ISIJ International, Vol. 48 (2008), No

Home , Tatara (furnace)

ISIJ International, Vol. 48 (2008), No. 6, pp. 707–728 Review Production and Technology of Iron and Steel in Japan during 2007

The Technical Society, the Iron and Steel Institute of Japan

pansion. However, as a result of the global financing shift at 1. Circumstances of Iron and Steel Industry in Japanese the year-end due to the financial confusion in the US, Japan 1.1. Economic Condition experienced large fluctuations in securities market at the According to a forecast of the world economy published beginning of 2008. by the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan in December Japan’s “world competitiveness”*1 ranked in the top class 2007, the GDP growth rate of the world economy was 3.6% at the beginning of the 1990s, but fell down from 4th to in 2007 and is expected to be 3.4% in 2008. Japan’s GDP 17th in 1997 and to 27th in 2002. Subsequently, Japan re- growth rate was put at 2.0% for 2007 and 1.8% for 2008. covered to 16th in 2006, but then again fell to 24th in 2007. On the other hand, extremely high growth was predicted for Among the advanced nations, in recent years (2005, 2006, northeastern Asia, at 9.0% in 2007 and 8.4% in 2008 (for 2007), Germany and Japan have tended to change places China, 11.3% and 10.3%, respectively). (Germany ranked 23rd, 25th, and 16th and Japan 21st, 16th, Among the BRICs nations, which are enjoying remark- and 24th in these years). Although the BRICs are generally ably rapid growth, China’s annual growth rate exceeded viewed as rising nations, Brazil, Russia, and India have not 11% in spite of a slowdown due to restraints on investment changed ranks, but this notwithstanding, China has contin- by the government in the second half of 2007. Moreover, ued to move steadily upward in the rankings (31st, 18th, even considering the slowdown, growth is predicted to ex- 15th) (Fig. 1). In “potential competitiveness of nation,”*2 ceed 10% in 2008 supported by increased exports, and Japan slipped from 12th in 2006 to 13th in 2007. China’s current account surplus is expected increase further, to $500 billion, or more than 11% of GDP. An eco- 1.2. Condition of the World Steel Industry nomic slowdown also began in other countries in 2007, but In the world steel industry, world crude steel production was not as pronounced as in China. The rest of the BRICs in 2007 was 1 343.5 million tons. By country, China ranked is also expected to maintain high growth rates (India: 8.6%, No. 1 (489.0 million tons), followed by No. 2, Japan (120.2 Russia: 6.5%, Brazil: 4.5%). For the world economy, a million tons) and No. 3, United States (97.2 million tons) growth rate of 2.3% is predicted for the OECD as a whole (Fig. 2). As growth rate of crude steel production is con- in 2008, with growth rates of 2.0% for the United States cerned, China continued to surpass other countries (Fig. 3). and 1.6% for Japan. Among the changes in the global economy, the following As a group, the OECD countries have grown steadily for presents an overview of the conditions surrounding the 4 consecutive years by 2007. However, the future outlook steel industry. The International Iron and Steel Institute es- for the world economy depends on whether some resolution timated world apparent steel consumption in 2007 at can be seen in concerns about the business climate due to 1 198.0 million tons, representing an increase of 6.8% from the near-collapse of the residential housing market in the US triggered by the sub-prime problem, and the accompanying confusion in financial markets in the second half of 2007. Although China and the Persian Gulf nations have been providing financing equivalent to the larger part of America’s current account deficit, these nations have begun moving their investments out of the US Treasury securities and into other financial assets and real assets. Reflecting this, at the beginning of 2008, the price of crude oil reached a level exceeding $100/barrel. Thus, there are concerns about the impact of the sub-prime problem on the real economy globally. During 2007, the Japanese economy showed a favorable tone in the first half, continuing the longest economic ex- Fig. 1. Competitiveness of nations (IMD).

*1 “World competitiveness” is defined as “The ability of a nation to create and maintain an environment that sustains more value creation for its enterprises and more prosperity for its people.” Total rankings are calculated annually by the International Institute for Management (IMD) based on an evaluation of statistics for approximately 60 countries and regions, economic conditions as reported in personal questionnaires on companies, governmental efficiency, business efficiency, and business infrastructure. *2 “Potential competitiveness of nation” is defined as the potential for increase in a nation’s per capita gross domestic product over a timeframe of 10 years into the future. The Japan Center of Economic Research has assigned rankings since 2004 based on an evaluation of 8 fields, including internationalization, enterprises, science and technology, government, etc. using published data on 50 countries and regions.

struction rush that includes event stadiums and other buildings in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, housing development is in strong motion, supported by an increasing urban affluent class. However, the coming years will be a period of development in inland and farming village areas, which have presented a strong contrast to the rapid development which has been concentrated in the country’s large coastal cities to date. The Chinese automobile market has grown rapidly since China joined the WTO in 2001, with average monthly sales almost doubling between 2003 Fig. 2. The large steel producing countries 2007. (370 000 units) and 2007 (690 000 units). In 2006, the Chi- Source: The International Iron and Steel Institute. nese auto market was the second largest in the world, having reached the 7 million units level. Automobile production in China was 7.28 million in 2006 and is expected to reach 10 million units in 2010. China’s crude steel production accounted for approximately 1/3 of the world’s total in 2006, at 420 million tons, and both crude steel production and output of steel products have increased at growth rates of about 20% since then. Although the Chinese government is promoting a reorganization of the steel industry (from the present 6 000 and several hundred companies, to an industry in which the top 10 companies hold a total share of Fig. 3. Crude steel production growth trend. more than 50% by 2010), the industry is enjoying strong Source: The International Iron and Steel Institute. demand from the above-mentioned real-estate development and automobile industries, as well as shipbuilding, and 2006. Arcelor Mittal, which was officially launched in No- as a result, it appears that this reorganization will be de- vember 2007, spans 60 nations, has 320 000 employees layed. Imports of steel products were around 1.4–1.5 mil- and consolidated sales of $88.6 billion, and accounts for lion tons/month in both 2006 and 2007, but due to limita- 10% of world crude steel production, at 118.0 million tons tions on production technology and capacity, high grade (2006). Thus, this one company, with a scale comparable to steel sheet supplies imported from Japan or by joint ven- Japan’s total crude steel production, has reached a position tures should be required. of influence that cannot be ignored. In Korea, the Korea Iron & Steel Association forecasts On the market condition of raw materials for steel manu- domestic demand somewhat exceeding 57 million tons for facturing, large purchases by China are driving price in- 2008 (increase of approximately 4% from 2007). Although creases, as seen in the price of iron ore, which rose by 9.5% there are currently no plan to increase blast furnace capac- in comparison with 2006. On the other hand, the three iron ity, production capacity is expected to increase to more than ore majors, Vale, ex-Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, BHP 64 million tons, up approximately 5% in comparison with Billiton, and Rio Tinto-Zinc Corporation, control a 70% 2007, as a result of new electric furnaces coming onstream share of the world market. At the end of 2007, BHP Billiton at Hyundai Steel, Korea Iron & Steel Co., Ltd., and Daehan proposed purchasing Rio Tinto, and these two companies Steel Co., Ltd. (Crude steel production is projected as 54 account for 60% of shipments to Japan. Rio Tinto has an- million tons, for an increase of 6% from 2007.) According nounced its opposition to this acquisition. Japan imports to forecasts, imports of steel products will be limited to 180 million tons of coal each year. Of this, imports of cok- around 27 million tons, for a very small increase, due to ing coal have remained steady in recent years, at around 80 Chinese export restrictions and other factors. Exports of million tons, 80% of which is supplied by Australia and In- coated steel sheets are expected to increase due to increased donesia. However, because the steel industry consumes overseas production of automobiles and electric appliances. 80% of this imported coking coal, continuous attention to On the other hand, because a double-digit increase is ex- trends in the global supply-and-demand balance is neces- pected in shipbuilding, a large rise in demand for plate sary. products is foreseen. As an individual company, POSCO Next, the following reviews the conditions in nearby na- aims at increasing production from 31 million tons (sales: tions (China, Korea) which have an important influence on approximately ¥2.6 trillion) in 2007 to 35 million tons (¥2.8 the Japanese steel industry. In China, in course of the Com- trillion) in 2008. POSCO also plans to increase capital munist Party of China National Congress in October 2007, investment to approximately ¥780 billion, for an increase there was a radical change in the regime based on the of 80% from 2007, and will expand its plate mill to the second-term Hu Jintao system, and the “Scientific Develop- 2 million tons/year scale. The company has also announced ment Concept,” which aims at an equilibrium between eco- plans to acquire a steel company in Malaysia and construct nomic development and environmental protection, was in- a new steel works in India. corporated in a revision of the Party constitution as the Chinese Communist Party’s official guiding socio-eco- 1.3. Condition of the Japanese Steel Industry nomic ideology. China’s aim is to achieve further economic Japan’s domestic crude steel production in 2007 was an growth under rejuvenated leadership. In addition to a con- historic high, exceeding the previous record set in 1973

