WTO and the technology innovation strategy implemented by welding materials enterprises

Faced with the new situation after joining the WTO, the influential enterprises in China's welding materials industry have realized the importance of technological innovation and regard implementing technological innovation as an important guarantee for enterprises to maintain long-term stability and healthy development.

The technical center set up in the welding material enterprise is the functional department for the enterprise to implement product development (design), production process formulation, etc., and is also a new force for enterprise technology innovation. Under the current situation, strengthening the construction of technology centers, cultivating high-quality technical echelons, and establishing a new type of technological innovation operation mechanism are important measures to enhance the technological innovation capability of enterprises and promote enterprises to become the mainstay of technological innovation.

In order to achieve technological innovation and improve the technical content of products, welding materials enterprises are the key to the comprehensive technological innovation capability of the Welding Materials Technology Center. How to improve the level of comprehensive technological innovation of existing technology centers? This is an important topic for enterprises to implement technological innovation goals. However, there have been very few reports on the subject matter in this area so far. To this end, this article talks about the research priorities and conditions of the high-level welding materials technology center.

First, the research focus of welding materials

The development direction of welding materials depends on the needs of the market. In order to adapt to market changes, meet user requirements, increase varieties, and further improve product quality, we should conduct in-depth research on the following welding materials.

(1) Low-hydrogen low-alloy steel welding rods The technical properties, intrinsic quality and welding rod manufacturing quality of such welding rods still have a certain gap compared with similar foreign welding rods, and corresponding research should be carried out.

(2) Stainless steel welding rod At present, there are several domestically produced A102 stainless steel welding rods that are close to foreign famous brands. However, there are still some shortcomings in terms of processability, anti-porosity, processability and weld crack resistance. There are still some problems. And technology should continue to be studied in depth.

(3) Gas protection Solid wire welding wire process (splash, forming), intrinsic quality and copper plating, winding, packaging process and foreign advanced level still have gaps, in the varieties should develop a variety of different chemical composition of special welding wire .

(4) Flux cored wire has broad application prospects. There are dozens of production lines that have been introduced and equipped in China. The key is that the quality (use performance) of the product is good and the price is low (reasonable). At present, there is still a certain gap between the quality of domestically produced flux cored wire and foreign famous brands, and there are still topics and key technologies to continue research.

(5) The electrode for the pipeline electrode and the low-hydrogen vertical down-welding rod are used in a large amount in the “West-East Gas Transmission” project. At present, the main problem of domestic cellulose electrode is processability, such as small arc blow force, stomatal sensitivity, poor forming, etc., there is still a certain gap compared with foreign famous brands, and should continue to tackle the problem (may have a gap in chemical composition). The market demand for low-hydrogen vertical down-welding electrodes has great potential, and should be invested in certain strength research.

(6) Special electrode for low-sulfur phosphorus With the advancement of metallurgical process, the quality of steel is gradually upgraded, and the content of S and P in steel is reduced (wP≤0.025%～0.030%, wS≤0.015%～0.020%). The new steel grades provide welding materials such as special welding rods, welding wires and fluxes with low S and P. This is a new topic.

Second, the research team level and research conditions

1. Researcher structure and research capabilities

From the research and development of welding materials, manufacturing, and product inspection, the following professionals are required.

(1) A certain number of graduates of welding engineering disciplines in the field of materials processing engineering. They should have theoretical knowledge and certain practical experience and hands-on ability in "welding metallurgy", "welding structure", "welding process", "welding inspection" and so on.

(2) Appropriately equipped with college graduates in electromechanical and computer science. They should be proficient in the principle of equipment, with the theory of tooling design and transformation, computer control and other aspects of practical experience and hands-on ability.

(3) Equipped with a certain number of experimental staff with a high school education or above. After training, they should become testers with a variety of analytical testing methods and practical experience.

2. Test conditions that should be met

(1) Conventional chemical analysis, mechanical property testing, optical metallographic analysis, non-destructive testing and equipment (including hardness testers, etc.).
(2) Small electrode and flux development equipment (including oven).
(3) Tester for moisture and deposited metal diffusion hydrogen content of electrode coating. Welding rods, welding wire, flux, arc welding power supply and related equipment.
(4) Welding parameter measuring instrument. Welding current and voltage waveform analyzer.
(5) Droplet transition and arc shape analyzer (high speed camera or high speed camera). Those who are qualified can also be equipped with an electron microscope and related test equipment.
(6) If necessary, those with conditions can also be equipped with welding slag physical property testing instruments.
(7) Other related special equipment (such as ferrite analyzer, crack resistance test device, etc.).

