Chapter 1034 The British’s four-stage strategy for solving problems
After determining the specific direction to solve the problem, Hang Zhibin and others quickly got back to work.
About a month later, they finally succeeded in producing a bulk 4722 titanium aluminum alloy substrate that met the requirements.
Although there is still a big gap between the upper limit of volume, product density and molding accuracy compared with the same material from the British, Chang Haonan did not really want to directly use these domestic substrates to produce blades.
If it is just used as a basic consumable in the process development process, the requirements are actually not that high.
Therefore, when the second batch of blades supplied by Rolls-Royce arrived, he had almost completed the development of the basic database and process parameter calculation method for 4722 alloy.
The next task is basically the same as when dealing with nickel-based alloys.
?Of course, in order to meet higher production standards, the requirements for the precision of the processing parameters of the low-pressure turbine disk will also be higher.
It will inevitably take longer to determine.
But no matter what, the most difficult level is over.
As for the high-pressure turbine part that was assigned to Zhang Zhenhua from the beginning, the development process was even more uneventful.
There were some minor twists and turns during the process, which were basically due to the lack of experience of a few key members.
It wasn''t even Chang Haonan''s turn to intervene directly, but it was solved directly in several technical seminars.
In the end, it brought about a happy trouble -
Due to the requirements of Rolls-Royce headquarters, the subcontract signed between Haofa Group and Ciro Company was dated at the end of the year.
However, it is not yet November, and the former has already produced a product that has been fully qualified after testing...
So that it cannot be delivered at all.
?On the other hand, the ultra-short laser processing equipment provided to Haofa Group is still in the process of debugging.
Even if mass production is really going to happen, it will still take a few months.
According to general principles, if Party A does not sign and mass production does not start, then the project team must be maintained and cannot be disbanded.
Chang Haonan does have other things to be responsible for. For example, the Air Police 2000 has already started to be modified at Haofei, not far away. He needs to install his own Air Force data link system for future testing.
But other people in the R&D team must not be able to run around casually.
Especially Hang Zhibin and his party who came from 621.
Out of concern about the situation early next year, Chang Haonan doesn’t want them to return to Beijing at this juncture.
So, it is always necessary to find other related things to do.
So, at the last seminar in October, which was most likely the last seminar before samples were delivered, everyone began to brainstorm on this matter.
In fact, considering the time at the end of 2002, and the fact that the Trent 900 is the world''s top high-bypass ratio turbofan engine, the first thing that almost everyone thinks of is the Turbofan 20.
According to the plan, Haofa officially started mass production of Rolls-Royce orders, and after the successful first flight of SeA650, it was time to start the Turbofan 20 project based on the experience accumulated from these two projects.
??The approach is still to concentrate on attacking fortified areas, with Haofa as the main force, supplemented by several brother units such as Shengjing, Rongcheng and Zhucheng.
It just won’t be as big as the Turbofan 10 back then.
Therefore, Hang Zhibin and others immediately stated that the improved titanium-aluminum alloy they were developing could be used as a pre-research project for the Turbofan 20, and they would consider using the rear 2-3 low-pressure turbines of the Turbofan 20 as well as the first two-stage high-pressure compressors. Material replaced with titanium alloy.
Referring to the situation of Trent 900, it can probably bring about a weight loss of about 160-200 kilograms.
You must know that an engine with a thrust volume of 13-15 tons, such as the Turbofan 20, has a dead weight of only about 3 tons.
It is equivalent to a one-time reduction of about 1.5%.
As long as the overall engine design is not changed, it is already a very impressive number.
Even Chang Haonan is inevitably a little tempted.
?However, he eventually gave up on this slightly radical proposal.
After all, the low-pressure turbine and high-pressure compressor are both components of the core machine. Once they change, it will be a big move. The core machine of the Turbofan 20, which relies on the Turbofan 10, is supposed to have a short R&D cycle and focus on training the R&D team. And a model that doesn’t carry too much risk.
Even the Y-9 transport aircraft that is expected to be equipped with turbofan 20 has entered the structural strength verification stage and will soon start wind tunnel testing.
There is really not much room for trial and error.
The new titanium alloy is still at the stage where it has just been dipped in ink. It may take some time to truly complete the research and development and improve the molding process to a level sufficient to produce turbine blades.
This does not include the fact that due to the different surface properties of different materials, the heat-resistant and anti-oxidation coatings originally used for nickel-based alloys have poor adhesion on titanium alloys. Therefore, new coating systems need to be developed, as well as domestic heat-resistant coatings for titanium alloys. Traditional processing methods such as pressure rolling, casting, and forging are also not researched enough...