(119.32 million tons). Although this was an increase of 6.55 million level, up 580 000 from 2006, and thus in- 3.4% from 2006, because blast furnace pig iron production creased for the 6th consecutive year. The industrial machin- increased by 2.44 million tons while crude steel production ery sector recorded continuing overall growth, as construc- increased by 4 million tons, the difference of about 1.56 tion machinery and machine tools maintained a firm tone in million tons was covered with cold iron sources (Table the second half of the year. In the electrical machinery sec- 1). By type of steel, production of ordinary carbon steel tor, heavy electrical machinery showed a strong trend in the increased by 3.36 million tons, supported by a firm tone second half. The recession in household appliances contin- in construction work, the automobile industry, and ship- ued, but production indicators for household electrical building, while special steel increased by 0.62 million equipment showed growth through the year as a whole due tons due to strong demand in the automobile and shipbuild- to favorable trends in consumer electronics such as flat ing industries. Although exports to the United States de- panel televisions. In shipbuilding, new construction orders, creased, there is an increasing trend in shipments to the which exceeded 10 million gross tons for the 8th consecu- ASEAN nations. Japan’s domestic steel makers increased tive year, amounted to 15.05 million gross tons in 2007, production steadily, supported by firm demand, and contin- while work on hand at the year-end was at a record high, ued full operation. Accompanying the enforcement of the exceeding 65 million gross tons. revised Building Standards Law, distribution of steel build- Among the trends of domestic steel industries in Japan ing materials was stagnant in the second half of 2007 due to during 2007, trends in tie-ups and increased production delays in approval of construction, which led to increased were obvious. On December 19, Nippon Steel Corporation, stocks. During the same period, the effects of the sub-prime Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd., and Kobe Steel, Ltd. an- problem in the US were not limited to the financial indus- nounced a cross-purchase of shares. At the end of October, try, but spread to the real economy in the US, causing a de- the companies had agreed on an additional cross-purchase cline in imports of construction materials. As a result, ex- of shares valued in the range of ¥15–100 billion between ports of steel products from Japan were limited to roughly each two companies, backed by expanded and enhanced 36 million tons, or an increase of 4% in comparison with mutual cooperation. On January 29, JFE Steel Corporation 2006. concluded a technical tie-up agreement on automotive steel As trends in steel-consuming industries, the construction sheets with Hyundai Steel, aimed at expanding and enhanc- industry, the number of new construction starts, which had ing cooperation. Kobe Steel carried out an ultra-short term increased in 2006 for the first time in 9 years, was de- (45 d) relining of its No. 3BF, which had been in operation creased due to enforcement of the revised Building Stan- for 24 years, 7 months, as a 2 112 m3 plant for all pellet op- dards Law. This trend was particularly evident in the second eration, and blew in the revamped blast furnace on Decem- half of 2007 (housing construction is predicted to total 1.06 ber 16. At the end of May, Kobe Steel completed transfer of million units in 2007 in comparison with 1.29 million in the Minorca direct reduced iron plant in the Bolivarian Re- 2006), and the large decline in residential construction is public of Venezuela, which it had refurbished and operated continuing, particularly in the case of condominium-type for almost 20 years, to a development company in that multi-unit buildings. In the automobile industry, ordinary country. This plant had stably produced a cumulative total passenger vehicles showed an increasing trend in the sec- of more than 10 million tons of hot briquetted iron (HBI) by ond half of the year, but total sales nationwide, including equipment using the MIDREX® Direct Reduction Process. lightweight automobiles and trucks, decreased for the sec- The project is also an innovative new business model in the ond half consecutive year, declining to 5.09 million units, plant business (BOT: Built-Operation-Transfer). Sumitomo or a decrease of 390 000 from 2006. Shipments of export Metal is participating in the Orissa Project (construction automobiles to the North American market were on basi- of blast furnace-integrated steel works) of Bhushan Steel cally the same level as in 2006, but shipments to Asia and Ltd. in India, and will deepen its relationship in the supply the Middle East increased. As a result, exports were on the of sheet products through technical assistance (Dec. 27).

Table 1. Pig iron and crude steel production.

Sumitomo Metal also began to study a joint venture (cold today’s Nippon Steel Corp.) began operation in 1901 and rolled, coated, and electrical steel sheets) in Vietnam with became the basis for subsequent industrialization in Japan. Taiwan’s China Steel Corporation (Dec. 20). Daido Steel Following the Second World War, Japan achieved an aston- Corporation entered into a business tie-up with The Timken ishing economic recovery and continues economic develop- Company, under which it will transfer technology to supply ment up, but steel, as the key material for industry, backed special steels with strict quality requirements, responding to the foundations of economic development. Many land- increased production by on-the-spot Japanese-affiliated marks created with steel are intimate parts of the Japanese auto makers and bearing makers in the United States (Jan. people. These include Tokyo Tower, which was completed 17). in 1958, the Tokaido Shinkansen super-express train Today we have to deal with environmental problems i.e. (1964), the 460 000 ton supertanker Nissei-maru (1975), the greenhouse effect urgently, which is a new need of the new Tokyo City Hall Complex (1990), and the Akashi- times. We need innovation by “backcasting,” which clarifies Kaikyo Bridge (1998). targets to achieve and the timing schedule of realization. This year, as the 150th Anniversary of modern steel mak- Look back now once the beginnings of modern steel manu- ing in Japan, Japanese steel industry plans to hold a number facturing in Japan. Steel industry, having been supporting of events and campaigns, under the leadership of the Japan this country’s industrial competitiveness, are rooted in Iron and Steel Federation, so that the Japanese people could unique technologies including know-how. While the Japa- look once again at the relationship between steel and mod- nese economy is recording its longest postwar expansion, ern economic society and reevaluate, as a nation, the indis- besides the country’s international competitiveness has also pensable role of steel in creating the society of tomorrow. declined, business activities in the steel industry should play a leading role also in reducing emissions of green- 2. Technology and Equipment house gases. 2.1. Ironmaking 1.4. 150 Years of Modern Steel Manufacturing in Japan In 2007, pig iron (hot metal) production in Japan in- The year 2008 marks the 150th anniversary of modern creased 3.0% from 2006, totaling 86.77 million tons, and steel manufacturing in Japan. 150 years have passed since exceeded 80 million tons for 5 years consecutively. Aver- January 1858, when Takato Oshima, member of Nambu- age blast furnace productivity increased moderately, from Han (Nambu Clan area), succeeded in tapping iron by refin- 2.04 t/m3·d in 2006 to 2.08t/m3·d in 2007. ing iron ore for the first time in Japan. (Note: Because this The trend in individual blast furnace relining projects is event occurred on December 1 in the year Ansei 4 under shown in Table 2. At the end of 2007, 28 blast furnaces the old calendar, December 1 is considered the “Anniver- were in operation, which was the same a year before. sary of Steel” in Japan.) This year can also be considered a At Nippon Steel, Nagoya Works No. 3BF was relined in new turning point for the Japanese steel industry, which has a period of 83 d from February to April, and its inner vol- supported Japan’s industrial competitiveness and stood in ume was expanded from 4 650 to 5 443 m3. the vanguard of global competition. Those days, the “iron” In May, Sumitomo Metal’s Kashima Works No. 2BF obtained using the Japanese style blast furnace (lump iron (inner volume: 4 800 m3) was blown out, and the larger ore is good for high quality cast pig iron, which is charac- No. 3BF (5 370 m3) was blown in. During the same month, terized by excellent toughness because its impurity content Kobe Steel’s Kakokawa Works No. 1BF (4 550 m3) was is lower than that of iron sand) was a dramatic advance in blown out and No. 2BF (5 400 m3) was blown in. production technology on the road from batch production Kobe Steel’s Kobe Works No. 3BF was relined in a pe- by the ancient Japanese “tatara” ironmaking process to riod of 45 d between November and December and ex- mass production technology in the form of the blast furnace panded from 1 845 to 2 112 m3. pig iron. In addition to Oshima’s knowledge of metallurgy, As a result, 11 blast furnaces in Japan had inner volumes the background which made this possible is generally said of 5 000 m3 or more at the end of 2007. to include the accumulation of magnetite refining tech- As shown in Fig. 4, the pulverized coal injection (PCI) niques in Ohashi, Nambu-Han (Nambu Clan area). Later ratio of blast furnaces in 2006 increased comparatively with foreign engineers hired by the Meiji government attempted the previous year, to an average of 123.6 kg/t, while the operation, but failed within 2 years. The Tanaka Iron coke ratio decreased as with the previous year, to an aver- Works, which acquired the equipments disposed by the gov- age of 371 kg/t-pig. ernment, succeeded in continuous tapping in 1886, opening Among measures to increase coke production capacity, the way for a steel industry based on private capital. The Hokkai Iron & Coke Corporation revamped 42 coking failure of the earlier government-owned Kamaishi Works chambers (annual capacity: 500 000 t) at No. 6 coke oven. was partly attributable to a failure of marketing, in those The pad up method, in which an existing foundation was days the needs of the times could not be reflected properly reused, was adopted as the revamping method. Sumikin in the business (cannons were no longer considered neces- Iron and Steel Corporation began construction of a new sary, and Japan was on the eve of industrialization). How- coke oven plant, targeting startup in 2009. ever, in addition to noting the unsuitability of the type of As new ironmaking-related technologies, a monolithic- furnace, the fact that this works undervalued the existing type refractory stave was developed by Nippon Steel,which technical know-how and depended on the introduced for- reduces wear of refractory bricks and is suitable for reduc- eign technology instead cannot be ignored. ing the wall thickness of large-scale blast furnaces. The government-owned Yawata Works (ancestor of

Table 2. Relining of blast furnace in Japan.

