Tianshan Net/Xinjiang Daily reporter Yu Jiangyan correspondent Zhang Rui
On April 23, in the laboratory, Li Yujie, standing in front of the grinding wheel grinding disc, repeatedly adjusted the pressure of his fingers and polished the rock test sample.
It is so finely carved that it is like polishing a fine piece of jade.
Li Yujie is a rock producer at the Geological Experiment Center of Xinjiang Oilfield Experimental Testing Institute. In the laboratory, he grinds the rock slices in his hand into 0.03 mm thin slices, and then gives them to the geologist to be placed under a microscope to analyze whether there is oil and gas display.
Li Yujie used a microscope to check whether the stone chips were up to standard. Photo by Zhang Rui
These rocks, which come from thousands of meters underground, are the cores taken from deep in the Xinjiang oil fields, and they have been "sleeping" in the Junggar Basin for hundreds of millions of years.
The core has been cut into stone chips before polishing the rock flakes. According to industry standards, the flakes must be ground into 0.03 mm flakes before they can be used to observe oil and gas traces.
How thin is a 0.03mm sheet?
On April 22, Li Yujie finished grinding a rock sheet with a thickness of only 0.03 millimeters, equivalent to one-third of the thickness of an A4 sheet of paper.
In life, the A4 paper you see is thin enough, and the rock flakes to be ground into are only one-third of the thickness of A4 paper.
Grinding from the core into a thin slice goes through 13 processes. One of the most difficult processes is grinding rock flakes, and completing this process requires not only superb work skills, but also rigorous work style and pursuit of the ultimate work attitude.
For this reason, Li Yujie often stands in front of the grinding wheel for three or four hours. At the work site, the glass glued with stone flakes is like a blade on the rapidly rotating grinding disc, and if you are not careful, your fingers will be worn out and bleed.
"When grinding the discs, you have to be dexterous in your hands. Li Yujie said that if the force is light, the stone chips will be too thick, and the minerals will not show the true appearance, which will affect the accuracy of the next analysis, and if the force is heavy, the minerals will be grinded off, which will also affect the accuracy of the next analysis.
On April 22, Li Yujie repeatedly adjusted the strength of his hands to make the stone chips on the grinding wheel grinding disc achieve the best grinding effect. Photo by Zhang Rui
Standing in front of the rapidly rotating grinding wheel, Li Yujie is concentrating on fighting with the stone chips every day. Day after day, year after year. This mill took 35 years to produce a total of 69,000 rock samples that met the standards.
Spread out his hands, Li Yujie's ring finger had been ground to the point that no fingerprints could be seen.
"After grinding rock flakes for 35 years, have you come up with the trick?" the reporter asked.
"There is no trick. If anything, the trick is to be attentive and patient. Li Yujie replied.
It is with this carefulness and patience that Li Yujie and his team have created brand influence and polished out industry authority.
Li Yujie (left) and his colleagues exchange experience in making stone chips. Photo by Zhang Rui
As the first drafter, Li Yujie and his team have participated in the revision of the national industry standard for the identification of rock thin sections, and obtained one national invention patent authorization and two applications for PetroChina technical secrets.
Over the past 35 years, Li Yujie has helped researchers accurately understand oil and gas reservoirs and make oil and gas discoveries, including the discovery of the world's largest conglomerate oil field, Mahu Oilfield, and the 1 billion ton Jimsar Shale oil field.