The Paper's reporter Song Chengliang
On February 2, luo Zhihuan, former world champion of speed skating, passed the Winter Olympic torch "Flying".
On February 4, 2021, at the first anniversary of the countdown to the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the torch "flying" was unveiled.
The "flying" shape of the torch is extremely dynamic and dynamic. In terms of design, in order to set off Beijing as the first "city of the Two Olympics" in the history of the Olympic Games, the appearance of "Flying" echoes the form of the main torch tower at the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games - it is "bottomed" with an auspicious cloud pattern, from bottom to top, gradually transitioning from the auspicious cloud pattern to the snowflake pattern, and finally transforming into a flying flame at the top.
One year later, on February 2, 2022, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Torch Relay was officially held in Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, including 11 closed transmission areas outside the closed loop and 1 independent transmission area within the closed loop.
Torch, made by Shanghai Petrochemical
In mid-January 2022, 1,200 Winter Olympic torches departed for Beijing and will soon be put into use.
The "Flying" torch is produced by Shanghai Petrochemical, and in the office of Lin Shengbing, general manager of the Shanghai Petrochemical Advanced Materials Innovation Research Institute, there is a "Flying" torch, "It is made of our Shanghai Petrochemical carbon fiber, the quality of carbon fiber is only a quarter of steel, but the strength is seven to nine times that of steel." ”
On February 2, the winter Olympic torch relay site.
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.
On August 28, 2020, Shanghai Petrochemical Advanced Materials Innovation Research Institute was established, graduated from the School of Materials Science of Nanjing University of Technology, majoring in composite materials, and later obtained a master's degree in chemical engineering from East China University of Science and Technology, from the secretary of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Heat and Power to the head of the preparatory group of the Innovation Research Institute, and served as the first general manager.
"I'll never forget this day for the rest of my life." Lin Shengbing smiled - this day also happened to be his birthday.
According to China News Network, at the request of the Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, the research institute will develop a carbon fiber shell for the torch to "fly". After receiving the task, the first thing Lin Shengbing thought of was to look for samples. Several employees of Shanghai Petrochemical were torch bearers for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and he went to the home of one of the employees to get the "Xiangyun" torch reference.
However, the difficulty is beyond everyone's imagination - the uppermost combustion part of "Xiangyun" is made of aluminum alloy material, and the combustion port is in the middle of the inner shell; while the "flying" shell is made of carbon fiber, and the combustion port is between the inner shell and the shell, which requires the carbon fiber shell to withstand the high temperature of more than 800 degrees Celsius. General resin and carbon fiber composites can only withstand temperatures of about 200 degrees Celsius.
Where to find a resin that is resistant to high temperatures has become a top priority. Some people think of a private enterprise in Jinshan that has a high-temperature resistant resin. Sure enough, the third generation of polysilica nitrogen resin developed by this company can meet the demand, and everyone is overjoyed.
The second question is, the structure of the "Xiangyun" torch is simple, while the "flying" rotates and rises, such as the shape of the ribbon fluttering, how to do?
After several twists and turns, they found the three-dimensional weaving team of Donghua University - three strands of carbon fiber like a woven woolen sweater, solving the styling problem.
Subsequently, Lin Shengbing brought 2 "flying" shells into Beijing to report to the Winter Olympic Organizing Committee. Unexpectedly, less than a minute after the ignition, two flame points appeared on the torch, and a small flame burst from the shell, and there was a phenomenon of foaming and cracking. Lin Shengbing's smiling face froze.
After returning, they immediately used DSC and other comprehensive analysis to determine that the shell molding temperature was not in place, and the speed was too fast to produce thermal expansion and contraction. Therefore, when they fired in the "muffle furnace", they first slowly warmed up, then slowly cooled, and found a hydrogen production unit to test repeatedly. The firing time has been extended from half a day to one day.
After the Spring Festival in 2021, Lin Shengbing entered Beijing again and finally completed his mission and successfully solved the major problems of combustion resistance and high temperature resistance of carbon fiber composites.
Mass production, the person in charge with the disease to complete
In March 2021, the Organizing Committee of the Winter Olympics assigned a new task - Sinopec was responsible for the production of "flying" torches.
It is difficult to develop a flare shell, and it is not easy to produce a torch "cross-border". The development and mass production of "Flying" torch accessories from different provinces and cities, units of different natures, and finally by Shanghai Petrochemical, the "layman", the difficulty is self-evident.
In particular, the pressure reducing valve and hydrogen storage cylinder inside are the world's problems, and the use of hydrogen combustion by "Flying" requires the pressure to be reduced from 420 kg force/square centimeter to near the standard atmospheric pressure at a distance of a tiger's mouth, and the difficulty can be imagined.