Fig. 4. Increase in pulverized coal rate injected into blast furnace in Japan. Souce: The Japan Iron and Steel Federation.

tively, and with special steel, the ratio increased to 95.7% 2.2. Steelmaking in 2007. As for the steelmaking operation in 2007, the perform- As for steelmaking equipment, there were continuing ef- ances of converter operation and electric furnace operation forts to achieve higher levels of product quality and to re- are shown in Table 3 and Table 4, respectively. Converters spond to high demand. The main equipment which was put showed a high trend in productivity indicators, continuing into operation in 2007 is outlined below. from the previous year. The pig iron ratio and hot metal At Nagoya Works, Nippon Steel constructed a new ratio both decreased, continuing from last year, and use of combined CAS-type RH with a monthly production capac- cold iron sources (scrap) increased further. The perform- ity of 125 000 tons as No. 3RH. High speed decarburizing ance of electric furnace operation were substantially the at 144 ppm/9 min was achieved by increasing the vacuum same as in the previous year, but the ratio of alloy steel in exhaust capacity. Nippon Steel’s Yawata Works constructed electric furnace steelmaking also was high level. Consider- a new open lower vessel-type vacuum degasser as No. 2 ing this, together with the higher vacuum treatment ratio in REDA. converter steelmaking, the intentions toward high grade Sumitomo Metal’s Kashima Works improved No. 1 con- products seem to be ﬁrm. tinuous caster from the conventional curved type machine The ratio of continuous cast slabs in steel ingots for to a vertical-bending type in order to improve quality and rolling is shown in Fig. 5. With ordinary carbon steel, the increase productivity, and in combination with this revamp- continuous casting ratio was 99.8% for 5 years consecu- ing, also extended the length of the machine.

Table 3. Operation performance of converter.

Table 4. Operation performance of electric furnace.

Fig. 5. Change of ratio of continuous casting production. Source: Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau, “Preliminary Report on Iron and Steel, Non-ferrous metal, and Fabricated metals Products Industry”.

Kobe Steel’s casting and forging shop replaced the ESR mold flux, and as a result, the quality and productivity of device with new equipment to ensure stable production of slabs for electrical steel sheets are improved. high grade work rolls. Sumikin Iron and Steel Corporation achieved sequential Nakayama Steel Works, Ltd. expanded the thickness and casting at Wakayama No. 3 slab continuous caster. This was width specifications of its slab continuous caster. realized by the development of technologies for preventing The main technical developments related to steelmaking slab surface defects by applying an electromagnetic brake, were as follows. and for preventing clogging of the immersion nozzle. Aichi Steel Corporation developed the Advanced Hot Slag Recycling Process (ANRP process) for reduced slag, 2.3. Plates, Pipes, and Shapes Products which reduces total slag generation by recycling slag re- In the field of plate manufacturing equipment, the Hot maining in ladles directly to the electric furnace while the Plate Mill being constructed by Tokyo Steel Co., Ltd. at its slag is still in the molten state after casting. Kyushu Works was completed in January 2007 and began Sanyo Special Steel Co., Ltd. developed a mass produc- operation. tion technology for high aluminum nitrided steel with se- Chubu Steel Plate Co., Ltd. began renovation and im- quential continuous casting by developing a technology for provements of its heating furnace, mill motors, plate lev- preventing nozzle clogging by applying high cleanliness eler, and transport line, with completion scheduled for Au- steel production technology, and a mold powder suitable for gust–September 2009. nitrided steel production. Nippon Steel is expanding the roughing mill and shear Sumitomo Metal developed a mold flux for continuous equipment at its Oita Works Plate Mill, with completion casting of Al-bearing steel slabs. Mold lubrication is main- scheduled for 2009, and has announced plans to increase tained by controlling the crystallization reaction of the annual capacity by 600 000 tons.

Where products development is concerned, a large num- inner surfaces of rolled H-shapes, greatly improving adhe- ber of high strength plates and high corrosion resistant sion with concrete. A unitary shape is produced during plates with respective features were announced, taking ad- finishing rolling by using rolls with protrusion-forming vantage of the heat treatment equipment at each company. grooves. This is the world’s first rolled H-shape product (See Production Technology Topics, bellow) with regular protrusions on the inner surfaces. As equipment for shapes products, Kobe Steel’s Kobe Works carried out a renewal of its Bar Mill leveler and in- 2.4. Steel Sheets spection line. As part of the renewal, at the line handling In the field of hot-rolled steel sheets, Nakayama Steel large-diameter products with diameters of 40–108 mm, a Works started operation of a new heating furnace with an new straightener and surface defect inspection device (mag- extended furnace length, achieving improved productivity, netic flux leakage flaw detection system) were constructed, reduced cost, and higher product quality. A new coil box the straightening capacity and inspection accuracy were im- currently under construction at Nakayama Steel is sched- proved by renovating the internal defect inspection device uled for completion during 2008. (ultrasonic tester), and the line speed was increased to dou- Nisshin Steel Co., Ltd. announced that it will renovate ble the previous level. the rolling mills and construct one new coiler at its Kure At Aichi Steel, the two main lines among the finishing Works Hot Strip Mill, with completion scheduled for 2009. line for medium and small shapes and bars, comprising a JFE Steel announced a plan to renovate the roughing mill total of four lines, were concentrated on the south side of at the Hot Strip Mill at East Japan Works (Keihin District) No. 2 Wire Rod and Bar Mill. The most important features and introduce a Sizing Press, with startup scheduled for the of the new line are that transportation loss is reduced to second half of FY2008. zero, lead time is cut by half, and same-day feedback of In the field of cold-rolled sheets, JFE Steel started up a quality information is realized by direct connection of the new continuous pickling line with a monthly production ca- rolling process and the finishing process of inspection. For pacity of 100 000 tons at East Japan Works (Keihin District) this, a water cooling device which enables rapid uniform in May. Sumitomo Metal also started operation of a newly- cooling of bundles of rolled steel materials was installed in constructed pickling line with an annual capacity of 1.5 a steel bar inspection process. This is the first system of its million tons in September. type in the world. Nippon Steel Materials Co., Ltd. constructed a new foil Also at Aichi Steel, a new heating furnace was installed, rolling mill and annealing furnace at its metal foil plant which replaces and concentrates the functions of two heat- (Hikari Works), expanding its foil production facilities to a ing furnaces and one uniform heating furnace at the slab 3 line system. rolling line. As distinctive features of this heating furnace, Nisshin Steel announced plans to improve the rolling regenerative burners are adopted in all combustion zones, equipment at its Osaka Works in 2008, and will also intro- and ceramic fiber with coating treatment on the surface duce cold-rolling equipment for special steel at its Sakai layer is used as the roof refractory, making it possible to ac- Works, creating a 2 production base system with Osaka commodate frequent temperature increases and decrease, Works. and also reducing alkaline erosion by mold powder and In products development, Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stain- thereby securing durability. less Steel Corporation announced a stainless steel sheet In the field of production technology for wire material, with improved surface design, and Sumitomo Metal an- NACHI-FUJIKOSHI CORP. developed a new production nounced a new heat-resistant austenite stainless steel sheet. method for special steel jointly with Tohoku University. In the field of coated steel sheets, since 2006, new hot This technology is a fusion of carbide dispersion carburiz- dip galvanizing lines have been started up successively at ing theory, continuous vacuum carburizing technology, su- Nippon Steel’s Kimitsu Works, Nagoya Works, and Hiro- perfine wire production technology, and others, and makes hata Works, and at Sumitomo Metal’s Kashima Works, and it possible to produce superfine wire of materials with poor in January 2008, JFE Steel started operation of No. 4 hot workability, such as high carbon stainless steel, high alloy dip galvanizing line with an annual capacity of 600 000 high speed steel, and others, which was difficult with con- tons at West Japan Works (Fukuyama District), a series of ventional technologies, by performing continuous carburiz- expansion among Japanese steel makers ceased. In Septem- ing treatment on superfine wires with diameters of 0.05– ber 2007, JFE Steel also started up a new coating line at 0.5 mm No. 5 electrogalvanizing line at West Japan Works As pipe-related equipment, Sanyo Special Steel installed Fukuyama, increasing annual production capacity to a new cold Pilger (cold rolling mill). As features of this 120 000 tons. equipment, maintainability is improved because the need for In products development, all companies announced new a large control box is eliminated by synchronizing turning products with distinctive features. (See Production Technol- and transport of materials, and continuous rolling is possi- ogy, bellow) ble. This installation of the cold Pilger completes a series of expansions of the company’s production equipment for spe- 2.5. Instrumentation, Systems, and Analysis cial steel pipe which has been carried out since 2005, and Nippon Steel Corporation won the Nikkei Monozukuri increased production capacity by approximately 10%. Award Grand Prize for 2007 for “Operation Support Where shaped steel is concerned, JFE Steel Corporation System Utilizing IT (Information Technology),” which the developed and commercialized H-shapes with inner surface company developed independently and introduced in its protrusions. In this product, protrusions are applied to the steel works to support the transfer of skills and technology

