钢铁材料良好的综合性能和易于循环利用等特点，至今仍是人类社会发展所需的不可替代的材料。在过去的20年里，中国的钢铁工业取得了巨大的进步，粗钢年产量已超过1×10⁸t，工艺流程和技术不断得到革新和发展，钢铁品种多样化，满足了国民经济不断发展的需要；薄板坯连铸、低温轧制等高新技术的应用使中国的钢铁工业更具有竞争力和吸引力；致力发展与环境友好、省能的新一代钢铁工业得到了人们广泛的关注；电场、磁场、微波场及超声波等多种物理场将大大强化化学反应和优化凝固过程，它们的运用将会对未来的钢铁工业带来革命性的变化。

Iron and steel industry in China will continue to evolve with increasing demand of domestic market. Steel remains to be the an irreplaceable material used in almost all objects in the professional and private life, due to its excellent and wide performance and reclaimable property. In the past 20 years Chinese iron and steel industry has changed significantly. The annual production of crude steel in China has exceeded one hundred million tons. New processes were developed and a large variety of new products were also invented to satisfy the needs of economic development in China. The application of new technologies such as thin slab continuous casting ,casting ~ rolling with liquid core and low temperature rolling will have a wide applying demand in Chinese iron and steel industry, which will be more competitive and attractive for investment. A good deal attention has been paid to the development of new environment - friendly and energy - saving processes for the next generation of iron and steelmaking. Introduction of physical field, for example electric field, magnetic field, microwave field and ultrasonic field, to a chemical reaction or solidification system will give an unexpected result. Its industrial application will bring a revolutionary change in iron and steel manufacturing.