90,000 tonnes of high-performance grain-oriented electrical steel used for manufacturing of high-efficiency energy-saving transformers. Its application will result in annual electricity savings of 490 million kilowatt-hours and a reduction of 480,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to half the carbon sequestration capacity of Saihanba. Grain-oriented electrical steel is regarded as the “chip” of the power industry, widely used in high-efficiency energy-saving transformers, and is often praised as a “crown jewel” of the steel industry. Beijing Shougang Co., Ltd. now boasts a comprehensive portfolio of 61 varieties of grain-oriented electrical steel across six series, holding the largest market share of ultra-thin products in the Chinese market. The company has been a major supplier of materials for transformers in major hydroelectric projects including the Baihetan and Wudongde hydropower plants.

Cultural Connotations

The courage to be lead and striving for excellence are inherent qualities of Shougang’s corporate culture, essential aspects of the Shougang spirit, and part of the unwavering commitment of the Shougang people throughout their continuous efforts. Beijing Shougang’s unwavering pursuit of technological innovation in electrical steel has culminated in the construction of the world’s first fully dedicated production line for 100% ultra-thin, high-permeability grain-oriented electrical steel. Through independent research and the development of pioneering technologies and processes, Beijing Shougang has successfully overcome critical technological problems, and its products will play a crucial role in developing major national infrastructure projects. With its leading domestic market share, its exceptional product quality has established a new brand image for Shougang in the new era.

Practical Implications

Technological innovation serves as a powerful catalyst for accelerating the cultivation of new productive forces. Over the past decade, Beijing Shougang’s production of electrical steel has undergone continuous technological innovation and iterative upgrades, and has risen to become one of the global leaders in the industry. This achievement vividly exemplifies the company’s commitment to establishing technological innovation as its primary competitive advantage and accelerating the creation of a Shougang scenario in Chinese-style modernization. This experience offers three key insights for driving high-quality enterprise development: i) possessing a global perspective and adopting high targets from the outset, ii) breaking limits and leveraging technological innovation to drive comprehensive innovation, and iii) maintaining relentless efforts and refusing to retreat or give up until all goals are achieved.

Feature Story

On March 30, 2023, the first coil of grain-oriented silicon steel was successfully produced for the FCL3 unit, five months earlier than the completion date set by Shougang Group. The project leveraged several pioneering technologies that overcome critical technological problems and significantly enhanced Shougang’s capabilities in the research, development, and innovation of thin-gauge grain-oriented electrical steel. The project also improved intelligent manufacturing, lean manufacturing, and supply chain support. It provides strong support for the complete domestic production of soft magnetic materials for transformer cores and the achievement of China’s carbon peaking and neutrality goals. How did Beijing Shougang accomplish such a mega-project?

Daring to break through the “black box”, Beijing Shougang has built a next-generation annealing furnace. The furnace, formally known as the high-temperature annular annealing furnace for grain-oriented silicon steel, processes steel coils through a seven-day cycle from entry to exit. Foreign enterprises had long seized the key technology of these furnaces, leading the industry to refer to them as “black boxes”. The annealing furnace for the first phase of the grain-oriented steel project was designed by a Japanese company, with 85% of the equipment being imported, including even the screws. The recent tightening of restrictions on the export of key technologies made continued collaboration with foreign partners for the second phase impossible. This presented the first major challenge: overcoming the technological barrier and achieving domestic production of the annealing furnace. Despite immense pressure, Beijing Shougang, in collaboration with Beijing Shougang International Engineering and other participating entities, was determined to build the Blast Furnace #3 into a next-generation annular annealing furnace characterized by advanced technology and high efficiency through independent integration and innovation. In mechanical engineering, Beijing Shougang focused on enhancing equipment precision. The manufacturing standard for the roller assembly was raised to twice the national standard. Through innovative efforts, the installation precision of key equipment was improved to eight times the standard. Remarkably, the synchronization performance of the drive system achieved a precision ten times higher than the design standard during the equipment commissioning. In terms of software development, Beijing Shougang relied entirely on its own resources to complete the secondary design and development of all source codes for the rotating system, combustion system, jointing system, and protective atmosphere supply system. The newly designed joint switching system completely overhauls the original foreign technology, representing a generation ahead of the foreign design in terms of the overall network architecture. It is safe to say that it is currently the most advanced control system for silicon steel annular annealing furnaces in China. The completed No. 3 furnace boasts a local content increase from 15% to 97%, and operational efficiency improved by 32% compared to the foreign design while significantly reducing capital expenditure. This marks the first instance of 100% independent integration, programming, and commissioning of a silicon steel annular annealing furnace in China, firmly placing the core technology of next-generation furnaces in the hands of Shougang’s engineers.

Daring to break away from conventions, decarburization and annealing have been pushed to new limits. The decarburization and annealing group is the preceding process for the annular annealing furnace, so its efficiency is closely linked the annular furnace’s capacity. Conventional production lines suffered from significant inefficiency and persistently high rates of tail-end quality defects due to the single-coiler design. This problem was exacerbated by the increased speed of the annular annealing furnace. Recognizing that capacity equates to profitability, Beijing Shougang targeted a high-speed, dual-coiler continuous leading technology from the outset of the design process, ensuring optimal process matching. However, achieving this optimal match required pushing beyond existing design limits. To develop a new approach, Beijing Shougang conducted extensive research on potential mechanisms, model development, and over a thousand simulation tests, ultimately overcome the challenges in high-speed continuous leading technology. At a video conference, a German expert from SMS Group expressed sincere admiration, “This is the best demonstration of Shougang’s ingenuity and the most perfect technical solution I have seen in my 30 years in the industry.”

Through independent innovation in its grain-oriented silicon steel decarburization process, Beijing Shougang has achieved industry-leading speeds. This has resulted in a 27% increase in the efficiency of grouped individual units, a significant improvement facilitating continuous dual-coil output. This achievement fills a significant gap in the industry and further solidifies Shougang’s technological leadership in grain-oriented silicon steel.

Daring to breaking conventional boundaries to achieve groundbreaking innovation. In the first phase of the grain-oriented silicon steel project, Beijing Shougang was constrained by relying on foreign designs. Deficiencies in the foreign design of the coating machine on the existing hot-rolling and leveling line resulted in long-standing limitations on the stability of coating quality, hindering production efficiency. This persistent problem, which had plagued Beijing Shougang for over a decade, required a solution in the second phase of the project. Consequently, the concept of a “single-point feed” for the dual-coating process became essential. To make this single-point feed concept a reality within the limited space of the existing 27-meter-wide factory building, Beijing Shougang developed several design schemes, all of which had to be abandoned due to constraints on machine width. At a pivotal juncture, the successful docking of the Shenzhou 14 spacecraft with the Tiangong Space Station provided unexpected inspiration. The question arose: “Could a similar docking approach be applied to the coating machine?” Breaking free from conventional thinking, the team devised a novel design. Utilizing a large platform as a support structure, the coating machine’s track was ingeniously designed to “dock” with the main track. This innovative approach, a first in the industry, successfully achieved single-point feeding. The result was a significant enhancement in the stability of the coating surface quality, along with a 15% improvement in the efficiency of both grouped and individual units.