Academician Sun Yize: Deeply Cultivate High-End "Weaving" And National Demand Is The Baton Of Scientific And Technological Innovation

[Introduction to Academicians] Sun Yize, professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of Machinery, Donghua University, serves as the director of the Textile Science and Technology Innovation Center. He has worked in the field of high-end weaving technology and equipment for a long time, presided over and completed 21 national, provincial and ministerial level projects, successfully developed high-end knitting, weaving, knitting series technology and equipment and large-scale industrialization, won two second prizes of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, four first prizes of provincial and ministerial science and technology progress, authorized more than 80 invention patents, and published more than 100 SCI papers, It has established a technological innovation system for high-end weaving equipment, realized the independent control of high-end weaving equipment, and made important contributions to promoting China's textile technology progress.

In the snowflakes flying, do you remember the torch named "Feiyang" of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics? It is light, strong, beautiful and technological with a carbon fiber composite "body". Behind it, there is a "dream weaver" who was recently elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He is Sun Yize, director of the Textile Technology Innovation Center of Donghua University, who weaves the "coat" for the Winter Olympic torch. In fact, this set of "looms" is far more than just making torches. It can weave "big pieces" of "national heavy weapons", from airplanes to high-speed railways.

In the interview, Academician Sun Yize revealed that the current key research direction is the 3D braiding technology of carbon fiber composite preforms and a series of complete sets of equipment. High performance composite structural parts are strategic new materials for national economy and national defense construction. They have the characteristics of designable structure, good mechanical properties, strong resistance to interlayer separation, and high molding efficiency. They have great demands in national defense, military industry, aerospace, marine development and other national strategies and important civil life fields.

He led the team to develop such a series of complete sets of equipment with independent intellectual property rights, and developed a variety of large-scale high-precision three-dimensional braided composite products, such as a rocket engine nozzle liner, a cruise missile body, UAV structural parts, a variety of aircraft structural parts, high-speed train bogies, petrochemical and marine engineering composite pipes.

[Running to the factory and getting off the train is common]

Reporter: Donghua has a good tradition of industry university research cooperation and integration of production and education. One data says that you led your team to jointly develop 16 varieties of tufted carpet looms and 15 models of digital warp knitting machines to achieve intelligent production in the workshop. What did you look like when tackling key problems in the factory?

Sun Yize: The equipment workshop and product workshop in the factory are our offices and laboratories. Both digital carpet looms and digital warp knitting machines are "big block" weaving machinery and equipment, and traditional laboratory space is not enough. It is our daily routine to run to the factory and get off the train. In order to complete the scientific research and make progress, we often travel to Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Guangdong and other places. The factory is very busy and hard when tackling key problems. Although in a difficult environment, the spirit is happy and full.

Scientific research is a hard job. It needs decades of perseverance and perseverance. We should not give up when encountering "hard core", but do what the country needs. We should always "four faces" to make our achievements come true!

[Art inspiration turns into 3D model of engineering manufacturing]

Reporter: In Chinese memory, the shape of the Winter Olympics torch is like coming from a mold, but it is actually the carbon fiber composite "coat" that you and your cooperation team have woven for the torch by using three-dimensional knitting technology. What is the difficulty of doing this, and what will be the great use in the future?

Sun Yize: The shape of the outer streamer of the Winter Olympic torch "Flying" is very special. It is a high-dimensional curved body with variable diameter, curvature and thickness. It is an extremely complex special-shaped structural part for engineering manufacturing. How to transform the inspiration of the artist into a 3D model that can be used for engineering manufacturing is the first difficult problem for the manufacturing of the outer streamer of the torch. After repeated discussions with torch designers, we finally completed the mathematical modeling of torch manufacturing by using the intelligent algorithm of multidimensional surface fitting.

The second difficulty is how to realize the automatic knitting of the outer streamer. We have originally developed a three-dimensional high-precision spherical three-dimensional knitting machine for special-shaped structural parts, and proposed key technologies such as the recursive method for optimizing the layout of spindles, the eccentric knitting method for large curvature, the digital control of the whole process of single yarn tension, and the control algorithm for dual robot coordinated traction mandrel, Finally, the automatic braiding of the torch belt is realized.

