“Made in China” may be running a reputation deficit around the world, but not back home in Beijing, which needs tons of steel to build stadiums and other infrastructure projects. Translated by CDT from China Business News:
A conservative estimate puts the total demand for steel in the pre-Olympics infrastructure build-up at 3 million tons. That includes 110,000 tons for the National Stadium, or the “Bird’s Nest,” alone. And 43,000 tons will have to be super premium steel types that China had never produced, because these extra-robust steel structures will be propping up tens of thousands of tons of weight, which in scientific terms means 460 mega-pascal. And the awe-inspiring nest-shaped steel super-twigs, 46,000 tons in total, will rest on 24 pieces of this specially-made steel.
In a March 2005 special meeting in Beijing, the city authorities summoned up seven major Chinese steel makers, including Baosteel, the Capital Steel Group, Anshan Steel, Wuhan Steel and Wuyang Steel (舞阳钢铁公司). The purpose of the meeting was to find out who could make the Olympic-steel, and more important, to make sure that all steel for the Games comes from home, not a kilo from imports.
Now China has achieved the second goal. But at that meeting, all the steel executives gave no answer but silence. The “Bird’s Nest” steel has excessively high standards, they figured. After a long pause, Wuyang’s party secretary and vice chairman took a bite, promising absolutely timely delivery of anything that would be needed. And Wuyang researchers did make it happen, after three rounds of experimentation and finally came up with their Q460E-Z35 type. And 400 tons of this 110-mm-thick steel plates will become the most robust ribs in the Olympics stadium. And other steel makers have also been benefiting from plenty of orders for other types of steel.
Although China has reboosted its confidence with its “all made-in-China” Olympics stadium, industry experts still acknowledge the fact that China’s steel facilities still need a lot of upgrading. And China needs the facility upgrading in order to become a steel power instead of a major steel producer. [Full Text in Chinese]
An animated presentation about the architectural structure of Bird’s Nest, the showpiece Beijing Olympics stadium, from youtube.com, in Chinese:
