In 2023, China's niobium steel production exceeded 100 million tons

Under the current situation of the steel industry, the production of niobium-containing steel in China will still achieve a new leap in 2023, breaking through 100 million tons for the first time; New breakthroughs have been made in the application and research of niobium in new fields such as batteries and nanocrystals.

The specifications and output of conventional H-shaped steel produced by niobium microalloying technology in domestic steel mills have achieved new breakthroughs, and batch and stable production has been achieved in Jianlong Wuhai and Shanxi Xintai. In the case of heavy-duty H-beams, the flange thickness of products produced through the improved niobium microalloying process has been expanded to 115 mm. In the Angle steel, the Q420 grade Angle steel developed by niobium and vanadium composite route has achieved batch and stable production in Tangshan Shengcai.

In the field of structural plates, in 2023, the output of products produced by low-manganese micro-niobium technology exceeded 6 million tons, and the problem of low alloy steel performance, internal quality and the uniformity of the whole plate/roll was solved with low-manganese technology, which is expected to become a universal solution for the high-quality and efficient production of ordinary steel. By improving the welding fatigue performance and promoting the development of relevant standards, the bottleneck of Q420 high-strength steel in the design and application of wind power tower cylinder has been solved, and the application amount of Q420 high-strength steel has exceeded 480,000 tons in 2023, an increase of 270%.

In the field of automotive steel, a new breakthrough has been made in the super hydrogen embritzable 2000 mpa niobium microalloyed thermoforming steel, whose performance is far superior to that of the same grade steel. At present, the annual consumption of this niobium-containing thermoforming steel exceeds 200,000 tons. The center developed 700 mpa grade 11.8 mm niobium mechanical expansion axle housing, replacing 14.0 mm welding axle housing, achieving a weight reduction of 15% ~ 20%; Developed 600 mpa hot-base galvanized steel grade elongation is greater than 20%, reaming rate is greater than 95%, better than similar foreign products.

In the field of stainless steel and special steel, advanced gear materials containing niobium for high temperature carburizing have been successfully applied in batches to wind power gearboxes and automotive transmissions, effectively extending the fatigue life of gears through the refinement and homogenization of material organization.

In the field of new energy batteries, niobium modified polycrystalline NCM811 full battery has been successfully developed, and its performance is comparable to that of single-crystal NCM811 full battery. New progress has been made in the application of sodium niobate in the field of fast charge, long life and low temperature friendly lithium storage