Third, the research capabilities and content that should be available to serve customers

1. Research capacity that should be possessed

In the fierce competition in the market, in addition to the brand and production scale, providing complete and effective technical services and technical support to customers is an important support point for the company's products to occupy market share. In order to grasp this support point, it is the talent problem. The quality requirements for such talents are:

(1) It is best to have a bachelor degree or above in welding.
(2) It has a comprehensive knowledge of welding metallurgy, welding structure production, welding process, welding inspection and related technologies.
(3) Has been engaged in the research of welding materials for a long time, and has achieved many achievements, and has a certain reputation in the domestic welding industry.
(4) Have rich practical experience or have experience in the production site of welded structure in manufacturing enterprises, can analyze the nature and cause of problems in the use of welding consumables, and propose improvement measures; if necessary, solve the difficult problems of products for customers. Provide services.

2. Research content that should be available

(1) Selection principle of welding materials For different steel structures and working conditions, the welding materials and supporting processes are correctly selected.
(2) The matching test between welding materials and steel materials includes crack resistance, corrosion resistance, wear resistance, high temperature oxidation resistance of different welding materials, mechanical properties of joints and other performance tests.
(3) Failure analysis of welded structure The failure properties, mechanism and causes are analyzed by customer-supplied welding structure failure examples to provide a basis for improving materials and processes.
(4) Analysis and analysis of welding defects of welded structures The types, locations, properties, causes and influencing factors of defects are provided to provide a reliable basis for improving welding consumables and processes.
(5) Analysis of welding material quality accidents From the raw material quality, standard, production process, inspection and other links, analyze the possible links of quality accidents, carry out key tests, identify the key issues, and resume normal production as soon as possible.
(6) Management should focus on market characteristics and user needs, research and develop, stabilize market methods and countermeasures, and continuously develop new products.
(7) Study the content and methods of technical training for users, so that users can better understand and trust the products of the enterprise. Not only must we consolidate old users, but we must continue to develop new users, and the development of enterprises will have the impetus.

Fourth, the application of new technologies, new processes, new equipment, new materials

(1) The application of nanomaterials in electrode coating, flux and flux cored wire belongs to the frontier of the discipline and is an innovative and exploratory subject. The application of nanomaterials may cause qualitative changes in the quality of the solder material.
(2) Continue to develop the application of computers in the development of welding materials, improve existing progress, and achieve more practical results.

V. Cooperation with universities and research institutes

Welding materials enterprises introduce the scientific and technological strength of colleges and universities and research institutes to form a certain form of industry-university-research cooperation, which is conducive to the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and the promotion and application of advanced technologies, and is conducive to the formation of enterprise technological innovation systems. Here are a few ways to cooperate:

(1) Forming a teaching and research consortium. The welding consumables select topics and provide the necessary funds to jointly develop new products by leveraging the talents and technological advantages of universities and research institutes.
(2) According to the needs, the welding consumables factory can select some experienced professors from the colleges as the special experts of the manufacturers, and regularly guide and participate in the research.
(3) The welding consumables factory can send personnel to enter higher education institutions and research institutes to receive theoretical training or agreement for further study, and also can study for master's degree in engineering; high-level technical centers can also become the training base for masters and doctors.
(4) Industry, university and research institutes hold regular or irregular welding material research academic exchanges to exchange results, consult questions and explore development.

Conclusion

(1) The research content of the enterprise technology center should be specific, and the technical key should be clear; the technical content of the product should be significantly improved after the completion of the project.
(2) The technical center should have a research team with reasonable knowledge structure and high overall level, and should be equipped with advanced testing and analysis instruments necessary for modern welding materials research.
(3) The technical center should have advanced technical talents who can provide perfect and effective services to customers. The research content of customer service should be based on basic principles, testing skills and comprehensive analysis of accident capabilities.
(4) The technology center can select exploratory research topics in the current high-tech field for the purpose of application.
(5) The technical center can carry out technical cooperation with universities and research institutes in various ways.