Prof. Yanchun Lou

Resume: Mr. Lou is regarded as an international expert in the area of metal casting material and process. He joint in Shenyang Research Institute of Foundry (SRIF) in September 1986. And since June 2001 he has served as the president in SRIF.
Education: Ph.D., Mechanical Design and Theory, 2006, China Academy of Machinery Science and Technology; M.S., Foundry, 1998, Shenyang University of Technology; B.S., Foundry, 1986, Shenyang University of Technology.
Current Professional Activities: Director, State Key Laboratory of Light Alloy Casting Technology for High-end Equipment; Chief Executive Member, WFO (World Foundry Organization); Co-president, FICMES (Foundry Institution of Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society); Chief Commissioner, National Technical Committee on Foundry of Standardization Administration of China; Chief Editor, Journal of China Foundry.

It has been found that the electro-slag remelting casting (ESRC) is capable of producing high purity steel melt and high density solidified structure. However, no research has applied it in producing large stainless steel blade for hydro-turbines yet. In this study, we developed a new method of ESRC, systematically integrating with the purified electro-slag metallurgy, electro-slag welding and stamping together. This process was able to produce large stainless steel blades (14 tons, 3.4m * 5.2 m) with mechanical properties that are close to forgings. A calculation method of converse extremum unfolding for original dimension control was also developed to transfer the 3D shape of blade to a 2D slab accurately. In addition, based on the distribution of temperature field in fusion zone, a model of energy equidensity for molten bath with variable camber was developed to help achieve the uniform structure density in fusion zone and the formation of slab with a large ratio of width to thickness. Also, based on the rule of temperature field distribution of thermal deformation and the stress field distribution, a model of thermal-mechanical coupling for stamping blade was developed to prevent cracking, resulting in a more accurate dimension control. Furthermore, the manufacturing technology of complicated crystallizer and the special ESRC furnace have already been applied on the world’s first 1 GW hydro-turbine, which is being developed in China.