"We hope that the results can be implemented as soon as possible, so that more farmers can use domestically produced high-performance agricultural machinery wear-resistant soil components." In April last year, Jiang Haichang, a researcher at the Institute of Metals of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (referred to as the Institute of Metals), expressed this sentiment in an interview. Subsequently, an article titled "Chinese Plowshares Are No Worse Than Foreign Goods!" was published in the "China Science Daily."
With the arrival of spring in the north, Jiang Haichang's wish has finally come true.
"Our developed products have been gradually put into use since April 10th. The first batch of harrow blades for soil preparation machines has been applied in the Beitun area of Xinjiang, and the no-tillage seeding series discs are mainly used in areas such as Xinmin, Liaozhong, and Tieling in Liaoning Province." Jiang Haichang told the "China Science Daily," "These agricultural machinery components have coincided with this year's spring plowing season."
Chen Feng is introducing the disc harrow blades manufactured on the production line in the field. Interviewees provide pictures.
Materials are ready
In January 2013, the Chinese Academy of Sciences launched the Modern Agriculture Demonstration and Regional Innovation Cluster Plan, and the Institute of Metal took on the task of developing high-performance wear-resistant plowshares.
The key to the development of high-performance wear-resistant plowshares lies in the materials. To this end, the research team at the Institute of Metal developed an alloy steel that not only increases hardness but also maintains high impact toughness.
"By using alloy steel materials and wear-resistant coatings, we have developed more than 20 key agricultural machine components in the laboratory, with product performance and service life reaching the international leading level," said Jiang Haichang. "Over the past few years, we have manufactured more than 3,000 wear-resistant soil-engaging components for agricultural machinery, and have successively conducted large-scale operation assessments at Hulunbuir Farming Group Co., Ltd., Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and Jiangsu Farming Group Co., Ltd."
In April 2021, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the People's Government of Liaoning Province jointly signed the "Black Soil Granary" Science and Technology Campaign Framework Agreement, proposing to enhance agricultural machinery equipment capabilities, promote research and development innovation, and focus on breakthroughs in the metal materials and processing technology of seed drill cutting discs.
"The cost of domestically produced agricultural machinery components we have developed is about half that of imported products, which can help upgrade and replace domestic agricultural machinery wear-resistant components," Jiang Haichang told China Science News. "The production capacity of the laboratory is ultimately limited, and to achieve mass production, we need a larger production line."
Last year, Jiang Haichang told reporters that he hoped to achieve mass production of agricultural machinery wear-resistant soil-engaging components as soon as possible.
Proactive collaboration
In May 2023, several visitors arrived at Jiang Haichang's office, with Chen Feng among them. After inquiring from various sources, they learned that the Institute of Metal might have the parts and materials they needed.
"This is a company engaged in the production of automotive parts. The materials and processes they need are indeed something we can do, but the lead time is longer. The principle is similar to what we did with agricultural machinery wear-resistant components before," Jiang Haichang suggested to them, "Since you have to wait anyway, why not try making agricultural machinery components? It will be faster to see results."
Although Chen Feng and the others had already seen and understood the products developed by Jiang Haichang's team, they were still a bit hesitant and did not immediately agree, opting to go back and discuss. Two months later, Chen Feng replied to Jiang Haichang, "Let's sign a cooperation agreement as soon as possible."
Why did they "come back and forth"? Jiang Haichang later learned that "at the end of June, this company attended a steel exhibition abroad and saw a sample that was very similar to our developed product, but the production cost was several times higher than ours, so they immediately decided to collaborate with us."
Starting from July 2023, the two parties discussed a cooperation plan, with Jiang Haichang's team transferring the patent to the company for 5 million yuan. They also signed a 5 million yuan technology development contract, with Jiang Haichang's team responsible for building the production line.
After several rounds of site selection, in September 2023, Feixun (Shenyang) Agricultural Machinery Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Feixun Agricultural Machinery Technology) settled in Shenfu New District, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, with Chen Feng as the company's general manager.
According to the cooperation plan, Feixun Agricultural Machinery Technology will collaborate with the Institute of Metal to build a production line capable of producing 200,000 high-end wear-resistant disc cutters per year, jointly focusing on the research and intelligent manufacturing of soil-engaging wear parts for agricultural machinery.
"Getting ready for spring plowing"
In March of this year, a reporter from China Science News saw the prototype of this fully automated production line at the Shenfu Park of the Institute of Metal. Laser cutting, laser cutting, hot spinning, heating, quenching... a wear-resistant disc only takes two to three minutes to come off the line.
"These disc harrow blades underwent 10 comparative tests in Xinjiang. After working on 1,600 acres of farmland, the wear rate of ordinary harrow blades was 10.31%, while our blades were only 1.86%," on April 13, at the 300-acre protective tillage township-level application base in Fuxin Mongolian Autonomous County, Liaoning Province, Chen Feng introduced the disc harrow blades manufactured using the automated production line in the field.
It is reported that Feixun Agricultural Machinery Technology has signed an order for 5,000 disc harrow blades, with 1,800 land preparation machine blades already delivered to Xinjiang and other places, gradually being installed and used for spring plowing.
"After rushing and hurrying, we finally made it for this year's spring plowing. In addition to the traditional disc, we will also promote the latest research and development of integrated bearing dust covers. Samples have been installed and used in field trials for spring plowing," Jiang Haichang told China Science News.
