Steel metallurgist and iron and steel engineering technology expert. A native of Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Graduated from Zhejiang University in 1932. Obtained a master's degree in metallurgy from the University of London in 1937. In 1995, he was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Professor and consultant of the Iron and Steel Research Institute. During the Anti-Japanese War, he presided over the design, construction and production of the new open-hearth steelmaking plant. Since 1948, he has been involved in resuming production in Anshan Iron and Steel, establishing the production technology and research and development system of my country's first generation of large-scale steel plants, and participated in the foundation work of the technical management of large-scale steel conglomerates. Since 1959, he has presided over a series of scientific research projects in metallurgical reactions, new metallurgical processes, vacuum smelting and comprehensive utilization of iron ore resources at the institute, which have been applied in production. In 1998, he won the second China Engineering Science and Technology Guanghua Award.
In 1955, he was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (member of the academic department).
Born in February 1913 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.
Graduated from the Department of Chemical Engineering of Zhejiang University in 1932. From 1932 to 1934, he served as an assistant professor in the Chemistry Department of Jiaotong University.
From 1934 to 1937, he studied at Imperial College London, UK, and received first-class honorary bachelor's degree in metallurgy and master's degree in metallurgy.
1937-1938: Participated in the work of the Central Steel Works of the Resources Commission under preparation.
In 1938, the Kunming Central Machinery Factory was transferred to prepare for the establishment of a refractory material workshop and a physical and chemical laboratory.
From 1939 to 1940, he served as professor of metallurgy at Wuhan University.
From 1941 to 1945, he served as the director of the Fourth Plant (Steelmaking Plant) of the Electrochemical Smelting Plant of the Resources Committee.
From 1945 to 1946, he was dispatched by the Resources Committee to take over steel companies in the Northeast.
From 1947 to 1948, he served as associate manager of Anshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. and director of the steelmaking institute.
1948～1958: Chief engineer of Anshan Iron and Steel Company, and concurrently served as deputy director of production technology of the steelmaking plant, director of Anshan Iron and Steel Technology Department, etc.
1958~ Iron and Steel Research Institute of the Ministry of Metallurgy, successively served as director of the Steelmaking Research Office, director of the Metallurgical Physics and Chemistry Research Office, deputy chief engineer of the institute, deputy director of the academic committee of the institute, chairman of the academic degree evaluation committee of the institute, and technical director of the institute. Consultants, etc.
Shao Xianghua died in Beijing at 18:30 on March 21, 2012 due to ineffective treatment. He was 99 years old. In the summer of 1939, he applied to be a professor of metallurgy at Wuhan University (located in Leshan, Sichuan), which was preparing to establish a department of mining and metallurgy. In 1941, the Resources Committee transferred Shao back and sent him to build steel plants such as the electrochemical smelting plant and serve as the director. In 1945, Shao Xianghua, Jin Shuliang and others were sent to Northeast China to take over steel enterprises. In 1947, he was appointed as associate manager of Anshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. and director of the steelmaking institute. Anshan was liberated in February 1948. Shao Xianghua and other six former associates and more than 30 technical staff stayed in Anshan. They were safely transferred to Dandong City by the People's Liberation Army to participate in political studies. In October of the same year, Shao Xianghua was ordered to go to northern Manchuria to assist in work at a small ironmaking plant in Jixi. Within a few days, he reported to the Northeast Heavy Industry Department in Harbin. On November 2, the day Shenyang was liberated, Shao Xianghua entered Shenyang with the People's Liberation Army. He participated in the takeover of Anshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. and served as the chief engineer of the newly-born Anshan Iron and Steel Company. He also served as deputy director of production technology of the steelmaking plant and director of the company's technical department. He devoted himself to his work with enthusiasm and mobilized a group of former colleagues and students from the customs to come to Anshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. to work. For his contribution to the resumption of production, Shao Xianghua was awarded the title of Second-Class Meritorious Officer by Anshan Iron and Steel Company on August 15, 1949.
Writing on Iron and Steel Metallurgy
In 1950, with the assistance of Soviet experts, Anshan Iron and Steel established various organizational management systems for modern enterprises. As the director of the technical department, Shao Xianghua is responsible for formulating technical operating procedures for each basic production process of the company, various product inspection standards and technical measures, etc. These are the necessary foundation for the normal operation of Anshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., a large-scale conglomerate. In the early days of resumption of production, Anshan Iron and Steel's various consumption indicators were relatively lagging behind, and there were many problems with product quality. In response to this situation, he devoted great energy to promoting Anshan Iron and Steel's technological improvement and research and development work. Starting from the beginning of 1949, in order to help some leading cadres who transferred to Anshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. to become familiar with iron and steel metallurgy as soon as possible, Shao Xianghua gave them technical courses in a relatively systematic manner.
In order to meet the needs of the vast number of technical cadres and workers at that time, he specially compiled a book called "Steel Metallurgy", which was the earliest intermediate technical monograph on steel published in New China. He published many technical articles focusing on work needs in the technical journal "Anshan Iron and Steel"; he also organized the steel plant technicians to jointly translate the authoritative masterpiece "Alkaline Open Furnace Steelmaking" published by AIME in the United States, and then translated it independently "Steel Metallurgy" of the Soviet Union. The latter became a teaching material for metallurgical colleges and universities at that time. In 1956, Shao Xianghua went to the Soviet Union, the Democratic Republic of Germany and Czechoslovakia with a metallurgical industry delegation to investigate and study the steel companies in these countries. After returning to China, he published an inspection report at the National Steelmaking Conference and other occasions, and put forward many suggestions for improving China's open-hearth steelmaking. In the autumn of 1958, Shao Xianghua was transferred to the Iron and Steel Research Institute of the Ministry of Metallurgy (renamed the General Iron and Steel Research Institute in 1979) and served successively as director of the Steelmaking and Metallurgical Physical Chemistry Research Office, deputy chief engineer of the institute, deputy director of the academic committee, chairman of the degree evaluation committee and Technical consultant, doctoral supervisor, etc. He presided over a series of research topics on metallurgical reactions, new smelting processes, vacuum smelting, and recycling of raw elements in iron ore. Two of his inventions were awarded national patents. In the early 1980s, he guided his colleagues in translating "Oxygen Top-Blown Converter Steelmaking" newly published by AIME in the United States, which played a beneficial role in China's booming converter steelmaking industry.