Southwest China successfully developed the world's largest aluminum ring

It was learned from the Southwest Aluminum Industry that Southwest Aluminum and Tianjin Special Steel Precision Forging Co., Ltd. have cooperated in R&D. The first 9m-class ultra-large aluminum alloy integral ring for the first new launch vehicle was successfully developed. This is the largest aluminum alloy monolithic ring in the world.

“The development of a 9-meter super aluminum alloy integral ring is another breakthrough for Southwest Aluminum in the field of aerospace and new materials.” The person in charge of Southwest Aluminum stated that with the continuous development of the national aerospace industry, it is proposed for high performance large-scale rings. Higher demand. In 2012, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, which undertakes the research and development of space equipment such as Shenzhou Spacecraft and Long March Rocket, proposed the need for the manufacture of 9-meter super-large aluminum alloy ring parts.

It is said that the traditional manufacturing method of ultra-large rings is based on casting and welding. However, neither of these processes can meet the performance requirements required for heavy-duty, high-impact, ultra-low-temperature and other harsh working conditions, and the new type must be used. Manufacturing process, at the time, this research and development technology was a blank in the country. In order to meet the development needs of the national aerospace industry and occupy the commanding heights of the industry, in 2014 Chinalco established a ring technology R&D team at Southwest Aluminum and officially launched research and development.

The team member Chu Rongrong introduced that meeting the requirement of the integral ring for ingot billet is the “hard bone” that the R&D team must lay down. In a short period of 3 months, the R&D team relied on independent innovation to develop matching casting tools, found key casting techniques and foundry techniques, overcame the inconvenience of oversized ingot casting, and cast a 1350 mm diameter round cast that satisfies the requirements of technical standards. Ingots lay the foundation for later development. In the following six months, SWA broke through the two key technologies of forging compaction and rolling forming, successfully rolling out aluminum alloy integral rings whose dimensions fully meet the design requirements, and its accuracy fully meets the technical design expectations.

Li Yong, deputy general manager of Southwest Aluminum, said that the successful development of the ultra-large aluminum alloy integral ring will have a profound impact on the sustainable development of China's aerospace industry.