The Spirit of Scientists at 1000 Atmospheres

In 2020, my country's self-developed "Struggler" deep manned submersible successfully sat at the bottom of the 10,000-meter-deep Mariana Trench, which is closely related to its strong "heart. In order to reach 10,000 meters under the sea, how do scientists not give up day and night to create a legend?

Build the "Struggler" the strongest "heart"

In order to realize the 10,000-meter manned deep dive, the most critical and difficult link is the research and development of the manned cabin. As the core key component of the deep manned submersible, the manned module is the hardware guarantee and safety barrier for human beings to enter the deep sea of 10,000 meters. Yang Rui, deputy leader of the leading group for the development of the "striver" submersible and head of the manned module project, said that before that, the world's most advanced all-sea deep submersible was the "limit factor" for the United States to complete a 10,000-meter dive in May 2019. its manned module can carry two people.

"For scientific research work, the configuration of three people is more ideal. One person sits in the middle 'helm', and the other two people do his 'eyes' on both sides-this way the perspective is more balanced and the field of vision is larger." Lei Jiafeng, a researcher at the Institute of Metals of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, deputy director of the Research Department of lightweight and high-strength materials, and deputy chief designer of the all-sea deep manned submersible, said.

People have an infinite yearning for the ocean, so every additional person in the cabin carries the expectations of hundreds of millions of Chinese people. Some people can't help but ask: now that underwater detection robots are so developed, why bother to develop manned submersibles at such a great deal of effort and cost? "The human brain is a very sophisticated structure, and at this stage it can capture more details in some ways than a robot. People sitting in a manned cabin deep into the seabed, the sense of presence is unmatched by machines." Yang Rui said.

"The capsule shell is actually the same as the human body, except for the beautiful appearance, the 'body' of all indicators should be normal. The new alloy design Ti62A has been designed to track whether the performance of the capsule is up to standard, and the long-term service performance of the capsule will be tracked after it has been successfully developed." Said Qiu Jianke, a doctoral student of Yang Rui and a young associate researcher at the Institute of Metal Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"The ultimate 'auded' of the development of the spherical shell is to ensure the safety of deep diving. As we all know, the greater the depth of diving, the greater the pressure, and the pressure of 10,000 meters deep sea can reach more than 100 megapascals (100 megapascals is equivalent to 1000 standard atmospheres)." Yang Rui said. Before the spherical shell was officially launched into the water, it was tested by a pressing cylinder at the Deep Sea Institute of Hainan Chinese Academy of Sciences. All the data were normal and the stress was within the elastic range. "At that time, I was confident."

Work together to overcome difficulties

The research and development of new materials for the man-carrying cabin is the first difficulty faced by researchers. The material used to build the spherical shell of the manbearing cabin is subject to the test of strength, toughness and weldability. "The Titanium Alloy Research Department of the Institute of Metal Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is now called the Research Department of Lightweight and High Strength Materials. In the past, most of the work was concentrated in the aerospace field, and not much involved in the ocean." Yang Rui said, "But after years of research on titanium alloys and its performance in the aviation field, we clearly know that this material has the characteristics of light weight, high strength and corrosion resistance, and it will have a broader application scenario in the ocean."

After the composition of titanium alloy is determined, the material should be rolled in the factory and then stamped into two hemispheres. No one has ever made a ball with such a large thickness and diameter before, and all equipment has reached its limit. In order to achieve uniform heating, the factory can only improve the equipment. The entire heating process takes 30 hours. "Our team lives in hotels near the factory and takes turns to guard them." Ma Yingjie, a project researcher at the Institute of Metal Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said.

After that, the two hemispheres synthesize a whole ball, which needs to be welded. "The welding part is called the equator seam. The whole welding process only takes 20 minutes, but once it is wrong, all the efforts of the previous years will be in vain." Yang Rui said that to the team's excitement, the final ball capsule took shape at one time.

"The design and development of high-strength and high-toughness titanium alloys provide a material basis for the 10,000-meter submersible. However, the manufacture of the manned cabin also involves key technologies such as the preparation of ultra-large thickness plates, the overall stamping of hemispheres, and the electron beam welding of large thickness titanium alloys. No unit can independently complete all these contents, and it is necessary to gather superior units in various fields to jointly tackle key problems." Yang Rui said.

The development of a ball capsule has poured the efforts of more than a dozen units. The entire "Struggler" deep manned submersible, a big country, is a test of coordination in various fields. "The more difficult the place, the more can stimulate the spirit of exploration of scientists." Yang Rui said.

Let more people see the beauty of science

Major breakthroughs are "held out. The research and development of new materials for the crew cabin is the first difficulty faced by researchers, and the time is tight and the task is heavy. The previous work of the Titanium Alloy Research Department of the Institute of Metal Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences mostly focused on the aerospace field, but scientists have rich experience in titanium alloy design and processing in the course of many years of research, and at the same time transplanted the professional knowledge for the background of aero-engines to the deep-sea field, and successfully developed high-strength and high-toughness titanium alloys, providing a material basis for 10,000-meter submersibles-experience is not accumulated in a day, scientists have worked hard for years, decades or even decades.

Major breakthroughs are "stolen. The realization of the 10,000-meter deep dive was earlier than the original time, due to the "race against time" of scientific researchers ". Much of the development work goes hand in hand. "The pressure is great, but the energy is more sufficient." Researchers say so. It is common to work overtime and stay up late. There are no holidays. It is common to work until early morning. Not at the casting site, or on the way to the site. The heating of the spherical shell sometimes takes more than 30 hours, and researchers need to take turns to record the parameters in real time and adjust them accordingly.

To achieve a major breakthrough, can not ignore the details. There are many links in the development of the ball cabin. Take stamping hemisphere as an example. Factors such as temperature and duration may lead to failure. Scientific researchers should strictly control all unfavorable factors: in summer, ice cubes are piled beside the equipment to avoid tripping when the temperature is too high; In winter, plug the cracks in doors and windows with things to prevent a little cool wind from entering the equipment-meticulous scientific research spirit effectively ensures the experimental effect, one step is good, one step is good, one step is good.

The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed to adhere to the core position of innovation in the overall situation of my country's modernization drive, and to regard scientific and technological self-reliance as the strategic support for national development. Science and technology is strong, the country is strong, science and technology is prosperous, the country is prosperous. Nine days to catch the moon, five foreign bound black dragon. It is this group of scientists with dreams and bravely climbing peaks that have turned the Chinese nation's dream of flying to the sky and chasing the sea for thousands of years into reality. Their hard work should be seen and their great achievements should be remembered.

Source: Half Moon Talk