713 © 2008 ISIJ ISIJ International, Vol. 48 (2008), No. 6 in view of the imminent mass retirement of veteran techni- tons in 2007, which is an increase of 1.8 times in compari- cal personnel. JFE Steel Corporation won the Semi-Grand son with the baseline year under the Kyoto Protocol. In the Prix of the “IT Japan Award 2007” for its new integrated breakdown of this increase (increment of 610.1 million system, “J-Smile.” tons), for example, Japan accounted for 9.9 million tons JFE Steel introduced a new type of sub-angstrom elec- (1.6%), while China accounted for 421.8 million tons tron microscope to support the development of high grade (69%), and India, for 38.2 million tons (6.2%). As techni- steels by analysis of steel materials in the sub-nano region. cal issues for the steel industry under Japan’s “Cool Earth This was the world’s first introduction of this type of micro- 50” proposal, reductions are expected to realize “innovative scope in the steel industry. Nippon Steel is utilizing syn- steel manufacturing processes” (partial replacement of coke chrotron XAFS, 3-dimensional atomic probe technology, with hydrogen as a reducing agent and recovery of CO2 and high-temperature-region in-situ microstructural obser- from blast furnace gas) and CCS (Carbon dioxide Capture vation in new material composition design and microstruc- and Storage). The 3 Principles of “Cool Earth 50” are ① ture design of steel products. The company also uses super- Participation of all major emitting nations, including the sonic jet resonance enhanced multi-photon ionization time- US, China, and India, ② Flexible and diverse framework, of-flight mass spectrometry in real time monitoring of flue taking into consideration the individual circumstances of gases and the atmosphere, and has applied solid-state NMR each country, and ③ Compatibility between environmental to local structural analysis of coal and imaging in the high protection and economic growth. At present, no concrete temperature region. stabilization level has been mentioned. However, develop- Kobelco Research Institute, Inc. has introduced analy- ment and dissemination of advanced energy saving tech- sis/characterization techniques by ultra-high resolution/ nologies and carbon elimination technologies and reforms multi-functional FE-SEM for failure analysis and materials in social systems are necessary. It is estimated that world development. CO2 emissions will reach 60 billion tons unless any reduc- JFE Steel developed a device called “Scan-WALKER®” tion measure is taken place (BAS: business as usual), and for automatic measurement of thickness reduction due to the possible CO2 reduction by existing technology is 18 corrosion in piping as a continuous, non-contact technique. million tons. The reduction necessary in order to cut cur- The company has realized important benefits by applying rent emissions by half is 47 billion tons. The reductions ex- this technology to inspection/measurement, mainly of en- pected in each sector are 29.8 billion tons in the electric ergy piping in its steel works. power industry, 3.3 billion tons in steel making, 0.3 billion tons in cement, and 6.7 billion tons in other industries, 4.8 billion tons in the transportation sector, and 2.1 billion tons 3. Environment Issue in the commercial/residential sector. (The breakdown of 2007 was a year of important changes in the develop- emissions in 2050 reduced by half is estimated at 6 billion ment of environment and energy-related technologies. tons in the industrial sector, 6.5 billion tons in the trans- Japan’s “Cool Earth 50” proposal was announced in May, portation sector, and 0.5 billion tons in the commercial/resi- calling for a 50% reduction in greenhouse gases (GHG) dential sector.) In the iron and steel industry, which is ex- emission worldwide by 2050, and at the G8 Summit 2007 pected to achieve a reduction of somewhat more than 2% Heiligendamm in June, the parties agreed to “promote the (3.3 billion tons) out of the total reduction of 47 billion development, deployment, and use of sustainable environ- tons, practical application of a hydrogen reduction process ment friendly technologies with lower carbon concentra- in ironmaking will be required. By a trial calculation the tions in the energy sector.” Following this, at a high level CO2 stabilization level is 550 ppm (concentration is double Japan-U.S. conference in August and at the APEC Summit that of before the Industrial Revolution). (The above are in September, declarations were issued on the “importance values based on the trial calculations by the Research Insti- of technical innovation, joint development, and dissemina- tute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE)). tion/transfer of low emission technologies.” At the Japan- At the 41st IISI Annual Conference, which was held in U.S. Summit in November, an agreement of opinions was Berlin in October 2007, a declaration was issued to the ef- seen regarding “promotion of the development of innova- fect that technical development should be promoted by pre- tive technologies for satisfying both prevention of warming senting unit-value targets (e.g. CO2/ton-steel) by sector, and energy security while maintaining economic growth.” rather than relying only on total emissions estimates and

Japan’s total annual emissions of CO2 are on the order of economic principles, and a system for active transfer of ap- 1.293 billion tons (2005; estimated by National Institute for propriate technologies to the developing nations is neces- Environment Studies). Of this, it has been estimated that sary. Under this “Global Sectoral Approach for Steel,” ef- the electric power industry accounts for 400 million tons forts to achieve reductions are promoted by industry as a and the steel industry, for 100 million tons. Although it has whole, with reduction targets speciﬁed for unit values, and now entered the 2012 agreement period (Kyoto-agreement), technical development and technical innovation are actively during which Japan is required to realize a 6% reduction promoted premised on the concept of “innovation.” The in emissions against the baseline year (1990) under the sectoral approach has also been taken up by the Asia-Pa- Kyoto Protocol (COP3), recently, Japan’s total emissions ciﬁc Partnership (APP) on Clean Development and Cli- have increased by approximately 7%. In particular, large mate, which includes the United States, China, and India as increases have occurred in the transportation and commer- large CO2 emitters that do not have obligations under the cial/residential sectors. Kyoto Protocol, and is expected to serve as a model for

World crude steel production exceeded 1 300 million considering a new global framework for reduction of CO2

© 2008 ISIJ 714 ISIJ International, Vol. 48 (2008), No. 6 emissions in the post-Kyoto period. In addition to the technologies mentioned above, all of The Japanese steel industry has adopted a Voluntary Ac- Japan’s steel makers are continuing to develop products tion Plan for reduction of GHG calling for a 10% reduction which utilize slag and products which are free of harmful in energy consumption against the 1990 baseline, and has substances. Research and development activities on related achieved reductions through detailed measures at all stages technologies using public funding are being carried out en- in the production process. As a result, as of 2006, a CO2 re- ergetically by companies and cooperating universities. duction of 5.1% against 1990 has been achieved. These activities will be discussed in the following. In other global warming countermeasures, Japanese steel makers are utilizing the Clean Development Mechanism 4. Technology Trade/Technical Development (CDM) for acquiring GHG emission rights. Nippon Steel submitted an application to the UN for the coke dry 4.1. Technology Trade quenching (CDQ) equipment for coke ovens in China, As a breakdown of technology trade during the one year which was approved. This is expected to reduce CO2 emis- period of calendar 2007, Table 5 shows the results of a sur- sions by approximately 210 000 tons/year. JFE Steel re- vey among 79 supporting member companies of the ISIJ. ceived approval for a power generating system using waste Technology exports declined to 17 items from 41 in 2006. heat recovered from the sintering process at a plant in the Import was 0, which has been the same since 2004.

Philippines, which will reduce CO2 emissions by approxi- Among export regions, Asia accounted for 41% of the mately 62 000 tons/year. total, followed by North America (35%). By field of tech- In cooperation with other industries, Nippon Steel’s nology, processing/heat treatment accounted for 65%, fol- Muroran Works and the Muroran Refinery of Nippon Petro- lowed by steelmaking (37%). leum Refining Co., Ltd. received a grant from the Hokkaido Figure 6 shows the steel industry’s technology trade bal- Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry, and began a study ance during FY2000–2006. In FY2005 the amount of con- of commercialization of joint use of hydrogen. Under this siderations received for technology exports declined by concept, hydrogen separated from coke oven gas, which is 28% from the previous fiscal year, while payments for tech- used as fuel in the steel works, will be utilized in petroleum nology imports also declined slightly. refining at the refinery. This hydrogen will replace hydrogen produced in the refinery, and thus can be expected to 4.2. Research Expenditures/Number of Researchers reduce consumption of raw materials for hydrogen produc- The trends in the ratio of corporate research expenditures tion and emission of byproduct CO2. This is only one ex- to sales, research expenditures per full-time researcher, and ample of the wide-ranging activities of the Japanese steel the number of full-time researchers per 10 000 employees industry in the area of GHG reduction. are shown in Fig. 7 through Fig. 9, respectively. These fig- In responding to environmental problems, all of Japan’s ures are based on the “Report on the Survey of Research steel makers have carried out numerous projects to develop and Development” prepared by the Statistics Bureau, Min- technologies and introduce equipments for energy saving, istry of Internal Affairs and Communications. reduction of wastes, and reduction of CO2 emissions. The In all industries, research expenditures relative to sales main new technologies and new equipments are mentioned have remained essentially flat since 2002, but in contrast, below. there has been a declining trend in the steel industry. This is In the aspect of reduction and effective utilization of explained as follows: research expenditures in the steel in- waste, Aichi Steel constructed a new recycling facility dustry have increased gradually since 2002, from ¥129.7 which recovers nickel from byproducts generated in the billion to ¥144.4 billion in FY2006, for an increase of ap- stainless steel manufacturing process and nickel-bearing proximately 11% from 2002. At the same time, however, byproducts generated by various other industries. sales increased from ¥8 660.3 billion in 2002 to ¥14 262.0 Sumitomo Metal decided to construct a second unit of billion in 2006, which was an increase of about 65%. Thus, rotary kiln equipment (RC: “resource circulation” reactor) in spite of a substantial increase in research expenditures, for recycling, which recovers iron, zinc, and other valuable the increase in sales was far larger. metals from dust without generating of secondary wastes. The number of full-time researchers per 10 000 employ-

