"Made in Southwest Aluminum" Assists Shenzhou 17 Manned Spacecraft in Flying
West Aluminum - West Aluminum Industry Telecom:At 11:14 on October 26th, the Long March 2F Yao17 carrier rocket (hereinafter referred to as "Chang2F rocket") carrying the Shenzhou 17 manned spacecraft roared into space at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, sending three astronauts into space. The 2023 launch mission of China's space station application and development phase was successfully completed. More than 60% of the key aluminum alloy materials such as skins and forged rings on spacecraft and rockets come from Southwest Aluminum, a member of "National Heavy Industries".
It has been 20 years since the successful launch of China's first manned spacecraft, Shenzhou-5, by the Long Range 2F rocket. As of now, the Chang2F rocket has carried out 12 manned launch missions, especially since the construction mission of the Chinese space station. As an "astronaut train", the Chang2F rocket has entered a normalized fast-paced launch state. For 20 years, the Chang2F rocket has maintained a 100% success rate. Behind these 'foolproof' features, 'Southwest Aluminum Manufacturing' has made significant contributions.
In this launch mission, Southwest Aluminum provided aluminum alloy materials for the spacecraft and rockets, covering multiple categories and more than 10 specifications of forgings, plates, profiles, pipes, etc., used for the connection frame, middle frame, end frame, surface structure of the spacecraft and key parts of the rocket such as transition rings, adapter frames, storage tanks, etc., mainly for support, connection functions, and skin, with aluminum accounting for over 60%. Among them, the skins and forged rings for spacecraft and rocket propulsion modules are 100% exclusively provided by Southwest Aluminum.
Forged rings are key structural components of rockets and spacecraft, which strengthen their muscles and armor, making them less susceptible to damage during launch. Southwest Aluminum developed a solid aluminum alloy forged ring with a diameter of 3.5 meters in 1989, known as the "Asia's First Ring". This size of forged ring was used on rockets and spacecraft this time. Following the development of a 5-meter level aluminum alloy integral forging ring in 2007, Southwest Aluminum developed a world record breaking 10 meter level ultra large integral aluminum alloy forging ring in 2016, greatly improving the hardware capabilities of China's deep space exploration equipment. The rocket propulsion module and spacecraft skin for this launch were made of aluminum alloy sheets from Southwest Aluminum. Due to weight reduction requirements, the spacecraft skin has a lower density than the rocket skin, making it an extremely manufactured 2.4 meter ultra wide aluminum alloy sheet.
To effectively address challenges such as space temperature difference, resistance, and friction, key aluminum alloy materials used in spacecraft and rockets must possess high metallurgical quality performance. In recent years, Southwest Aluminum has effectively solved a series of "bottleneck" problems, achieved a series of scientific research results such as melting casting, hot processing, and heat treatment, and achieved mass production of key aluminum alloy materials for aerospace. At the same time, the National Aluminum Industry Measurement and Testing Center, built by Southwest Aluminum Corporation, has accelerated its progress. More than 30 sets of 17 supporting devices have recently been put into operation, promoting online testing capabilities and making defective products "nowhere to escape".
(Chongqing Xialu Xinda Aluminum Industry Co., Ltd. Publicity Department collates contributions)
Source: Network
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