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Jimu News reporter Xiang Yifan

Trainee reporter Zhang Jingxian

Correspondent Peng Xiaofeng

"I like challenges, and I hope you will dare to challenge yourself and make innovative breakthroughs." Recently, in the laboratory of Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Ding Wenhong was wearing a neat white coat. Students gathered around her, listening attentively as she explained the principles behind each step.

From enterprises to universities, Ding Wenhong has always been active in the forefront of steel technology development. In scientific research, she dares to be the first to overcome the problem of residual stress; in academic research, she is indifferent to fame and fortune and serves as a guide to awaken students' innovative thinking. In the more than 30 years of dealing with steel, she has created one scientific and technological achievement after another, trained batches of outstanding students, and won one second prize for national scientific and technological progress and more than 10 provincial and ministerial scientific and technological awards.

Ding Wenhong

Dare to be the first to break through the bottleneck problem of steel

"When I was in middle school, I particularly liked studying physics, so when I applied for university, I chose mechanical engineering as my major." In 1992, after graduating from her master's program, Ding Wenhong entered the Wuhan Iron and Steel Design and Research Institute, officially starting her "steel career."

Cold rolling mill is a key unit in the steel industry with high technical difficulty and great impact on product quality. Before 2000, China mainly relied on imported equipment, and design institutes were accustomed to doing imported projects with low difficulty and high returns.

Anshan Iron and Steel is an old industrial area with insufficient budget, so it is difficult to import complete sets of equipment from abroad. So in 1999, Anshan Iron and Steel proposed to use domestic independent integration methods to build cold rolling mill units, but due to technical difficulties and the climate differences between Northeast China and the South, many people in the design institute were not willing to go.

At this time, Ding Wenhong took the initiative to step forward and took on this heavy task. She said: "I personally like challenges."

Faced with huge pressure, Ding Wenhong was excited that she could make innovations and breakthroughs. She resolutely took on the development of the core hydraulic servo system and control functions of the unit, often staying in the steel plant for a whole day. Finally, together with her partners, she built the first large-scale cold-rolled wide steel production line in China that relied on its own technical strength, ending the history of my country's long-term reliance on imports for large cold-rolling units and rewriting the domestic cold-rolling construction model.

Ding Wenhong

After that, Ding Wenhong has not stopped exploring core technologies. In the steel manufacturing process, steel plates will produce residual stress after the initial smelting and processing, which will cause the steel plates to deform during the later cutting, welding, stamping and other processes, affecting production and sales. A few developed countries block technology and monopolize the market to make huge profits.

Since 2006, Ding Wenhong has been deeply studying the problem of residual stress in high-strength steel products, trying to find ways to suppress stress and reduce deformation. During the processing of steel plates, Ding Wenhong observed that steel mills would repeatedly operate on leveling machines and straightening machines, and the process was complicated and inefficient. So she innovatively thought of combining the straightening process and leveling process of steel plates into one to improve processing efficiency, reduce material loss, and better serve industries such as automobile manufacturing.

Since there were no successful cases at home and abroad, Ding Wenhong could only keep exploring and learning in practice, and finally developed a series of straightening and leveling technology and equipment. Since 2008, straightening and leveling technology has become an indispensable key process for large steel companies such as Shougang, Baowu, Liangang, and Hesteel, and the direct sales revenue of core equipment has exceeded 1 billion yuan.

From enterprises to universities, pursuing innovative breakthroughs in residual stress

After achieving a series of breakthrough results, Ding Wenhong came up with a new idea.

"Anshan Iron and Steel Group has had a profound impact on me. First, I discovered that even after we have acquired the equipment, we still need to rely on foreign electrical control systems. Second, I feel that my knowledge structure cannot meet the requirements of rolling design and material deformation, so I want to challenge myself and change my major to study." Ding Wenhong wants to truly and completely achieve independent breakthroughs in the core technology of cold rolling. Driven by this strong sense of responsibility, she applied for a doctoral degree in materials processing across majors.

Ding Wenhong realized that in order to control the residual stress of materials from the source, it is necessary to reveal the mechanism of residual stress theoretically. However, there is almost no research on this aspect at home and abroad. Many colleagues suggested that she give up this direction, but she insisted on doing in-depth research.

In order to serve the country's major needs and conduct more focused and in-depth research, in 2016, after careful consideration, Ding Wenhong made an important decision in her life: to give up the position and high salary of general manager of the branch company, to take the university podium and research position, and to go all out to break through the basic theory of the interaction between residual stress and tissue, and solve the problems of industry development.

