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The Star
21-07-2025
- Science
- The Star
Can a superalloy method fix aircraft engine woes, even for sixth-gen fighters?
Chinese researchers working on a new superalloy processing technique say their lab results suggest it could be used to build stronger and longer-lasting aircraft engines, according to state media. Superalloy turbine discs are a core component of aircraft engines and the new technique to cool down the metal alloy faster during manufacturing could significantly improve performance, the official Science and Technology Daily reported on Friday. It said the new technology had the potential to be used in the engines powering the country's new sixth-generation fighter jets. With at least two of these next-gen fighter jets currently under development, there is an urgent need to develop advanced, high-performance aircraft engines – an area where China has lagged behind the West. To do this, the team at Dalian University of Technology in northeast China tackled a key challenge in the manufacturing process: finding a way to rapidly cool the forged turbine discs made of superalloy. These discs are among the heaviest and most technically demanding parts of an aircraft engine. Their quality and durability has long been an obstacle for the industry since this determines the engine's power, efficiency and lifespan. In an aircraft engine, the turbine discs are the base on which turbine blades are mounted. The discs convert the thermal energy generated by fuel combustion into the rotational force needed to propel the aircraft. That means the superalloy the discs are made from must be able to withstand extreme temperatures, high pressure and high rotational speeds. During manufacturing, faster cooling produces smaller and more evenly distributed grains in the metal alloy, which translates to stronger, smoother surfaces and a longer lifespan. The team in Dalian have developed a technique where multiple high-speed jets of water are used to cool the superalloy in a fine, uniform mist. A computer simulation model is used to optimise placement of the nozzles and jet settings so that the process is precisely controlled, according to the report. The team said their experiment data showed the cooling speed was 3.75 times faster using this method, and there was a more than a fourfold improvement in crystal grain size distribution. An ultra-high temperature disc at 1,200 degrees Celsius (2,192 Fahrenheit) cooled down by 673 degrees per minute using this approach, the report said. 'Our cooling speed has met the demands of the new generation of aviation engines,' said Shi Jinhe, a leader of the research team. 'We will ... accelerate the application and transformation of the lab results.' The report did not say how much difference that could make to the performance of turbine discs in terms of temperature resistance and reliability. Aircraft engines have been a challenge for China. Its fifth-generation fighter jet, the J-20, was plagued for years with engine troubles referred to as 'heart disease'. Development of its WS-15 engine was repeatedly delayed and the fighter jet instead had an inferior engine that was said to have held it back from reaching its full potential, especially when it came to manoeuvrability and stealth capacity at supersonic speed. It was not until July 2023 that the first J-20 prototype fitted with two WS-15 engines began testing – more than 12 years after the J-20's maiden flight. Aircraft engine technology has been designated as a key priority in various state strategies as Beijing tries to push the sector to make progress and catch up with other nations. That has seen advances in powder metallurgy processing and the DD6 superalloy, which was used for the turbine discs of the WS-15 engine. Researchers are said to be developing a DD9 superalloy for China's next-generation fighter jet engine. That superalloy is reportedly able to withstand temperatures of up to 1,200 degrees, which would put it on par with the XA100 engine made by GE Aerospace for America's F-35 fighter jet. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
South China Morning Post
01-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China targets chip, quantum advances with 2030 metrology action plan in tech race with US
China has released an action plan for 'disruptive technological innovation' in metrology – the scientific study of measurement – within the next five years. Advertisement The 2030 action plan, released by the State Administration for Market Regulation, focuses on breakthroughs in chip technology and quantum-scale measurement, both critical to a wide range of industries. According to a report by ministry newspaper Science and Technology Daily last week, the plan targets tackling several 'pain points' or shortcomings in China's metrological capabilities, including measurement capabilities that are missing or need to be improved. Metrological applications relating to chips and rare earth magnets have been flashpoints in the US-China technological rivalry , as Washington continues to tighten controls on hi-tech chip exports to China citing national security while China leverages its dominance in rare earth metals with its own export restrictions. As metrology is the foundation for all industries dependent on precise and dependable measurements, the expansion of such capabilities is a strategic priority for both countries. Advertisement 'By 2030, basic metrology capabilities will be comprehensively improved, with key breakthroughs in more than 50 key core technologies of metrology,' the Chinese action plan released on May 16 says.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
China's first lithium-sodium hybrid station powers 270,000 homes with green energy
