As a leading enterprise in China's prestressed steel strand industry, Anhui Litong Rare Earth Steel Cable Co., Ltd. has always adhered to the mission of "empowering super projects and safeguarding structural safety" since its establishment. Relying on independently developed high-performance products, a strict quality control system, and full-process engineering services, it has become a core material supplier for major national infrastructure projects such as the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Yarlung Zangbo River Hydropower Station, injecting "steel strength" into the high-quality development of China's infrastructure construction.

1. Deepening R&D to Solve Material Performance Challenges

In the field of prestressed steel strands, breakthroughs in material performance directly determine the upper limit of engineering construction. Anhui Litong Rare Earth Steel Cable Co., Ltd. has established a R&D team led by more than 30 industry experts and set up a provincial-level "Special Steel Wire and Steel Strand Engineering Technology Research Center". It has invested over 200 million yuan in R&D accumulatively, overcoming a number of technical bottlenecks.

To address complex working conditions such as high stress and strong corrosion, the team has innovatively developed the "1860MPa grade ultra-low relaxation steel strand". By optimizing the alloy composition design (adding trace elements such as chromium and vanadium) and improving the stabilization treatment process, the relaxation rate of the product is controlled below 2.0% (far lower than the national standard of 2.5%), ensuring structural stability even in long-term stress environments. For the needs of marine engineering, the independently developed "zinc-aluminum alloy coated steel strand" adopts a hot-dip plating process to form a double-layer anti-corrosion structure, and its salt spray corrosion resistance is more than 3 times higher than that of traditional galvanized products. It has been successfully applied in the construction projects of China's South China Sea islands and reefs.

Up to now, the company has owned 58 patents, including 16 invention patents. It has led or participated in the formulation of 3 national and industrial standards such as Prestressed Concrete Steel Strands (GB/T5224), and its technical level has reached the international advanced and domestic leading level.

2. Full-Chain Quality Control to Uphold the Bottom Line of Project Safety

As a "lifeline" material for engineering projects, the quality of prestressed steel strands allows no negligence. Anhui Litong Rare Earth Steel Cable Co., Ltd. has built a full-chain quality control system "from raw materials to finished products, and from production to delivery" to ensure that every meter of steel strand meets strict standards.

At the raw material end, the company has established a "qualified supplier list" and only selects high-carbon steel wire rods from top domestic steel mills such as Shagang Group. Each batch of raw materials must undergo 12 indicators of inspection including composition analysis and mechanical property testing, and unqualified raw materials are strictly prohibited from entering the factory. In the production link, it is equipped with 20 automated production lines and adopts a dual control mode of "online monitoring + offline sampling inspection". Through precision equipment such as laser diameter gauges and relaxation testing machines, it real-time monitors key parameters such as the diameter deviation and tensile strength of steel strands, ensuring that the product qualification rate remains above 99.9%. Before the finished products are delivered from the warehouse, they must also undergo sampling inspection by a third-party authoritative organization (National Metal Products Quality Inspection and Testing Center), and can only be delivered after a qualified report is issued, eliminating quality risks from the source.

It is precisely relying on the extreme pursuit of quality that the company's products have successively passed international standard certifications such as ASTM A416 and EN 10138, successfully entering overseas markets such as Europe, America, and Southeast Asia, with a total export volume exceeding 50,000 tons.

3. Customized Product System to Adapt to Diverse Engineering Needs

Different engineering scenarios have significantly different requirements for the performance and specifications of steel strands. Based on a deep understanding of industry needs, Anhui Litong Rare Earth Steel Cable Co., Ltd. has built a full-category product matrix covering "structural forms, coating processes, and specifications", providing customized solutions.

In terms of structural forms, the company can produce three major types of products: unbonded, bonded, and retarding-bonded steel strands. Unbonded steel strands adopt high-density PE sleeves + special anti-corrosion grease, which are suitable for rapid construction scenarios such as prefabricated floor slabs and subway segments, with an annual production capacity of 80,000 tons. Bonded steel strands enhance the bond strength with concrete by precisely controlling the stranding parameters, making them the first choice for load-bearing structures such as bridges and dams. It has supplied more than 12,000 tons of bonded steel strands for the Yarlung Zangbo River Hydropower Station project. Retarding-bonded steel strands innovatively use curable cementitious materials to achieve "no bonding during the construction phase and full bonding during the operation phase", providing flexible solutions for the construction of special-shaped bridges and large-span venues.

For special fields such as nuclear power and chemical industry, the company can also customize special steel strands with radiation resistance and acid-alkali resistance according to customer needs. For example, the "epoxy-coated steel strand" independently developed for the containment structure project of a nuclear power plant has passed authoritative testing. Its mechanical properties remain stable in an environment with a γ-ray radiation dose of 105Gy, fully meeting the safety requirements of nuclear power plants.

4. Full-Process Engineering Services to Facilitate Efficient Project Construction

In addition to high-quality products, Anhui Litong Rare Earth Steel Cable Co., Ltd. also provides full-process engineering services including "technical consultation, scheme design, on-site guidance, and after-sales tracking" to help customers solve construction problems and improve project construction efficiency.

In the early stage of the project, the company's technical team will go deep into the construction site, and provide customers with steel strand selection suggestions and tensioning scheme optimization services based on the engineering geological conditions and structural design requirements. For example, in the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, in response to the needs of long-span and high seismic resistance of the bridge, the team customized the "15.2mm diameter 1×7 type steel strand" and optimized the tensioning process parameters, which increased the construction efficiency by 25% and effectively shortened the construction period. During the construction process, it dispatches professional technical personnel to provide on-site guidance, assisting customers in solving technical problems in links such as blanking and cutting, and strand threading and tensioning. It has provided on-site services for more than 3,000 person-times accumulatively. After the project delivery, it establishes a "product file", regularly tracks the use of products, and provides lifelong technical support, so that customers have no worries.

5. Layout in Future Tracks to Lead the Green Transformation of the Industry

With the advancement of the "dual carbon" goal and the development of infrastructure intelligence, Anhui Litong Rare Earth Steel Cable Co., Ltd. is actively deploying in future tracks and exploring the green and intelligent upgrading of the prestressed steel strand field.

In terms of green production, the company has invested 80 million yuan in the energy-saving transformation of production lines, adopting equipment such as waste heat recovery systems and variable-frequency motors, which reduces the energy consumption per unit product by 18% and reduces carbon emissions by more than 5,000 tons annually. At the same time, it has developed recyclable "environmentally friendly anti-corrosion grease" to replace traditional toxic and harmful additives, realizing the green environmental protection of the entire life cycle of materials.

In the field of intelligence, the company is building a "prestressed steel strand digital twin system". By implanting RFID chips into products, it real-time collects data from links such as steel strand production, transportation, and construction, and builds a full-life-cycle digital file to help customers realize engineering quality traceability and intelligent operation and maintenance. At present, this system has been piloted in a wind power tower project and achieved remarkable results.

"In the future, Anhui Litong Rare Earth Steel Cable Co., Ltd. will continue to be driven by technological innovation and supported by quality services, continue to deepen its focus on the prestressed steel strand field, provide safer, more efficient, and greener material solutions for more super projects, and contribute more strength to the new height of China's infrastructure construction." said Mr. Zhang XX, General Manager of the company.