Forging Process Technology Achieves Continuous Breakthroughs, Stainless Steel Round Billet Manufacturing Advances Toward Precision

The production of forged stainless steel round billets encompasses a complete process chain from melting and forging to heat treatment. The melting stage commonly employs a duplex process combining electric arc furnace and argon-oxygen decarburization, while premium grades utilize advanced refining technologies such as vacuum arc remelting or electro-slag remelting to ensure material purity and compositional uniformity. The forging stage typically utilizes radial forging equipment capable of applying pressure simultaneously from four orthogonal directions, effectively enhancing forming precision and internal quality.

Process control is the key to achieving superior performance. For forging austenitic stainless steel billets, heating temperatures are typically controlled within the 1000 to 1080 degrees Celsius range; excessive temperatures may lead to insufficient strain retention, adversely affecting final microstructure refinement. In large-scale forging production, a three-stage forging process—with deformation rates controlled at 5-8%, 10-15%, and 20-30% respectively—combined with precise heating and annealing regimes, enables successful production of large-diameter duplex stainless steel tube billets.

At the application level, forged stainless steel round billets serve as critical base materials across national pillar industries including energy equipment, petrochemicals, shipbuilding, and nuclear power. The domestic stainless steel forging market was valued at approximately USD 8.94 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach USD 11.88 billion by 2032. Industry competition is evolving from pure price competition to comprehensive competition encompassing technology, quality, and service capabilities, with enterprises possessing full-process machining and non-destructive testing capabilities gaining increasingly prominent competitive advantages.