Chapter 416 of the text Hydraulic Press

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"Speaking of which, Mr. Hu's aircraft materials are really a big treasure trove!"

Wu Lao really has a younger and younger posture now, although his hair is a lot grayer, but he walks with a tiger's style.

After a simple welcome ceremony, when the people left, he hurriedly took Hu Wenhai's hand, and asked with bright eyes: "Mr. Hu, do you have a full set of information for other aero engines?" A complete set like R27/29 is the best, otherwise there can be some more detailed tooling and fixture information, or engine design ideas. ”

Wu Lao rubbed his hands and looked at Hu Wenhai expectantly: "You don't know, the full set of materials for this set of R27/29 engines, the complete set of Cheng Dù! Not only the design drawings used to produce the engine, but even the specific process and number of production materials are available." Many texts even give us a glimpse of the special production process of some Soviet aircraft engines. And the most valuable thing is that it is the first time that it allows us to understand the overall idea of Soviet engine design so intuitively, which is really valuable for us to thoroughly grasp the design of turbojet engines!"

Hu Wenhai was stunned by Wu Lao's words, at that time, he was just afraid that KGB would not be serious and unmotivated, so he came up with such a seemingly "loss-making" method of buying by catty. Who would have thought that there would be such an unexpected gain!

"Since Wu Lao is in need, then I'll try again!" Hu Wenhai nodded excitedly: "But I'm afraid it won't work in the short term, let's take a long-term view." It will take a few years to pave the way, and then come to a big one!"

"It's good, it's good. Wu Lao Mei smiled: "These materials are enough for us to digest for a period of time, and we can afford to wait for a few years." ”

Hu Wenhai couldn't help but laugh and said seriously: "It's just right, Wu Laoyou will retire in a few years." If I get any information, you are the president of the new science and technology power institute, and I will naturally listen to you how to deal with it when the time comes. ”

Wu Lao was made laughing and crying by Hu Wenhai's lazy appearance, pointed at him and said helplessly: "Good boy, you were waiting for me here." Okay, my old bones, it seems that they can still be sold for a good price in the end. ”

"Look at what you said, I'm really a public heart!"

"Okay, a piece of public heart! Wu Lao kicked him with a gesture: "Okay, go to Chief Tu's side, his affairs are more troublesome than mine." ”

Hu Wenhai smiled, looked like he had taken a big advantage, waved his hand to Wu Lao, and turned around and walked in the direction of Tu Jida's office.

Tu Jida stood by the door, waiting for Hu Wenhai to come over. He is not young this year, ten years older than Wang Xiaomo, and he can pass the age of ear shun. At first glance, he is no different from ordinary staff. A neat and tidy half-sleeved white shirt and cotton trousers, just in response to the sentence "smart heads don't grow hair", but unexpectedly people feel that they can be bald and so handsome.

"Mr. Hu is here, come into the house and sit down. ”

Tukida pushed open the office door, and the old door creaked. Hu Wenhai hurriedly walked over, and the two walked into the office back and forth.

The office is not big, about six or seven square meters. A desk, chair and sofa, and a washbasin shelf with a wire bend in the doorway, that's all there is inside.

Hu Wenhai looked left and right, and it was obvious that the age of this building was not young. There were many cracks on the walls, and the paint on the footings was mottled and peeling.

Who would have thought that the most important third-generation aircraft imitation project in China would be promoted in such an environment. Oh, not right either. For people of this era, this situation is conceivable.

"My conditions are not good, and Mr. Hu will take care of it. ”

Tu Jida poured a glass of water for Hu Wenhai, he hurriedly took it with both hands, and said with a smile: "The water that Tu Lao poured for me, I drink it is more fragrant than tea." ”

"Mr. Hu's support for our panda project, I won't be more polite, see you! Tu Jida moved a chair, sat opposite Hu Wenhai, and said straight to the point: "I won't say more, this time there is indeed an important matter to invite Mr. Hu over." ”

"Tu Lao, you said. Hu Wenhai sat up straight, his face full of justice.

"That's right, for the imitation mission of the F-14 fighter, we should be saying that we are making good progress now. The state also attaches great importance to it, and it should be said that the cooperation in all aspects is in place. Especially in the progress of the TF-41 engine, it can be said that a rather important part of the work was solved. We can have today's results, and we can't do without the support of Mr. Hu!"

Speaking of this, Tu Jida suddenly sighed: "But the meat in front of me has been eaten, and now that it is time to gnaw bones, it is more difficult all of a sudden." The other difficulties are better said, and we can solve them in some alternative ways. But there is a technical problem that cannot be bypassed. ”

Hu Wenhai's heart moved, as a fan of the F-14 fighter, his understanding of this aircraft should be above the level. Of course, it can't compare to professionals, but the analytical articles of later generations can at least be familiar with it.