This series of braiding machines will be mainly used to braid large-sized composite structural load-bearing parts such as large aircraft and high-speed railway in the future, as well as precision special-shaped structural parts such as propellers and UAVs. There will be extensive demand in national strategic areas such as defense and military industry, aerospace, and marine development, as well as in important livelihood areas such as high-speed rail vehicles, oil and gas transportation, petrochemical industry, and new energy.

[Go deep into the sea with Jiaolong and 981 platforms]

Reporter: The knitting technology, equipment and industrialization project of high-performance special woven fabrics led by you is a "masterpiece" that won the National Award for Science and Technology Progress. Why are the achievements of the project successfully applied to deep-sea submersibles such as Jiaolong, 981 series drilling platforms, Shenzhou spacecraft return capsule recycling, etc.? Can you popularize the science?

Sun Yize: High performance special woven fabric is a kind of woven fabric of ropes, belts, nets and pipes, which is made of high-performance fibers through special knitting technology and equipment. It has the functions and structures of ultra-high reliability, ultra-high specific strength, ultra-long and ultra-large size, accurate and controllable elongation, high pressure resistance, corrosion resistance, high temperature and low temperature resistance, wear resistance, etc. It is a cutting-edge national defense and deep-sea, deep space Special products for deep and polar use.

For example, the special braids used by Jiaolong are emergency raw cables and deep-sea communication cables, which are used for safety protection and deep-sea communication of 5000 meters and 7000 meters and above deep diving experiments. In case of any accident on the seabed, the Jiaolong can be rescued by special ropes, and real-time data transmission and communication in the deep sea can be realized.

For another example, the special ropes on the 981 drilling platform are mainly used for the mooring and anchoring of the platform. These ropes are all working in the deep-sea environment, and the conditions are harsh, so the performance requirements for ropes are very high. Through the twist zero fluctuation control method and tension high-precision control method proposed by us, the twist of the rope and cable is approximately constant at 0 and the tension is consistent throughout the knitting process, which meets the requirements of extreme performance of special rope and cable in ultra long size. The large-scale heavy load rope and cable automatic knitting equipment is developed to realize the automatic continuous knitting of ultra long rope and cable without joints, which greatly improves the production efficiency.

[Academicians really feel that there are some new changes]

Reporter: Your team has been selected into the second batch of "National University Huang Danian style Teacher Team" by the Ministry of Education. What magic weapon do you have in teaching and educating people as a leader? What are your favorite students?

Sun Yize: I have taught for more than 30 years and trained more than 100 master's and doctoral students, including Li Qiyang, the "2021 Shanghai University Student of the Year" who actively participated in the research and development of the composite shell for the "Flying" torch of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

The three feet platform is the national games, and teaching and educating people should always be the top priority. Talent training requires a lot of effort. In teaching and educating students, we should first attach importance to the shaping of students' character and conduct, cultivate students' qualities of "patriotism, integrity and pragmatism", combine personal ideals with scientific and technological innovation, and closely link personal struggle with national development needs.

It is also important to teach by example. I should also meet the requirements of students. Only if I can fulfill them well, can I be well inherited and carried forward among students. At the same time, we should always adhere to the principle of "promoting teaching through research, and promoting teaching through research", and integrate the latest scientific research achievements into theoretical and practical teaching in a timely manner, so as to feed back teaching through scientific research.

Reporter: As a newly elected academician, do you think you have any changes, are you more busy, and what new ideas and practices do you have in scientific research and teaching?

Sun Yize: As a newly elected academician, I really feel that there are some new changes. Now, the burden is heavier and the responsibility is greater. It is necessary to do a better job in scientific research and innovation with higher requirements, organize the national strategic scientific and technological forces in this field, continue to carry out the research, development and industrialization of intelligent manufacturing equipment for the whole industrial chain of carbon fiber composite materials, and finally form a complete technology innovation system for composite intelligent equipment to meet the major strategic needs of the country and the needs of important people's livelihood fields. As academicians and professors, they also need to be good guides for students' growth with higher requirements, and shoulder the heavy task of teaching and educating people. If science and technology prosper, the nation will prosper; if science and technology are strong, the country will be strong.