China just fired up a next-gen battery hub blending lithium and sodium in its latest energy leap. On Sunday, its first lithium-sodium hybrid energy storage station began operation, marking a major step toward hybrid battery storage at scale. Located in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, the Baochi Energy Storage Station (BESS) combines the strengths of lithium and sodium-ion batteries. The hybrid system offers longer cycle life, faster response, and stable performance across temperatures ranging from -20°C to 45°C, according to Science and Technology Daily. Thanks to China's abundant sodium resources, the setup also provides a more cost-effective solution for large-scale energy storage, the Global Times reported. Sprawling across about 50 mu (3.3 hectares), roughly the size of five football fields, the facility has an installed capacity of 400 megawatt-hours. It can complete two full charge-discharge cycles daily, delivering up to 580 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. This amount is enough to power nearly 270,000 households each year. Nearly 98 percent of the energy comes from renewable sources. At the core of BESS is China's first large-capacity sodium-ion battery system, which responds six times faster than conventional models. By coupling these advanced sodium batteries with mature lithium technology, the station enhances grid regulation and ensures smoother integration of wind and solar power. The hybrid system serves more than 30 renewable energy plants across Yunnan, a province where clean energy accounts for nearly 70 percent of the power supply. With such a high share of renewables, grid stability becomes a major concern, making innovations like BESS essential for balancing supply and demand. "The station serves over 30 wind and solar power plants in Yunnan. The lithium-sodium hybrid technology enables more stable integration of large-scale renewables into the power grid and supports future participation in electricity market trading," Wu Bin, deputy manager of the Baochi Energy Storage Station project, told CCTV News. The system can flexibly adjust its charging and discharging modes based on the availability of new energy to help balance the volatility of renewables. It has potential applications in regions with high shares of renewable energy in China—such as Tibet, Xinjiang, Gansu, and Ningxia—where it can support the stable delivery of power from renewable bases located in deserts, the Gobi, and other wasteland areas. As demand for lithium surges globally, concerns about resource constraints and import dependency are mounting. China currently imports about 70 percent of its lithium battery materials. In contrast, sodium—sourced from salt lakes, seawater, and mines—is far more abundant available domestically and have more favorable properties, including stable operation across a 45 C temperature range. "Seventy percent of the production materials of lithium batteries in China come from overseas, making the production highly dependent on imports. The raw materials of sodium batteries can be extracted from salt mines, seawater, and salt lakes. The sodium resources of the Qarhan Salt Lake alone are 500 times the global lithium resources," Chen Man, a member of the National Electric Energy Storage Technical Committee, was quoted by CCTV news as saying.
South China Morning Post
09-04-2025
- Science
- South China Morning Post
First encounter: Chinese AI meets quantum power and gets smarter, faster
Chinese researchers say they have achieved a global first in using a real quantum computer to fine-tune an artificial intelligence (AI) model with 1 billion parameters, showing the potential of quantum computing to help better train large language models. Advertisement Using Origin Wukong , China's third-generation superconducting quantum computer with 72 qubits, a team in Hefei has achieved an 8.4 per cent improvement in training performance while reducing the number of parameters by 76 per cent, state-owned Science and Technology Daily reported on Monday. 'This is the first time a real quantum computer has been used to fine-tune a large language model in a practical setting. It shows that current quantum hardware can begin to support real-world AI training tasks,' said Chen Zhaoyun, a researcher at the Institute of Artificial Intelligence under the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Centre. 05:00 Does the arrival of China's low-cost DeepSeek mean the end of Nvidia's chip dominance? Does the arrival of China's low-cost DeepSeek mean the end of Nvidia's chip dominance? The improved AI model also reportedly delivered better results on specific tasks. When trained on mental health conversation data, it made 15 per cent fewer mistakes and in a maths problem-solving test, its accuracy rose from 68 to 82 per cent, according to Science and Technology Daily. Fine-tuning is a key step in customising general AI models such as DeepSeek or Qwen for specialised tasks, such as analysing medical data. Traditionally, this process relies on powerful servers and faces multiple challenges, including limited ability to scale and high energy consumption. Quantum computing, by contrast, brings unique advantages. By leveraging quantum principles such as superposition – one particle holding multiple possible states at once – and entanglement, which means particles remain linked and instantly affect each other, quantum computers can explore vast combinations of parameters simultaneously, making AI training much faster and more efficient. Advertisement To enable this, researchers from Origin Quantum – a Hefei-based start-up that developed the Origin Wukong computer – worked with collaborators to create a new method called quantum-weighted tensor hybrid parameter fine-tuning.