In energy saving and CO2 emission reduction, JFE Steel ees in the steel industry increased from 300 in 2006 to 312 developed a technology for pulverizing container and pack- in 2007. The total number of employees in the industry de- aging plastic, and constructed an APR (Advanced Plastic creased slightly, from 141 905 to 139 332, while the number Recycling) Plant which enables industrial use at its East of full-time researchers increased from 4 259 to 4 345. Japan Works. When powdery plastic is used as a reducing Research expenditures per full-time researcher had agent in the blast furnace, it has higher reactivity than the shown a decreasing trend in the steel industry, and were plastic grains used conventionally, enabling energy saving continuing to approach the level of all industries, but begin- and reduction of CO2 emissions. JFE Steel’s West Japan ning in 2004, this indicator began to rise. In 2006, it contin- Works developed a new granulation technology for sinter- ued to rise from 2005. ing ore which simultaneously achieves increased productivity and reduced consumption of coke fines in the sintering 4.3. Trends in Research and Development by Public Funds process, making it possible to reduce CO2 emissions in the total ironmaking process. This technology was introduced The following technical developing projects, relating to at both the Kurashiki District and Fukuyama District of steel-making, are completed in FY2007; West Japan Works. ① Development of pre-gasification process in gasification

Table 5. Contents of technology export and technology import. (Term: January 1, 2007–December 31, 2007)

Fig. 6. Balance of technology trade of steel. Source: “Report on the Survey of the Research and Development”, Statistic Bureau, Ministry of Public Manage- ment, Home Affairs, Post and Telecommunications.

and melting furnace ④ Development of recovering-technology of valuable met- ② Development of harmless-technology of circulating ele- als through rotary hearth furnace ments by steel slab surface layer reformation ⑤ Development of slag utilizing technology ③ Development of next-generation rolling technology for In FY2008, new project “COURSE50” (CO2 Ultimate hard-manufacturing special steel Reduction in Steelmaking process by innovative technology

© 2008 ISIJ 716 ISIJ International, Vol. 48 (2008), No. 6 for cool Earth 50) will begin to develop environment friendly The followings are continuing; steel making process technology (2008–2012). This project ① Development of basic technology for high-strength and focuses are hydrogen reduction technology of iron oxide, functional ferrous materials (2007–2011) ② CO2 capture technology from brust furnace gas and utiliza- Development of new constructional materials for inno- tion technology of low-tempetarture waste heat in steel vative building system (2006–2008) plants. Table 6 shows the results of a survey between main Sup- porting Members of the ISIJ on iron and steel-related research and development themes being carried out with public funding. Work is underway on numerous subjects, including the ﬁelds of the environment/energy, nanotechnol- ogy, etc.

5. Human Resources for Steel Industry As iron and steelmaking technology advances, the human factor becomes more important. In Japan, the country’s postwar baby boomer began retir- ing en masse in 2007. This was widely-discussed as Japan’s “2007 problem,” and is a particular concern in manufacturing industries, as large numbers of experienced personnel Fig. 7. Trend of the ratio of research expenditure to sales. Source: “Report on the 2007 Survey of the Research and are leaving the worksites. On this background, various com- Development”, Statistic Bureau, Ministry of Public Man- panies are responding in diverse ways to the problem of agement, Home Affairs, Post and Telecommunications.

Fig. 8. Trend of the number of researchers per 10 000 emploees. Fig. 9. Trend of the expenditure of R&D per regular researcher. Source: “Report on the 2007 Survey of the Research and Source: “Report on the 2007 Survey of the Research and Development”, Statistic Bureau, Ministry of Public Man- Development”, Statistic Bureau, Ministry of Public Man- agement, Home Affairs, Post and Telecommunications. agement, Home Affairs, Post and Telecommunications.

Table 6. Examples of public funded research projects for steel industry in Japan.

717 © 2008 ISIJ ISIJ International, Vol. 48 (2008), No. 6 technology transfer. Efforts which concentrate on innova- activities and moved ahead to 2nd period activities begin- tion have included skill conferences, preparation of manu- ning in FY2007. This Division contributs to progress and als, creation of skill databases, a man-to-man response, and development of the steel industry in the environment/en- others. The strength of this interest was also evident in the ergy field through cooperation with other Divisions in the number of participants in the 59th Shiraishi Memorial Sem- ISIJ’s Academic Society and Committees in the Technical inar, hosting by ISIJ, “Succession of the Core Technology Society (Heat Economy Technology Committee, etc.). in a Steel Industry—Learn from Both Traditional and Steel- Beginning in FY2006, the ISIJ started new activities on related Industries—” (July 5, 2007). This seminar included three research subjects as ISIJ Inovative Program for Ad- presentations on actual technology transfer systems from vanced Technology. Research activities should be expected other industries and presentations on systematic transfer of to enlarge its scale. workplace technology in the iron and steel industry. Various measures were implemented to vitalize the Insti- As part of the Committee for partnership of industry-uni- tute’s journals (Japanese-language journal, “Tetsu-to- versity collaborative human resources development, a study Hagané” and English-language journal, “ISIJ Interna- of the materials field is being carried out from September tional”), including ① establishment of a new e-journal sub- 2007. The ISIJ took part in as the secretariat of this com- scription system for “ISIJ International,” ② consolidation mittee with the cooperation of the Ministry of Economy, of the ISIJ’s bulletin Ferrum and Journal Tetsu-to-Hagané, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Ministry of Education, and ③ testing introduction of an e-system for paper contri- Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), which butions and their review. Beginning with the 155th ISIJ consists of members from universities and enterprises. Spring Meeting in March 2008, the collected papers, “Re- In the field of human resource development, the ISIJ has port of ISIJ Meeting” and “CAMP-ISIJ” will be available some programs on steelmaking technology for engineers in a CD-ROM format. and researchers. Addition to company human resource In FY2006 and 2007, the ISIJ served as the Secretariat of training programs, the ISIJ began steel-related seminars for the Material Strategy Committee (comprising government students as part. In 2007, 46 persons, first year students in agencies, the Cabinet Office, Independent Administrative Masters programs, participated in respective courses on Institutions, industry, scientific societies, etc.), and made ef- ironmaking, steelmaking, and materials. This well-received forts to identify topics for material strategy in line with seminar was conducted as a 3-day course which included Japan’s 3rd Science and Technology Basic Plan. presentations and discussion of research by the participants, tours of a steel works and laboratories, and other activities. 6.2. Technical Committees Securing the safety and health for workers is also an im- In the ISIJ, research on iron and steel production tech- portant issue in the steel industry. The accident frequency nologies and activities to increase awareness of important rate (number of deaths and injuries in occupational acci- technical development issues are centralized on the Techni- dents vs. aggregate number of work-hours per 1 000 000, cal Society. The classification and content of its activities including affiliated companies) for the steel divisions of are shown in Table 7. In particular, in the Technical Com- Japan’s major steel makers has improved, but still stands at mittees, which are engaged in activities proper to the ISIJ, 0.35, and the target of 0.1 is unachieved. From this view- industry-academic cooperation is promoted under a system point, it has been pointed out that industry efforts should be corresponding to the Divisions in the Academic Society, in taken to transfer not only of manufacturing technologies, which the Committees are divided into groups based on the but also of experimental technologies at works. content of their activities. Exchanges such as participation by university researchers in Committee Meetings and joint planning and mutual participation in operation with 6. Technology Creation Activities in the ISIJ the Academic Divisions, which have been promoted to 6.1. New Activities strengthen industry-academic collaboration, are taking firm The Division of Environmental and Energy Technology, root. which is included in the ISIJ’s Academic Society as an in- On the other hand, periodic activities are also actively terdisciplinary division, completed its 1st period (3 years) carried out in the Technical Committees. In FY2007, Com-

Table 7. Technology creation activities of Technical Committee, Interdisciplinary Technical Committee, and Research Group.

Table 8. Activities of the Technical Committees.

mittee Meetings were held, at which various timely themes ture given by a representative of Toho Gas. The plant were taken up as common/priority themes, as shown in tour of a different industry and lecture broadened the per- Table 8. As in FY2006, a total of 35 of these Meetings spectives of participants. were held (17 Spring Meetings, 18 Autumn Meetings), with • Refractories Committee: A fact-ﬁnding visit to Europe a total of 2 826 participants (total in FY 2006: 2 837). The was carried out in connection with an environmental sur- total number of university researchers participating in these vey of refractories, reconﬁrming the importance of the Meetings was approximately the same as in the previous refractory recycling. year (FY2007: 63, FY2006: 59). • Coated Steel Sheet Committee: Lectures by the professor Technical Subcommittees jointly study designated tech- of Tokyo Institute of Technology and a representative of nical issues on a priority basis. In FY 2007, a total of 22 of Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co., Ltd., and an accompany- these Technical Subcommittees were active, including 9 ing get-together were held as a meeting for young engi- newly established during the year, and developed positive neers. Because this event was comparatively small in technology creation activities. scale and limited to members of the same generation, it The main items are as follows. was favorably received from the viewpoint of building • Electric Furnace Committee: 7 former members of the personal relationship among peers. Committee talked on “Looking Back on the Electric Fur- • Heat Economy Technology Committee: As an event com- nace Committee (Expectations for Young Persons).” memorating the 110th Meeting of the Committee, special Their interesting recollections and encouragement were lectures entitled “History of the Committee and Outlook stimulating for participants. for Future Activities” were presented by the former Com- • Special Steel Committee: Accompanying the Committee mittee Chairman and the professor of the University of Meeting, members toured the Chita Midorihama Works Tokyo, followed by a panel discussion. Together with of- of Toho Gas Co., Ltd. and participated in a special lec- fering recommendations for the future activities of the

