The largest application of niobium is in the steel industry. In the 1980s, worldwide annual sales of 1l of niobium ranged from 1 000 t to 13 000 t. About 87% of niobium was used in this field, and only about 8% of steel contained niobium. At the end of the 1990s, the annual output of crude steel in the world was about 800 million tons, and China had ranked first.
The main function of niobium (in the form of niobium and NbFe) in steel is to refine the grain of steel, improve the hardness of steel, increase the strength of steel at high temperature and corrosion resistance. High strength low alloy steel is the main body, the niobium steel with niobium, 900 (k) of the total amount of iron and steel with niobium, big mother used in automobile, Bridges, oil pipelines, gas pipelines, oil drilling, offshore oil drilling platform, railway tracks, civil construction steel, etc., the automotive industry and the oil and gas pipelines are its most important market. In recent years, the development of some new products in steel production may also broaden the application of niobium in steel. Such as niobium added non-clearance impurities steel (IF steel), automotive exhaust system stainless steel, niobium containing microalloy forging steel, etc. Niobium is mainly used in the steel industry in the United States, Japan and Western Europe, with an average niobium content of 19-32 g per ton of crude steel. China is a large steel country, the level of niobium used is still very low, the average niobium used per ton of crude steel 3-4 g, in 2003 niobium steel accounted for about 2.20h of the total crude steel output. Therefore, the application of niobium in steel industry in China has great market space and development prospect.
The first application of niobium in the steel industry began. Around 1925, it was used as an additive to tool steel to partially replace the original tungsten. After decades of slow development, niobium production entered a period of adjusted growth in the late 1950s with the large-scale mining of niobium in Brazil (2BMM), which began to be used in carbon steel.
