Material Empire

"Spending money is like running water!"

In the laboratory of Anhe Institute of Technology, Li Linguang pointed to a strange-looking device in front of him, and sighed to Qin Hai.

"Both Lao Li and I underestimated the difficulty of this technology. Alas, I am ashamed to say that just a dozen prototypes were built, and the most expensive one cost more than 500,000 yuan. In the end, it proved that we took a detour. "An old professor standing with Li Linguang also said to Qin Hai with a full face of apology. This person is Professor Yue Kun from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and he is considered a master in mechanical design.

Qin Hai entrusted Li Linguang with the task of developing thermal spraying technology, and allocated a research fund of 200,000 yuan in the early stage. Li Linguang felt that the money was too much and it was completely unnecessary. Unexpectedly, at the beginning of the research, Li Linguang discovered that money is really a useless thing. The previous 200,000 yuan was spent in a few days. Song Hongxuan urgently allocated 2 million yuan, and after a while, it was completely spent again, which made Li Linguang feel at a loss and didn't know how to explain to Qin Hai.

In fact, Qin Hai was fully prepared for the expenses required for researching this craft. The development of thermal spraying technology in foreign countries is based on tens of millions of dollars. Qin Hai has the advantage of foresight and can avoid some unnecessary waste, but some necessary steps still have to be done again. , Without a few million yuan, you can't fight.

Qin Hai and Li Linguang explained the principles of the thermal spraying process very clearly. What Li Linguang has to do is to cooperate with Yue Kun to manufacture a spraying equipment and turn the principle into actual production capacity.

Huge costs are spent on the manufacture of equipment. Thermal spraying uses the high temperature and high pressure generated by the combustion of fuel in a closed container to push the spraying material onto the substrate to form a coating. Therefore, the spraying equipment must have the ability to withstand high temperature and high pressure, and it needs to be able to carry out fine control of the spraying jet, and its complexity is self-evident.

At first, Li Linguang and Yue Kun tried their best to use ordinary materials to make spray guns based on the principle of spending less money and doing more work, but found that the spray guns were deformed after a few times of use, and even almost caused a burst accident. Later, they began to use high-end alloy materials and processed them with the help of imported precision processing equipment, and the cost of equipment increased linearly.

When Li Linguang spent the first 200,000 yuan, he felt very uneasy, and repeatedly explained to Qin Hai on the phone. Qin Hai just laughed, and told Li Linguang that this was all expected, and the actual cost might be 10 or 20 times higher than this figure, so Li Linguang just let it go.

If it was a year ago, Qin Hai would not have the confidence to let Li Linguang spend money freely. In the past year, due to the continuous development of the production of the two iron and steel enterprises, Pingyuan Special Steel Works and Bei No. 2 Steel, Qin Hai has earned tens of millions of yuan in profits, and has already possessed the ability to overcome certain technical problems. Li Linguang's experiments cost several million yuan, but Qin Hai is not nervous, he knows that the rewards of these experiments are far greater than the initial investment.

Qin Hai's other enterprises, including Qujiang Cement Factory, Quwu's Industrial Ceramics Factory, Dongyao Plastic Factory and Haijie Technology Company, are still in the early stages of development. Although they have some profits, they are only enough for themselves. The expansion of reproduction cannot provide Qin Hai with financial support. However, Qin Hai has enough patience to wait for these companies to grow up slowly. What he has to do in the future is far more complicated than designing a thermal spraying equipment, and the capital required is also a hundred times or even a thousand times the current investment scale. .

With Qin Hai's support, Li Linguang became bolder and began to manufacture the second and third equipment. Costs continue to climb, but progress is also evident. The durability of the equipment has increased, and the spraying effect has continued to improve. Qin Hai asked Leng Yuming to send a large number of rotary tillage blades from Qingfeng Factory for Li Linguang to conduct experiments on.

After experiments, Li Linguang found that after spraying the titanium nitride coating, the wear resistance of the rotary tillage blade was greatly improved, reaching more than three times that of the surfacing process. That is to say, if the original process can make the durable life of the blade reach 1200 mu, then the spraying process can at least make it reach more than 3600 mu.

"Xiao Qin, we succeeded!" Li Linguang happily said to Qin Poster on the phone.

"How is the uniformity of the coating? Can the stability of the spraying quality be guaranteed? Can the unit cost be reduced to no more than 150% of the surfacing process? How durable is the spraying equipment..." Qin Hai was not moved by Li Linguang's news , he put forward a series of new demands to Li Linguang.

"This..." Li Linguang was a little embarrassed. The questions Qin Hai raised were all their weaknesses. The quality of the workpieces they process is not stable. The wear resistance of good quality and poor quality is several times different, which is almost like relying on the sky.

