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From cars to bridges: How does hot-rolled steel underpin every aspect of modern society?
2025-05-27
In the waters between Zhuhai and Hong Kong, in the immersed tube tunnel of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the world's longest cross-sea bridge, tens of thousands of tons of hot-rolled steel resist the erosion of seawater and the impact of ocean currents with amazing strength and toughness. In the Shanghai Tesla Super Factory, a 6,000-ton super die-casting machine, the world's largest, is hot-rolled steel platesinto an integrated chassis for new energy vehicles. From traffic arteries to industrial skeletons, from city skylines to energy networks, hot-rolled Steel Sheet and coil, an "old material" born in the 19th century, is continuing to write the legend of supporting modern civilization with an innovative attitude.
Industrial Revolution of Hot-rolled Steel: When Molten Steel Meets Intelligence
Walking into the 2250mm Hot Rolling production line of China's steel base, the steel billet undergoes 12 processes such as rough rolling, finishing rolling, and laminar cooling at a high temperature of 1200℃. It only takes 7 minutes for the thickness of 230mm to change to a 1.2mm hot rolled coil. This world's most advanced production line can produce 5.5 million tons of hot-rolled coil per year, enough to build 400 Eiffel Towers.
At present, China's annual output of hot-rolled steel exceeds 600 million tons, accounting for 57% of the world's total output.
Infrastructure
32,000 tons of hot-rolled H-shaped steel form the skeleton of the steel roof of Beijing Daxing International Airport. The error of each 25-meter-long H-shaped steel is no more than 1 mm, so that 60,000 glass curtain walls can be perfectly spliced.
In the field of new energy, in the wind power base in Hami, Xinjiang, the 120-meter-high wind turbine tower is experiencing the extreme cold of -40℃. The conical cylinder section made of hot-rolled steel plate has a low-temperature impact toughness of more than 120J through online quenching technology, ensuring the stable transmission of clean energy. According to data from the State Grid, 78% of the newly built UHV transmission towers in 2023 will use hot-rolled angle steel, and its economy reduces the construction cost per kilometer by 15%.
While new materials such as 3D printing and carbon fiber are attracting attention, this seemingly traditional industrial cornerstone is evolving at a rate of more than 300 patents per year, silently supporting human civilization to climb to a higher dimension. As stated in the London Design Museum's "Invisible Materials" special exhibition: "We are building not only a steel forest, but also an ecological system with innovation as its gene."