Recently, the Metallurgical Science and Technology Award Committee of the China Iron and Steel Association and the Chinese Society for Metals officially announced the 2026 Metallurgical Science and Technology Award winners. IET, USTB won 1 first prize and 5 second prizes, once again confirming IET, USTB's technical accumulation in the fields of efficient rolling and intelligent manufacturing in the steel industry.

Research and Application of Multi-Process Collaborative High-Efficiency and Stable Control Technology for High-Strength Automotive Sheets

The project hosted by Associate Researcher Liu Chao of the Institute of Engineering Technology, which won the Second Prize of the Metallurgical Science and Technology Award, targets the three major industry-common quality problems of high-strength automotive sheets — longitudinal shape-property quality, transverse shape quality, and surface quality — as well as the difficulty of efficient and stable production. From the perspective of multi-process collaboration, it developed a series of key technologies including processes, models, and detection algorithms, overcoming problems such as performance and thickness fluctuations, frequent higher-order wave defects, difficult identification and elimination of oxide-scale-type surface defects, difficult product-spec transitions, and high risks of tail-throwing and strip breakage, breaking through the technical bottleneck of efficient and stable production of high-strength automotive sheets, and realizing cross-process, multi-dimensional process optimization and collaborative control. The project results have been successfully applied in many enterprises such as Lianyuan Iron & Steel (LY Steel), Ansteel, VAMA, and Magang. The production and supply of hot-formed high-strength automotive sheets have always ranked first in China, and the product's quality indicators, capacity utilization rate, and calendar operation rate have all reached leading levels at home and abroad, leading the overall technological progress of domestic high-strength automotive sheets and high-end limit-specification products.

Hot-Rolling–Cold-Rolling Production Quality Control Technology Driven by Prediction and Diagnosis Large Models

The project hosted by Assistant Researcher Li Jingdong of the Institute of Engineering Technology, which won the Second Prize of the Metallurgical Science and Technology Award, targets the problems of inaccurate quality-state prediction, unclear anomaly cause identification, and imprecise process dynamic regulation in the hot-rolling–cold-rolling production process. It developed a prediction large model for the integration of multiple rolling processes, a diagnosis large model for quality anomaly tracing and optimization, and a large-model collaboratively driven rolling dynamic optimization control technology, realizing precise setting of key process parameters, online diagnosis of production quality, and dynamic pre-control of cross-process quality risks. The project results have been applied in enterprises such as Shougang Qian'an and Baosteel Meishan Iron & Steel, covering high-end plate and strip products such as high-strength automotive sheets, ultra-thin strips, and high-quality coated sheets, with significant economic and social benefits.

Development and Application of 3 HI Precision Continuous Rolling Technology and Equipment for Special Alloy Long Products

The project hosted by Researcher Yu Wei of the Institute of Engineering Technology, which won the Second Prize of the Metallurgical Science and Technology Award, targets the long-standing situation of special alloy long products with low product precision, dependence on imported equipment, and lack of design-manufacturing-inspection technology for high-precision rolling equipment. It developed pass systems and calculation models adapting to the 3 HI continuous rolling of special alloys, developed a series of 3 HI precision continuous rolling equipment with a rolling specification range of 2.5 mm–260 mm, developed ultra-high hydraulic high-precision assembly technology with large torque output, and developed a high-precision inspection and adjustment system for the rolling mill. The complete set of equipment of this project was certified as a "domestic first set" major technical equipment, filling a domestic gap. The complete set of equipment has been applied in more than 30 enterprises including Baosteel Special Bar, Xiangsteel, Baoji Xinnuo, Shaanxi Tiancheng, and Nizhniy Tagil Iron & Steel Works (NTMK, Russia), with significant economic and social benefits.