It is reported that recently Baosteel has completed the task to supply 576 tonnes TMCP heavy plates for high-rise demanded by Eastern Airline's A380 hangar project. As the core parts, the products will be used in the aircraft maintenance hangar with the largest monolithic area in China, which fills the blank of domestic production and application of TMCP heavy plates for high-rise.

In the past two years, in a bid to accelerate development, Eastern Airline intends to import the largest and most state-of-the-art Airbus A380 in the world, and set out to build the maintenance hangar for such aircrafts. Eastern Airline’s A380 hangar project, located in Shanghai Pudong Airport, commenced its construction in the second half of last year and is scheduled to be put into operation in the next year. Being the maintenance hangar with the largest monolithic area in China so far, the entire project covers a building area of 43,000 square meters with a span of 157 meters equivalent to the size of 2 standard football fields, and can accommodate 3 narrow-body aircrafts and 2 A380 jumbo aircrafts for maintenance at the same time.

According to the design requirements of the project, the core parts in the construction of the hangar such as the steel girder and steel column must be made of 80mm thick TMCP heavy plate for high-rise, and each plate weights at least 18 tonnes.

According to the insider's introduction, TMCP heavy plate for high-rise, as one of the top products among the heavy plates for constructional structure, boasts better welding performance, tensile strength and yield strength than conventional products, but features complicated process and hard production, and the thicker the harder. Now this product has gradually become the first preference for constructional material in the developed countries, but there is no precedent of its production and application in China yet.

Ever since this year, Baosteel has followed a close track of the progress of Eastern Airline's A380 hangar project and undertaken the supply of TMCP heavy plate for high-rise through technical exchange and consultation. During the trial manufacture, the Heavy Plate Product Management Department of Baosteel Co Ltd., Manufacture Department and Heavy Plate Plant of Baosteel Branch and Baosteel International, etc. set up a task force to seek breakthrough by utilizing the process and technological advantages of TMCP shipbuilding plates accumulated for many years and relying on Baosteel Branch's 5m heavy plate mill. The task force formulated a set of unique process technologies within a short time after repeated optimization of steel grade composition design.