"The Song of Laborers"

Original title: Sun Xiaoxia, Senior Engineer of Initiating Explosive Devices Technology Research Institute of Liaoning North Huafeng Special Chemical Co., Ltd. (theme)

Based on my own duty for 20 years, "continue fire" (subtitle)

People's Daily reporter Hu Jingyi

On May 8, 2008, the Olympic torch was lit at the top of Mount Everest for the first time, which was recorded in the history of the Olympic Games forever. For Sun Xiaoxia, who watched in front of the TV, there was not only excitement but also a sense of achievement.

As a senior engineer of the initiating explosive device technology research institute of China North Special Energy Group Co., Ltd. Liaoning North Huafeng Special Chemical Co., Ltd., China North Industries Group Co., Ltd., Sun Xiaoxia still remembers the scene of participating in the development of the Olympic Everest solid torch. The top of Mount Everest is low temperature, oxygen deficient and high wind speed. Sun Xiaoxia and her colleagues need to develop a pyrotechnic agent, which not only enables the flame to burn stably under adverse conditions, but also ensures that the flame is elegant and beautiful and free of pollution after burning.

Sun Xiaoxia is pressing a charge component. Drawings provided by Liaoning North Huafeng Special Chemical Co., Ltd

"Different combinations of raw materials, different ratios of the same combination... In the more than one year of research and development, we adjusted nearly 100 kinds of pharmaceutical formulations." Sun Xiaoxia recalled. At that time, the time was tight and the task was heavy. In order to ensure the safe operation and timely delivery of chemicals, she assembled chemicals during the day and collated data at night.

Dealing with fire is Sun Xiaoxia's daily work. Initiating explosive device is a general term for disposable components and devices equipped with gunpowder or explosives, which will burn or explode after being stimulated by the outside world to ignite gunpowder, detonate explosives or do mechanical work. It is widely used in national defense, military, aerospace and other fields.

Open Sun Xiaoxia's file cabinet. Half of the cabinet is filled with handwritten notes of various scientific and technological breakthroughs. Over the past 20 years, Sun Xiaoxia has accumulated more than 20 copies of such handwritten notes. Open the notebook and record various process parameters, test conditions and improvement ideas.

"The safety and reliability of initiating explosive devices directly affect the overall stability of equipment, which requires us to pay attention to every detail," Sun Xiaoxia said.

Sun Xiaoxia's longest scientific research lasted more than 10 years. During that period, Sun Xiaoxia led the team to carry out technical research and wrote thousands of pages of materials alone.

"Problems encountered in scientific research will be put in my mind, and I can't help thinking. It's not enough to think during the day. I even dream at night and calculate until the problem is solved," Sun Xiaoxia said. Over the past 20 years, Sun Xiaoxia has completed more than 10 national key model projects of initiating explosive device development and more than 30 key technologies of initiating explosive device; 27 national defense invention patents were authorized or accepted. In 2023, Sun Xiaoxia won the National May Day Labor Medal.

Now, Sun Xiaoxia has more than a dozen scientific research projects in her hands at the same time, and thousands of tests need to be completed every year. "We should base ourselves on our own work and speed up the creation of the birthplace of original initiating explosive device technology!" Sun Xiaoxia said.