As the "heart" of airplanes and spacecraft, the engine is a highly complex and precise machine, and many high technologies are integrated into one engine only.
For a long period of time, China's shortcomings in the production of advanced manufacturing industries such as aircraft engines have been prominent. The advanced manufacturing industries in developed countries such as the United States, Japan and Germany accounted for more than 40%, but their equipment has been strictly embargoed on China.
In the face of international blockades, ZKXA Optical Precision Machinery Technology Group used its ultra-fast laser technology to develop industrialized femtosecond lasers, which solved the processing bottlenecks of ultra-fine, non-destructive, and non-selective materials that were difficult to achieve by traditional processing methods. Strategic emerging industries such as spacecraft, large aircraft, and automobiles provide important technical support to achieve a 0 to 1 breakthrough in my country's photonic manufacturing technology and equipment.
So, what key role does this technology play in the manufacture of aerospace engines? What is the significance?
On November 8th, Hay Think was at the ZKXA manufacturing site, and high-precision machinery was working. Although the machine is large, it processes tiny metal blades. And this small blade is a key component used in aerospace power systems. According to researchers from the ZKXA Manufacturing Center, the machine in front of us is punching the blades, and the technology it uses is called ultrafast laser. He said: "Ultrafast lasers are also called ultrashort pulse lasers. It is the strongest knife. It is different from ordinary lasers. This kind of laser will directly vaporize the material without melting, similar to ice. The process of turning directly into water vapor through water. There are some blades here, and the film cooling holes of the blades are made by us. You can touch them with your hands without any defects. It is difficult to do this in general processing."
This ultra-fast laser technology, due to its ultra-short action time, does not theoretically generate heat during processing, so it is called "cold processing", which can solve the ultra-fine, non-destructive, and non-selective materials that are difficult to achieve in traditional processing methods. Processing bottlenecks has become the best method for extreme manufacturing in various fields. As an extremely precise device, a tiny air film hole on an aerospace engine cannot be sloppy. Researchers said that if the air film hole is not precise enough, the impact on the engine may be fatal. "On the one hand, the life span is relatively short, and on the other hand, the thrust cannot be increased. Why is it called the air film? Because it enters the air-conditioning from this place. Due to the high-speed rotation, the air-conditioning sprays out from this place and forms an air film against this surface. The air film insulates the outside air to allow it to withstand higher ambient temperature. The higher the ambient temperature, the better its ultimate power." The scientific researcher said.
ZKXA has continued to tackle key problems and finally achieved breakthroughs in response to the urgent manufacturing bottlenecks in the high-efficiency ultra-fine manufacturing of the new generation of blades in the aerospace field.
ZKXA and ZK Microprecision Technology Group are responsible for the "Extremely Fine Manufacturing Equipment for Aerospace Engines", a special project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and has successfully completed the first phase of the task and moved to the second phase to accelerate the industrialization of the results. Yang Xiaojun, Chairman of ZK, introduced: "Based on the improved design of modularity, standardization, reliability, and stability, and by improving the performance of ultrafast lasers and ultrafast laser micromachining equipment, the first to develop a series of three to seven axis femtoseconds Laser high-end precision manufacturing equipment, built 5 core components and series of equipment pilot production lines, successfully promoted and applied to more than 70 industry representatives such as Aerospace Development Group, Aerospace Science and Industry Group, Luxshare, etc., and solved the complex microstructure of three-dimensional components of engines under research The difficult problem of precise structural manufacturing of the "stuck neck" has promoted the independent development of Chinese engines."
Yang Xiaojun said that the wide application of ultrafast lasers has enabled China to enter the stage of keeping pace with the international advanced level in the manufacture of key components of aerospace engines. He said: "From the perspective of aerospace applications, our team should basically be in parallel with the international advanced level. Of course, they are superior to us in some aspects, such as semiconductor packaging. There is a gap. But we also have our own characteristics in some applications, and even surpass foreign standards in the use of some indicators. For example, in micro-hole processing, we can do more deeply than our international counterparts in the processing of ultra-deep holes. On the whole It's still a level of parallel running."
Yang Xiaojun pointed out that in the next step, the ZKXA manufacturing industry will focus on the "stuck neck" problem of major national strategic projects and precision manufacturing in the main battlefield of the national economy, and adopt the development strategy of "filling shortcomings and expanding the frontier" to target high-end laser manufacturing and other fields. "Build the ZKXA manufacturing engineering laboratory, fully open up the bridge between scientific research and industry, build an accelerator for the photonic hard technology industry, and create high-end laser manufacturing, photonic chip packaging and other new photonic manufacturing industries." He said.