Sun Gang: Cast "new materials for big countries" and write the aspirations of serving the country with innovation

Sun Gang (left) in the lab.

Biography

Sun Gang, born in 1980, joined the Party in June 2001. Shanghai Kingfa Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd. basic research technology manager, engaged in automotive polymer materials and new technology research and development for 13 years, overcome many new material industry core technology, in many fields to break the monopoly position of international giants, has won the Shanghai and Jiangsu Province Science and Technology Progress Award, Shanghai Model Worker, the National "May Day" Labor Medal, the National Model Worker. On the eve of "July 1" this year, he was awarded the title of "National Outstanding Communist Party Member".

As a representative of outstanding Communist Party members in the country, Sun Gang, manager of basic research technology of Shanghai Kingfa Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd., was invited to attend the conference held in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. After listening to the important speech of General Secretary Xi Jinping, this domestic expert in the field of automotive polymer materials has become more determined to pick the heaviest burden, gnaw the hardest bones, and write the aspirations of serving the country with innovation.

In the research and development of polymer materials for automobiles for more than a decade, Sun Gang has rapidly grown from a newcomer to an expert. He led the team to break through in the competition with the giants, made a series of major technological breakthroughs, and made outstanding contributions to reducing costs and increasing efficiency in China's automotive industry and solving the "card neck" problem.

Break the traditional pattern and advance into the "giant city"

Advanced manufacturing is an important carrier of the core competitiveness of a big country, among which, the development of the automobile industry puts forward extremely high requirements for new materials. In 2008, when Sun Gang graduated from East China University of Science and Technology and entered the field of new automotive materials, it coincided with the beginning of China's automobile industry. However, at that time, the domestic automotive high-end polymer materials market was monopolized by multinational giants, and the situation remained unchanged.

In the cold window of the east China Institute of Technology for ten years, Sun Gang, who has read from undergraduate to master's and doctoral degrees step by step, and embarked on the job, earnestly hopes to cast "big country new materials" for the nation with all his talents and knowledge, so that domestic automakers can get rid of the situation of being controlled by people.

Along with the progress of the domestic automobile industry, automakers continue to put forward new demands for interior materials. In 2015, SAIC Volkswagen took the lead in raising the standard, asking suppliers to provide technology that can pass the "Arizona two-year exposure test", the key is to make automotive polymer materials more durable. As we all know, plastics age easily in the sun. Since cars typically take 15 to 20 years to use, ensuring that plastic parts don't "retire" earlier than the whole vehicle has become a major challenge for developers. Previously, the industry generally improved the performance of the sun exposure by adding a large number of small molecule additives to the material, but this will also lead to the precipitation of additives in plastic parts under the sun, which seriously affects the touch and appearance.

After receiving this task, Sun Gang flipped through a large number of literature monographs, and through repeated experiments and two years of exposure tests, he completely conquered this technology that had long been monopolized by multinational companies. At that time, among the 5 domestic suppliers, Sun Gang's team was the only one who reached the standard. For this product alone, Sun Gang's team wins tens of thousands of tons of material orders every year and creates tens of millions of yuan in profits.

On the whole, with the efforts of scientific researchers represented by Sun Gang, the pattern of China's automotive polymer materials market has undergone major changes in recent years. Take Sun Gang's Kingfa Technology Company as an example, the company last year sold a total of 500,000 tons of new materials for vehicles, accounting for a quarter of the domestic market, firmly occupying the position of leader.

Innovation and ingenuity, rigidity and toughness

Breakthroughs in new automotive materials require a solid scientific theoretical foundation, a large number of technical experimental operations, and continuous ingenuity in the production line. It can be said that Sun Gang has both the spirit of innovation and the spirit of craftsmanship, reflecting the characteristics of "combining rigidity and resilience". Interestingly, this trait is also somewhat similar to the new material he developed.

The instrument panel is the component that emphasizes the visual experience most in the car's interior. Today, in the mainstream design language of automotive interiors, the dashboard mainly adopts a seamless scheme, which requires that the materials used must have enough rigidity to ensure that they will not deform under various conditions; but also have enough toughness so that the airbags that pop out in extreme cases will not cause the dashboard to fragment, thereby ensuring occupant safety.

This market has always been the "traditional territory" of multinational giants. In order to make a breakthrough in this field, Sun Gang nibbled more than 300 original literature and more than 20 monographs in 3 months, established a new model at the theoretical level, and through dozens of experiments, the technical solution and the theoretical model corroborated each other, and finally found the most critical points affecting the performance of materials, and solved the technical problems that have plagued the industry for many years, successfully achieved mass production, and once again broke the monopoly of the giant in the field for 20 years.

Success comes from hard work, and greatness comes from the ordinary. Familiar people say that the kind of dedication in Sun Gang's work is rare in others. Every time he receives a major task and challenges technical difficulties, Sun Gang will enter a state of selflessness, and it is not unusual to conduct research and experiments all night for several months in a row, and he also has to travel back and forth to the laboratory, workshop, trial mold site and automobile main engine factory, constantly solving various problems and unlocking various levels. Behind the long-term excellence, there is bound to be a deep inner persistence. Sun Gang frankly said that in his view, in the current era of peace, he also shoulders a glorious mission, that is, to charge forward to achieve a scientific and technological power, and to advance into the high-end field of automotive polymer materials.

With such determination and the care and support of all parties, Sun Gang has made extraordinary innovative achievements, has completed 3 high-tech achievement transformation projects, published 30 academic papers in domestic core journals, and won the Shanghai And Jiangsu Science and Technology Progress Award. What is particularly difficult is that he applied for up to 30 invention patents as the first author, and has authorized 24 of them, making outstanding contributions to the formation of its own intellectual property accumulation in China's automobile industry.

Innovative "pioneer team", attack the "sharp knife class"

As a post-80s generation, Sun Gang's party age has been a full 20 years. For him, the status of a party member means a lot. Recalling the experience of joining the party, Sun Gang said emotionally that he was deeply influenced by his grandmother, who was a 75-year-old party member with a deep affection for the party. Grandma's teaching and expectations became the source of motivation for Sun Gang to forge ahead. Finally, before graduating from undergraduate, he fulfilled his wish.

Sun Gang knows that although he has made some achievements, the only option to make the water of innovation never dry up is to lead the team to exert the strength of the collective. As a party member and labor model, he paid attention to playing a leading role, dispatched 20 party members and technical backbones, and presided over the establishment of the "New Material Expert Studio" named after him. Over the past few years, the studio has carried forward the tradition of "passing on the help", giving full play to the group's combat advantages, and becoming the vanguard of technical attacks. Especially in the face of the most challenging tasks, the group will also arrange 4 to 5 party members to form a "sharp knife class" according to each person's expertise... In the critical phase of many projects, this organization has turned the tide again and again, and Sun Gang's expert studio has become a well-known innovation benchmark and banner in the industry.

Stepping out of the exciting celebration venue, Sun Gang felt more and more deeply responsible. The state has given them honor, and they must do a better job of serving the country. On the train back to Shanghai, Sun Gang wrote the following paragraph: "General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech is far-sighted and points out the direction for the achievement of the second centenary goal. I will certainly not forget my original intention, keep in mind the mission, integrate my cause and ideals into the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and make new and greater contributions to the achievement of the second centenary goal. ”

Author: Zhang Yi

Editor: Su Zhan