Baihetan Hydropower Station.Xinhua News Agency
The special steel metallurgy team of Northeastern University is on the front line inspecting the test conditions.Data pictures
Baihetan Hydropower Station.Xinhua News Agency
[New Journey to Strengthen the Country with Talents]
“The aero-engine bearing steel experiment begins now.” At midnight, the lights in the Special Steel Metallurgy Laboratory of Northeastern University were brightly lit. Professor Jiang Zhouhua from the School of Metallurgy of Northeastern University and his students gathered around the metallurgical furnace, quietly waiting for the steel to be “reborn” in the “furnace fire”.
From the C919 large aircraft to the Baihetan Hydropower Station, to the fourth-generation nuclear power demonstration project…the operation of many important equipment of major countries is inseparable from the achievements of this team. The new generation of electroslag remelting technology pioneered by the Northeastern University’s special steel metallurgy team has achieved a leap from following to leading the way in my country’s special steel smelting.
Scientific and technological innovation brings new productivity, and new productivity promotes the overall revitalization of Northeast China. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the symposium on promoting the comprehensive revitalization of Northeast China in the new era that currently, promoting the comprehensive revitalization of Northeast China is facing new and major opportunities. The first of these is “to achieve high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-reliance, which will help Northeast China transform its scientific, educational and industrial advantages into development advantages.”
How to combine and transform the advantages of science, education and industry? The special steel metallurgy team of Northeastern University led by Jiang Zhouhua handed over innovative answers.
Calm down and warm up the “cold bench”
If one category of commodities is used to measure a country’s industrialization level, “steel” must be on the list. Throughout the development history of the world’s steel industry, after the steel production in developed countries reaches a certain scale, the proportion of high-quality steel and special steel will gradually increase to 20%. In my country, this proportion is only 9%, and there is still a large amount of special steel that needs to be imported.
“Although we had very little scientific research funding at the time, we persisted in researching special steel and quietly cultivating talents.” Recalling his 40 years of persistence in scientific research, Jiang Zhouhua said with emotion, “Because I know that our country needs to refine its own special steel. .”
Initially, the special steel metallurgy team only had one furnace and four teachers. Everyone squeezed into two laboratories and conducted a lot of basic and applied scientific research, warming up the “cold bench” little by little.
“Although it is boring to stay in the laboratory and do research every day, we firmly believe that there is nothing wrong in pursuing high-quality development of steel.” Young teacher Li Huabing is a famous “strict teacher” of the special steel metallurgy team. He often told his students: “We have to ‘compete’ with steel.” Once, he had a new idea about the subject and called two other “comrades” to the laboratory at 11 o’clock in the night to discuss it until 3 o’clock in the morning. Half.
I don’t know how many late nights passed and how many furnaces of molten steel were smelted. The special steel metallurgy team of Northeastern University finally made a major theoretical and technological breakthrough. As a result, Jiang Zhouhua was elected by the International Electrotechnical Commission as the convener of the electroslag furnace international standard working group to lead the effort. Drive the transformation and upgrading of the entire industry.
The numerous fruits of the team’s scientific and technological breakthroughs have not only grown in the scientific research undertakings of the comprehensive revitalization of Northeast China, but also become the “branches” of high-quality development of high-end manufacturing. At Ansteel Group, the “316H austenitic stainless steel product” developed by Jiang Zhouhua was used in China’s fourth-generation nuclear power demonstration fast reactor project, becoming a pioneer in China’s exploration of internationally leading nuclear power technology; at Fushun Special Steel, Li Huabing took the lead in developing The first “super stainless steel” in China broke the foreign technology blockade and product monopoly, reducing the price of imported products by more than 50%.
“Today, the new generation of electroslag remelting technology we developed has been promoted to 325 complete sets of equipment in more than 60 companies, with a market share of 61%.” Jiang Zhouhua said, “Relevant products are also exported to more than 50 countries and region, resulting in huge economic and social benefits. Special steel is becoming the star product of China’s steel industry, sailing to the sea and going to the world.”
Take root in the front line and cultivate talents to keep up with industry needs
People who are familiar with Jiang Zhouhua say: “Teacher Jiang is a person who is always on the road.” From Northeast to East China and then to the Southwest, no matter how far the journey is, whenever the company encounters problems in production practice, he will rush to the scene as soon as possible. Over the past 40 years, he has traveled across more than half of China and visited hundreds of steel and heavy machinery companies.
Someone once asked him: “I heard that the production site environment in the metallurgical industry is relatively difficult. Why do you always insist that you can’t stop going to the site?”
