Vanadium titanium magnetite is a featured strategic metal resource in China. The existing mainstream of vanadium extraction at home and abroad is the blast furnace ironmaking-converter process, which has high carbon emissions and low recovery rate of vanadium and titanium. A large amount of titanium element enters blast furnace slag and accumulates over 100 million tons, which not only wastes resources, but also significantly increases the pressure of environmental protection. The existing non-blast furnace smelting processes to make up for the shortcomings of the blast furnace process are introduced, including direct reduction process and smelting reduction process, and the process flow and application status are summarized. The principles, application status, advantages and disadvantages of titanium extraction methods of titanium-containing slag at home and abroad, such as modified enrichment, carbonization-chlorination and hydrometallurgical extraction, are summarized. In addition, the future development for comprehensive utilization of vanadium titanium magnetite is prospected. It is considered that the full-process technology of hydrogen-based shaft furnace reduction-electric furnace melting separation-comprehensive utilization of titanium slag for vanadium titanium magnetite holds tremendous development prospects. This technology can strongly support China's vanadium titanium steel industry in achieving the "dual carbon" goals.

Gallium is an important rare metal resource. Gallium and its compounds have been found extensive applications in diverse fields, e.g. solar energy, semiconductors, biology, chemical engineering, and alloys. Gallium resources have evolved into a crucial strategic asset owing to the continually increased demand. Gallium is sparsely distributed within minerals like bauxite, apatite, nepheline, and alunite in an extremely scarce quantity. More than 90% of the world's primary gallium is derived from the by-products of alumina production. Currently, methods for recovering gallium from Bayer liquor can be included as precipitation, electrochemistry, extraction, and resin adsorption. However, improving the recovery efficiency of gallium and reducing its recovery cost are remained key concerns in the relevant industry. Recent research findings on the occurrence forms of gallium in bauxite, the migration behavior of gallium during the Bayer process cycle, and methodologies for gallium separation, extraction, and recovery are presented. The current status of gallium resource recovery from bauxite is mainly introduced, the advantages and disadvantages of the employed technologies are summarized, and some future research directions for gallium extraction from bauxite are outlined.

The steel industry is an important construction foundation and industrialization support for the development of the national economy, while also directly affecting the living standards and national security of the people. To actively respond to China′s "carbon peak, carbon neutrality" and sustainable development policies, the future transformation direction of the Chinese steel industry will focus on high-quality development, green production, intelligent manufacturing, and enhancing international competitiveness, in order to achieve the goals of carbon reduction and sustainable development. Blast furnace ironmaking is an important part of steel production, with a complete automation system that generates a large amount of production data. In order to serve the intelligence of blast furnace ironmaking and promote the sustainable development of blast furnace ironmaking with these data. Data cleaning through data management technology can enhance data quality and provide a reliable basis for subsequent analysis. Based on the important parameters in the production process, the digital twin model of key variables is established by using big data analysis and artificial intelligence technology. Real-time monitoring, analysis and prediction can be carried out for multiple targets in the smelting process, combined with intelligent control strategies and optimization algorithms to achieve multi-objective collaborative optimization, which can improve production efficiency and reduce costs under the premise of ensuring production safety. The intelligence level and production efficiency of blast furnace ironmaking can be further improved by using data middle platform to integrate, analyze, apply and share the large amount of data generated by blast furnace ironmaking. Finally, the issues in the intelligentization of blast furnace ironmaking were summarized, and solutions were discussed in the conclusion. These insights provide guidance for the industry′s transformation towards intelligence and contribute to the sustainable development of the steel industry.

The cold rolling of high-grade thin-gauge silicon steel is prone to edge cracking, difficult deformation, and difficult shape control, so it has always been produced by a single-stand 20-high mill in a reversible rolling process, resulting in relatively low production efficiency and benefit. In recent years, both domestic and foreign countries have begun to explore the basic equipment for the cold continuous rolling production process of high-grade thin-gauge silicon steel. China has also taken the lead in rebuilding or newly building the silicon steel-specific cold continuous rolling production line with four stands, five stands, and six stands based on six-high mill. The roll profile, roll diameter, and roll system structure are all different, which brings confusion to the design of new similar projects. In order to study the specific rolling mill structure suitable for high-grade silicon steel cold continuous rolling mills, the following work was carried out. Firstly, 35WD1900 hot-rolled silicon steel plates was oampled and the stress-strain curve of the silicon steel was obtained through simulated continuous rolling experiments and normal temperature tensile experiments. Then, for the 1 500 mm UCMW mill, a finite element simulation model of single-stand rolling and simulated continuous rolling with integrated roll system was established based on the ABAQUS platform. Through a large number of working condition simulations and comparisons, it is determined that the optimal roll diameter range of the work rolls of the continuous rolling mill portal stand is between 320 mm and 360 mm, the optimal roll diameter range of the work rolls of the intermediate stand is between 300 mm and 340 mm, and the optimal roll diameter range of the finished stand work rolls is between 300 mm and 340 mm. At the same time, in the cold continuous rolling process, the five-stand continuous rolling has always been the mainstream choice. The influence rules of five-stand, six-stand, and seven-stand continuous rolling on the crown inheritance and evolution of the rolled strip were deeply compared. Comprehensively considering the economic cost, it is concluding that the six-stand is the better choice. Finally, the roll profiles of the intermediate roll and work roll are optimized for the continuous rolling production of high-grade silicon steel. The research results have reference value for the design of high-grade thin-gauge silicon steel cold continuous rolling mills and provide guidance for the improvement and optimization of silicon steel continuous rolling technology.

