From 80% to 99.999%, Xie Dachun’s team turned ＂domestic blank＂ into ＂world top＂.

Chip, optical fiber and optical cable are the hardware foundation of today’s information-based, intelligent and networked society, and electronic-grade quartz sand with purity of 99.999% is the basic raw material for manufacturing chip, optical fiber and optical cable. For a long time, China’s electronic grade quartz sand has relied on imports. Breaking the "ceiling" of 80% purity of domestic mainstream quartz sand, breaking foreign technical barriers and solving the "stuck neck" problem … Xie Dachun, technical director of Jiangsu Xinyiding Shi Ying Science and Technology Co., Ltd., did not stop, still buried himself in the laboratory all day, holding his sleeves, and continued to seek breakthroughs in quartz sand raw materials whose purity has reached the world’s top level.

"Ingenuity is the determination to break through and the patience to study."

On the afternoon of April 3rd, in the roasting workshop of Jiangsu Xinyiding Shi Ying Science and Technology Co., Ltd. in Shuyang County, Suqian City, a "big guy" connected with a huge water tank was rising with white steam, which was a "unique weapon" for enterprises to purify quartz sand. This reformed equipment led by Xie Dachun won the national invention patent.

In the purification process of quartz sand, many impurities are micron-sized and need to be treated by cold explosion. That is, using the principle of thermal expansion and cold contraction, high-temperature quartz sand is put into cold water to burst, so as to achieve the effect of separating impurities. However, as soon as the high-temperature quartz sand enters the water, the cold water becomes boiling water, and the effect of cold explosion is greatly reduced. Many domestic technical teams are stuck in the "cold explosion" level.

"In those years, I walked repeatedly in my mind to do simulation tests, and finally I had this machine." Xie Dachun said that a few years ago, he happened to pass by a popcorn stand. At that time, the sound of popcorn startled him, but it was this "bang" that reminded him of the solution of "cold explosion" technology from the production principle of popcorn. Then, he immediately rushed back to the company and took his colleagues to discuss. Finally, he invented the current dynamic roasting and cold explosion technology: in a quartz tube with a constant temperature of 930℃, Shi Ying blocks were continuously put in, and during the falling process, they were evenly heated to complete the cold explosion.

In the following years, Xie Dachun and the company constantly improved their equipment in the process of updating their production technology, and only the equipment for producing electronic-grade quartz sand was updated for more than ten times, finally achieving self-sufficiency of electronic-grade quartz sand.

The reporter noticed that there are not many operators in such an important roasting workshop, and a large number of operation links have been replaced by hanging rails and electric cranes. Workers only need to control them remotely. "This is also a bitter credit! In the traditional process, there is a great demand for workers in the roasting workshop, and at the same time, because of the high temperature, workers are easily burned if they are improperly operated, so the turnover rate is very high. " Wang Wei, the production director of the company, told the reporter that at that time, when the company was troubled by this "industry problem", Xie Dachun took the task without saying anything.

In the next three months, Xie Dachun "closed the door" in the workshop and kept researching and experimenting all day. There were more than 500 drawings drawn alone. After repeated experiments for more than 260 times, we finally found such a "machine substitution" method, which solved the production problem satisfactorily and thoroughly. Now this method has been widely used in the whole industry.

"I am a farmer, and I failed in the college entrance examination. Even when I entered the business, I only had some electrician foundation, so as long as I am willing to study, I can always find a solution to the problem." Xie Dachun told reporters that he is a veritable "soil expert". All scientific research achievements and invention patents were explored in workshops and laboratories, and this experience also reflected his understanding of "ingenuity": the determination to break through and the patience to study.

"Social terrorism" experts break the technical blockade

Xie Dachun has a dazzling "report card": in the past 30 years, he has won more than 20 national, provincial and municipal scientific and technological innovation achievement awards and science and technology awards, and has more than 100 invention patents and utility model patents, among which five scientific and technological achievements such as "domestic preparation technology of electronic quartz sand" have filled the domestic gap and reached the international advanced level.

