In June 2024, Zhan Wenlong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, visited Jinchuan Group for the first time, when he thanked the company for its research into and development of 4N5 oxygen-free copper plate. The plate solved a key material bottleneck for medical heavy ion accelerator components in China.
The exchange with Zhan left a lasting impression on Wang Yanfeng, deputy general manager of Jinchuan Precision Copper Materials Company and leader of the 4N5 oxygen-free copper preparation technology project.
Wang Yanfeng measures the dimensions of high-purity oxygen-free copper
With a purity exceeding 99.995% and oxygen content below 5ppm, 4N5 oxygen-free copper stands as a remarkable representative of high-purity oxygen-free copper. Prior to August last year, foreign companies had a monopoly on the material. However, as a result of the team's efforts on the 4N5 project, that monopoly has been broken and a domestic substitute is now available.
Wang and her team at work
The team fearlessly climbed technological peaks during the project. In April 2023, the first batch of products underwent testing and, after verification, the most challenging aspects achieved results beyond expectations. To further advance subsequent processing tasks, the project team immediately rushed to enterprises within the province to conduct product forging process and performance tests. Wang and her colleagues stationed themselves in the forging company's production workshop, closely monitoring multiple batches of experiments until the process reached its optimal state.
In June 2024, the 4N5 oxygen-free copper product passed comprehensive testing and later customer electrical testing by year-end, achieving domestic substitution for high-purity oxygen-free copper. As a result, Jinchuan was recognized as an outstanding supplier of such copper product.
With continuous innovation, Jinchuan began taking aim at superior performance oxygen-free copper sputtering targets, expanding product applications to areas such as flat panel displays and semiconductor fields, extending the high-purity oxygen-free product industry chain, leading to a surge in orders across various application domains.