To this end, the Innovation Research Institute has set up an 11-person service guarantee team and a 13-person assembly team, with Lin Shengbing as the person in charge.
But at this time, Lin Shengbing found a problem in the physical examination organized by the company - on September 3, 2021, Lin Shengbing underwent surgery, but he also coordinated and commanded every day during his hospitalization, and he couldn't wait to go to work as soon as he was discharged. Leaders at all levels of the company repeatedly told him to pay attention to rest.
At that time, Lin Shengbing's wife was also a little angry, "The body is the foundation, raise the body well, in order to work better, you still have to take care of the family!" ”
Hearing his wife's concerned blame, Lin Shengbing smiled slightly, did not make a verbal explanation, and wrote all the words in his heart on his face. The wife saw that there was no way, so she added a sweater to him and told him not to be too tired.
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 "light, solid and beautiful". This time, Lin Shengbing couldn't close his mouth with a smile.
China's short-track speed skater Li Jiajun relays the Olympic flame in Greece.
All the way to the care, the flame was successfully collected back to China
In addition to the development of the torch, the collection and escort of the Olympic flame also has the story of Shanghai behind it.
"I and my motherland cannot be separated for a moment, and no matter where I go, a song of praise flows..." On the morning of October 20 last year, melodious songs echoed over Beijing's Capital International Airport, and people were greeting the arrival of the Olympic flames.
In the "Tinder Guard", there are Fu Xiaoqing, chief technician of Shanghai Petrochemical Instrument control center, and Hu Xiao, deputy manager of the strategic cooperation department of the Advanced Materials Innovation Research Institute (presiding over the work). As technicians, they took a special plane to ensure the smooth transmission of the torch and the safe return of the fire.
As early as early September last year, Fu Xiaoqing and Hu Xiao began to prepare for the technical support of the torch, and went to Beijing and Guangdong to participate in training to learn the assembly and disassembly of the inner shell of the torch, the fuel bottle system, and the use of the ritual tinder table.
Throughout the torch lighting and transport process, the biggest challenge is the safety of the first stick at the torch lighting ceremony. The first torch was fired from a flame miner in the Temple of Hera, and the whole process attracted worldwide attention.
According to the air cargo regulations, torch fuel is a dangerous good, and the torch is transported to Athens, and the fuel inside the torch is two-thirds of the usual, which means that the fuel reserve is very limited.
"In the past, there was less than a 5 percent chance that the torch would not be lit. In order to reach 0%, we keep experimenting. Fu Xiaoqing said, "For this reason, I have not slept well, my eye bags are much bigger than before I went, and I have lost a few pounds." ”
On the morning of October 18 last year, the tinder collection ceremony was held in Olympia as scheduled. The ceremony was broadcast live worldwide and was watched by hundreds of millions of viewers around the world. "I've been working for 33 years and I've been through a lot of big winds and waves, but none of them have been able to compare with this one. The pressure is really too much this time. Fu Xiaoqing said.
Winter Olympics Sacred Flame Mining Ceremony.
Fu Xiaoqing and Hu Xiao divided their work and cooperated to make up for each other. In the face of unexpected situations, Fu Xiaoqing is responsible for technical support, and Hu Xiao is responsible for external communication. According to the two people's vision, after each handover of the torchbearer, Fu Xiaoqing will remove the fuel bottle inside the previous torch, so as to avoid the risk of residual fuel in the fuel bottle.
However, the plan could not keep up with the changes. After the ceremony, Fu Xiaoqing followed the convoy directly to Athens to prepare for the handover ceremony the next day. At this time, Hu Xiao was the only one left, and he did not understand Greek, at this time, the torch fuel bottle had not been dismantled, and he felt that his responsibility was even greater.
"If the fuel bottle is not removed, what if there is any risk?" Hu Xiao thought. He hurried to contact officials at the Olympic Committee in Beijing, Greece, and managed to get in touch with the torchbearers. After finding the torchbearer, he dismantled the fuel bottle on the spot, which was reassuring.
Subsequently, the two escorted Tinder all the way to the plane. According to the requirements, the fire cannot be extinguished on the way back to China, so it is still not taken lightly on the way back. Fu Xiaoqing and Hu Xiao took turns on duty, paying close attention to tinder.
And now, the Olympic flame they carefully care for has been transmitted on the land of China - our Winter Olympics is coming.
Editor-in-Charge: Ascendas
Proofreader: Zhang Liangliang