Recently, Hunan Phohom New Material Technology Co., Ltd. ("Phohom"), in collaboration with Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), published a research paper titled "Impact Resistance of Explosively Hardened Gradient Copper" in the International Journal of Mechanical Sciences (IJMS), a top-tier international journal in the field of engineering technology. Recognized as a CAS Category 1 TOP journal in engineering, IJMS holds an impact factor of 9.4 and is a leading publication in the international mechanics and mechanical sciences community. Phohom's successful joint publication with a leading university in this journal marks a significant milestone, demonstrating that the enterprise possesses world-class R&D capabilities at the intersection of explosive processing and metallic materials. It also signifies that a Chinese private enterprise has entered the global forefront in both the theory and engineering application of explosive hardening.
In terms of core technology, Phohom has accumulated extensive process experience in the precise control of low-detonation-velocity explosives, supported by a database of over 30 years in explosive processing, and is one of the few enterprises in China capable of stably achieving and engineering such precision. The company innovatively adopted a proprietary low-detonation-velocity civil explosive formulation to create a gradient microstructure within the metal material, where hardness transitions progressively from the surface to the core. This technique, known as "explosive hardening," harnesses the transient energy of explosives to strengthen the metal. It avoids the surface damage typically caused by traditional high-detonation-velocity explosives while achieving precise, layer-by-layer control of material properties.
In this study, Phohom and Beijing Institute of Technology conducted systematic joint research centered on the impact resistance of explosively hardened gradient copper. Process experts and mechanics teams from both parties collaboratively designed the explosive hardening protocol. Phohom provided the foundational explosive hardening process, actual treatment parameters, and gradient copper specimens, and leveraged its in-house expert workstations and doctoral workstations to contribute to process scheme validation, sample preparation, engineering experience feedback, and the organization of industry-academia collaboration. Meanwhile, BIT conducted systematic characterization, experimental analysis, and mechanistic modeling of the material's microstructural evolution, mechanical response, and impact damage mechanisms. Through continuous discussion and exchange in process design, material characterization, mechanical testing, and mechanism interpretation, the two parties achieved a full-chain collaborative breakthrough—from process design to mechanistic analysis.
To date, Phohom has filed over 70 patent applications. The company is a national-level "Little Giant" enterprise and maintains both expert and doctoral workstations. The publication of this paper in IJMS fully demonstrates Phohom's technical prowess in the field of explosive processing, providing a new, independently developed theoretical foundation and process pathway for the design and manufacturing of high-end metallic components intended for extreme environments.