Over the years, China's roller manufacturing industry has experienced development stages such as developing supporting rollers for the introduction of rolling mills, achieving localization of roller manufacturing, and exporting high-end rollers in batches. At present, it has formed a complete roller manufacturing system, becoming a major roller manufacturing country in the world, and has cultivated Sinosteel Xingji, the world's largest roller production capacity, and a group of roller manufacturing enterprises with relatively obvious professional advantages.

However, experts pointed out that although we have made significant breakthroughs in some roller manufacturing technologies, and some roller varieties have reached or exceeded the level of similar foreign products, the overall level of the industry is uneven, and some high-end products still rely on imports. Therefore, it is necessary to continuously enhance the independent innovation ability, accelerate scientific and technological progress, and speed up the research and development of new products in order to enhance the competitiveness of our roller in the international market.

Rapid improvement of equipment level and increasingly advanced production technology

In the face of the rapid development of the steel industry, Chinese roller manufacturing enterprises have continuously increased capital investment and accelerated the pace of technological transformation. The transformation of technical equipment has greatly improved the internal quality of rollers in China, and has directly promoted the progress of roller manufacturing technology. At present, the centrifugal composite casting process has become an advanced process commonly used by roller manufacturing enterprises in China.

In order to shorten the production cycle and improve the performance of rollers, heat treatment has become the core technology for roller manufacturers to improve their market competitiveness. For example, in recent years, through the adoption of the triple molten steel smelting technology of electric furnace smelting+ladle refining+electroslag remelting, electroslag ingot forging and forming technology, as well as international first-class advanced heat treatment technologies such as dual frequency quenching, liquid nitrogen cryogenic treatment, high, medium, and low temperature tempering, the depth of the hardening layer of the working layer of the Cr3, Cr5, and Cr8 series forged steel cold rolls has been nearly three times higher than that of conventional cold rolls, effectively reducing the frequency of rolling mill roll changes, It greatly improves the service life of the roller, the rolling quality of the steel, and the production efficiency.

Looking at the overall situation, the equipment and technology level of the domestic roller manufacturing industry has reached the world's advanced level, especially some advantageous enterprises represented by China Steel Xingji, which continuously strengthen the "mechanized, automated, intelligent, and digital" process control methods in the roller production process, has entered the forefront of the world's roller manufacturing technology. However, there are still some small roller mills with small scale and poor strength that are unable to change the current situation of backward equipment and technology, and can only continue the backward production methods that consume too much resources and cause environmental pollution, producing some ordinary and conventional low-end products. This is a noteworthy issue in the overall development of China's roller manufacturing industry.

Rapid expansion of production capacity and variety structure still need to be optimized

After years of development, domestic roller manufacturers can currently produce various types of rollers with different materials, specifications, and varieties, meeting the needs of various domestic rolling mills.

For example, Sinosteel Xingji has developed more than 50 alternative imported roller products, and its independently developed large composite cast steel support rollers, semi high-speed steel rollers, and high-quality centrifugal composite rollers have approached or reached the world's advanced level. In addition, the joint venture between Taiyuan Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. and Akers, Sweden, Yile'er, Germany, and Baosteel and Hitachi have all accelerated the progress and development of China's roller manufacturing technology while introducing foreign capital and technology.

However, although China's roller manufacturing industry continues to expand its production capacity and make continuous technological progress, it has not fully kept pace with the technological progress and structural optimization and adjustment of the steel industry in terms of the optimization and adjustment of the variety structure. The production of low-end products is surplus, and the production capacity of high-end products is significantly insufficient, such as high-speed steel and semi high-speed steel rollers. Currently, only a few enterprises in China, such as Sinosteel Xingji, have batch production capacity, with a low market share; Due to the special specifications of several new and proposed wide and thick plate mills over 5 meters in China, the required super large work rolls, backup rolls, etc. are also completely dependent on imports. Therefore, the overall manufacturing level of rollers in China still needs to be improved. In order to solve the worldwide problem of equipping modern rolling mills with high-performance rollers, it is necessary to continuously enhance the ability of independent innovation, accelerate scientific and technological progress, and speed up the development of new products.

