Steel for a billion people: a brief appraisal of Indian steel research

摘要

A recent report (1) has predicted Indian steel production for the year 2001 to be around 28.0 million t, a figure higher than those estimated for both Italy and France (26.2 and 17.8 million t respectively) and comparable to that of Brazil (27.5 million t). The country however has got nearly a billion inhabitants at the moment. Considering the fact that the neighbouring Peoples Republic of China, with a comparable population size, is likely to produce an impressive 109 million tin the same calendar year and despite all the recent hue and cry about the decline of steel industry in the developed world, USA alone is probably going to chum out another 102 million t, a need for augmented production in the Indian scene is immediately realized. In fact, Indian steel industry is expected to grow at the rate of 5 percent per year (1). Whether such a growth rate can actually be sustained will of course depend on, among other factors, the general state of the economy and the extent of global competition that the Indian steel industry faces. The second factor is becoming increasingly important in the backdrop of an on going process of liberalization of Indian economy. In order to make Indian steel globally competitive, both in terms of quality and cost effectiveness, Indian research and development activities have a key role to play. The problematic raw materials used by the country's industry: ores high in both alumina and silica, coke high in ash and substantial silica percentage in dolomite (1...3), render this to be quite a formidable task. Many researchers in India are trying to face the challenges associated with these problems in all sincerity. This article tends to present the current trends in Indian steel research in a nutshell, which by no means is an exhaustive treatise on the subject. Emphasis has been given primarily to ferrous production metallurgy. However, in recent times, Indian research has equally flourished in the areas of physical and mechanical processing of steel, which are beyond the scope of this brief report.