Recently, at the Ceremony for the 24th WIPO-CNIPA Awards for Chinese Outstanding Patented Inventions, the invention patent “Creep-resistant and Long-life Nickel-based Wrought Superalloy and Its Preparation Method and Application”, which belongs to patentees Beijing Beiye Functional Materials Corporation and China United Gas Turbine Technology Co., Ltd., won the Gold Award for Chinese Patents. Jointly issued by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), this is the highest award in the field of intellectual property in China. Shougang was the only steel enterprise among the winners of Gold Awards for Chinese Patents this year. At the same time, two patents of Beijing Shougang Co., Ltd. won the Excellence Award for Chinese Patents: “A Non-oriented Electrical Steel and Its Preparation Method and Application” and “A Method and Device for Determining Transmission Torque of Cold-rolling Mill”.

As the core hot-end component of a gas turbine, the combustion chamber bears the comprehensive action of thermal stress, heat corrosion, aerodynamic load and vibration load at ultra-high temperatures for extended periods, with the local temperature reaching as high as 1,700°C (coating). This service environment is extremely harsh, so the requirements for materials are extremely strict. Previously, superalloy materials used in the combustion chambers of advanced heavy-duty gas turbines were long monopolized by foreign countries. Western countries implemented strict export control on such materials, and strict patent barriers led to the dilemma of “no materials available” for the core hot-end components of advanced heavy-duty gas turbines in China. To realize the independent development of heavy-duty gas turbines, the “bottleneck” of advanced superalloy materials first had to be overcome.

China United Gas Turbine Technology Co., Ltd. cooperated with the Beijing Beiye Functional Materials Corporation to successfully make breakthroughs in a series of key technologies such as component design optimization, high-purity smelting and casting, and fine control of the alloy structure through several rounds of iterations such as laboratory research, pilot plant test, industrial trial production and application, pioneering a next-generation high-grade nickel-based deformed superalloy composition system and its processing and preparation technologies, overcoming technical problems such as the ultra-low content control of oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur in superalloys recognized by the global metallurgical industry, and developing a new generation of creep-resistant and long-life nickel-based deformed superalloys for the combustion chambers of heavy-duty gas turbines with completely independent intellectual property rights, which ultimately took seven years. Many key mechanical properties of the products including high-temperature creep performance, high-temperature endurance life, high-temperature fatigue life and high-temperature strength are significantly superior to those of superalloys previously used in the most advanced combustion chambers in the world, with the overall performance reaching the international leading level. At present, these patented products have been serialized and put into mass industrial production, including five varieties and more than 20 specifications covering wide thin plates, thick plates, special-shaped forgings, ring parts and welding materials. They have been applied to the first combustion chamber of a heavy-duty gas turbine designed and manufactured independently in China, which has realized the high-level self-reliance of advanced superalloy materials. In addition to being used in gas turbines, these patented products have been popularized and applied in key fields such as aerospace engines, hydrogen gas turbines, nuclear power stations, coal-fired power stations and key components of automobile engines, demonstrating their broad application prospects. The successful development and application of related products have supported the successful development and stable service of major national equipment such as key aero-engines, Long March 5B high-thrust carrier rockets and Chang’e-4 detectors in China, achieving remarkable economic and social benefits.

The patented item “A Non-oriented Electrical Steel and Its Preparation Method and Application” completed by Beijing Shougang Co., Ltd. is a core patent that solves the contradiction between the improvement of strength and deterioration of magnetic performance in high-strength non-oriented electrical steel. The series of products developed greatly promotes the technological progress of high-grade non-oriented electrical steel and meets the special requirements of high-speed motors, represented by the drive motors of new energy vehicles, for soft magnetic materials. Based on this patented technical product, the Chinese Society for Metals organized an evaluation of its technical achievements, and it was agreed that the item has reached the leading level in the world. It involves the development of industry-leading non-oriented electrical steel with high strength, high electromagnetic properties, high elongation and low iron loss, overcoming the technical bottleneck in which it is difficult to balance the strength and magnetic properties of high-strength non-oriented electrical steel, promoting the technical progress of high-performance non-oriented electrical steel and advancing the transformation, upgrading and high-quality development of the steel and iron material industry.

The patented item “A Method and Device for Determining Transmission Torque of Cold-rolling Mill” completed by Beijing Shougang Co., Ltd. provides a new method and device for accurately determining the transmission torque of a cold-rolling mill. A torque loss model of a rolling mill is put forward on the basis of processing, analyzing and calculating the test data of torque loss at multiple rolling speeds. This significantly improves the calculation accuracy of the rolling force model and transmission torque accuracy of the electrical steel cold rolling mill, and improves the qualification rate of electrical steel products through the optimization of the control model. At present, the technology of the invention has been successfully applied to the production and preparation of electrical steel, and the produced electrical steel products provide strong support for realizing the national “dual carbon” goals.

According to a relevant report, 29 Gold Awards, 60 Silver Awards and 777 Excellence Awards were awarded at the WIPO-CNIPA Awards for Chinese Outstanding Patented Inventions this year.