Committee, the enthusiastic panel discussion stimulated interdisciplinary, interindustry technical issues, is engaged participants. in activities with a term of less than 3 years. • Plant Engineering Committee: Quasi-academic Division The Desirable Steel Materials for Automobiles Interdis- activities were begun. These activities were started from ciplinary Technical Committee began its Phase V activities participation of university teachers in Technical Subcom- in FY2007 with the aim of grasping recent trends and is- mittees, etc. on an ongoing basis, with the aims of further sues related to automotive materials and their use inside improving the level of iron and steel equipment technol- and outside Japan. ogy by strengthening collaborative industry-academic activities, vitalizing research activities related to iron and 6.4. Research Groups steel equipment technology in universities, and activating A total of 24 Research Groups were active during the industry. FY2007, of which 7 completed their work in March 2008 • Analysis Technology Committee: An exchange meeting (end of FY2007). An outline of the Research Groups termi- between young engineers and researchers in analysis nated at the end of FY2007 is shown in Table 9. technology in the Academic Division was held. The A new research group system was begun in FY2007, event included multiple lectures by university professors under which research groups are classiﬁed as knowledge- and industry representatives. University researchers intensive type (Type A), technical development type (Type showed great interests in the presentations from the in- B), and search for new ﬁelds related to iron and steel type dustry side. In the free discussion session, there were (Type C). Six Research Groups are continuing activities many remarks from the industry side, thus creating an from FY2007, while 6 new Research Groups began activi- environment for a mutual exchange of information. ties in FY2008, as shown in Table 10. The themes of these Research Groups are “Green Energy Steelmaking,” 6.3. Interdisciplinary Technical Committees “Process Simulation for Dephosphorization of Pig Iron by The Interdisciplinary Technical Committees, which study Multi-Phases,” “Control of Non-Metallic Inclusion Proper-

Table 9. Research groups terminated in FY 2007.

Table 10. New research groups started in FY 2007.

ties in Solid Steel,” “Standardization of Steel Tube Forma- bility Test,” “Physical Metallurgy of High Temperature Ma- Acknowledgement terials,” and “Plant Management by Risk Assessment.” The authors wish to express their deep appreciation to all These topics span a diverse range of ﬁelds, including iron those concerned in the Iron and Steel Technology Ofﬁce, and steel manufacturing processes, ferrous materials, evalu- Iron and Steel Division, Manufacturing Industries Bureau, ation tests, plant risk assessment, etc. High expectations are Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Japan Iron placed on the results of these research efforts. and Steel Federation, and the ISIJ for their generous cooperation at all stages in the preparation of this report.

Production Technology Topics

“Production Technology Topics” present an outline of as shown in the figure, and is more durable than conven- noteworthy achievements in technical development, new tional ones. Through model experiments and numerical equipment, new products, etc. in 2007. simulations, it was discovered for the first time that the operational instability experienced 2 to 3 years after the com- 1. Blast Furnace mencement of operations is caused by the deformation of the inner wall in the blast furnace. The deformation is the Reline of Kakogawa No. 2 Blast Furnace result of wear in the refractor bricks. The new refractory Kobe Steel, Ltd. was developed based on these findings. After a careful ex- amination, the desired effects, those are suppressing of an Kobe Steel completed the 3rd reline work of No. 2 Blast increase in reducing agent rate and a decrease in pig iron Furnace at Kakogawa Works, which had been started in productivity due to operational instability, were finally con- June 2005, and the furnace was started by blow-in opera- firmed in 2006. tion on May 24, 2007. Prior to the blow-in, No. 1 Blast Fur- A blast furnace is a large chemical reactor where over 10 nace, which had been operated for 19 years since January thousand tons of pig iron is produced each day. The temper- 1988, was stopped on May 20. atures inside a blast furnace reach up to 2 000°C. Therefore, To ensure adaptability for iron production, the inner vol- the inner wall is constructed using refractory bricks and a ume of No. 2 Blast Furnace was extended from 3 850 to method for cooling (stave) to protect the body of the 5 400 m3. By optimizing the furnace profile, permeability furnace. In the conventional refractory structure, however, was improved to make stable operation, and then the world- operation becomes unstable 2 to 3 years after startup, and leading high pulverized coal injection (PCI) rate was im- large-scale repair work is needed in 7 to 8 years to replace proved further. Reducing the coke ratio and using cheaper the bricks and staves. Consequently, it was required to de- raw materials has been brought an efficacy of reducing the velop a new refractory structure that enabled a blast furnace operation cost. to have both stable operation and a long service life. To extend the furnace volume, the furnace mantle and The structure developed enables the stable operation casthouse were replaced with new design and PCI equip- of a blast furnace and provides longer service life (7 to ment capacity was improved. The top charging equipment 8 years→15 years). To date, the new structure has been consists of two bells, movable armor and the center coke adopted by 11 companies and is in use in 21 blast furnaces charging system that had been developed at Kakogawa located in Japan and overseas, contributing to substantial Works. cost improvement, effective use of energy and reduction of The furnace campaign life is expected to be 25 years carbon dioxide. through the accumulated operation technologies and installation of high thermal conductivity carbon brick for hearth, copper staves for stack and bosh, cast iron staves for throat. After 12 days later from the furnace blow-in, 10 000 t/d of iron production was achieved and has been continued high production since then.

Fig. Schematic structure of conventional and new developed staves.

2. Continuous Casting

The Development of New Continuous Casting Fig. External appearance of Kakogawa No. 2 Blast Furnace. Technologies for High Quality Steel Plates Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. Development of a Thin-Wall and Refractory Inte- grated Stave for Large Blast Furnaces Sumitomo Metal Industries have developed the method Nippon Steel Corporation to reduce porosities at slab center (PCCS) and the method to prevent transverse cracking with the surface structure In April 2007, Nippon Steel received the Commendation control cooling (SSC casting), which are new technologies for Science and Technology by the Minister of MEXT for of continuous casting for the production of high quality its newly developed and commercialized blast furnace steel plates, and then have made them practicable in No. 2 stave, which is refractory integrated having a thinner-wall, Continuous caster in Kashima Steelworks (Fig.).

The continuous casting of the slab for very thick plates VLCC “TAKAMINE” (Fig. 1) in 2004. In a periodical in- more than 100 mm in thickness with high quality, for exam- spection after two and a half years, when usual pits 4 to 10- ple, for the large-scale industrial machinery and for the off- plus mm deep requiring repairs should have occurred in shore drilling platforms had a limit in the application, be- considerable numbers, the bottom plates were found en- cause porosities at slab center cause a harmful effect on the tirely free from any repair-level pits; thus, ascertaining the quality of plates. So, these steel plates have been produced pronounced effect of this corrosion-resistance steel (Fig. 2). usually with the rolling mill after the slabbing of a large- This has also indicated a possibility of significant magni- sized ingot. In PCCS technology, center porosities can tude that repairs might be eliminated throughout the age of be effectively decreased to the allowable level by the roll a vessel. reduction on the slab just before complete solidification. Based on these results and an overall assessment of the Thus, the very thick plates have been manufactured, never-before-presented advantages derivable from the ap- through caster-rolling line. plication of this steel to the VLCC COT: namely, i) the im- Moreover, in the casting of steel plates for large heat proved safety and integrity of vessels producing the greatly input welding and high tensile strength, the transverse enhanced effect of preserving the global environment, ii) cracking of the slab surface has been a significant problem the elimination of protective coatings on steel, contributing for mass production. Transverse cracking is known to be to the easing of the problem of VOC (volatile organic com- caused by the brittleness around 900°C. In SSC casting, pounds) caused by coating materials and organic solvents, this brittleness is drastically dissolved by controlling mi- and iii) great possibilities for total elimination of major- crostructure of the slab surface with the precipitation of scale maintenance, such as repairs and changes of coatings, nano-size particles so that transverse cracking can be pre- Nippon Yusen has decided to apply NSGP®-1 to all of its vented. Consequently, the schedule of the inspection and VLCCs to be built in the future, including the five for slab conditioning has been able to be omitted. SSC casting which orders have already been placed. technology won “Prime Minister Prize of the 2nd Mon- odzukuri Nippon Grand Award” of Ministry Economy, Trade and Industry on 10th, August, 2007.

Fig. 1. NSGP®-1 was applied to VLCC “TAKAMINE”.

Fig. The application of new technologies in No. 2 Continuous caster in Kashima Steelworks.

