【Major Equipment in the Chemical Engineering Sector】392-2009: China’s First 36,000-ton Vertical Extruder for Ferrous Metal Pipes

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Comply with the Work Safety Law! Take on the role of the primary responsible person! ---------------------------------------------- The past decade has been a period of rapid development in China’s chemical industry, marked by the emergence of many new processes, products, and equipment. China’s chemical processing equipment has also seen significant progress, which has contributed to the swift advancement of the petrochemical sector. Here, we have compiled some of the achievements and breakthroughs made by Chinese equipment manufacturers in terms of larger-scale production and increased use of domestic equipment. We invite everyone to share, discuss, and exchange ideas – let’s cheer for Made in China and support the development of chemical processing equipment! ------------------------------------------------------ In the 1990s, China’s social and economic development began to accelerate. **The demand for large-scale steel products, particularly large seamless steel pipes, kept rising. The manufacturing processes for such large-scale steel products are complex, and the equipment required for their production is difficult to construct; moreover, the key technological skills involved in these processes have been monopolized by foreign companies. As a result, almost all of the large-diameter, thick-walled seamless steel pipes used in related industries had to be imported, which had a serious impact on energy infrastructure development and energy security. The high costs also posed significant constraints on the development of China’s thermal power industry as well as on the independent research and development of advanced materials. Faced with the growing domestic market demand and the challenging conditions in the international market, and in order to break through international sanctions and achieve breakthroughs in the field of \"extreme manufacturing\" in our country, the company took the initiative to undertake the research project under the major scientific and technological initiative titled \"Research on 36,000-ton vertical extruders for ferrous metals and related processes\", thus embarking on a journey of technological innovation and theoretical exploration from scratch. After three years of intense efforts to overcome a series of key technical challenges, the company succeeded in resolving them. At 1:25 p.m. on July 13, 2009, when the first extruded steel tube was slowly lifted out of the 36,000-ton vertical extruder by a crane, the scene was in an uproar – marking a successful first hot test run of the 36,000-ton vertical extruder for ferrous metals. This project overcame key technical challenges such as press design, manufacturing of large-scale cast and forged components, in-situ wire prestressing wrapping for large-scale heavy frames, manufacturing of main cylinders, and overall installation of heavy frames; it achieved many world firsts, and the cost of the entire project was only one-third of the foreign quotes.