As an important branch of specialty steel, high-pressure boiler steel tubes are key materials for industries such as thermal power generation, petrochemicals, and nuclear power. Their performance is directly related to equipment safety and energy efficiency in high-temperature and high-pressure environments. With my country's energy structure adjustments and industrial technology upgrades, the market demand and technical standards for high-pressure boiler seamless steel tubes are undergoing profound changes.

First, Material Characteristics and Technical Standards for High-Pressure Boiler Seamless Steel Tubes
High-pressure boiler seamless steel tubes must operate stably and for extended periods at temperatures exceeding 600°C and pressures exceeding 30 MPa. Therefore, they must possess three core properties: creep resistance (resistance to high-temperature deformation), oxidation resistance (preventing corrosion from high-temperature gases), and structural stability (preserving microstructural degradation). Currently, the mainstream materials are alloy steels such as 12Cr1MoVG and 15CrMoG. Chromium-molybdenum-vanadium alloys enhance heat resistance and strength through both solid solutions strengthening and precipitation strengthening. Internationally advanced materials, such as ASTM A335 P91/P92, offer over 30% higher allowable stress values than traditional materials, enabling a 20% reduction in boiler design wall thickness and significantly reducing equipment weight. China has achieved independent control over the entire production process: continuous casting of round billets → hot-rolled piercing → cold-rolled sizing → heat treatment. In particular, the ACC (accelerated cooling) technology used in the hot-rolling process can control the grain size to above level 8, increasing the impact toughness of the steel pipe by 50%. Industry news from July 2025 revealed that a central enterprise's HR3C steel pipe for ultra-supercritical boilers passed a 168-hour continuous operating test, demonstrating a 650°C endurance strength exceeding 120 MPa, marking a breakthrough for my country in 700°C ultra-supercritical technology.

Second, the market landscape and supply chain challenges for seamless high-pressure boiler steel pipes
Currently, global annual demand for high-pressure boiler steel pipes is approximately 5 million tons, with China accounting for 45%. However, the industry faces two major structural contradictions: First, high-end products continue to rely on imports, with Japan's Sumitomo Metal's T92 steel pipes accounting for 70% of the domestic supercritical power generation unit market share. Second, raw materials are subject to external constraints, with my country's dependence on foreign strategic metals for nickel and chromium reaching 85% and 90%, respectively. Since the second quarter of 2025, the cost of high-pressure boiler steel pipes has increased by 18% year-on-year, driven by the surge in international ferromolybdenum prices (prices on the London Metal Exchange have exceeded $45/pound).

Third, Innovative Applications and Cutting-Edge Breakthroughs in Seamless High-Pressure Boiler Steel Pipes
1. Concentrated Solar Power Generation: The molten salt heat storage systems of tower-type concentrated solar power plants require 321H stainless steel pipes, which must withstand corrosion from molten salts at 565°C. Field tests at the 100MW Dunhuang project show that the annual corrosion rate of domestically produced steel pipes under thermal cycling conditions has dropped to 0.12mm/year, approaching international standards.
2. Hydrogen Energy Equipment: Pressure-resistant piping in water electrolysis hydrogen production units is now made of duplex stainless steel 2205, which has a chloride ion stress corrosion threshold three times higher than that of 304 stainless steel. Baosteel's newly developed BFS series steel pipes have been used in the Ningxia photovoltaic hydrogen production project.
3. Fourth-generation nuclear power: Helium conduits for high-temperature gas-cooled reactors require materials to maintain strength at 850°C. The GH3535 alloy pipes developed by China General Nuclear Power Group and the China Steel Research Institute have completed engineering verification.

Fourth, Future Development Paths
1. Material genetic engineering.
2. Service safety monitoring.
3. Circular economy model.

It is foreseeable that with the advancement of ultra-supercritical power generation technology toward 700°C and the explosive growth of the hydrogen energy industry, high-pressure boiler seamless steel pipes will usher in a new round of technological iteration. Companies that proactively plan ahead in material innovation, intelligent manufacturing, and full lifecycle services are expected to dominate the future industry reshuffle. For downstream users, in addition to focusing on price, they should also pay attention to deeper indicators, such as the steel pipe's endurance strength data and the supplier's R&D investment ratio, when purchasing. These will be key to ensuring the long-term safe operation of equipment.