Dieser Artikel handelt von is development history of world stainless steel.As an important material in modern industry, stainless steel has a history of more than 100 years. Because stainless steel has many excellent characteristics such as high strength, strong weldability, corrosion resistance, easy processing and glossy surface, it has been widely and important used in aerospace, chemical industry, automobile, food machinery, medicine, instrumentation, energy and other industrial and architectural decoration fields.
Stainless steel is a group of ferroalloys containing at least about 11% chromium, which can prevent iron from rusting and provide heat resistance. Different types of stainless steel include elemental carbon (from 0.03% to more than 1.00%), nitrogen, aluminum, silicon, sulfur, titanium, nickel, copper, selenium, niobium and molybdenum. Specific types of stainless steel are usually specified by the three digits of their AISI, for example. 304 stainless steel. ISO 15510 standard lists existing ISO, ASTM, en, JIS and GB The chemical composition of stainless steel in the specification of (China) standard is in a useful exchange table. The rust resistance of stainless steel is due to the existence of chromium in the alloy. It forms a passive film to protect the underlying material from corrosion attack and can be self repaired in the presence of oxygen. The corrosion resistance can be further improved by the following means.
Increase the chromium content to more than 11%
Increase the nickel content to at least 8%.
Addition of molybdenum (also improves pitting resistance).
The addition of nitrogen can also improve the pitting resistance and increase the mechanical strength. Therefore, there are many grades of stainless steel with different chromium and molybdenum contents to adapt to the environment that the alloy must withstand.
Corrosion and dyeing resistance, low maintenance and familiar gloss make stainless steel an ideal material for many applications that require steel strength and corrosion resistance. In addition, stainless steel can be rolled into sheet, plate, rod, line and tube. These materials can be used for cooking utensils, tableware, surgical instruments, main electrical appliances, vehicles, building materials of large buildings Industrial equipment (such as paper mills, chemical plants, water treatment), as well as storage tanks and tank cars for chemicals and food. The corrosion resistance of this material, easy steam cleaning and disinfection, and no surface coating are required, which promote the use of stainless steel in kitchens and food processing plants.
Development History of World Stainless Steel
4000 BC
Found evidence of the first use of iron in human history.
3000 BC
China’s Qin Dynasty used chromium to improve the strength and corrosion resistance of weapons.
300 BC
Wootz steelmaking technology has been developed in India and Sri Lanka. The technology spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula.
1100-1300 of World Stainless Steel
Wootz steel has attracted the attention of Europeans through Damascus sword. Damascus sword has high strength and toughness and can be made into sharp blades. At that time, many people tried to copy this steelmaking method, but no one succeeded.
1400
Steel tableware appeared in England. Because stainless steel has good hygiene and easy cleaning, most tableware in the western world today are made of stainless steel, including chopsticks.
1740
Benjamin Huntsman invented the crucible making method, which enabled people to make steel in batches
1751-1791 of World Stainless Steel
Axel Fredrik cronsted discovered nickel, Karl Wilhelm Scheele discovered molybdenum, and Nicolas Louis vauquelin discovered chromium.
1871
John T. woods and John Clark realized the commercial value of corrosion-resistant chromium alloy and obtained the British patent of “weather resistant alloy”.
1904-1911
Leon Alexandre Guillet published research on iron, chromium and nickel alloys, which belongs to today’s category. However, he did not describe the passive film, which is the most important feature of stainless steel.
The invention and use of stainless steel can be traced back to the first World War. British scientist Henry Blair was commissioned by the British government Arsenal to study the improvement of weapons. At that time, soldiers’ rifle bore was very easy to wear. They really wanted to invent a kind of alloy steel that was not easy to wear.
The stainless steel invented by Blair won a British patent in 1916 and began mass production. So far, stainless steel accidentally found in garbage is very popular all over the world. Henry Bradley is also known as the “father of stainless steel”. During World War I, British guns on the battlefield were always transported back to the rear because the barrel was worn out and could not be used.
The military production department ordered the development of high-strength wear-resistant alloy steel to study and solve the problem of barrel wear. Bailey and his assistants collected all kinds of steel and alloy steel with different properties produced at home and abroad, carried out performance experiments on machinery with different properties, and then selected more appropriate steel to make guns.
Experiment of World Stainless Steel
One day, they experimented with domestic alloy steel containing a lot of chromium. After wear-resistant experiment, it is found that this alloy is not wear-resistant, indicating that it can not make guns. So they recorded the results of the experiment and threw them into the corner.
