Dr. Mao has engaged in steel area for 28 years and mainly focuses on the development of low cost and high performance steels as well as the technology of thin slab casting and direct rolling (TSCR). Currently, he is the executive vice dean of the Research and Development Center of Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation (R&D Center of WISCO). Previously, he worked in the Wuhan Design and Research Institute of Iron and Steel Industry as the engineer and vice chief engineer from 1989 to 2002, and the chief engineer of Guangzhou Zhujiang Steel Co., Ltd. from 2002 to 2013.
Dr. Mao discovered the law of the precipitation of Ti containing precipitates in steels produced by TSCR, and proposed the technology of thermomechanical rolling for Ti microalloyed steels. Based on the law and technology, he developed a series of 450-700MPa grade steels, leading to a reduction of 60% in microalloying cost. In addition, he developed the technical route of producing high quality and special strips by TSCR. Moreover, he integrated the complete set of technology of producing thin gauge hot rolled strips and developed a series of thin gauge products. All these achievements promote the substitution of hot rolled strips for cold rolled strips, which received wide recognition in steel industry.
Dr. Mao holds over 20 patents and has published more than 160 papers. Due to his great contribution to steel industry, he has won many awards including the prestigious National Prize for Progress in Science and Technology granted by the State Council of China. In 2015, he was elected as the academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Currently, Dr. Mao not only manages the R&D Center of WISCO, but also continues to further develop low cost and high performance steels and the technology of TSCR to benefit the steel industry.