When Tu Jida said that the technical threshold that China could not cross, he immediately thought of what he was referring to.

"Is what Tu Lao is talking about, is it the vacuum electron beam welding technology of the wing box?"

Tu Jida didn't expect Hu Wenhai to break the words he hadn't yet said, he was slightly stunned, and nodded helplessly: "That's right, it's vacuum electron beam welding technology." I visited Grumman in my early years, and the vacuum electron beam welding technology they developed for the F-14 wing box was truly impressive. ”

In general, there seems to be a misconception that American products are always "sophisticated", while Soviet products are "stupid and coarse". Although this high-precision is a compliment, subconsciously people will feel that solving problems is always "ingenious" and "exquisite", and things will naturally not be very big.

Regardless of the rights and wrongs of this understanding, it is obviously not so in line with people's traditional impression of Grumman's vacuum electron beam welding technology.

The reason why the F-14 was able to achieve a good performance in the whole flight envelope is due to its variable sweep wing capability. The variable sweep wing technology is achieved by the fact that the F-14 fighter has one of the strongest wingboxes on the fuselage.

The so-called wingbox, as the name suggests, can be seen from its function. The structure of the F-14's variable wing tail used to "store" the wing, is the wing box.

The reason why the F-14 can control the angle of the wing is that the wing box has the function of controlling the wing.

Changing the angle of the wings during the supersonic flight of the aircraft puts forward the mechanical performance requirements that can be called metamorphosis of the transmission structure. Fixed-wing aircraft can distribute the pressure to the fuselage, but in flight, the pressure is concentrated in the wingbox.

In order to be able to manufacture this demanding product, Grumman uses vacuum electron beam welding technology in the welding of the wing casing. Electron beam welding is not a new technological breakthrough, and the principle is quite "simple".

An electron gun is used to fire high-kinetic electrons to bombard the weld of the workpiece. Kinetic energy is converted into heat energy, and the weld melts to form a molten pool, which is electron beam welding technology.

The advantage is that the amount of thermal deflection is quite small, and no solder is required to achieve soldering. In this way, it is conceivable that the weld, which was originally the weak point of the workpiece, is actually no different from the rest of the workpiece.

Thanks to this technology, the F-14's wingbox is integrated and the welded workpiece is evenly stressed. Moreover, because the amount of thermal deformation is small, the accuracy of the workpiece is not affected, and this characteristic can be said to be of great significance to the force of the wing box transmission.

The F-14 crashed several times in history, and the plane was salvaged and sent to sea. The rest of the fuselage fell miserably, but the wingbox was never damaged. Even after the plane crashed and exploded, the only intact part that crews found at the scene was the main load-bearing structure in the wingbox. After a complete X-ray and immersion ultrasonic inspection, the titanium alloy workpiece processed by electron beam welding did not even have cracks. The U.S. Navy even jokingly claimed that the performance of the F-14 wing box could be said to be excessive.

Hu Wenhai recalled his memory and asked suspiciously: "If it is electron beam welding technology, I remember that there are several production lines imported from Germany in China, I don't know if they can meet the demand?"

Tu Jida said with a wry smile: "Although there are several production lines in China, they are technically completely unable to meet the needs of F-14 wing box welding. Ordinary electron beam welding production lines need to deal with some small and delicate products. But do you know how large the F-14's wingbox is? The F-14's wingbox is composed of 33 precision-machined titanium alloy parts, and its main load runs through the structure, with a volume of seven meters long, one meter wide, and half a meter high, and weighs more than a ton. The required welding length was up to 46 meters, and it took more than 70 welding operations to complete. To use an inappropriate analogy, it is equivalent to using a 1-micron process to make an IC chip the size of an umbrella. ”

"Grumman's vacuum electron beam welding equipment capable of welding wing casings is as large as 30 cubic meters in the vacuum chamber alone. A full set of vacuum electron beam welding equipment, simply a workshop dedicated to welding. The technical level of the whole workshop is not much different from that of the IC production workshop. It is required to be dust-free, constant temperature and humidity, and dust-proof clothing must be worn during work. It can be said that with such a set of welding equipment, only Grumman has the ability to weld electron beam of such a large workpiece in the world. ”

When Hu Wenhai heard Tu Jida's words, he couldn't help but take a deep breath and shook his head in disbelief.

Grumman's giant vacuum electron beam welding technology is not just about scaling up electron beam welding equipment. Vaucing a cubic meter of vacuum chamber is one thing, vacuuming thirty cubic meters of a chamber is another.

The former can find a low-power liquid ring pump on a substation to meet the demand, but the latter needs a diffusion pump with enough power to propel an aircraft carrier.