3. Heavy Plate

The World’s First Successful Development and Commercialization of High Corrosion Resistance and Pitting Resistance Sheet Steel for VLCC Nippon Steel Corporation Fig. 2. Results of the application test to “TAKAMINE”. Nippon Steel and Nippon Yusen K.K. have jointly developed high-corrosion-resistance and pitting-resistance sheet YP 460 MPa Class High Strength Steel for Hull steel (“NSGP®-1”) for the bottom of cargo oil tanks (COT) Structures of very large crude carriers. JFE Steel Corporation The corrosion of the COT bottom is a pitting phenome- non, which occurs at a rate of about 4 mm/y maximum The size of container ships has been recently growing up when the solidified crude film, which originally guards the for efficiency of marine transportation, and the thicker steel COT inside against corrosion, becomes reduced in thick- plates have been used for the hull structures. Using thicker ness in places due to cleaning, causing detention of the steel plates prevent the weight reduction of the ship and im- high-concentration rock-salt-dissolved water contained in provement of efficiency in construction. the crude on the bottom plate. Nippon Steel, succeeding in JFE Steel has developed yield strength 460 MPa class the reproduction of corrosive environments such as this and high strength steel plates in cooperation with IHI Marine finding the optimum combination of the kinds and amounts United Inc. The steel has been approved by Nippon Kaiji of alloying elements to be added, applied this developed Kyokai as materials for hull, and the steel plate with maxi- steel, on a trial basis, to the six COT bottom plates of a mum thickness 60 mm in current use is under the applica-

723 © 2008 ISIJ ISIJ International, Vol. 48 (2008), No. 6 tion to actual ships. temperature toughness, guaranteeing Charpy impact energy The developed steel has much higher yield strength than at 40°C and also has high resistance to delayed fracture, conventional YP 390 MPa class steel, therefore reduction of which is one of the most important factors for commercial- thickness of plate is possible in hull structures. The weight ization of these ultra high strength steels. Furthermore, the reduction of a very large container ship contributes to the developed steel shows excellent weldability due to the low decrease of the transportation energy and the construction carbon content and low carbon equivalent design. cost, and also environmental loads become small. JFE Steel has already started providing samples of this In general, toughness and weldability of steel plates new product “JFE-HYD1100LE” and expects that this decreases as its thickness became thicker and also as its newly developed product will be utilized as the structural strength become higher. The JFE EWEL® technology for member of the large construction and industrial machinery improving the toughness of weldment and Super-OLAC® at an accelerating pace. are applied to solve this problem. Toughness and weldability of the newly developed steel are better than the equal to those of conventional steels, and large heat input welding, which is high efﬁcient welding method, can be applied. The safety against brittle fracture is secured by the improved structure of weld joint and the good performance of base metal.

Fig. JFE EWEL® technology for improving the toughness of weldment.

Development of Ultra High Strength Steel Plate “JFE-HYD1100LE” with High Resistance to Delayed Fig. Uniform distribution of fine cementite and improvement Fracture for Construction and Industrial Machin- of delayed fracture resistance by ausforming and rapid ery heating and tempering. JFE Steel Corporation 4. Bar Steel and Wire Rod Construction and industrial machinery such as crane has expanded in scale and is now being used in increasing se- Construction of the Steel Bar Conditioning Line vere environments. As a consequence, the market needs for Which Considering the Environmental Contribu- ultra high strength steel plates with excellent toughness tion have recently been growing. On the other hand, toughness, Aichi Steel Corporation weldability and delayed fracture resistance generally deteri- orate as steel materials are strengthened. Therefore, it has At the Chita plant of Aichi Steel Corporation, the new been expected to develop ultra high strength steel plates conditioning line of small and medium size steel bar was with excellent low temperature toughness, excellent weld- constructed in March 2007 (Fig. 1). This line has been rein- ability and high resistance to delayed fracture. forced the organization of quality assurance by a highly ef- To meet these market needs, JFE Steel has developed YP ficient non-destructive test system. 1 100 MPa class steel plate for construction and machinery It greatly contributed to the environment by eliminating “JFE-HYD®1100LE,” following the development of YP the materials handling loss between the rolling line and 960 MPa class steel plate “JFE-HYD® 960LE,” which has conditioning line. Furthermore, the heavy muscular work- been commercialized since 2005. The characteristics of the material design applied to the developed steel are microstructure refinement and cementite refinement by the combination of ausforming and rapid heating and tempering. Ausforming is a thermomechanical treatment which quenches work-hardened austenite. Rapid heating and tempering is performed using the Heat-treatment On-line Process (HOP®). Due to the application of this new microstructure control technology, the newly developed steel shows excellent low Fig. 1. Layout of new conditioning lines.

© 2008 ISIJ 724 ISIJ International, Vol. 48 (2008), No. 6 ing has been reduced by introducing automatic flaw-grind- During the course of research work to develop a new ing robots. grade of free cutting steel without an addition of lead, we The best feature of new conditioning line is to collect have noticed that a built-up edge growing on the contact two dispersed prime conditioning lines, and install them be- surface of a tool during cutting operation should be stably side the rolling line. Moreover, rolling line and condition- minimized, as in case of lead-containing free cutting steels. ing line are directly connected by using a new water-cool- This effect can be realized if sulfide particles in steels are ing system. And it has made possible the material handling carefully controlled in terms of their shape and distribution. loss eliminated. Thanks to this technology, we could reduce This has been achieved in our newly developed steel named the number of yard tracks by 10% and the CO2 discharge “Smigreen CS”, where sulfide particles are morphologi- from the tracks conveyance. cally controlled into a spherical shape and evenly dispersed. The vacant ground where were used for old conditioning Smigreen CS is favorably compared with a conventional line is utilized as a forging plant. And the minimization of leaded free cutting steel (AISI 12L14) in terms of surface materials handling loss of forging parts is available. finish and chip breakability under the equivalent cutting Moreover, also in consideration of the improvement of condition. We expected that this non-leaded free cutting working environment, the automatic flaw-grinding robots, steel is widely used and accepted in the market as the envi- which is based on the general-purpose robot, was devel- ronmentally-friendly free cutting steel. oped, and the flaw-grinding work of the steel bars, which is also one of the heaviest muscular working, has been auto- mated. We equipped the general-purpose robot with the high frequency grinder, and devised the mechanism and enriched the program. Then the robot behaves same as the human worker. We could achieve the surface quality which our cus- tomers are satisfied with (Fig. 2). We would like to continue reforming the manufacturing process by performing our total technical capabilities in consistent process from steel-making to forging. The process reforming should have the priority on reducing the load to environment. Fig. 1. Comparison of characteristics between Smigreen CS and AISI 12L14.

Super High Strength Valve Spring Steel, KHV12N Kobe Steel, Ltd.

Valve springs for automobiles are subject to high re- peated loads and are required to be reliable for a long period of time. To reduce fuel consumption and to downsize engines, valve springs are designed for higher stress and, thus, there is a need for spring steels having higher fatigue strengths. Kobe Steel developed a super high strength steel grade KHV12N, having a higher fatigue strength and sag Fig. 2. Flaw grinding robot. resistance, compared to those of conventional high strength steel (KHV10N). Development of a New Low Carbon Non-leaded The design concept and the main features of the devel- Free Cutting Steel oped steel are as follows. The increased contents of Cr and Sumitomo Metals (Kokura), Ltd. and V, w hich increase the surface hardness and residual com- Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. pressive stress after nitriding, improves the fatigue strength. The increased contents of Si, Cr and V improves the soften- Sumitomo Metals (Kokura) and Sumitomo Metal Indus- ing resistance during the stress relief annealing and high tries have developed and achieved the practical use of a new temperature nitriding after spring forming, improving the low carbon free cutting steel in which lead, one of the major sag resistance. The increased V content, with an optimized environmental burden species, is removed. heat treatment, controls super fine grains, improving both Low carbon free cutting steels are widely used for oil hy- properties of the sag resistance and the toughness of the draulics machine parts, such as automobile brake parts, and high strength. A new method for controlling the composi- office automation equipment parts, such as printer rails and tions of inclusions has decreased deleterious non-metallic rods. Since these parts are produced by cutting operation inclusions which may cause fatigue fracture. The reliability with a multiple spindle automatic lathe or a NC lathe, steel of springs is thus improved. materials for them have to have such characteristics as can KHV12N is positioned to be the highest strength among offer smoother surface finish after cutting, and easily break- Kobe Steel’s high strength valve spring steels. Its fatigue able chips during cutting. strength is about 10% higher than that of KHV10N, and the

725 © 2008 ISIJ ISIJ International, Vol. 48 (2008), No. 6 amount of sag (residual shear strain) is reduced to about 2/3 5. Instrumentation, Control and System En- of that of KHV10N. KHV12N reduces the weight of a gineering spring by 13% and the height by 8% compared to KHV10N (Fig.), contributing to weight reductions, down- Development of IT Operation Support System sizing and improved performance of valve trains. KHV12N Nippon Steel Corporation enables engines to rotate at higher speeds while reducing fuel consumptions. This steel grade is applicable to high Nippon Steel, with the objective of keeping up with the strength valve springs and other part, such as clutch current period of the massive retirement of veteran opera- springs, in which high fatigue strength and sag resistance tors, as represented by “the 2007 problem” in Japan, has are required. developed and commercialized the “IT Operation Support System,” using advanced information technology. This system was awarded the Fourth Nikkei Manufacturing Grand Prize in November 2007. It is a system for the accumulation, analysis and utilization of day-to-day know-how and knowledge from production sites. It has been realized by the integration of i) the technology of production-memo information digitalization, ii) the technology of know-how storage and utilization, iii) the technology of equipment inspection support, and iv) the technology of advanced opera- Fig. Comparison between conventional steel and developed steel. tion analysis putting pictures and data together. Operators perform monitoring, inspection, maintenance, Ultra-high Tensile Suspension Spring Steel, UHS1970 work planning and various other tasks while traveling around Kobe Steel, Ltd. production sites. Thus, a computer system was needed to allow operator-to-operator speech communication. But, the Kobe Steel has developed a new suspension spring steel production floor is a high-noise-level environment, making grade, UHS1970, enhances suspension spring design stress it impossible to use conventional general-purpose speech to 1 300 MPa (maximum shear stress). Kobe Steel has com- recognition technologies. Therefore, we have developed, on mercialized UHS1900, enhanced suspension spring design our own, “ear-microphone headset” whereby speech sounds stress to 1 200 MPa as satisfying both high strength and en- from the inner ear are transmitted wirelessly to the mobile vironmental embrittlement resistance mainly such as corro- phone terminal, and we have also developed the correspon- sion fatigue resistance since 1997. Lately needs for down ding special speech-recognition engine, so that free-hand sizing and lightening the weight of suspension springs are operation can be performed. rising for the reduction of fuel consumption, the enlarge- By use of this IT Operation Support System, transmis- ment of cabin space, and the protection of pedestrians in sion of skills and technology is being accelerated with traffic accidents. Therefore, Kobe Steel has developed fur- greater ease and work efficiency has been improved. thermore higher strength spring steel, UHS1970. Concerning the chemical compositions of UHS1970, with increasing C and Si contents in order to raise the strength of spring materials, the formations of corrosion pits in the corrosion environment are able to be minimal- ized with the balance of the addition of alloying elements. Furthermore hydrogen embrittlement resistance in the corrosion environment is able to be improved with controlling the precipitation of alloying carbides. This newly developed steel grade is positioned to be the Fig. Left. Stored know-how is displayed on the screen at a pro- highest strength suspension spring steel in the series of duction site and utilized as guidance. Right. An ear-micro- Kobe Steel’s suspension spring steels. UHS1970 is ex- phone headset and a mobile phone terminal, realizing speech recognition amid ambient noise. pected to contribute for the furthermore down sizing and lightening the weight of automobile suspension springs. 6. Testing and Analysis

