Material Empire

Ji Mingchu is a person who looks down on life and death, and has no interest in discussing his own lifespan. He waved his hand and said, "No matter how many years I can live, I hope to see the 98 steel being developed earlier. Tell me, is there any way to make this steel come out within three years?"

"Three years?" Qin Hai repeated the time requirement given by Ji Mingchu, and began to calculate quickly in his mind.

The manufacture of ultra-high-strength ship plate steel mainly involves four technologies:

The first is the design of the metallurgical chemical composition of the steel, that is, the formula of the material. At present, the next-generation ultra-high-strength ship plate steel recognized abroad should be ultra-low carbon bainitic steel. In addition to controlling the carbon content below 7 parts per ten thousand, it also involves the addition of various elements such as manganese, niobium, vanadium, titanium, and aluminum. Matching. Each trace element can play a specific role in steel, and the mechanism of these effects needs to be studied in order to determine the best ratio relationship.

The second aspect is the control of the smelting process. What kind of molten iron to use, what smelting temperature to use, what kind of deoxidizer to use, how to cool, how to cast, each factor will affect the quality of the steel, and ultimately determine the performance of the finished product.

The third is purity control. Because the content of sulfur and phosphorus and the presence of impurities such as manganese sulfide, oxides and carbides will reduce the plasticity and toughness of steel. For example, iron sulfide formed from sulfur can cause hot embrittlement cracks in steel during hot rolling and welding. The technologies to ensure purity mainly include vacuum smelting and refining outside the furnace, etc. These technologies also need to be explored.

The last aspect is rolling technology. The thickness of ship plate steel varies from 20 mm to 90 mm, and the armor plate used to build aircraft carrier bridges is even as thick as 330 mm. Such thick steel plates impose strict requirements on the performance of rolling mills. Due to the long-term lack of large-format thick plate rolling mills in our country, ship plate steel can only be produced by die casting technology, which is also a key reason affecting the strength of ship plate steel in our country.

In addition to the requirements of the rolling mill, the temperature control during the rolling process is also a technical essential. Regarding the changes in grain structure during pressure processing, and the recovery and evolution process of dislocations, deformation bands, subgrains, etc. in deformed crystals after processing, each item is enough to write hundreds of articles to explain. As the core technical secrets of metallurgical enterprises, these articles have never been published in academic journals, and they cannot find the source if they want to learn from them.

The United States, the Soviet Union, Japan, France and other countries have been immersed in this field for many years and have accumulated countless experiences. China started late in the research and development of ship plate steel, coupled with limited investment all the time, the foundation is very weak. Under such circumstances, it is extremely difficult to break through the manufacturing bottleneck of No. 98 steel within three years.

Fortunately, Ji Mingchu met Qin Hai, a sky-defying traveler, and with the help of Qin Hai's golden finger, solving these problems became easier. The metallurgical theory mastered by Qin Hai is more than 20 years ahead of this era, and can help researchers pierce through layers of window paper, so that they don't have to take detours. In this way, as long as the investment can be guaranteed and a good scientific research management mechanism is added, it is not difficult to achieve results in three years.

In just a short while, Qin Hai thought about the whole thing clearly, and he even had a general framework where he needed to point out the clueless researchers. He smiled and said to Ji Mingchu: "This matter is difficult or easy to say, it depends on how determined the country can be."

Ji Mingchu said: "You don't have to worry about the determination of the country. I can tell you that no matter what conditions you need, the country can guarantee you...except money!"

"puff!"

Qin Hai almost spat a mouthful of blood on Lao Ji's face. Old man, you are shameless, you can't afford the money, and you claim that you can guarantee any conditions. Isn't this just playing me? Well, even if people are for knives and I am for donkey meat, can you not say such words so righteously?

Ji Mingchu also knew that his words were too stupid. He was embarrassed for a few seconds, and then said: "You also know that the country has no money now, and the army has no money. I heard from the Science and Industry Committee that you have the ability to get money. , that’s why I entrusted this matter to you. The steel is piled up with money, and I know this, but if there is a little other way, a person of my age can’t bully you, a young man, yes no?"

"Mr. Ji, please don't say that, it makes me feel ashamed." Qin Hai was also embarrassed, he was a revolutionary senior after all, and he really couldn't afford to apologize to himself like this. In fact, Ji Mingchu's answer was also within Qin Hai's expectations. The 70X Institute and the 43A Factory are both struggling because of lack of money. How strong can the Navy be?

In fact, there are a lot of talents in the military industry. If Qin Hai throws away the aura of a traverser, he really won't find much sense of superiority in the military industry system. Why can't people produce No. 98 steel for such a long time? After all, isn't it because of funding issues? If you have no money, you can say Xiao Cai.