Ding Wenhong guides students to do experiments

At the beginning, the research was not as smooth as Ding Wenhong had expected. "It was very painful at that time, because everything started from scratch, I had no confidence, people didn't know me, and I didn't have the resources to support the research." Ding Wenhong smiled and said that when she first came to school, she had no money to buy equipment, so she "picked up" the unwanted equipment from others in the laboratory, repaired it, and then used it with testing tools.

In addition to stress detection, research breakthroughs also require some theoretical calculations. Although she was not familiar with the relevant programming methods, Ding Wenhong still went forward by herself and learned relevant knowledge through online courses. After nine months of hard work, she went from not knowing how to program to mastering software and development, and finally ran the program after countless failures.

Now, Ding Wenhong's project team has achieved a series of outstanding results. They have transformed the traditional quenching and tempering stress control technology and promoted the transformation and development of high-end manufacturing. This technology has been applied to many companies such as Baowu, Hesteel, and Shougang, and has added nearly 1.6 billion yuan in profits to the companies in the past three years.

Focus on questioning and thinking, and be a guide for students' innovative thinking

"I don't quite agree that the teacher's main task is just to impart knowledge, because the environment is changing and existing knowledge is likely to be outdated. I hope that my students will not master a certain knowledge point, but develop a habit of thinking, and master the ability to learn knowledge and innovate and explore." Ding Wenhong pays great attention to cultivating students' habit of thinking about problems, so that they are good at thinking and dare to question.

Her doctoral student Lu Xiaoxuan said: "Teacher Ding will cultivate our independent thinking ability and ability to solve and analyze problems in group meetings and discussions. When I first came, I didn't know much about this major. The teacher would work with me to solve difficulties, and sometimes even discuss with us until 12 o'clock in the evening." In order to stimulate students' interest in thinking, Ding Wenhong often leads students to go deep into the production site, communicate with front-line technical personnel, and ignite students' curiosity with the technical difficulties faced in the actual production process. Students from the team can often be seen in Wuhan Iron and Steel, Hunan Iron and Steel, Liuzhou Iron and Steel, and Xingang.

Ding Wenhong guides students to do experiments

When starting a project, Ding Wenhong would ask students to find the shortcomings of previous research, make some breakthroughs based on existing research, and find their own innovative methods. At the beginning, many students did not dare to question high-level articles, but Ding Wenhong would guide them to question and innovate.

"Teacher Ding asked us to learn other people's ideas first, then raise our own questions from their problems, and learn to think from the questions," said Lei Xiaoling, a doctoral student of Teacher Ding. She also said that in this process, she went from passive learning to active thinking, and the teacher's teaching of "don't require your own experiments to meet other people's standards" also made her have more independent thinking in life and not blindly follow others.

Ding Wenhong is busy with work and has heavy scientific research tasks, but she personally guides students. Students say that she will personally check every experimental plan and detail, and every time she submits a document, she returns a full of red revision comments; when students encounter scientific research bottlenecks, she will take them to read literature, exchange ideas with them, and help them understand and think; she will design courses according to students' interests and strengths, and will also cooperate with other universities to provide students with a better experimental platform so that students can avoid detours.

Lu Xiaoxuan said: "Teacher Ding's dedication to scientific research, his seriousness and his daring spirit inspired me and made me change my mindset from 'getting a diploma by doing nothing' to wanting to really learn something." It is under Ding Wenhong's strict requirements that the students have learned real skills, which will be of great help to their future studies and employment.

Ding Wenhong guides students to do experiments

"She treats her students as her own children. Although she is very strict with them in scientific research, she is very caring towards them in life." Ding Wenhong's colleague Yan Wenqing said that she would care about their training and did her best in both scientific research and life.

Ding Wenhong also pays great attention to the cultivation of students' three perspectives. She said: "Teachers should guide students in the correct values ​​and teach them scientific ways to deal with problems. I don't want them to study for a master's degree just to get a diploma, but to have a longer-term vision and want to achieve something."

Students said that Ding Wenhong is a national outstanding engineer, a leading talent in Hubei Province's modern service industry, and a guide. From choosing the steel industry and studying for a doctorate in materials to choosing a university and delving into stress technology, they can feel her sense of responsibility and she has brought everyone the power of a role model.

(Source: Jimu News)

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