One day a few months later, an assistant rushed to his stomach with glittering steel and said, “Sir, this is the alloy steel sent by Mr. Mullah, which I found while cleaning the warehouse. Would you like to do an experiment to see what special effect it has!” “Good!” Blair looked at the shiny steel and said happily.
The experimental results show that this stainless steel is not afraid of acid, alkali and salt. This stainless steel was invented by the German Mullah in 1912. However, the Mullah did not know what the purpose of this stainless steel was.
Blair thought, “this non wear-resistant but corrosion-resistant steel can’t be used as a gun. Can it be used as tableware?” He said he would do it. He made stainless steel fruit knives, forks, spoons, fruit trays and folding knives.
After 30 years of rapid development of stainless steel industry in Europe and America, including the discovery and production of austenite, martensite, ferrite, quenched steel and dual phase steel. Stainless steel products have made great progress in medical treatment, chemistry, transportation, food, construction, military aviation and other fields.
1952 of World Stainless Steel
1952
Stainless steel turbine blower is the main feature of the world’s first gas turbine driven railway locomotive.
1956-2010
In 1956, Wilkinson launched the world’s first stainless steel blade in Britain. Nowadays, many famous stainless steel buildings in the world have been built one after another. Stainless steel has penetrated into every aspect of our life.
Factors affecting the price of world stainless steel
1.Economic cycle
The steel industry is a basic industry of the national economy, the national economy cyclical fluctuations are objective economic laws, and the steel industry is one of the industries most closely related to the economic cycle. It can be said that the world stainless steel market with the macroeconomic fluctuations and ups and downs.
2.The cost of raw materials
World Stainless steel product prices and raw materials (mainly nickel, chromium) there is a strong correlation between prices, product prices fluctuate by changes in the price of raw materials. Nickel is mainly used in the production of stainless steel, consumption is mainly driven by the production of world stainless steel, stainless steel production in recent years has increased significantly to pull the consumption of nickel.
Overall the correlation between stainless steel cold rolled coil prices and electrolytic nickel prices remained at a high level until 2017, while there were short term instances where the correlation suddenly decreased. From the end of 2017, the correlation between the two spot prices declined rapidly and has recently rebounded to around 0.7. There are two main reasons for this: firstly, the future supply and demand structure of nickel may be divided into two industrial chains: “ferronickel – stainless steel” and “electrolytic nickel – power batteries”. The broad development prospect of power batteries brings demand premium to electrolytic nickel, which is the main reason for the lower correlation between stainless steel and electrolytic nickel prices since the fourth quarter of 2017. Secondly, with the development of stainless steel production process, enterprises use a large number of ferronickel instead of electrolytic nickel in order to reduce costs in the one-step process of smelting stainless steel, making the cost of stainless steel and electrolytic nickel price correlation reduced. Therefore, the future correlation between the two spot prices will remain at a low level.
3.Market supply and demand
Since entering the new century, driven by the growth in demand, the world stainless steel production capacity has grown significantly. The world stainless steel production centre has been transferred from developed countries in Europe and the United States to Asia, especially the emerging economies of Asia represented by China. In the context of a significant increase in stainless steel production in Asia, the current world stainless steel market has begun to show signs of relative oversupply, causing pressure on world stainless steel prices.
With the economic development and living standards, as well as the requirements of the appearance and service life of steel, the application of stainless steel will become more and more widespread, and in the long term, the growth in demand for stainless steel will support stainless steel prices.
4.technological innovation
The impact of technological innovation on the international stainless steel market situation includes: first, technological progress will improve the functionality and performance of the product to a certain extent, broaden the application area of stainless steel, stimulate the market demand for stainless steel products and improve market prices; second, the impact on the production process can increase labor productivity as well as improve the structure of stainless steel production and reduce the global supply price of stainless steel; third, technological progress may The emergence of new alternative materials, thus reducing the demand for world stainless steel, but also able to reduce its market price, but at present, the new metal materials that can completely replace world stainless steel has not yet appeared. Therefore, the impact of technological innovation on the stainless steel market is still difficult to assess.
5.economic policy
National macroeconomic policy, monetary policy, foreign exchange policy and import and export policy changes, such as the introduction of national policies to promote consumer upgrading will stimulate the demand for stainless steel end products, or some countries to implement trade barriers to some stainless steel products, etc. These factors also have a certain impact on the price of stainless steel.
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