"Mr. Ji, I have agreed to this matter. No one dares to guarantee such a thing as scientific research, so I will not issue a military order for you. But I promise one thing, I will do my best to help the navy in Complete the research and development of No. 98 steel within three years." Qin Hai said firmly to Ji Mingchu.

"Then, on behalf of the whole army, I would like to express my gratitude to you." Ji Mingchu said solemnly.

Qin Hai raised his hand, stopped Ji Mingchu, and said, "Old Ji, I haven't finished my words yet. If I donate all of the Daqin Group's wealth to help the Navy, there is no problem in producing No. 98 steel. But, I don't think you would want me to do that either?"

"That's not necessary." Ji Mingchu said, "Although you are a capitalist, we have passed the era of fighting local tyrants now, and the army can't take advantage of you."

"Uh uh, alright." Qin Hai replied hesitantly, as a capitalist, sitting in front of the senior generals of the People's Army really felt a little trembling. He said: "Just now you said that no matter what conditions I need, the country can agree, so can I make an excessive request?"

"Tell me, it's not too much, I'll judge it." Ji Mingchu said.

Qin Haidao: "I hope to be able to intervene in the country's rare earth strategy... Forget it, mentioning the strategy now really flatters some people. Simply put, I hope that the rare earths will be managed by me."

"Rare earth?" Ji Mingchu looked at Qin Hai in surprise, not knowing what Qin Hai wanted to say.

"That's right, it's rare earths." Qin Hai said, "As you know, our Daqin Group is engaged in materials. The new functional ceramics, strong magnet materials, special steels, etc. we manufacture all require rare earths as raw materials. At present, The rare earth management in China is extremely chaotic, and a large amount of precious rare earth resources flow abroad, but domestic companies like us cannot get sufficient supply of rare earth. I dared to make such a request to Mr. Ji, that all the rare earths in the country should be managed by me. What do you think?"

After Ji Mingchu retired, he devoted a lot of effort to the modernization of military equipment, and he is no stranger to scientific and technological issues. He is not as worried about the loss of rare earths as Qin Hai is, but he also knows the value of rare earths. He pondered for a while and said: "As far as I know, rare earths are very much needed in many industries, including the high-temperature alloys used in our military's aeroengines, which also contain a large amount of rare earth elements. If the country gives you all the rare earths, Doesn't that make you stuck on the neck of the country?"

Qin Hai said with a bitter face: "Mr. Ji, do you think I am a very unaware person? How could I ignore the needs of the country. What I want to do is to regulate the production of rare earths, improve resource utilization, and make These cheaply sold resources have been restored to their original value. If I want to get stuck in someone's neck, it's just a foreigner's neck."

"Really?" Ji Mingchu asked forcefully.

Qin Haidao: "You don't have to ask me like this. No matter how powerful I am, I don't dare to be an enemy of the country, right? Don't worry, I will not make wrong choices when it comes to national interests. However, if someone pretends to be a national In the name of defrauding resources and selling them abroad..."

"Then tell me, I'll shoot him straight away!" Ji Mingchu said confidently.

"Uh... isn't this too violent?" Qin Hai smiled, "However, with what Mr. Ji said, I feel relieved. I can predict that once the rare earths are entrusted to me to manage, Japan will definitely be the first A country that jumped out to protest, because the semiconductor manufacturing they are best at is closely related to rare earths, I will definitely squeeze out their last bit of profit."

"If this is the case, then I will firmly support you." Ji Mingchu patted the table lightly, "I don't believe in the friendship between China and Japan. There will be a war between China and Japan sooner or later, and they still owe the Chinese people 20 million Human life!"

The words of Ji Mingchu immediately ignited the angry youth in Qin Hai's heart, he stood up abruptly, and said loudly: "Old Ji, just for saying this to you, I will issue a military order to you now , how can I not get the 98 steel within three years, I will see you in advance!"

Ji Mingchu smiled and said: "Haha, there is no need to raise your head. If you can produce 98 steel within three years, I will give you a box of Moutai that I have treasured for 40 years. What do you think?"

"I'm determined." Qin Hai responded emotionally.

"Regarding the matter of rare earths, you should write a report, clearly explaining what you plan to do and how to deal with the relationship with the country, and I will pass it on for you." Ji Mingchu said.

"No problem, I'll write it when I get back and send it to you as soon as possible." Qin Hai said, "In addition, regarding the current development status of No. 98 steel, please find someone to sort it out and provide it to me, so that I can propose a solution in a targeted manner train of thought."

"Then let's make a deal." Ji Mingchu stood up and stretched out his hand to Qin Hai.

"It's a deal!" Qin Hai also stretched out his hand, and held it tightly with Ji Mingchu.

Let’s popularize the steps of steel research, no one will think that Chengzi is copying books and injecting water, right? The time it took to sort out these hundreds of words was enough for Chengzi to code out thousands of words.