In the wave of the global automotive industry accelerating its transformation towards the new energy sector, China is boldly reshaping the competitive landscape of the global automotive industry. In this fierce competition of technology and industry chain, the 6B05 automotive aluminum sheet independently developed by Chalco High-end Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Chalco High-end") has become a milestone in China's transition from a "follower" to a "leader" in high-end aluminum alloy materials, thanks to its excellent application performance and a self-owned brand certificate. It is also a passionate declaration of China's manufacturing industry breaking through the "bottleneck" dilemma.
The successful R&D and industrialisation of the 6B05 automotive aluminum sheet, like a resounding horn, powerfully proves to the world that Chinese enterprises are fully capable and wise to build a self-controlled technology system in the field of high-end materials. This alloy sheet, led by Chalco High-end, not only smoothly passed the strict certification of various domestic automakers but also successfully obtained European patent authorization, achieving a "full-chain breakthrough" from theoretical research in the laboratory to actual production on the production line, and from the domestic market to the international market, shining all the way.
The significant breakthrough achieved by Chalco High-end is by no means accidental. Facing the dual challenges of international trade barriers like thorns and the urgent need for industrial upgrading like war drums, Chalco Group has proposed the strategic goal of "strengthening technological innovation" and meticulously reconstructed the "3+4+4+4" technological innovation system, carefully crafting a closed-loop innovation ecosystem of "strategic guidance-resource coordination-mechanism guarantee-achievement transformation," like building a precisely operating technological engine. Under the coordination of Chalco Group, Chalco High-end has seized the opportunity to fully build an "digital forward R&D-pilot verification-industrialisation implementation" full-process innovation chain. Taking the R&D of the 6B05 automotive aluminum sheet as an example, the R&D team, with the help of full-process simulation, machine learning, and other digital R&D technologies, like having a pair of eyes that can accurately foresee the future, can precisely predict material performance. Combined with the pilot and industrial verification of Southwest Aluminum and Chalco Ruimin, it only took 3 years to overcome numerous difficulties, completing the leap from the laboratory to mass production, achieving a qualitative leap.
President Xi Jinping pointed out that technological innovation and industrial innovation are the basic paths to develop new quality productive forces. The R&D process of the 6B05 automotive aluminum sheet is a vivid and lively practice of the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation.
First, demand has become a powerful driving force for R&D. Chalco High-end actively cooperates with automakers to jointly establish a joint laboratory for automotive aluminum, addressing the stringent requirements of NEVs in lightweight, pedestrian protection, and recycling, establishing the impact relationship between application performance and material composition, organization, and process, like finding the direction of the lighthouse in the dark, accurately exerting force.
Second, the manufacturing sector has effectively fed back innovation. Relying on the specialized automotive sheet production lines of Southwest Aluminum and Chalco Ruimin under Chalco High-end, the rapid transformation of the 6B05 automotive aluminum sheet from initial samples to qualified products, and then to popular commodities, has been successfully achieved.
Finally, the market has become a key force in defining standards. Chalco High-end, in cooperation with relevant automotive sheet manufacturing units and mainstream automakers, has led the formulation of a series of product and technical standards for automotive aluminum alloy sheets, promoting Chinese standards to stride onto the international stage, aligning with international standards, and letting Chinese standards shine on the world stage.
In the current era of accelerating changes in the century-old situation, the practice of Chalco High-end profoundly interprets the profound truth that "everything changes, only change remains unchanged." The R&D of the 6B05 automotive aluminum sheet has brought about three significant changes. At the technical level, the 6B05 automotive aluminum sheet has achieved a magnificent transformation from the previous "imitation and follow" to the current "forward design." The strain rate sensitivity coefficient of the 6B05 automotive aluminum sheet has significantly decreased compared to traditional materials, and its pedestrian protection performance has jumped to the top tier globally, becoming a model of industry technological innovation. At the industrial level, the 6B05 automotive aluminum sheet has successfully built an ecological chain of "material + automotive + circular economy." The 6B05 automotive aluminum sheet and the engine hood outer panel belong to the 6-series alloy. This characteristic significantly reduces the technical difficulty of recycling automotive materials, adding strong momentum to help the automotive industry achieve carbon neutrality goals, and promoting the industry towards green and sustainable development. At the rule level, the 6B05 automotive aluminum sheet, with its self-owned brand, has successfully broken the long-term monopoly of Europe and the United States, actively promoting the "going out" of Chinese automotive material standards, deeply embedding the Chinese solution in the world automotive aluminum product system, demonstrating China's strong influence in industry rule-making.
This transformative courage stems from the deep logic of the "New Chalco" strategy, which is to reshape the competitive advantage of the entire industry chain through technological innovation, and to achieve the strategic goal of "R&D is the market" through the dual-drive model of "professional research institute + industrial base." Just like the 6B05 automotive aluminum sheet smoothly moving from the laboratory to the automotive factory, China's high-end materials are reshaping the global industrial map at an astonishing "China speed," attracting worldwide attention.
Standing at a new historical position, the mission journey of Chalco High-end has just begun. The success of the 6B05 automotive aluminum sheet is only the prelude to the breakthrough battle of China's high-end materials. Facing the eager demand for advanced materials in strategic emerging industries such as aerospace, rail transit, shipbuilding and marine engineering, and high-end chips, Chalco High-end has initiated the construction of the source of original technology for high-end advanced materials, actively promoting the special action to enhance innovation capability and the quality of excellent products, and is carefully formulating the "15th Five-Year" technology and product plans, aiming to achieve 100% self-control of high-end advanced materials by 2030, laying a solid foundation for the development of national strategic emerging industries.
This journey of climbing the peak has no end, just like the 6B05 automotive aluminum sheet showing unyielding resilience in automotive crash tests, China's will for technological self-reliance is as firm as a rock, unshakable. When the "Chinese brand" becomes the universal "passport" in the global high-end materials field, and when the "Chalco solution" continuously contributes Chinese wisdom to the world, we will finally deeply understand: the real competitiveness always belongs to those who dare to define standards and create value, they will lead China's manufacturing industry to continue to shine on the world stage, writing a more brilliant chapter.
