On June 19, Zhang Lifeng, President of NCUT, was invited to visit the Baikov Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science, Russian Academy of Sciences (IMET RAS). In the Assembly Hall of IMET RAS, he delivered an academic lecture titled “Precise Control of Non-Metallic Inclusions in High-Quality Steel,” sharing China’s latest technological advances in clean steel production with Russian academicians, senior researchers, and doctoral students, and further promoting high-level exchange and cooperation between China and Russia in advanced metallurgical materials.
The lecture was chaired by three members of the IMET RAS Academic Council: Vladimir Sergeevich Komlev, Director of IMET RAS, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Doctor of Technical Sciences; Academician Konstantin Aleksandrovich Solntsev, Scientific Director of IMET RAS; and Academician Konstantin Grigorovich, Head of the Materials Testing Laboratory of IMET RAS. Around 200 senior professors, young scientists, and doctoral students from the Institute attended the lecture.
At the beginning of the lecture, Zhang Lifeng introduced NCUT’s overall development and its educational exchanges with Russia. In the main lecture, he focused on the urgent demand for ultra-clean specialty steel in global high-end equipment manufacturing, systematically explaining the mechanisms by which non-metallic inclusions induce fatigue cracks and reduce corrosion resistance in steel. He presented a full-chain theoretical framework developed through years of industry-university-research collaboration, covering the formation, evolution, removal, and modification of inclusions. Drawing on extensive laboratory research and industrial trial data from Chinese steel plants, Zhang highlighted rare earth modification of inclusions, optimization of refining slags, intelligent three-dimensional characterization of inclusions, and integrated processes for ultra-low-oxygen steelmaking. He also addressed common industry challenges in inclusion control for large-scale clean steel production. The lecture combined theoretical innovation with practical industrial value, and outlined key approaches and influencing factors in the precise control of non-metallic inclusions in high-quality steel. Zhang also introduced China’s growing research investment, increasing academic output, and continuous improvements in steel production and quality, noting that advances in steel materials have strongly supported major engineering projects and high-end equipment manufacturing, including automobile production and bridge construction.
The lecture received an enthusiastic response, and the discussion session was highly engaging. Russian experts exchanged views with Zhang Lifeng on key topics such as calcium treatment of specialty steel, rare earth modification of inclusions, digital metallurgical simulation, and university-enterprise technology transfer. After the lecture, Zhang presented his academic monograph to IMET RAS.
Vladimir Sergeevich Komlev, Director of IMET RAS, spoke highly of the lecture. He noted that Zhang Lifeng’s team had made important achievements in the precise control of non-metallic inclusions in steel, helping address several technical bottlenecks in the production of advanced clean steel and offering valuable reference for the upgrading of Russia’s specialty steel industry. The Russian side expressed the hope that, taking this lecture as a starting point, the two sides would further consolidate long-term cooperation with NCUT, leverage their respective platform strengths, and jointly tackle key technologies in metallurgical materials, contributing to the coordinated high-quality development of the steel materials industry in China and Russia.
NCUT has long aligned itself with the needs of Belt and Road scientific and technological exchange and has continued to deepen cooperation with Russia in metallurgy and materials science. The University has hosted and participated in China-Russia bilateral seminars on new materials and new processes, and has maintained regular mutual visits and exchanges with the Baikov Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science. Zhang Lifeng’s invited lecture at a leading Russian research institute fully demonstrated NCUT’s international academic influence in high-quality clean steel research and represented an important step in advancing the University’s internationalization and expanding its China-Russia research cooperation network.
Moving forward, NCUT will continue to build on existing China-Russia cooperation mechanisms. Focusing on green metallurgy, advanced specialty materials, and intelligent metallurgical manufacturing, the University will deepen collaborative innovation and joint talent cultivation with institutes under the Russian Academy of Sciences and leading Russian engineering universities. NCUT will work to produce more high-level international research outcomes, further enhance the global competitiveness of its materials discipline, and contribute to scientific, technological, and educational exchanges between China and Russia.
