Chapter 1034 The British Four-Stage Strategy for Solving Problems
After determining the specific direction of solving the problem, Hang Zhibin and others quickly returned to work.
About a month later, they finally succeeded in producing a block of 4722 titanium-aluminum alloy substrate that met the requirements.
Although there is still a big gap between the volume limit, product density and molding accuracy of the same material from the British, Chang Haonan did not really want to use these domestic substrates to produce blades directly.
If it is just a basic consumable in the process of process development, the requirements are not that high.
Therefore, when the second batch of blades provided by Rolls-Royce arrived, he had almost completed the development of the basic database and process parameter calculation method for the 4722 alloy.
The next task is basically the same as when dealing with nickel-based alloys before.
Of course, in order to meet higher production standards, the processing parameters of the low-pressure turbine disc will also be more precise.
It will inevitably take longer to determine.
But in any case, the most difficult hurdle has finally passed.
As for the high-pressure turbine part that was assigned to Zhang Zhenhua from the beginning, the research and development process was not ups and downs.
There were some minor setbacks in the process, which were basically due to the lack of experience of several key members.
It was not even Chang Haonan's turn to intervene directly, but it was solved directly in several technical seminars.
In the end, it brought a happy trouble -
Due to the requirements of Rolls-Royce headquarters, the subcontracting contract signed between Gaofa Group and Xiluo Company was dated at the end of the year.
However, it is not yet November, and the former has already produced a fully qualified product after testing...
So it is impossible to deliver it.
On the other hand, the ultra-short laser processing equipment for Gaofa Group is still in the debugging process.
Even if it is really mass-produced, it will take several months.
According to general principles, if Party A does not sign and mass production does not start, the project team must be maintained and cannot be disbanded.
Chang Haonan has other things to be responsible for, such as the KJ-2000, which has been transformed at Gaofei not far away, and he needs to install his own air force data link system for future testing.
But other people in the R&D team must not run around casually.
Especially Hang Zhibin and his team from the 621 Institute.
Due to concerns about the situation at the beginning of next year, Chang Haonan did not want them to return to Beijing at this critical juncture.
So, we have to find something else to do.
So, at the last seminar in October, which is probably also the last seminar before the delivery of samples, everyone began to brainstorm on this matter.
In fact, considering the time point at the end of 2002, and the fact that the Trent 900 is the world's top high-bypass turbofan engine, almost everyone thought of the WS-20 first.
According to the plan, after the official start of mass production of Rolls-Royce orders by Gaofa and the successful maiden flight of SeA650, the WS-20 project should be established with the experience accumulated from these two projects.
It is still the way to concentrate on tackling tough problems, with Gaofa as the main force and Shengjing, Rongcheng, Zhucheng and other brother units as auxiliary.
It's just not as big as the WS-10 back then.
Therefore, Hang Zhibin and others immediately said that the improved titanium-aluminum alloy they were developing could be used as a pre-research project for the turbofan 20, and the materials of the rear 2-3 low-pressure turbines and the first two high-pressure compressors of the turbofan 20 could be replaced with titanium alloys.
Referring to the situation of the Trent 900, it can probably bring about a weight reduction of about 160-200 kg.
You know, the turbofan 20, an engine with a thrust volume of 13-15 tons, originally weighs only about 3 tons.
It is equivalent to a reduction of about 1.5% at a time.
Without changing the overall design of the engine, it is already a very impressive number.
Even Chang Haonan was inevitably a little tempted.
However, he finally gave up this slightly radical proposal.
After all, the low-pressure turbine and the high-pressure compressor are both components of the core engine. Once a change occurs, it is a big move. The turbofan 20 relies on the core engine of the turbofan 10. It should be a model with a short R&D cycle, mainly for training the R&D team, and without too much risk.
Even the Y-9 transport aircraft, which is expected to be equipped with WS-20, has entered the stage of structural strength verification and will soon start wind tunnel testing.
There is really not much room for trial and error.
The new titanium alloy is still in the early stage of development. It will probably take some time to truly complete the research and development and improve the molding process to a level sufficient for the production of turbine blades.
This is not to mention 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, so a new coating system needs to be developed, and the traditional processing methods such as hot pressing, casting, and forging of titanium alloys in China are not well studied...
In short, if you want to open up a new branch line in the manufacturing industry, it is definitely not something that a few units can solve in three or two years.
Including several other ideas related to WS-20, they were also rejected for similar reasons.
In the end, Chang Haonan even thought that he might as well just carry out the preliminary research and development of WS-20 in the name of the current "Trent 900 Turbine Production Project Group".
Anyway, he has done similar things many times before.
The only problem is that this project team uses British funds after all, so 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?"
Chang Haonan was slightly stunned by this sudden change of topic:
"Not entirely, right..."
After hesitating for a moment, he gave an uncertain answer:
"It is true that it does not have an anti-overrotation design in the turbine structure, but I have not seen the complete design of the Trent 900, so I am not sure if there are other alternatives..."
"Then... do we need to tell Luo Luo 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 throwing the blame on the turbine blades we produce."
"hiss……"
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 subsequent explanation forced Chang Haonan to start thinking carefully.
With the British and Japanese people's peeing habits, if something happens, at least until the results of the investigation come out, some back-and-forth is inevitable.
And the investigation of aviation accidents... takes a relatively long time.
As a new player that has just entered the aviation manufacturing industry, China, even if it is reasonable, has to guard against it for the sake of reputation...
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, there is no such thing as a good doctor.
Some defects will only attract attention when they actually cause problems.
If you say it 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 go through 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 hidden meaning:
"Do you think the British might not pay attention to this issue?"
This guess was completely beyond the expectations of most people.
"That's not the case..."
The muscles on Zhang Zhenhua's face twitched a few times, obviously very surprised:
"Rolls-Royce is, after all, a long-established 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, we should change it anyway..."
"Yeah, I think 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..."
In the end, everyone turned their attention to Chang Haonan again.
Faced with this question, the latter was a little hard to answer for a while——
In fact, 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 know, for an industry giant like Luo Luo, the opportunity to make mistakes is not always available...
But this kind of thing is definitely not suitable to be said in public.
Therefore, he organized his language and decided to end this topic with a classic joke:
"The British generally deal with this problem in four steps."
“The first stage is to declare that nothing happened;”
“The second stage is saying something might happen, but no action should be taken;”
“Stage three, which says maybe it’s time to take action, but we can’t do anything;”
"The fourth stage is acknowledging that maybe something could have been done, but now it's too late..."