METALLURGY OF TOMORROW . . . WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE?

C o m m e n t s f r o m I. P. K a z a n e t s , M i n i s t e r of F e r r o u s M e t a l l u r g y of t h e USSR

Q. with What Achievements Do the Workers of Ferrous. Metailurgy Greet the Fiftieth Anniversary of October~

The metallurgists of our country, closely joined about the party of Lenin, greet the 50th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution with new labor triumphs. The plan for the current year is being fulfilled with respect to all basic indices. As compared with the past year, the effectiveness of operation of the main metallurgical units has risen appreciably, the coefficient of utilization of the effective volume of blast furnaces has improved, the ef- fectiveness of converter production has grown, the removal of steel from 1 m z of floor area of the open-hearth fur- naces has increased, and the standstills of equipment have dropped.

There has been an appreciable rise in the production of iron, steel, roiled products, pipe, and assorted wares accompanied by the introduction of measures to improve quality; this has been achieved on the basis of broad intro- duction of new techniques, progressive technology, and intensification of metallurgical processes.

During the current year there have been put into operation: blast, furnaces at the Novolipets and Zapadno- Sibirsk Metallurgical Plants; furnaces for electroslag remelting at the plant "Dneprospetsstal'"; a rolling mill coupled with a continuous steel casting unit at the Omutna Metallurgical Plant; a second line of the mill for cold roiling at the Cherepovets Metallurgical Plant; a steel-melting unit at the Orlov Steel-Rolling Plant; a forge-press mill at the I.l'ich Plant in Zhdanov; and other industrial units. The largest bIast furnace in the world of 2700-m s capacity is ready to start at the Krivorog Metallurgical Plant.

All these achievements are the result of the work of an army numbering 1�89 million and consisting of workers, engineers, technicians, scientists, and workers of scientific research and planning institutes. In honor of the 50th an- niversary of October at installations of ferrous metallurgy, socialistic competition unfolded on a broad scale for more complete utilization of industrial capacities and increase in effectiveness of production in order to give the Mother- !and more metal of excellent quality with minimal material and labor expenditures.

Heroes of Socialist Labor master of the open-hearth mill of the Volgograd plant "Krasnyi Oktyabr'" A. Serkov, steelworker of the Zlatonst Metallurgical Plant A. Krivokor, senior roiling-mill worker of the Volgograd plant "Krasnyi Okt3rabr'" Durnyapin, and senior rolling-mill worker of the Moscow plant "Serp i Molot" V. Dyuzhev called on all metallurgists of the country for high-quality production on the basis of economical calculation with minimal production costs.

Steelworkers of open-hearth furnace No. 6 of the Ii 'ich Piant in Zhdanov M. Gonda, V. Yakimenko, G. Demi- denko, and A. Bul'skii initiated socialist competition for faster assimilation of planned capacities of metallurgical units and for increase in the output of metal as a result of improved technology and the scientific organization of labor.

Many collectives of installations, mills, sections, and crews overfulfilled the planned assignments for ten months of 1967. Among these were the Magnitogorsk and Nizhni-Tagil Metallurgical Combines, the Cherepovets, Makeev, Donets, Novomoskow, and Zlatoust Metallurgical Plants, the plant "Krasnyi Oktyabr 'n, and many others.

Attendants of blast-furnace No. 3 of the Cherepovets Plant A. Ganichev, A. Gutorov, F. Smirnov, and V. Aver'- yanov, and also steel workers of open-hearth furnace No. 1 of the Makeev Plant V. Kholyavko, V. Nikitenko, N. Kovalenko, and I. Primin achieved outstanding successes in their work.

Q. How is the Problem of Raising the Quality of Metal Being Solved? At the present time this problem occu- pies the most important place in the activity of installations and organizations of the Ministry of Ferrous Metallurgy of the USSR. In the resolutions of the XXIII Congress of the CPSU with respect to the five-year plan for development of the national economy of the USSR during the years 1966-1970 there is pointed out the necessity of improving the quality of metal and extending the assortment of roiled products, pipes, and assorted wares, while preserving a rapid tempo of growth of ferrous metallurgy.

