RESEARCH ON THE APPLICATION OF RARE EARTHS IN IRON AND STEEL IN RECENT YEARS

China has the biggest rare earths resource in the world,no wonder she pays much at-tention to the application of rare earth metals (REM).The application of REM in iron andsteel in China began at the end of 1950's.The production of REM-treated iron and steelhad been made steady progress in the period of 1980's.The production of REM-treatediron and steel in 1989 was 1.4 million tons and 250,000 tons respectively.The interest oftreating steel with REM in China keeps growing even in these years,It comes from the nat-