Weathering steel, that is, atmospheric corrosion-resistant steel, is a low-alloy steel series between ordinary steel and stainless steel. The weather-resistant plate is made of ordinary carbon steel with a small amount of copper, nickel and other corrosion-resistant elements. The weather resistance is 2-8 times that of ordinary carbon steel, and the paintability is 1.5-10 times that of ordinary carbon steel. Weathering steel is only oxidized on the surface and will not penetrate deep into the interior, and has anti-corrosion characteristics like copper or aluminum.
Manufacturing process of weathering steel plate
The weather-resistant steel plate generally adopts the process route of feeding the concentrate into the furnace - smelting (converter, electric furnace - microalloying treatment - argon blowing - LF refining - low superheat continuous casting (feeding rare earth wire) - controlled rolling and controlled cooling. During smelting, The scrap steel is put into the furnace together with the furnace charge, smelted according to the conventional process, and the deoxidizer and alloy are added after the steel is tapped. After the molten steel is treated with argon blowing, it is cast immediately, and the molten steel after the temperature adjustment of the argon blowing is cast into a slab by a continuous casting machine. The rare earth elements are added to the steel, the weather-resistant steel plate is purified, and the content of inclusions is greatly reduced.
Uses of weathering steel
Weathering steel is mainly used for steel structures exposed to the atmosphere for a long time, such as railways, vehicles, bridges, towers, photovoltaics, and high-speed projects. Weathering steel can also be used to manufacture structural parts such as containers, railway vehicles, oil derricks, harbor buildings, oil production platforms, and containers for sulfur-containing corrosive media in chemical and petroleum equipment. In addition, due to the unique appearance of weathering steel, it is also often used in public art, outdoor sculpture and building exterior wall decoration.