Grumman's equipment is not only powerful, but also terrifying. The machining accuracy of the wingbox workpiece is 0005 inches, which is 127 microns. Compared with the length of seven meters of the main bearing structure of the wingbox, the 1-micron IC chip the size of Tu Jida's umbrella is probably still too much.

And don't forget, the machining accuracy of 127 microns is completely dependent on the CNC system for automatic welding. The legendary eight-level machining accuracy can reach 10 microns, that is, a trace, but that is on the premise that the workpiece can at least be on the machine.

Imagine that this CNC system is lifting a workpiece that is seven meters long, one meter wide, half a meter high, and weighs one ton, ensuring that the machining accuracy is at the level of 10 filaments.

This is beyond the reach of manpower. And this process is completely invisible and uncontrollable. The only thing the operator can do is to trust the reliability of the equipment.

Not to mention the dustproof, constant temperature and constant humidity conditions in the operation of this set of equipment, which are almost the same as the requirements of the lithography workshop of the wafer factory.

It's hard to say whether Grumman's equipment is "stupid and coarse", but it's really big, which makes people's hearts sway.

The requirements of this set of equipment are indeed beyond the highest level of China's current industry, and it is not a technology that can be piled up simply by piling up money. Even if it is Hu Wenhai, he is just a lot of money that he can't spend, and he is not reborn with a red police base car.

Hu Wenhai smiled bitterly and said: "Old Tu, you really think highly of me, no matter how good my relationship with Grumman is, this kind of deadly technology will not be exported." If it's a matter of money, I can think of a way, I'm afraid I can't do anything about it. ”

Tu Jida hurriedly waved his hand and said with a smile: "Of course I know that it is impossible for Grumman to give us this technology, and he will not joke with Mr. Hu about this kind of thing." In fact, the reason why the Americans are engaged in such an exaggerated vacuum electron beam welding equipment is not that their technology is so good, but on the contrary, they actually have no way to do it. ”

"No way?"

"Yes, there is no way for the Americans to do vacuum electron beam welding. Tukida nodded heavily.

"Mr. Hu, you think, if the main bearing structure of the wing box itself is integrated and does not need to be welded, is it more reliable than the welded parts with good technology? Of course, ordinary processing methods are not good, and the workpiece must be forged with a 10,000-ton hydraulic press. ”

Hu Wenhai was stunned for a moment and nodded stupidly.

"Like, that's really the case. ”

"That's it. Tu Jida's tone was full of confidence: "Grumman developed electron beam welding technology because there was no 10,000-ton hydraulic press that could meet the processing capacity of the wing box. The largest hydraulic press in the United States is in the 45,000-ton class, which is not enough to meet the processing needs of the wingbox. The only hydraulic press in the world that can meet the requirements for processing F-14 wingboxes is the Soviet 75,000-ton hydraulic press. Therefore, if we can have a 75,000-ton hydraulic press from the Soviet Union, the wing box can be welded without vacuum electron beam at all!"

"What's that......"

Hu Wenhai swallowed his saliva: "Tu Lao, you bring the globe, I'll study it again......"

"Huh?" Tu Jida was stunned: "What kind of globe did Mr. Hu say?"

"It's nothing, I'm sorry that my head is short-circuited......"

With a 75,000-ton hydraulic press, Hu Wenhai felt that it might be easier to get Grumman's vacuum electron beam welding.

When did China get the 80,000-ton multi-directional die forging hydraulic press? Hu Wenhai recalled that it seemed that it was only in 2012 that the Second Heavy Machinery Group solved this problem. Since then, it has been completely proud of the heavy industry.

But after the 21st century, China's industrial system has been upgraded several times, and there is a real tyrant in his pocket, so he has the heart to play with this big toy.

However, to say that the Americans are indeed worse than the Soviet Union in the 10,000-ton hydraulic press, it is not a star and a half. At the highest level, it was almost doubled by the USSR, not to mention this. Even the 45,000-ton hydraulic press owned by Alcoa will be scrapped because of the backward design and structure of the three beams and four columns, and the operating capacity is only 5 million times at most. In terms of processing capacity and cost, it was completely destroyed by the Soviet Union.

But that was the USSR, not China in the eighties.

Whether it is vacuum electron beam welding or a 75,000-ton hydraulic press, even if Hu Wenhai opened a goldenthigh, it will take ten years of hard work and huge investment to build it in China.

"Tu Lao, even if I agree to support the construction of a 75,000-ton hydraulic press, have you ever thought about how much investment and how much time it will take? Besides, don't look like I have a lot of money in my hands, but compared with the investment required to develop heavy industry, how many nails can I hit with iron?"