Translated from Metallurg, No. 11, pp. 2-5, November, !967.

597

The necessity of raising the quality of metal products is dictated by the quality changes which have occurred during the past 10-15 years in various branches of the national economy. The development of aviation and rocket technology has required the creation of new materials possessing high strength, homo- geneity, and resistance to high temperatures and aggressive media.

The development of the chemical industry is unimaginable without the production of strip, sheet, pipes, and forgings from complex alloyed steels and alloys. The creation of large heat- energy units with a capacity of 300 and more thousand kilowatts requires the production of boiler pipes of high quality, dependa- bility, and long life during service in boilers with high and super- high steam pressure. For radio technology, electronics, instru- ment building, and production of high-precision mills, machines, and equipment, steels with high purity in regard to nonmetallic inclusions and gases are required.

The level of development of many of the most important branches of the national economy and general technical progress depend in large degree on the technical competence of installa- tions of ferrous metallurgy, the qualifications of the works and engineering-technical personnel, and the quality of the metal products produced.

The increased demands for quality metal products presents the installations of ferrous metallurgy with new concrete prob- lems: ensuring the output and delivery of products in correspond- ence with requirements of active standards and technical con- ditions, maximum satisfaction of the requirements of the con- sumers in products of high quality and reduction to a minimum the complaints and grievances with regard to the product de- livered, reduction of metal losses in production and losses due to scrap, organization of a suitable system of quality control of metal products to provide detection of defects and thorough test- ing of metals, introduction of new techniques and technology, and improvement of production on the basis of the newest equip- ment.

In order to provide the various branches of the national economy with high-quality rolled products, new steel-melting processes are being rapidly introduced at the plants of ferrous metallurgy: treatment of metal with fluid synthetic slags, vac- uum treatment of steel outside the furnace, and electroslag and vacuum remelting which provide a considerable improvement in the quality of the metal.

From year to year the production of rolled products and pipes from high-strength low-alloy steels instead of carbon steels and of roiled products with heat treatment increases. This makes it possible to obtain appreciable savings of metal in the building of machines, structures, and apparatus.

Work is being done to raise the precision of roiling, in- crease the output of bent and shaped sections, improve the finish- ing of the surface of sheet, extend the output of bimetals, pre-

cision alloys, rolled products, and pipes with coatings, and a number of other measures aimed at considerably im- proving the quality of finished rolled products, pipes, and assorted wares.

598

Q.A_" What is the Outlook for the Development of Ferrous Metallurgy during the Next Ten-Fifteen Years? The resolution adopted by the CC of the CPSU and the Soviet of Ministers of the USSR on measures to ensure a high rate of development of ferrous metallurgy in correspondence with the Directives of the XXIII Congress of the CPSU with regard to the five-year plan for development of the national economy of the USSR during 1966-1970 outlined a pro- gram of development of this branch of the economy for the next period. At establishments and iustatlations of fer- rous metallurgy, work has been undertaken to realize the measures indicated in the resolution and to ensure a high rate of development of the production of ferrous metals. Successful fulfillment of this resolution will be the basis for further development of ferrous metallurgy during the next 10-15 years.

It is intended that the development of ferrous metallurgy proceed in the following principal directions; con- struction of blast furnaces primarily of 2700-m 3 capacity and large-capacity oxygen converters, large electric fur- naces with electromagnetic mixing, powerful closed electric furnaces for ferro-alloys, vacuum arc and induction fur- naces and furnaces for electroslag remelting of capacity 10-15 tons and more, powerful units for continuous steel casting, high-capacity continuous rolling and pipe mills having means of automatic regulation and control, and flow- ing production lines for the output of assorted products. Increase in the technical level of mining installations and improvement of the technology of mining ores will be realized by construction of primarily large mine-mil l com- bines with open-pit mining.

The tasks are great but altogether realizable.

In conclusion I should like to wish all metallurgists of the country a happy holiday - the fiftieth anniversary of the Soviet Government.

599