AHSS Process Automation Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
- Filing has plateaued, not grown. Activity peaked at 12 families in 2022 and has not exceeded that since — this is a settled claim space, not an emerging one.
- Heat treatment and alloy chemistry dominate. C21D and C22C each appear in around 90% of records, while rolling, casting and steelmaking control claims sit far behind at 10 each.
- China anchors the filing base. 27 of the tracked receiving-office filings are Chinese, more than the US, India, Australia and EPO combined.
Filing growth compares 2021 (7 records) with 2024 (5) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 56 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks patent families at the intersection of advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) composition and the automated process control used to make it — rolling line automation, continuous annealing automation, coating line automation, and general process control logic classified under C21D8, B21B37 and G05B19/418. It captures 56 published families filed between 2015 and the 2026 cut-off, drawn from Chinese, US, Indian, Australian and European receiving offices.
The picture is one of a mature, alloy-heavy field rather than a fast-moving automation race: most claims still describe the steel's chemistry and heat treatment, with automated process control appearing as a supporting element rather than the core inventive step.
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Filing trend and technology mix
Two views of the same 56-family dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claims.
Filings plateaued after 2022
Volume rose from 2 families in 2017 to a peak of 12 in 2022, then held flat or declined through the most recent years tracked. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the last one or two years will always look thinner than they eventually turn out to be — but the plateau starting in 2022 predates that lag effect.
Claims cluster on chemistry, not control logic
C21D (heat treatment) and C22C (alloys) each appear in roughly nine out of ten records, meaning most filings anchor their novelty in the steel's composition and thermal history. B21B (rolling), B22D (casting) and C21C (steelmaking) each sit at 10 records — present, but clearly secondary. B23K, C23C and B21C appear only once or twice, marking them as the thinnest-claimed corners of the space.
Shares are the percentage of the 56 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Advanced High-Strength Steel Process Automation with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about advanced high-strength steel process automation and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this dataset
High-strength steel allowing low-temperature welding and high-heat input welding and production method thereof (US20230175105A1)
The filing, assigned to Northeastern University, claims a high-strength steel chemistry built around controlled magnesium/zirconium oxide and titanium/boron nitride precipitates, tuned by mass-fraction ranges across carbon, manganese, chromium, boron and several trace elements, aimed at steel that tolerates both low-temperature and high-heat-input welding.Abstract shortened for length; full claims should be reviewed before drawing freedom-to-operate conclusions.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CN102383031A | 高强度捆带及其制造方法 | 31 |
| 2 | CN109821903A | 高强钢热轧板形的控制方法 | 15 |
| 3 | CN109158431A | 一种热轧带钢轧后双段冷却热头热尾工艺的自动控制方法 | 15 |
| 4 | US20160145706A1 | High-strength steel sheet and manufacturing method therefor | 14 |
| 5 | AU2020103572A4 | Ultra-fine grained high-strength steel plate with 1100 MPA-grade yield strength and production method thereof | 10 |
| 6 | CN114480957A | 一种成形性好的980MPa级热镀锌双相钢及其制造方法 | 7 |
| 7 | CN112575254A | 一种150mm厚压力容器用高强度钢09MnNiMoVR的生产方法 | 7 |
| 8 | CN110863144A | 一种高强度油气开采压裂泵用钢及其制造方法 | 7 |
| 9 | CN110964882A | 一种基于碳配分工艺的一钢两用冷轧高强钢及其制造方法 | 5 |
| 10 | US20230175105A1 | High-strength steel allowing low-temperature welding and high-heat input welding and production method thereof | 4 |
Citation counts reflect influence within this searched corpus and skew toward older filings; treat them as a signal of what shaped the field, not of what matters most today.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the family counts, IPC mix and citation data are read together.
Growth has flattened since 2022
The dataset's midpoint year matches its peak year, which by definition means the second half of the window has not exceeded the first. This is a field where the core inventive ground has largely been staked out, and new entrants should expect to be filing into occupied claim space rather than a growth curve.
Chemistry claims crowd out process claims
With C21D and C22C each present in around 51 and 50 of 56 records respectively, the dense prior art sits squarely on composition and heat treatment, not on the rolling, casting or coating automation logic the search targeted. That leaves automation-specific claim language comparatively open.