Associated Press
28-02-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Tech with Heart AI for Good
Data Pulse with AI BEIJING, Feb. 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Data is a significant driving force for AI development. How can we fully unleash data's potential and make AI utilize it? In a panel discussion, 'Tech with Heart, AI for Good,' organized by Science and Technology Daily, He Guangxi, director at the Institute of International Science and Technology Relations, Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development, and Professor Gao Shaolin from Peking University Law and AI Research Center, shared their insights on AI and its association with new quality productive forces, big data and data regulation. AI drives new quality productive forces The conversation, hosted by Wu Baojun from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, kicked off with the exploration of the buzzword — new quality productive forces. He said that it is a driving force rooted in sci-tech innovation, playing a crucial role in promoting higher-level and higher-quality development of the social economy. Gao explained the buzzword from the perspective of the three elements of productivity: the workers, the tools of labor, and the object of labor. Taking new quality productive forces into consideration, the workers are not the traditional ones engaged in hard manual labor but those who have mastered the latest science and technology. The labor tools are empowered by new generation information technology and AI technology, and the object of labor is also empowered with science and technology. In this way, new quality productive forces are transforming traditional productive forces with new technologies, and AI is a key factor in this transformation, Gao said. He added that AI is a significant part of sci-tech innovation and a likely area for breakthroughs. Meanwhile, other elements like new materials and new energy may also drive the development of new quality productive forces. Data as cornerstone of AI development The development of AI is driven by a so-called troika of computing power, algorithms and data. He made a comparison to explain their importance. Computing power is the fuel, like oil or coal that provides energy, while algorithm is the production technology or method. 'Then data is the raw material in the manufacturing industry,' He said. 'Without raw materials, you can't create new things.' Gao said the concept of data has evolved from simple numbers to the underlying carrier of information in the digital age thanks to the advancement of technology. Since humans entered the digital age, all information is recorded and predicted in the form of zero and one by electronic computers. 'So now, when we talk about data, we must make an appropriate distinction between data and information,' Gao said. Gao referred to the assisted driving system (ADS) to explain the significance of big data. The ADS requires a vast amount of data, including vehicle operation data, road traffic safety law data, meteorological data and environmental data. 'Without data, no matter how good the algorithm is, there won't be an ADS,' Gao said. Proactive data policies to drive AI However, the development of AI and the use of data face many challenges. AI's huge appetite for data may lead to a shortage of real-world data by 2028, and the exploration of synthetic data raises concerns about data quality, He said. Synthetic data might eventually lead to a self-reinforcing loop or self-pollution of data. Additionally, there are other pressing issues such as the unavailability of industry data, and data from government departments and public sectors, as well as data security and data sovereignty. Gao described how China has been proactive in formulating policies to address these issues. For example, the National People's Congress enacted the Data Security Law, which emphasizes the hierarchical and classified management of data. The law states that data should be classified into different categories, including governmental data, business data and personal data. From a security perspective, data is divided into risk-free, low-risk and high-risk categories. The law stipulates different protection requirements for each category. The State Council of China issued the Twenty Data Measures to promote the development of data elements, clarifying three rights related to data ownership: the ownership of data resources, the right to process and use data and the right to operate data products. The Ministry of Finance also issued a regulation, allowing data to be recognized as an asset and be recorded in companies' balance sheets. 'This has greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of businesses to process and use data to create data products,' Gao said. Moreover, two new documents have been released to promote cross-border data flow. They are the Regulations on Promoting and Regulating the Cross-border Data Flow, and Regulation on Promoting Data Trading. Seeking balance between data privacy and AI development The right to privacy and privacy concepts differ not only between different countries but also across different cultures. He said in recent years, the development of AI and digital technologies has led to a massive increase in collecting data. Therefore, more people are concerned about this issue. China has made significant progress in striking a balance between personal privacy protection and AI innovation. Besides the Civil Code, the Personal Information Protection Law was enacted to define the scope of personal information. To better protect personal privacy, Gao proposed establishing a trust system. This means entrusting personal information to a professional institution that has the capability to process it. Any access to the personal data must be approved by this institution, and the institution, trusted by many people, can negotiate contracts with App developers. Only through a combination of technology and human effort can personal information be effectively protected. If this method works, it would create an effective path for protecting personal information, Gao said. Both experts emphasized the importance of AI's role in the development of new quality productive forces and the need to balance data utilization and privacy protection. They also expressed confidence in China's ability to navigate the challenges and lead in the new wave of technological revolution.