Development of material serialization and continuous reduction of roller consumption

After years of research and exploration, domestic cast iron rollers have developed from conventional materials such as chilled cast iron, infinitely chilled cast iron, and chilled nodular composite cast iron to current new roller materials such as pearlitic ductile iron, needle structure ductile iron, high nickel chromium infinitely chilled cast iron, and high chromium cast iron. In order to meet the needs of different rolling mills, the performance of various rollers made of different materials is also continuously refined and optimized. For example, the high nickel chromium infinite cold hardening roller suitable for wide and heavy plate mills, steckel mills, and hot strip mills, the high chromium cast iron work roller suitable for rough rolling of hot strip mills, the high chromium cast iron work roller used in the front section of finishing mills, the high chromium iron work roller used in wide and heavy plate mills, and the high chromium iron work roller used in flat rolling mills have all demonstrated the advantages of new materials. While optimizing the variety of rollers made of different materials, product performance is also continuously developing to a higher level.

Through independent research and development and technology introduction, roller manufacturing enterprises in China have formed a series of roller materials for different types of rolling mills and operating environments, which are close to the advanced level of foreign countries in terms of high alloy materials. However, rollers of different materials used for hot strip mills are basically in line with the advanced level of foreign countries. For example, the vertical roller of hot rolled strip steel used for side pressure rolling and the combined vertical roller of centrifugal high chromium steel were rolled on the 1580 rolling line of Baosteel, and the use effect was doubled compared to that of alloy semi steel materials. The two roll reversible rough roller located at the forefront of the rolling line of the wide and heavy plate and hot strip continuous rolling mill must have high resistance to thermal cracking, bite resistance, and strength due to its long contact time with high-temperature steel billets, and its lack of support rollers, which can withstand large bending moments and torques. In response to these characteristics, in recent years, domestic roller enterprises have developed integrally cast and composite cast rough rollers made of tool steel, and their product performance has increased exponentially. The successful development of forged steel semi high-speed steel and high-speed steel rollers for cold rolled strip steel by enterprises represented by China Steel Xingji also marks that the manufacturing level of China's forged steel cold roller has reached the world's advanced level. With the continuous advent of new material rollers and the continuous increase of modern rolling mills, the average roller consumption per ton of steel is continuously decreasing. With the technological progress of the iron and steel industry and the in-depth research and application promotion of new roller materials in the roller manufacturing industry, the roller consumption will be further reduced in the future.

Broad development space, endless technological progress

Although some advantageous domestic enterprises have implemented computer control in the roll casting and processing processes, forming comparative advantages in terms of production efficiency, product quality, and cost indicators, there is still an imbalance in the supply of high-end products with high technology content and high added value throughout the roll industry in China, and some varieties still need to be supplemented by imports. In order to improve the consistency and stability of roller products, maintain technological leadership, and enhance international market competitiveness, it is necessary to take corresponding measures to address the widespread problems of lack of basic research on roller materials, poor original innovation, and research and development capabilities of new products, and strive to change the disadvantaged position of most roller enterprises in product positioning, technical improvement, new product development, quality improvement, and cost control, Specific measures include:

Firstly, integrate resources, integrate advantages, and strengthen investment in roll research and development. Especially for enterprises with strong independent research and development capabilities, they should be market oriented, target the most cutting-edge technologies in the world's roller manufacturing, implement key breakthroughs in key technologies, form core technologies and unique products with independent intellectual property rights, and drive technological progress in the entire roller industry through technical exchanges and cooperation.

Secondly, it is necessary to make good use of both domestic and foreign resources, develop two markets, and continuously improve and improve the equipment and technology level of roller manufacturing. Enterprises with conditions should concentrate on conducting research on the technology of oversized roller manufacturing equipment that are in short supply domestically, developing high-end products that are in short supply in the market, and accelerating technological upgrading and management optimization by increasing international capital and technical cooperation, continuously improving the technical content and quality level of roller products, while stabilizing the domestic market, actively expanding the international market and creating a world brand of Chinese roller, Forming new advantages in international cooperation and competition under the conditions of global economic integration.

Thirdly, actively carry out strategic restructuring and cooperation. The roller industry in China as a whole has the characteristics of "small but scattered, many but chaotic". However, through long-term practical exploration, the roller manufacturing technology is basically mature, and some relatively powerful roller manufacturing enterprises have also formed their own characteristics in terms of variety and technology, as well as comparative advantages in a certain professional roller field. In order to survive and develop in the market environment of "internalization of international competition and internationalization of domestic competition", the roller industry in China must change its state of mutual blockade and fragmentation, and transform mutual barrier competition into integration of resource sharing. Therefore, it is necessary to take advantage of the fundamental regulatory role of the market and national policies and measures to accelerate industrial upgrading, technological progress, structural adjustment, elimination of backwardness, and energy conservation and emission reduction, actively promote the enterprise structure adjustment of the roller manufacturing industry, implement strong alliance, and provide high-quality services and strategic support for realizing the transformation of China's steel industry from large to strong while expanding China's roller manufacturing industry.