Life Prediction Method for Perforation Corrosion of Coated Steel Sheets in Actual Automobiles JFE Steel Corporation

Many types of coated steel sheets were developed as a countermeasure for corrosion of automobiles in areas where de-icing salt is used. Perforation corrosion, which occurs in lapped portion where steel sheets are joined, is difﬁcult to detect by inspection and also to be repaired. Fig. Relationship between steel grade and spring design stress. Therefore, coated steel sheets play an important role in pre-

© 2008 ISIJ 726 ISIJ International, Vol. 48 (2008), No. 6 venting this problem. In general, accelerated corrosion with harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as tests, represented by CCT (Combined Cyclic corrosion trichloroethylene (TCE). In addition, Kobe Steel developed Test), are used for development and selection of coated the steel powder “ECOMEL” for cleaning up polluted water steel sheets. However, it was difﬁcult to predict corrosion with heavy metal such as arsenic or the selenium. resistance in actual automobiles because a large number of “ECOMEL” for VOCs treatment is largely enhanced its corrosion test conditions exist and the relative corrosion re- ability of dehalogenation of VOCs compared with regular sistance of various materials changes depending on the con- steel powder by optimizing the alloy element of steel pow- ditions. der, and can dehalogenate VOCs rapidly by normal temper- In order to analyze the corrosion mechanism of coated ature and normal pressure (Fig. 1). steel sheets in automobiles, JFE Steel Corporation has col- “ECOMEL” for arsenic treatment is specially designed lected automobiles which were used in snow belt area. In the chemistry for heavy metal, and has remarkably high ar- this analysis, it was found that the perforation corrosion senic adsorption performance compared with regular steel process of coated steel sheets could be divided into 4 stages powder (Table 1). (t1–t4), which are characterized respectively as following. The zinc coating itself is corroded (t1). The zinc coating is corroded sacriﬁcially (t2). Corrosion of the substrate steel is suppressed by the zinc corrosion product (t3). The substrate steel begins to be corroded, and ultimately this corrosion reaches perforation (t4). Based on this corrosion process, JFE Steel developed a new method for predicting the perforation corrosion resistance of coated steel sheets in actual automobiles using accelerated corrosion tests. A new index called PCI (Perfora- tion Corrosion Index), which is the ratio of the corrosion rate of the zinc coating and that of the substrate steel, is applied in this method to evaluate the correlation between corrosion in accelerated corrosion tests and in automobiles. Fig. 1. VOC treatment by “ECOMEL”. Besides, it was found that the perforation corrosion resistance of new coated steel sheets in actual automobiles can Table 1. Arsenic treatment by “ECOMEL”. be predicted by evaluating the relationship between PCI and protective effect of coating, E ((t1t2t3)/t4). This prediction method is expected to be applied to the proper and quick development of new coated steel sheets for automobiles.

8. Miscellaneous

Excellent Heat-resistant Stainless Steel NAR-AH-7 in Oxidizing Gas Atmospheres Containing High Humidity Sumitomo Metals (Naoetsu), Ltd.

Sumitomo Metals (Naoetsu) developed a heat resistant stainless steel NAR-AH-4 (AH4) about ten years ago. It has excellent properties in oxidation resistance, high temperature strength, good microstructural phase stability, and weldability. It has been widely applied for high-temperature components in the thermal power plants, chemical plants, automotive exhaust system, and industrial furnaces. This Fig. 1. Example of prediction results for perforation corrosion of steel was registered as ASME Code Case 2430 in January coated steel sheets in actual automobiles using PCI. 2005. Environment-friendly plants are not always operated 7. Environment under material-friendly service conditions. For example, in the fuel cell system, one of the ecological power generator, “ECOMEL”, Steel Powder for Environmental Reme- high temperature and high humidity exhaust gas causes se- diation vere oxidation and deterioration to the structural materials. Kobe Steel, Ltd. The stainless steel superior to AH4 in oxidation resistance is needed for such severe condition plants. Kobe Steel developed and sells the steel powder NAR-AH-7 is a new stainless steel with excellent oxida-

“ECOMEL” suitable for cleaning up polluted soil and water tion resistance especially in high H2O gas environments. As

727 © 2008 ISIJ ISIJ International, Vol. 48 (2008), No. 6 shown in the ﬁgure below, the new steel shows better oxida- this alloy after heat treatment is at the same level as that of tion resistance than SUS310S, a conventional stainless annealed Ti–6Al–4V. steel, at 900°C in a gas atmosphere containing 16% H2O. (3) Production of Cold Strip Compared with AH4, increase of (CrNi) contents reduce SSAT-35 strip can be cold rolled, so that thin sheet of the oxidation sensitivity to humidity, and addition of rare earth alloy can be produced at lower cost than Ti–6Al–4V which metals, the same technology as AH4, is effective to reduce is very difﬁcult to be cold rolled to a thin strip. the spalling of the oxide scale. NAR-AH-7 has been applied as high-temperature components for heat exchanger and heating furnace. It will be widely applied for various usage to contribute to the solution of the global environmental problems.

Fig. 2. Tensile strength.

Mo Hybrid-alloyed Steel Powder to Improve Fa- tigue Strength of Sintered Parts JFE Steel Corporation Fig. Cross section microstructures of samples after oxidation test (3%O2–9%CO2–16%H2O–bal.N2 exhaust gas, 900°C 500 h). JFE Steel has developed the Mo hybrid-alloyed steel powder, which gives sintered parts with improved fatigue Development of New Titanium Alloy with Excel- strength by a conventional mesh-belt furnace sintering at a lent Balance of Formability with Strength temperature of 1 200°C or less. Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. High fatigue strength sintered parts have been produced conventionally by double-pressing and double-sintering Sumitomo Metal Industries has developed a new ab method or high temperature sintering method. However, type titanium alloy “SSAT-35”, which contains 3% Alu- these methods have raised production costs because of their minum and 5% Vanadium by weight. This alloy has excel- lower productivity. lent balance of formability with strength. Usually ab The Mo hybrid-alloyed steel powder, containing 0.6% type titanium alloys such as Ti–6Al–4V have poor cold Mo in total, have the heterogeneous particle structure: Mo- formability so that it is very difficult to produce a cold strip. rich regions discretely distributed on the surface of the However SSAT-35 has enough cold formability to be cold Fe–0.45%Mo prealloyed steel powder particle. The reduc- rolled to a strip. The characteristics of the alloy are as fol- tion of green density due to solution hardening is sup- lows. pressed due to its lower prealloyed Mo content. Moreover, (1) Formability Mo-rich regions form the alpha-iron phase with high diffu- Bending property as cold formability of SSAT-35 is bet- sivity at the sintering temperature and promote sintering ter than that of Ti–6Al–4V and at the same level as com- efficiently. From these effects, the conventional mesh-belt mercial pure titanium as shown in Fig. 1, which indicates furnace sintered, carburized, quenched and tempered (CQT) this alloy possesses good cold formability. specimen made of this Mo hybrid-alloyed steel powder Moreover, the microstructure of SSAT-35, ultrafine as shows a higher fatigue strength than that made of the Mo about 1 mm in diameter, is much finer than those of other prealloyed steel powder with the same total Mo content ab type titanium alloys, so that the optimum superplas- (Fig.). ticity of the alloy occurs at 750–800°C which is about The Mo hybrid-alloyed steel powder has been applied as 150°C lower than that of Ti–6Al–4V and with the high a raw material of a high strength part for automotive en- strain rate which is about one hundred times that of gines, and yields improvements of sintering cost and pro- Ti–6Al–4V. Therefore this alloy also has excellent hot ductivity in manufacturing process. workability. (2) Tensile Properties SSAT-35 possesses higher strength than commercial pure titanium and Ti–3Al–2.5V which is one of ab type titanium alloy as shown in Fig. 2. Furthermore, the strength of

Fig. Rotating bending fatigue strength of the mesh-belt sintered Fig. 1. Cold formability (bending property). and CQT specimens.