In order to provide theoretical basis for process optimization and quality control of the welding of clad plate, the structural characteristics, preparation technology and welding process of stainless steel clad plate are reviewed. Firstly, the layered characteristics of the stainless steel clad plate are analyzed, and the common preparation methods of the clad plate are introduced. Then, the welding characteristics and technical difficulties of stainless steel clad plate are analyzed. According to the structural design of welded joint of stainless steel clad plate, the influences of welding methods, welding materials, welding groove, welding sequence and pre-welding/post-welding treatment on the microstructure and properties of welded joint are discussed. The structure evolution of welding process and its relationship with the properties of welded joints are analyzed. The research status of welding performance control of stainless steel clad plate is summarized. Furtherly, on the basis of the development of welding technology, new methods, new materials for welding stainless steel clad plate are discussed. The numerical simulation method and its application for the study of welding properties are described. Finally, the welding method and performance control of stainless steel clad plate are prospected.

Lightweight is an important path for the automotive industry to address the air pollution problems and deliver on the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. The medium-manganese low-density steel, with Mn mass fraction of 3% to 12%, has low costs and good processing performance, showing excellent potentials for development and application in the field of automotive steel. The strengthening mechanism of medium-manganese Fe-Mn-Al-C low-density steel was systematically introduced based on the current research status at home and abroad, while the influence and mechanism of heat treatment process on the mechanical performance and strengthening mechanism of medium-manganese low-density steel were comprehensively summarized. In addition, the stability of residual austenite during deformation process was discussed. The characteristics of quenching and partitioning (Q&P) were analyzed according to the development process and current situation. The strengthening mechanism for quenched and proportioned steel was explored along with the influencing factors of mechanical properties of medium-manganese steel from such perspectives as heating temperature, quenching temperature, partitioning temperature and partitioning time. Based on the urgent need of boosting the comprehensive performance of medium-manganese Fe-Mn-Al-C lightweight steel, and on account of its element composition and microstructure characteristics, the volume fraction and stability of residual austenite in medium manganese Fe-Mn-Al-C low-density steel can be increased by Q&P process, as well as the mechanical performance will be enhanced, is proposed. The future research directions deserving attention need to be paid attention, firstly, reasonable Q&P process need to be controlled to avoid the precipitation of coarse κ-carbides in steel; secondly, the synergistic effect between κ-carbide strengthening and TRIP effect in medium-manganese need to be explored; finally, the effect of Q&P process on the size of original austenite grains and the non-uniformity of the martensitic structure during the phase transformation process needed to be analyzed, as well as the effect of different substructure characteristics of martensite on the nucleation sites and morphological features of residual austenite, so as to provide reference for the popularization, optimization and improvement of the production process.

The changes of China's annual crude steel output, average daily crude steel production on a monthly basis over the past two years, end-of-month rebar prices, direct steel exports, indirect exports of steel products, and CO₂ emissions were reviewed and analyzed. It is concluded that China's crude steel production is generally in a situation of oversupply, and the steel industry has entered a downward phase of reduction fluctuations. Under the premise of no significant increase in crude steel output, China's steel industry can be considered to have entered a CO₂ emission stabilization period. The study explores targets and measures for total crude steel output control from perspectives including future production forecasts, supply-side structural reforms, and adjustments to import/export policies. By integrating projections of future crude steel output and scrap resources, it is proposed that under the goals of "Carbon peak and Carbon neutrality", China's steel industry will gradually develop three typical manufacturing processes: BF-BOF long process, full scrap EAF process, and hydrogen reduction-EAF process. The evolutionary alternation of these three processes is discussed, emphasizing that China's steel industry should leverage the "Carbon peak and Carbon neutrality" context to guide scrap resources toward EAF process, thereby gradually optimizing the sector's ferrous resource structure, product structure, and process structure. Pathways for enhancing manufacturing continuity are explored through interface technology optimization, dynamic precision design, and full-process intelligentization. Finally, through the construction and analysis of a "dual carbon" analytical model for the steel industry, the study identifies controlling and reducing crude steel output as the most effective decarbonization measure, with process structure optimization in steel plants being equally critical.