Future Challenges in the Steel Industry and Consequences for Rolling Plant Technologies

BHM Berg- und Hüttenmännische Monatshefte, Jan 2018

This paper provides an overview of recent steel market developments considering also the global steel oversupply as well as the installed and planned capacity as recessions in some emerging economies. Especially the enormous Chinese investments combined with their actually decreasing demand are a major reason for the deterioration on the steel market. The general steel demand also declines due to slow growth or even reductions in technology fields like ship building, thermal power plants, infrastructural needs, or even the automotive industry. Nevertheless, environmental and energy-efficient production routes are of primary interest, partly handled by thin strip production processes. TMCP (thermo-mechanical controlled processing) remains a main research field for many applications. Increased demands are expected regarding enhanced strength for light-weight design, improved toughness to ensure safety in case of earthquakes and fires, or improved formability to overcome geometrical limits. New steel grades like bainitic steels, nano-crystalline materials, TWIP-steel or grain-oriented electrical sheet metals have led to advanced quality criteria also for rolling plants. Furthermore, steel has to stay competitive against lightweight metals, CFK, and plastics. Some examples of recent innovative processing optimizations are described requiring not only process monitoring but also model-based simulation and real-time online control. Finally, the article states that new holistic strategies are necessary to overcome future challenges.

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Future Challenges in the Steel Industry and Consequences for Rolling Plant Technologies

BHM ( Future Challenges in the Steel Industry and Consequences for Rolling Plant Technologies Bruno Buchmayr 0 2 4 5 Michael Degner 0 2 3 4 Heinz Palkowski 0 1 2 4 0 Schlüsselwörter: Stahlmarkt , Dünnband, TMB, Moderne Stahlgüten, Walzwerke, Prozessoptimierung 1 Chair of Metal Forming, Clausthal University of Technology , Clausthal-Zellerfeld , Germany 2 Zukünftige Herausforderungen in der Stahlindustrie und deren Konsequenzen für die Walzwerkstechnologien 3 SMS group GmbH , Hilchenbach-Dahlbruch , Germany 4 Univ.-Prof. DI. Dr. B. Buchmayr ( ) Chair of Metal Forming , Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Franz-Josef-Str. 18, 8700 Leoben , Austria 5 Chair of Metal Forming , Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Leoben , Austria This paper provides an overview of recent steel market developments considering also the global steel oversupply as well as the installed and planned capacity as recessions in some emerging economies. Especially the enormous Chinese investments combined with their actually decreasing demand are a major reason for the deterioration on the steel market. The general steel demand also declines due to slow growth or even reductions in technology fields like ship building, thermal power plants, infrastructural needs, or even the automotive industry. Nevertheless, environmental and energy-efficient production routes are of primary interest, partly handled by thin strip production processes. TMCP (thermo-mechanical controlled processing) remains a main research field for many applications. Increased demands are expected regarding enhanced strength for light-weight design, improved toughness to ensure safety in case of earthquakes and fires, or improved formability to overcome geometrical limits. New steel grades like bainitic steels, nanocrystalline materials, TWIP-steel or grain-oriented electrical sheet metals have led to advanced quality criteria also for rolling plants. Furthermore, steel has to stay competitive against lightweight metals, CFK, and plastics. Some examples of recent innovative processing optimizations are described requiring not only process monitoring but also model-based simulation and real-time online control. Finally, the article states that new holistic strategies are necessary to overcome future challenges. Steel market; Thin strip; TMCP; Advanced steel grades; Rolling plants; Process optimization - Zusammenfassung: Dieser Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über die aktuellen Entwicklungen am Stahlmarkt sowohl betreffend der globalen Überkapazität als auch der Konjunkturschwächen in den Entwicklungsländern. Die enormen Investitionen und der sinkende Eigenbedarf in China sind Hauptgründe für die angespannte Situation am Stahlmarkt. Der allgemeine Stahlbedarf sinkt durch ein langsameres Wachstum oder sogar durch Rückgänge in den Technologiebereichen wie Schiffsbau, Kraftwerksbau, Infrastrukturentwicklung und auch in der Automobilindustrie. Dennoch stehen die umweltschonenden und energieeffizienten Produktionsrouten, wie bspw. die Dünnbandtechnologie, im Mittelpunkt des Interesses. Das thermo-mechanische Walzen bildet immer noch einen Forschungsschwerpunkt für viele Anwendungen. Verstärkte Nachfragen bestehen in Bezug auf erhöhte Festigkeiten für den Leichtbau, verbessertes Zähigkeitsverhalten im Falle von Erdbeben und Bränden oder Verbesserung der Umformbarkeit zur Darstellung komplexer Geometrien. Neue Stahlgüten wie Bainitische Stähle, nanokristalline Werkstoffe, TWIP-Stähle oder kornorientierte Bleche für Elektromotoren bilden höhere Qualitätsanforderungen für die Walzwerke. Zudem müssen Stähle gegenüber anderen Leichtbauwerkstoffen und verstärkten Kunststoffen wettbewerbsfähig bleiben. Einige Beispiele von innovativen Verbesserungen der Herstellrouten zeigen, dass nicht nur die übliche datenbasierte Prozessüberwachung, sondern viel mehr noch die modellbasierte Simulation und die Echtzeitkontrolle notwendig sind. In Zukunft sind neue holistische Ansätze zur Bewältigung der zukünftigen Anforderungen erforderlich. 1. Introduction The current economic situation in the steel producing industry is characterized by a high overcapacity worldwide. One major reason is the overcapacity of steel in China [ 1 ], and, in addition, the lower demand of steel in fields like ship building, thermal power plants, infrastructure, and the automotive industry. The development of crude steel production in the world and in China is given in Fig. 1. There are two exceptional growth periods, one after the Second World War and one described as the Chinese steel boom starting in the late nineties. It is evident that the economic opening and the new Chinese policy have also brought an increase of the prosperity [ 2 ]. Yet, the higher volume of exports compared to the imports in China, as shown in Fig. 2, has led to some deterioration, which can be seen in Fig. 3, with respect to the development of the steel prices for hot and cold rolled coils in the period between 1998 and 2016. When doing such a marke (...truncated)


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Bruno Buchmayr, Michael Degner, Heinz Palkowski. Future Challenges in the Steel Industry and Consequences for Rolling Plant Technologies, BHM Berg- und Hüttenmännische Monatshefte, 2018, pp. 76-83, Volume 163, Issue 3, DOI: 10.1007/s00501-018-0708-x