《中国证券报》07月01日报道，尽管景气度低迷，但钢铁行业的节能减排力度并未削减。在近期由冶金工业规划研究院举办的2014中国钢铁节能减排论坛上，多位与会者透露，目前工信部等有关部门正在加快完善节能减排标准体系，已开始研究钢铁、建材等行业的能效标准实施计划；未来还将加强钢铁行业的环保约束管理。

以2007年中国投入产出表的数据为基础，运用投入产出模型，从投入结构、需求结构以及产业波及效果的角度定量分析了中国稀土产业与国民经济中其他产业的关联关系，给出了稀土产业的产业关联特征。从稀土产业未来发展目标的角度，对中国稀土产业的发展提出了建议。

2014年6月份，钢材价格指数较5月末小幅回落，创出历史新低；6月份钢铁行业累计固定资产投资同比维持下降态势；1-6月份我国生铁和粗钢产量环比下降，钢材产量有所增长；粗钢产量占全球比重小幅回升，略高于50%的水平；6月份钢材出口量出现回落，外部钢材需求走弱；进口量呈现回落走势。整体来看，6月份我国钢铁产量维持高位，供给压力仍然较大，而需求情况没有明显好转。

《证券日报》07月18日报道，自去年以来，国内期货市场迎来了新品种上市潮。今年以来，除了已上市的聚丙烯期货、热轧卷板期货以及晚籼稻期货之外，铁合金期货也有望下月上市。有业内人士表示，如果进展顺利，铁合金期货将于8月8日上市。

前5 个月，物流与生产资料市场运行基本平稳、结构优化。一方面，市场规模增速稳中小幅回落，但保持较快增长；另一方面，在增速回落的同时，市场结构向好转变、流通方式加快转型。 当前市场运行出现积极变化，PMI 指数持续回升，升幅扩大；市场需求回升，供需关系趋向改善，价格回稳；企业原材料补库趋于积极，开工率有所回升；就业形势稳中有升。预计后期经济走势趋稳。但经济回升动力仍需巩固，经济活力仍需加强。

6月份，钢铁产量再创历史新高，钢材出口量有所减少，社会库存继续下降，虽然需求有所增长，但市场供大于求局面未有改观。再加上铁矿石价格持续回落，钢材价格呈小幅下行走势。后期钢价仍难以大幅回升，将呈低位波动走势。

2014年上半年，在三期“叠加”时期，国内经济增速出现放缓，特别是房地产市场进入调整阶段，加大经济下行风险。钢铁需求增速放缓，产量居高不下，产业链资金普遍紧张，矿价大幅下跌，均导致钢价弱势下行。不过，由于矿价跌幅大于钢价，在连续两月亏损后，3月起重点钢企盈利逐渐好转。1-5月重点钢企实现利润17.54亿元，同比下降46.55%；销售利润率为0.12%，低于上年同期的0.19%。

2014年一季度，我国生产粗钢20270.01万吨，同比增长2.37%，增幅较去年同期下降了6.37个百分点；钢材产量26141万吨（含重复材），同比增长5.3%，增幅较去年同期下降了5.9个百分点。

2014年2季度，我国颁布了新的《环境保护法》，此次修改明确了新世纪环境保护工作的指导思想，加强了政府对于环保的监督责任，以推进环境保护法及其相关法律的实施。对于钢铁行业来说，新《环境保护法》使钢铁行业面临更为严格的限制条件；国务院印发了《2014-2015年节能减排低碳发展行动方案》，意在进一步推进节能减排相关工作，确保全面完成“十二五”节能减排降碳目标；我国钢铁产品相关贸易保护案件数量为9起，较2014年1季度增加2起。

Multi-layered plates consisting of DH-36 steel coated by a thick layer of polyurea, for increased blast and impact protection, are of increasing importance to the Department of Defense. A hybrid approach of experiments and simulation was performed to characterize fracture and plasticity of DH-36 Navy steel, which is the first step in creating an accurate model of the composite material. The performance limit to this material during an impact is ductile fracture. The prediction follows that the onset of fracture occurs when a certain critical value of plastic strain is reached. This value is highly dependent on the state of stress. Seven different types of tests were performed, including tensile tests on dog-bone and notched specimens and punch indentation tests on circular blanks. Also, tensile and shear tests were performed on butterfly specimens using the dual actuator loading frame. Fracture surface strains were measured using digital image correlation. Local fracture strains were obtained by using an inverse engineering method of matching measured displacement to fracture with computer simulations. The results are used to calibrate the Modified Mohr Coulomb fracture model which is expressed by the stress state invariants of Lode angle and triaxiality.

Fracture toughness and fatigue properties of pipeline steels play a critical role in developing advanced high-pressure hydrogen infrastructure for alternative fuel pipelines program. The reliability of structure components, particularly resistance to damage and failure in the intended service environment, is highly dependent on the selected materials. An effective surveillance program is also necessary to monitor the material degradation during the course of service. Steels have been proven to be desirable for hydrogen infrastructure. However, hydrogen embrittlement is an important factor that limits steel performance under high-pressure hydrogen conditions. In order to reach the above goal, we have proposed an innovative technology, based on spiral notch torsion test (SNTT) methodology, to effectively investigate the material performance of X52 pipeline steel. The SNTT approach was successfully demonstrated and extended to X52 steels during the performance period. In addition to single notch front geometry, the crack growth behavior of the SNTT process has been effectively established using an integrated experimental, numerical and analytical approach. The results indicate that the proposed protocol not only provides significant advance in understanding the compliance evolution of the SNTT specimen, but also can be readily utilized to assist future development of hydrogen infrastructures. In FY2011, an extensive study was performed to characterize the fracture toughness degradation of AISI 4340 high-strength steel exposed to high-pressure hydrogen using in situ spiral notch torsion tests. This effort included equipment setup and calibration, sample design and fabrication, finite element simulation of the specimen fracture, and fractographic characterization using advanced microscopic techniques. The detailed description of the results is summarized in by Wang (Wang 2011).

Brillouin-scattering Optical Time Domain Reflectometry (BOTDR) is a viable technology for simultaneous, distributed strain and temperature measurements for miles-long transportation structures. It is a promising tool to ensure the smooth operation and safety of bridge structures that are key links in surface transportation networks or between various transportation modes: i.e., from airport to train station. Currently, telecom-grade optical fibers are widely used in civil engineering for strain and temperature measurements. These fibers are very fragile and easy to break during installation and measurement. In order to understand the ultimate behavior of structures, more rugged optical fibers such as carbon/polyimide coated fibers were recently proposed. One laboratory study on two single fibers indicated that new carbon/polyimide coated fibers can sustain a maximum strain of up to 4, which can survive any local crack in concrete members or buckling in steel members once they are installed on the structural members. This project aimed to characterize the ruggedness and signal loss of various packaged optical fibers and validate their performance as sensors. Among the tested optical fibers, bare single-mode fibers (SMF-28) with uncoated anchoring have the lowest shear strength and the lowest ultimate strain under tension, and are thus not suitable to apply in harsh environments. Polyimide-coated optical fibers have the highest shear strength and the highest ultimate strain under tension, making them the best candidate for civil infrastructure applications. Both glass fiber reinforcing polymer (GFRP) and carbon coated optical fibers are sufficiently rugged to be applied to civil infrastructure.