"Xiao Qin, if we want to improve the stability of the quality, we need to improve the spraying equipment and add a module that automatically adjusts the workpiece, and the cost of the equipment may increase by hundreds of thousands..." Li Linguang reminded timidly.

"I'll ask Lao Song to dial another 2 million for you." Qin Hai said loudly.

Qin Hai knows that in the field of materials science, the laboratory application of a technology is actually not complicated. The most difficult part is to transform the laboratory results into production technology. The principle of thermal spraying is known to Qin Hai. It is not surprising that the wear resistance of the blade can be increased by 3 times in the laboratory. If their research is limited to this stage, they may be able to produce a few world-leading academic papers, but they will not be able to form a profitable industry. As for papers, at least Qin Hai is not uncommon, what he wants is the huge business opportunities brought by this craft.

Li Linguang can't remember how much money he spent, he only knows that his concept of money has become more and more indifferent. 50,000, 100,000, 200,000, 400,000... The manufacturing cost of the equipment has doubled, but Qin Hai's technical requirements are getting closer and closer. This time, he invited Qin Hai to Hongze to show Qin Hai the latest equipment they made.

"This equipment is the 22nd version we designed. It can adapt to the surface spraying of various shapes of workpieces. The coating is firm and uniform. The spraying speed can reach a workpiece in 4 seconds, and the service life exceeds 1 million pieces... "Li Linguang introduced the technical performance of the new thermal spraying machine to Qin Hai.

"What about the cost?" Qin Hai asked.

"About 600,000 yuan. However, if mass production can be realized, the cost can be further reduced." Yue Kun interjected. He works in machinery and knows the cost of equipment best.

"It's too ugly..." Qin Hai stared at the device, shaking his head and said. The equipment used in this kind of laboratory is all crude and simple, and there is no pursuit of appearance at all. However, this seems to be in line with a common saying in later generations: the soil is not the soil, and the combat effectiveness is five. The cutting-edge equipment produced by Chinese companies all has a strong taste of earthworms.

"Xiao Qin, the equipment is for use, what's the use if it looks good or not?" Li Linguang was very disapproving of Qin Hai's point of view. In his opinion, this device is full of rough beauty, and its performance is so excellent, what else is there to be dissatisfied with?

Qin Hai ignored Li Linguang, but directly instructed Yue Kun: "Professor Yue, please continue to improve this machine, to improve its automation level, and to find someone to redesign its appearance, especially if it is suitable for Europe and the United States. The needs of the nation's factories."

"European and American countries?" Yue Kun was taken aback, "Xiao Qin, you mean that you plan to sell this equipment to European and American countries?"

"Why not?" Qin Hai asked with a smile, "Professor Yue, we are already at the forefront of the world in terms of thermal spraying. Once the news spreads, manufacturers from all over the world will have to buy equipment from us. I You can’t take a device like this and ask someone for $1 million, right?”

"1 million US dollars!" Li Linguang stuck out his tongue out of the old man, "Xiao Qin, you really dare to quote, just now Lao Yue said that this equipment is only 600,000 RMB, even if we put a cover on it to make it beautiful For one thing, you can’t sell it for $1 million, can you? If you mark it at $200,000, I think it’s a huge profit.”

Qin Hai hated iron and said: "Mr. Li, you just calculated the cost of equipment, isn't our patented technology worthless? You are very clear about the usefulness of thermal spraying. Are you exaggerating? As the owner of the patent and the only equipment manufacturer, if we don’t sell at a high price at this time, when will we wait?”

"I think it makes sense." Yue Kun recalled it first. He patted Li Linguang on the shoulder and said, "Old Li, think about it. We bought experimental equipment from abroad, and a small analyzer is a few dollars. How much material can we actually use? Why, isn’t it because they have technology? Now that we have technology, wouldn’t it be a disadvantage if we don’t sell them for one or two hundred dollars instead?”

Qin Hai clapped his hands and said: "That's right, Professor Yue's words are on point. We have always bought other people's things and let them slaughter us. Now that we have the technology, we should cut up all the flesh of others. Teacher Li, Professor Yue, you two will work hard for a few more days, continue to improve the equipment, and then organize the students to draw the drawings, and I am going to find a company for mass production. When the International Farming Equipment Expo is over, our enthusiasm The spraying process will definitely be a hit, and by then, we will wait for foreign manufacturers to snap up our thermal spraying machines."

"Okay!" Li Linguang became emotional, "Hearing what Xiao Qin said, I feel at ease. I really feel a little distressed after spending so much money. If our equipment can be sold for one million US dollars, it will With two or three units, all the initial investment has been earned back, and the rest is the net profit, which is too easy to earn!"

I had a meeting all day, and I didn't get home until 10 o'clock in the evening... There will be another meeting tomorrow during the day.

There is no way, people are in the rivers and lakes.