The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Torches with carbon fiber shells were developed and mass-produced by Shanghai Petrochemical. The pictures in this article are all courtesy of Shanghai Petrochemical
In the office of Lin Shengbing, general manager of the Shanghai Petrochemical Advanced Materials Innovation Research Institute, there is a "flying" torch that catches people's attention.
"It's made from our Shanghai Petrochemical carbon fiber, which is only a quarter the quality of steel, but seven to nine times stronger than steel." Lin Shengbing said that participating in the research and development and mass production of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Torch is of great significance to Shanghai Petrochemical, indicating that carbon fiber has a broad application market.
Lin Shengbing (right) assembling the torch.
Search up and down, develop the "shell"
Shanghai Petrochemical Advanced Materials Innovation Research Institute (hereinafter referred to as "Innovation Research Institute") was established in 2020, the core of the work is carbon fiber, Lin Shengbing, who graduated from the School of Materials Science and Technology of Nanjing University of Technology, majored in composite materials, became the first general manager.
In June 2020, a notice from a superior suddenly arrived: at the request of the Organizing Committee of the Winter Olympics, a carbon fiber shell was developed for the "flying" of the torch.
The uppermost burning part of the Beijing Summer Olympic torch "Xiangyun" is made of aluminum alloy material, while the "flying" shell of the Winter Olympic torch is made of carbon fiber, which requires the carbon fiber shell to withstand the high temperature of more than 800 degrees Celsius, while the general resin and carbon fiber composite materials can only withstand a temperature of about 200 degrees Celsius.
At this time, some people remembered that there is a private enterprise in Jinshan that has a third-generation polysilica nitrogen resin that can meet the demand, and everyone is overjoyed.
Lin Shengbing
The structure of the "Xiangyun" torch is simple, while the shape of the "flying" rotating and rising like a ribbon fluttering is how to do it? After several twists and turns, they found the 3D weaving team of Donghua University. More than 200 spindles of carbon fiber from the three dimensions of warp, weft and normal like a woven woolen sweater, solving the problem of modeling.
At the beginning of October 2020, Lin Shengbing took 2 "flying" shells, Xingchong rushed into Beijing to "catch the exam", never expected that less than a minute after the ignition, the torch actually appeared two flame points, and the shell also burst into a small flame, and there was a phenomenon of blistering and cracking.
Lin Shengbing and his team at work.
After comprehensive analysis, the shell molding temperature is not in place, and the speed is too fast to produce thermal expansion and contraction. Therefore, when they fired in the "muffle furnace", they first slowly heated up, and then slowly cooled, and the firing time was extended from half a day to a day.
After entering Beijing again after the Spring Festival in 2021, Lin Shengbing finally completed his mission and successfully solved the major problems of carbon fiber composites that are resistant to combustion and high temperatures.
Left and right matchmaking, final assembly "flying"
In March 2021, the mass production task of the "Flying" torch unsurprisingly fell on Shanghai Petrochemical.
It is difficult to develop a flare shell, and the "cross-border" production of flares is not an easy task, especially the pressure reducing valve and hydrogen storage cylinder inside are world problems, and the use of hydrogen combustion in "Feiyang" requires the pressure to be reduced from 420 kg force / square centimeter to near standard atmospheric pressure at a distance of a tiger's mouth, and maintain a stable flow.
Lin Shengbing found a problem in the physical examination organized by the company and went to the hospital for re-examination, but the situation was not very good. On September 3, 2021, Lin Shengbing underwent surgery and continued to coordinate and command every day during his hospitalization.
Finally, the "Feiyang" torch sample passed the test of the Winter Olympic Organizing Committee and the third-party acceptance, and experts evaluated the "Feiyang" as having the characteristics of lightness, solidity and beauty.
In mid-January 2022, 1,200 Winter Olympic torches will depart for Beijing, and Lin Shengbing will lead his team to continue to provide assembly and delivery support services for the Winter Olympic torches.