"Isn't it just ten years?" Tu Jida exhaled and said with a seemingly relaxed smile: "Ten years later, it's only 1997, and it's just time to give a gift to Xiangjiang's return! Mr. Hu, don't worry about losing money, the business of hydraulic presses, don't look at it as a heavy industry, it's really a good deal to make money! Not to mention the domestic demand for hydraulic presses, if we can build 75,000 tons of hydraulic presses, Europe and the United States will have to beg us at that time! What kind of aviation planes, nuclear power plants, steam turbines, and marine crankshafts, there will be no hydraulic presses! The 60,000-ton hydraulic press imported from the Soviet Union in France has been scheduled for two years, and the customer has never bargained. ”

"Tu Lao, you said lightweight, even if I agreed, what about technology, talent, and foundation? If you ask me to engage in heavy industry, I have to be able to do it!"

"You have such a large heavy industry base in Northeast China, don't you have talents in this area?" Tu Jida touched his body and found a business card: "Coincidentally, I have a business card here, which belongs to the second general manager of Deyang." Since developing a 10,000-ton multi-directional die forging hydraulic press for Southwest Aluminum five years ago, Niju originally had the idea to continue to develop the next generation of hydraulic press technology. However, Mr. Hu also knew that our country later cut a lot of plans, including the plan of 65,000 tons of multi-directional die forging hydraulic press cooperated by Erzhong and Tsinghua University. Although the plan is not yet complete, there are already results that can be applied in stages. In the next step, Erzhong and Tsinghua have plans to launch a set of 35,000-ton hydraulic presses, which should be technically certain. But both users and investments are a problem, it's not, hehe-"

Hu Wenhai took the business card from Tu Jida's hand, and said with a smile: "Okay, Tu Lao, it turned out that I went around in circles for a long time, but I was waiting for me here, you were planning to slaughter a fat sheep early in the morning?"

"What Mr. Hu said, let's not say anything - win-win, win-win cooperation!" Tu Jida laughed, his eyes drifting everywhere, but he didn't dare to look at Hu Wenhai's eyes.

As soon as Tu Jida said this, Hu Wenhai really remembered one thing. Later, Shengjing Heavy Machinery Factory did have a set of 35,000-ton multi-directional die forging hydraulic presses, which were specially forged for Shengfei to do aero engine turbine disc forging production. At that time, it was supposed to be put into production in 2005, and the domestic Internet was fortunately lively for a while. However, some people have popularized science, since the early eighties, the development of domestic 10,000-ton hydraulic press is basically a state of stagnation, this stop is more than 20 years without new projects.

The 35,000-ton hydraulic press of Shengjing Heavy Machinery Factory is the first 10,000-ton multi-directional die forging hydraulic press launched in China after Southwest Aluminum in 1982. After that, the construction of 80,000 tons of multi-directional die forging hydraulic press was solved in China in less than ten years.

Although heavy industry has many disadvantages, such as low profit margin, high investment, low return, high risk, long cycle, etc., from the perspective of investment, it is really not a cost-effective option. However, this is not the case with 10,000-ton hydraulic presses, especially high-performance 10,000-ton hydraulic presses.

Like the pressure shell of a nuclear power plant, before China did not have a high-performance hydraulic press, it had to be sent to France for processing, and naturally people said it would be as much as it was. The rotors of steam turbines for power generation and the rotors of large hydropower stations always rely on imports if the problem of hydraulic presses is not solved. But foreigners will not sell you only the rotor, but a complete set of equipment, whether you like to buy it or not.

And in addition, since the future Shengjing Heavy Machinery Factory put into production 35,000 tons of hydraulic presses for Shengfei to manufacture turbine disks, it naturally shows that the production of aero engines in the future is inseparable from 10,000 tons of hydraulic presses. Instead of cramming at that time, it's better to start preparing now. Hu Wenhai didn't want to produce turbofan engines in the future, and everything was ready, but it turned out that he owed the hydraulic press.

On the aero engine, with him dragging the domestic run, it is not impossible that the progress will be ten or eight years ahead of schedule, right?

"Okay!" Hu Wenhai didn't think for too long, and simply nodded neatly: "Since it's for the localization of pandas, I'll always be the same sentence, on!"

"However, it is not only the water press, but also the technology of vacuum electron beam welding. We can not build a large Grumman for the first time, but we must master the ability to build such a large electron beam welding equipment! If the products produced by the hydraulic press do not meet the requirements, or if there is no usable hydraulic press, at least we can go back to the road of electron beam welding. It's a two-handed grasp, both hands should be hard!"

Hu Wenhai pondered for a moment, and then said: "I will solve the project investment and equipment users, and I will entrust the technology and personnel to Erzhong and Tsinghua." Tu Lao, we have agreed, ten years, I hope to see our pandas welcome the return of Xiangjiang. ”

When Tu Jida heard Hu Wenhai's words, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, and nodded a little uncontrollably: "No problem, with Mr. Hu's words, I must have our panda fly through Victoria Bay by then!"

"Then it's decided!" Hu Wenhai nodded heavily