“The best teacher is on site. If you don’t go to the production site, you won’t be able to master first-hand information and find ways to solve problems.” Jiang Zhouhua believes, “The disconnect between theory and practice will make it difficult to conduct research and train excellent people.” Talent.”
Under Jiang Zhouhua’s initiative, the graduation thesis topics of most students in the team came from the production site. “In the past ten years, we have trained 71 doctors and 270 masters. Internships on the front lines of corporate production have become a required course for every graduate student.” Team member Geng Xin said, “Our ‘high-quality special steel, green and efficient electroslag The development and application of key remelting technologies project won the first prize of the 2019 National Science and Technology Progress Award. Several key difficulties in project research and development were discovered and overcome by three doctoral students in production practice.”
Team member Dong Yanwu completed his doctoral thesis at the production line of Sinosteel Xingtai Machinery Roll Co., Ltd. The special steel smelting equipment he developed contributed to my country’s first lunar exploration satellite Chang’e-1, the Long March-3A launch vehicle, and the Shenzhou-6 manned space flight. “Our experiments often start in the middle of the night and end in the afternoon of the next day. It is common to follow the team for 15 hours at a time. Although it is very hard, the mysteries of science are best discovered here.” Dong Yanwu said.
Stay on the front line and learn on the front line. Shuttling between laboratories and factories day after day, the young talents of Northeastern University’s special steel metallurgy team are growing rapidly. Today, Dong Yanwu has become an expert in electroslag metallurgy technology for the team. He often leads students to go to the site to find problems, and then returns to the laboratory to use computers to simulate and explore the best design solutions.
Teachers and students have worked hard in the laboratory and worked hard on the front lines of the enterprise. From research calculations to on-site practical operations, they have all developed hard skills and made outstanding contributions to the development of my country’s special steel technology and the construction of a strong steel country. In 2022, the special steel metallurgical technology teacher team led by Jiang Zhouhua was named the “Huang Danian-style Teacher Team in National Universities”.
Let more young talents devote themselves to the comprehensive revitalization of Northeast China
On September 16, Northeastern University celebrated its 100th anniversary. At the celebration party, Jiang Zhouhua took two students and supported his teacher on the stage together. Under the watchful eyes of more than 10,000 teachers, students and alumni present, the story of the team’s efforts to serve the country through science and technology was told. The belief of taking root in Northeast China and serving the country is passed down from generation to generation in the hearts of many students.
Li Boyang, a 2018 doctoral graduate, is currently working at Anshan Iron and Steel Research Institute, engaged in research related to steel metallurgy. The big data system for steelmaking that he participated in the development of can coordinate various processes through data analysis to achieve optimal control of the steelmaking process, helping steel plants reduce costs by nearly 10 million yuan every year. Being able to stay in his hometown and contribute to the overall revitalization of Northeast China, Li Boyang feels that he is full of energy every day.
Hou Zhiwen, another 2016 PhD graduate who stayed in Fushun Special Steel, had been conducting basic research on special steel metallurgy before graduation. When he came to the front line, the knowledge he learned came in handy and solved one production problem after another. “Now I combine basic principles with on-site practice, use the special smelting workshop as the main battlefield, continue to research special steel smelting, and develop more and better new varieties of special steel in the future.” Hou Zhiwen said.
There is a constant stream of talents, and new results are also emerging. In 2020, Northeastern University’s special steel metallurgy team responded to the call for accelerated transformation of national scientific and technological achievements and raised more than 60 million yuan to build the Northeastern University (Shenfu) Industrial Technology Research Institute in the Shenfu Innovation and Reform Demonstration Zone in Liaoning Province. A 3-ton high-end special steel and special alloy pilot production line was built, aiming at the international frontier and major national needs, and conducting technology research and development and achievement transformation in the fields of new materials, hydrogen energy and hydrogen metallurgy, and intelligent manufacturing.
“The results developed by students in the laboratory are transformed and applied here and brought to society. While cultivating and gathering a group of high-level scientific and technological innovation talents, a group of specialized new enterprises will be hatched.” Northeastern University (Shen Fu) Dong Junwei, deputy director of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, said, “Less than two months after the pilot base was put into operation, it successfully developed key processing technology for a company in Sichuan for the ‘artificial sun’ project. So far, we have introduced a project team of 6 , gathering more than 100 high-level scientific and technological talents, and incubating 5 scientific and technological enterprises.”
(Guangming Daily reporter Liu Yong and Guangming Daily correspondent Li Qingpo)
Original title: Northeastern University’s Special Steel Metallurgy Team: After refining steel, talents are also “refined”
