The Latest News about Stainless Steel Industry 2025.6

1. China Baowu Tops 2024 Global Steel Production Ranking with 130 Million Tons

On June 6, 2025, the World Steel Association released the 2024 ranking of major global steel-producing companies. China Baowu ranked first with 130 million tons. Tsingshan Holding Group ranked 25th with 16 million tons. A total of 28 Chinese steel enterprises, including China Steel Corporation (Taiwan, China), made the list.

2. JISCO Hongxing (600307.SH): JISCO's Iron-Nickel Alloy Successfully Enters Aerospace Sector

Jiuquan Iron and Steel (Group) Hongxing Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. (600307.SH) stated at its performance briefing that its iron-nickel alloy has successfully entered the aerospace field. Its high-temperature molten salt-resistant stainless steel for Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) generation is being supplied in bulk to multiple CSP high-temperature molten salt storage tank projects in the surrounding region. Zinc-aluminum-magnesium coated strip products for photovoltaic panel frames have been successfully used in internal projects. The company has established the production process for wear-resistant non-magnetic steel and developed high-strength non-magnetic round steel, achieving sales.

3. Major Global Stainless Supplier Indonesia Tsingshan Park Announces Production Cut Plan

Comprehensive News, June 7, 2025: Recently, Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel Park (ITSS), a major global stainless steel supplier, announced plans to implement production cuts. According to Indonesian sources, ITSS will reduce 50,000 tons of 200-series stainless steel production. Monthly 300-series stainless steel capacity will be reduced from 420,000 tons to 360,000-370,000 tons. Concurrently, Indonesian Yongwang Stainless Steel Co., Ltd. (PT. YWSS), a company within the park, initiated a two-and-a-half-month maintenance shutdown in May, with actual production that month falling below half of normal levels.

ITSS stated that this production cut primarily targets cold-rolling production lines, while other processes will maintain normal operations. Current global stainless steel demand remains persistently sluggish. Chinese steel mills have successively implemented production cuts, slightly alleviating market supply pressure, but the overall market remains oversupplied.

4. TISCO Deepens Cooperation with Andritz, Expected Supply Volume to Exceed 1500 Tons in 2025

Recently, cooperation between TISCO Group and the globally renowned technology company Andritz has yielded further results. TISCO formed a specialized production-sales-research team to tackle challenges and successfully developed 1500mm wide S32304 duplex stainless steel cold-rolled sheets in 2023, breaking China's production width limit for this steel grade. The performance indicators reached internationally advanced levels, completely replacing imported products. In 2024, TISCO supplied 630 tons to Andritz, with supply volume expected to exceed 1500 tons in 2025.

5. International Standard ISO 8074 "Aerospace - Surface Treatment of Stainless Steel Parts" Released

Recently, the international standards ISO 8074 "Aerospace - Surface treatment of austenitic stainless steel parts" and ISO 8075 "Aerospace - Surface treatment of precipitation hardening stainless steel parts", developed under the leadership of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) within the International Organization for Standardization Technical Committee ISO/TC20/SC18 (Materials for Aerospace Construction), were officially released. These two international standards will further optimize stainless steel surface treatment process technologies, ensure consistency in the quality of part surface treatment, thereby enhancing the corrosion and oxidation resistance of aerospace equipment, promoting the R&D and industrialization of key green manufacturing technologies for global aerospace vehicles, and improving the quality of aerospace equipment.

6. Major Breakthrough Achieved in Optimizing Fatigue Resistance of Bearing Steel

Recently, the Institute of Metal Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has made major breakthroughs in the optimization of anti-fatigue performance of bearing steel. The results were published in Acta Materialia and JMST, and a systematic theoretical framework of "inclusion control-strength-toughness matching-interface optimization" was constructed, opening up new paths for the research and development of high-end bearing materials such as aerospace and rail transportation.

Cracking the mystery of "stress trap"

In view of the problem that the fatigue strength of high-strength steel has long been limited by the stress concentration of inclusions, the team systematically revealed the mechanism of the influence of inclusions on fatigue life, and found that the fatigue damage coefficient of Al₂O₃ is 30% higher than that of TiN, providing a theoretical basis for the precise control of nitrogen and oxygen in the smelting process.

Inclusions in metal materials are like "micro stress amplifiers". The research team found that under the same size: the stress concentration effect of Al₂O₃ inclusions (aluminum oxide) is 30% higher than that of TiN (titanium nitride). It is equivalent to burying micro blades of different "sharpness" inside the material. This explains why it is necessary to precisely control the nitrogen and oxygen content in steel: reducing the formation of inclusions is equivalent to passivating the "invisible blade" inside the material.

Establishing a "fatigue safety warning line"

The team innovatively proposed the "critical inclusion size criterion for fatigue cracking", established a quantitative relationship between tensile strength, fracture toughness and inclusion size, and achieved strong and tough synergistic optimization. Through rare earth modification technology, the size of inclusions is significantly reduced and the interface deformation capacity is improved. Combined with heat treatment optimization, the tension-tension and tension-compression fatigue strengths of GCr15 bearing steel are successfully increased to 1600MPa and 1103MPa respectively. 1600MPa is approximately equal to the pressure exerted on one square meter at a depth of 160,000 meters; 1103MPa is equivalent to the pressure on the base of Mount Everest. These two items are 4% and 10% higher than the existing world records of fatigue strength, respectively, achieving a leap in fatigue performance.

This is like the earthquake-resistant design of buildings: both the strength of steel bars and the toughness of concrete are required, and the two need to be precisely balanced.

Rare earth modified "interface revolution"

Through the addition of rare earth elements, a triple breakthrough has been achieved:

1. Inclusion slimming: the average size is reduced by about 40%.

2. Interface flexibility: forming a deformable interface layer (similar to a rubber gasket).

3. Stress buffering: reducing local stress concentration by about 25%.

This is equivalent to putting on a "buffering protective suit" for each tiny defect.

It is reported that this breakthrough not only rewrites the fatigue strength limit of high-strength steel, but also establishes a systematic methodology of "defect control-interface design-performance optimization", providing a material basis for the independent research and development of key components such as high-speed rail bearings and aircraft engines. In the future, this "material gene editing" technology is expected to be extended to more alloy systems, pushing China's high-end equipment manufacturing into the "ultra-long standby" era.