Scientists from the Zlatoust Branch of South Ural State University have developed and successfully conducted tests of a technology of mass production of special steel for the fuel and energy complex. Import-substituting products, which were previously supplied only from Europe, will now be produced by Zlatoust Metallurgical Plant, says Andrey Anikeev, Deputy Director of the SUSU Zlatoust Branch.
“Until 2021, the mining industry imported ready-made pipes for drilling during geological exploration, as well as for the petrochemical and oil refining industries from Europe. Such products could not be made in Russia since the needed raw material (special steel) was not produced here. Zlatoust Metallurgical Plant has won the competition for introduction of these steels into production, and we have developed a technology for melting and deformation, and have recently successfully tested the mass production of rolled products and forgings at the plant’s facilities,” said the scientist.
Andrey Anikeev explains that he is talking about steel grades Super Duplex 25Cr and Staballoy AG17. They were supplied from Austria, Germany and Italy.
“At the plant, a number of melts of both grades in furnaces with a capacity of 12 tons or less has been done. All the resulting ingots have been rolled and forged using various modes, as a result of which the necessary properties of the metal have been obtained,” says Deputy Director of the SUSU Branch.
According to him, starting from 2024, Zlatoust Metallurgical Plant will be fully technically ready to fulfil orders for the mass production of steel of these grades.
South Ural State University is focused on interdisciplinary projects in the field of digital industry, materials science and ecology. In 2021 SUSU became the winner in the competition under the Priority 2030 program. The university performs functions of the regional project office of the World-class Ural Interregional Research and Education Centre for Advanced Industrial Technologies and Materials (UIREC), created to combine the potential of educational and scientific organizations of the real sector of the Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk and Kurgan regions under the Science and Universities national project.