In short, if you want to open a new branch line in the manufacturing industry, it cannot be solved by a few units in three or two years.
Including several other ideas related to Turbofan 20, they were all rejected for similar reasons.
In the end, Chang Haonan even thought about how to directly carry out the preliminary research and development of the Turbofan 20 in the name of the current "Trent 900 Turbine Production Project Team".
Anyway, he has done similar things before.
The only problem is that this project team uses British funds after all, and it may not be easy to do the accounting later...
Fortunately at this time, Ren Bingda, who had been silent just now, suddenly spoke:
“Mr. Chang, I remember when we first received the technical information from the British, you seemed to have said that the Trent 900 had certain design flaws?”
?This sudden change of topic made Chang Haonan a little stunned:
“Not entirely, right...” After hesitating for a moment, he gave an uncertain answer:
“It does not have an anti-overrotation design on the turbine structure, but I haven’t seen the complete design of the Trent 900, so I’m not sure if there are other alternatives…”
"Then... do we need to tell Luoluo about this and then make an improvement plan based on this?"
?Ren Bingda asked:
“On the one hand, it is to train for the Turbofan 20, and on the other hand... it is also to prevent the Trent 900 from having an accident in the future and putting the blame on the turbine blades we produce.”
…
?Chang Haonan immediately made a tactical retreat.
When he first heard the first half of the other person''s question, he was almost ready to refuse without thinking.
??Rolls-Royce is not a brother unit under the same group. It is just a business cooperation. The main theme is to give up helping others and respect the fate of others.
Just do what is stipulated in the contract and that’s it.
But Ren Bingda’s explanation later made Chang Haonan have to think carefully.
?Given the British and Japanese people''s urinary habits, if something really happens, at least until the investigation results come out, there will be a lot of back-and-forth.
And the investigation of aviation accidents... takes a long time.
??As a new player that has just entered the aviation manufacturing industry, China has to guard against...
?But then again, if Luo Luo solves the problem like this, on the one hand it will be a bit of a loss, and on the other hand it may not be a good outcome.
As the saying goes, a good doctor does not have a brilliant name.
Some defects will not be taken seriously until they actually cause problems.
Speak up in advance, others may think you are looking for trouble.
"you''re right."
Chang Haonan nodded:
“However, the improvement plan has to be done, and after it is completed, it should be left in our own hands.”
“As for design defects... we don’t need to mention them specifically. We can wait until the samples are delivered later and attach a risk warning statement to the production documentation.”
"It would be great if the British paid enough attention to this matter. Whether they come to us for a solution or they handle it themselves, we play an important role in it. Even if this matter is used for publicity in the future, no one will pick it. Nothing wrong.”
"If they didn''t pay attention, they would have left it in writing anyway. If something happens in the future, just turn over the documents signed by both parties and leave the rest of the matter to the Japanese and British to argue..."
As soon as he finished speaking, Ren Bingda immediately heard the underlying meaning:
“Do you think the British might not pay attention to this issue?”
?This guess was completely beyond the expectations of most people.
“It’s not that bad…”
The muscles on Zhang Zhenhua’s face twitched a few times, obviously very surprised:
“Rolls-Royce is, after all, an old aviation company... There should be some bottom line when it comes to safety.”
?Several people around him also expressed similar attitudes:
“It’s okay to say it was an oversight, but if we have pointed it out, it should be corrected anyway…”
“Yes, I think so too…”
…”
But Ren Bingda, who had dealt with the British the most, shook his head and insisted on his opinion:
“No, you don’t understand the British…”
Finally, everyone turned their attention to Chang Haonan again.
?Faced with this question, the latter was a little hard to answer for the moment—
Actually, there was another reason why he made the above decision.
??That is, if the Trent 900 really has problems because of this defect, it will be a good thing for China...
Due to the existence of that risk warning statement, the whole world will soon know that a Haofa Group from China has issued a warning long ago.
Comparing the two, it is simply free advertising.
You must know that for an industry giant like Rolls-Royce, the opportunity to make mistakes is not always available...
But this kind of thing is definitely not suitable to be said in public.
So, he organized his language and decided to end the topic with a classic joke:
“The British generally divide this into four steps to deal with this problem.”
“The first stage, claiming that nothing happened;”
“The second stage, saying something might happen, but no action should be taken;”
“Stage 3 means maybe it’s time to take action, but there’s nothing we can do;”
“Stage 4: Acknowledging that maybe something could have been done, but now it was too late…”
(End of this chapter)