Filing is concentrated in China
China accounts for roughly half of tracked receiving-office activity, well ahead of the United States, India, Australia and the EPO. Freedom-to-operate work should weight Chinese prior art heavily, even for filings intended primarily for other jurisdictions.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to advanced high-strength steel process automation, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
No single assignee dominates this dataset, and recent-year momentum has cooled across the board — several previously active filers show zero families in the latest tracked year.
Collaboration is limited and mostly intra-group
The strongest co-assignee link, between Angang's Beijing research institute and Angang Steel itself, appears in only 3 records; the remaining pairs are single-instance links between Pangang group entities. Cross-company collaboration outside these groupings is essentially absent from the record.
Momentum has cooled across nearly every tracked filer
Of the assignees with recent-year momentum data, only Bengang Steel Plates shows any activity in the latest tracked year, and even that is down 50% year over year. This is consistent with the plateau seen in the overall filing trend rather than a single company pulling back.
A long tail rather than a concentrated leaderboard
The assignee base spans Chinese integrated steelmakers, a Korean automaker-linked steel producer, and at least one university, without any one organisation building a commanding family count. New entrants are filing into a fragmented field rather than around one dominant patent holder.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Bengang Steel Plates Co., Ltd. | 1 | -50% |
| Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. (Baosteel) | 0 | — |
| Hyundai Steel Company | 0 | — |
| Jiangyin Xingcheng Special Steel Works Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Angang Group Beijing Research Institute Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Angang Steel Company Limited | 0 | — |
| Shougang Group Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Wuyang Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with settled chemistry claims and thinner automation-specific coverage. Two directions follow from that.
Check freedom-to-operate on the chemistry side first
Before drafting new claims, screen against the dense C21D/C22C prior art — this is where most of the 56 tracked families sit, and where a new filing is most likely to collide with existing coverage.
Run a freedom-to-operate check in EurekaDraft around the automation logic, not the alloy
Rolling-line, coating-line and welding-integration claims are comparatively thin in this dataset, suggesting more room to claim specific control-loop or sensor-feedback implementations rather than another steel composition.
Explore white space with Patsnap EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
It refers to patent families that combine advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) subject matter with automated process control on the production line — specifically rolling line automation, continuous annealing automation, coating line automation, or general process control logic. The search restricts this using IPC classes C21D8, B21B37 and G05B19/418 alongside AHSS-related keywords. In practice, most of the 56 tracked records still lead with steel chemistry claims and treat automation as a supporting element rather than the sole inventive step.
The assignee base is fragmented rather than led by a single dominant filer, spanning integrated Chinese steelmakers, a Korean steel producer, and at least one university. Recent-year momentum data shows most tracked assignees at zero families in the latest year, with only one showing any activity, and that at a reduced rate. This suggests the field's active filers have shifted or paused rather than one company pulling ahead.
Filing volume rose from 2 families in 2017 to a peak of 12 in 2022, and the midpoint year of the dataset matches that peak, meaning the second half of the tracked window has not exceeded the first. This pattern typically indicates that the core claim space has already been staked out by early filers, discouraging duplicate filings. It is worth noting that publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent one or two years in any trend will understate true activity, though this does not fully explain a plateau that started back in 2022.
The clearest gaps sit outside the dominant C21D (heat treatment) and C22C (alloy) subclasses, which together appear in around nine out of ten records. Rolling, casting and steelmaking process claims (B21B, B22D, C21C) each account for only 10 of the 56 records, and welding, coating and extrusion-specific automation (B23K, C23C, B21C) appear in just one or two records each. A first claim targeting closed-loop sensor feedback on a rolling or coating line, rather than another steel composition, would be filing into comparatively open territory.
Not necessarily. Citation counts inside a searched corpus like this one accumulate over time, so older records such as the most-cited entries in this dataset have simply had longer to be cited. They are a reliable signal of historical influence on how the field's claims were drafted, but a newer, less-cited filing can still be commercially or legally more relevant today. Freedom-to-operate work should weigh filing date and claim scope alongside citation count, not citation count alone.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.