Due to the particularity of the industry, electronic quartz sand is mainly used in high-tech fields such as semiconductors, electrical and electronics, aerospace, national defense and military industry. "For a long time, the purification technology of electronic grade quartz sand has been firmly stuck in foreign countries. Because of technical barriers, the previous domestic quartz sand products can only be used in some low-end products such as halogen lamps, and they can’t touch the threshold of high-end market at all." Director Wang Wei told the reporter that even the leading domestic companies, with the same foreign equipment, have only got the "admission ticket" to the high-end market, and for a long time, 80% of the purity of the domestic mainstream quartz sand products industry has been "ceiling".

Due to the high cost of R&D, many manufacturers have no choice but to give up and import from abroad at a high price of nearly 100 times after entering a "dead end" again and again, but Xie Dachun has been insisting.

"Increase 80% to 99%, and then increase the’ 9′ after the decimal point of 99.9% to three, five or even more, and each step will take three years or more to try and make mistakes." Liang Haidong, Xie Dachun’s apprentice, said that for this goal, Xie Dachun has become the most "social fear" person in the company: in the past 20 years, he has been eating and living in the laboratory, and rarely has any work-related communication with outsiders.

"Striving for Excellence and pursuing the ultimate" is a feature that Xie Dachun once exhorted and taught Liang Haidong more than once, and it is also the best embodiment of Xie Dachun’s "artisan spirit". With the ingenuity of this craftsman, he has endured loneliness for more than 20 years, and has successfully developed a number of high-efficiency, energy-saving and environmentally-friendly mechanical and electrical equipment. More than 20 new products have been widely used in high-tech fields such as semiconductor integrated circuits, aerospace satellite testing, and fiber-optic chip manufacturing for national defense and military industry.

In 2021, Jiangsu Xinyiding Company solved the purification problem of electronic grade quartz sand and became the only enterprise in China that can improve the purity of quartz sand to "six 9s".

Over the years, under his example, more than 300 people have grown into the technical backbone of Shi Ying products manufacturing industry and become a new force to promote technological innovation of enterprises in the industry.

The industrial craftsman "Jin Gangzuan" brought in income of nearly 3 billion yuan.

Replace the old baking oven with a new intelligent baking oven with automatic temperature control, popularize the use of frequency conversion governor for automatic speed regulation, and automatically control the continuous melting furnace with laser controller …

During the interview, Chen Qiong, general manager of Jiangsu Xinyiding Shi Ying Science and Technology Co., Ltd., pointed to the equipment in various production workshops from time to time and proudly told reporters that these were the results of the company’s independent research and development or improvement, most of which were attributed to Xie Dachun.

Ingenuity brings prosperity to all industries. "Every industrial craftsman is a’ Jin Gangzuan’ that will never change in the high-quality development of enterprises!" Chen Qiong sincerely said that thanks to Xie Dachun’s continuous technological innovation for many years, numerous innovations have brought direct or indirect benefits of nearly 3 billion yuan to enterprises, and its social and economic benefits are obvious to all.

In the development layout of enterprises in recent years, Jiangsu Xinyiding Shi Ying Science and Technology Co., Ltd. has invested heavily in its own scientific and technological innovation and project research and development, and successively acquired a number of surrounding enterprises. On the basis of lengthening the original industrial chain, it opened a separate research and development workshop, and appointed Xie Dachun to continue to set up a technology research and development team to strengthen the scientific research strength of enterprises and enhance their core competitiveness.

"Use new products and innovative technologies to save enterprises and reduce the burden on society." In Xie Dachun’s view, this is not only a technician’s obligation to society, but also an inevitable requirement for the development of modern industrial system. At this year’s National People’s Congress, new quality productivity and craftsman spirit have become hot topics together, and the close relationship between them is self-evident. He said that at present, it is an excellent stage for high-skilled talents to display their fists and feet, and he will also strive to lead his colleagues to forge a hard-working style of Excellence and diligent study, and strive to move closer to "knowledge-based, skilled and innovative" craftsmen in big countries.

Planning Wang Xiaoying

Text Sun Xuhui