In June 2023, Taigang signed a 30,000-ton stainless steel supply contract with Shanxi Jiaoke Group for use in highway guardrails. Taigang’s low-carbon stainless steel highway guardrails will be used for the first time on highways.
Traditional highway guardrails usually use ordinary steel with a hot-dip galvanizing process for corrosion protection to extend the service life. Zinc is a heavy metal pollutant that can contaminate water (groundwater) and soil.
Taigang’s R&D personnel conducted in-depth research and testing on the components and production processes while ensuring that the performance of the stainless steel material meets the required strength and corrosion resistance for guardrails. As a result, the cost of using stainless steel materials for highway guardrails has been reduced, and the service life has doubled that of traditional highway guardrails.
In comparison, the investment cost of stainless steel highway guardrails only increases by 20%, while the whole lifecycle cost is reduced by nearly 40% compared to traditional highway guardrails that use hot-dip galvanizing processes. If we also consider that stainless steel materials can be 100% recycled, the economic and social benefits of stainless steel highway guardrails are significant.
Compared with traditional carbon steel highway guardrails, Taigang’s low-carbon stainless steel material has many advantages:
- both yield strength and tensile strength have increased by about 50%;
- it eliminates processes such as galvanizing and passivation that may pollute water and air;
- In terms of service life, it reaches twice that of traditional highway guardrails;
- Regarding economic benefits, steel consumption can be reduced by about 20%, and lifecycle costs can be reduced by 50% to 60%.
