Reborn in Hong Kong: The Tycoon Grows Up

Didn’t the United States and other NATO countries call the Soviet ground-effect aircraft the Caspian Sea Monster? Bao Zixuan directly named the Heiyun version of the ground-effect aircraft "Xiangjiang Monster", and I don't know what he thought.

On the first day, all the engineers who were removed immediately began to discuss and study the ground effect. Many of them had heard of the name Skunk Works. Since the boss built this factory with the Lockheed skunk as his target and imaginary enemy, the future work will never be easy.

Bao Zixuan also carefully considered its manpower selection, and basically gathered the most suitable engineers and technical workers in the entire Heiyun Group. It can be said that they are all people who can fight and win.

That night, just as the boss said, they were all asked to sleep in the office. Fortunately, the living conditions here were good, and they saw that the boss was treated the same as them. I'm not talking about anything, otherwise many people would really be intolerable.

After breakfast the next day, Bao Zixuan held a project meeting. Looking at everyone's eyes, it may be because of the salary increase, or it may be because they really have expectations for the project. In short, Bao Zixuan is very pleased, at least he is not worried about the current working status and enthusiasm.

With Bao Zixuan's gesture, the largest LCD screen lit up. Only then did everyone realize that the wall at the end was actually made of LCD screens. This set of equipment alone is of great value, after all, the current LCD technology is not very mature yet. Such a large LCD screen requires very high processing difficulty and technical strength, and the production cost must increase exponentially. Many components can currently only be produced in laboratories, and the yield is very low.

Bao Zixuan said while looking at the screen: "The design and planning of our Heiyun's first generation ground effect aircraft has been completed. All you need to do is to make the plan a reality and at the same time improve the unreasonable aspects in the design."

"Heiyun's first-generation ground-effect aircraft is named "Xiangjiang Monster". Technical parameters: 108 meters long, 42-meter wingspan, 300 tons of dead weight, 800 tons of maximum take-off weight, and a maximum flight altitude of 50 meters; the wings are equipped with 8 black Cloud three-rotor turbojet engine.”

The "Hong Kong Monster" has a range of 9,000 kilometers and can transport 1,200 people to all parts of the world at a speed of 800 kilometers per hour without being detected by any radar.

After seeing the design drawings, all the engineers felt that the aircraft seemed to come from an alien planet. Bao Zixuan combines the aerodynamic layout of many future aircraft, making the design of the Xiangjiang Monster more technological and streamlined.

The drawings combined with the data introduced by the boss made the engineer feel whether the boss really came from aliens. This kind of product cannot be produced with the current technological level of the earth, and everyone is skeptical.

At this time, an engineer asked: "Boss, if the weight of the aircraft is 300 tons and the take-off weight reaches 800 tons, the material structure of the aircraft may not be strong enough. After all, the weight of the aircraft is only 300 tons, which requires the use of aluminum alloy on a large scale. However, the metal strength of aluminum alloy cannot be exceeded. High load capacity. In this way, the entire aircraft is a contradictory existence, and we can only abandon one aspect of it."

In fact, what this engineer said is very consistent with the current actual situation. Most aircraft in the world use aluminum alloy welding technology.

Bao Zixuan: “We don’t use aluminum alloys, we all use titanium alloys; so don’t worry about the mechanical strength of the metal.”

At this time, another person asked: "Boss, the cost will be horribly high, and there are not so many titanium alloy supplies on the market. Even if we have a good relationship with the Soviet Union, once our products come out, the Soviets may take the opportunity to cut them off." Titanium alloy supply, at that time all our previous designs will be pushed back."

Bao Zixuan: "It's good that you can think of this, but we have already obtained raw materials from the Japanese that can replace titanium alloys, but the cost is still relatively high now, and mass production has not yet been achieved, so the first generation of products is ready for use Titanium alloy. And it doesn’t matter even if the Soviets don’t supply it, China is also a major producer of titanium ore.”

Seeing that many engineers looked confused, Bao Zixuan said with a smile: "Since you are already a member of Weasel Factory, the core engineers of Heiyun Group, there is no need to hide anything from you."

"The material I'm talking about is carbon fiber material. Carbon fiber is a special fiber mainly composed of carbon elements. Its carbon content varies with different types, generally more than 90%. Carbon fiber has the characteristics of general carbon materials, such as It is resistant to high temperatures, friction, electricity, heat and corrosion, etc. However, unlike ordinary carbon materials, its shape is significantly anisotropic, soft, and can be processed into various fabrics. It exhibits high performance along the fiber axis. Strength. Carbon fiber has a small specific gravity, so it has a high specific strength."

"Carbon fiber is made from man-made chemical fibers with a high carbon content that do not melt during heat treatment, through thermally stable oxidation treatment, carbonization and graphitization."

"Carbon fiber is a new material with excellent mechanical properties. Its specific gravity is less than 1/4 of steel. The tensile strength of carbon fiber resin composite materials is generally above 3500Mpa, which is 7 to 9 times that of steel. The tensile elastic modulus is 23000~43000Mpa is also higher than steel. Therefore, the specific strength of CFRP, that is, the ratio of the strength of the material to its density, can reach more than 2000Mpa/(g/cm3), while the specific strength of A3 steel is only about 59Mpa/(g/cm3). The specific modulus is also higher than steel.”

In the eyes of many people, these things are difficult to understand, but the people who can work in this office all have a background in science and engineering. The material data is very clear. After hearing what the boss said, they all thought that this material would have great potential in the future.

As early as 1969, Japan Carbon Company successfully developed high-performance polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fibers. In 1970, Japan's Toray Corporation relied on advanced polyacrylonitrile fiber technology and exchanged carbonization technology with the American Union Carbide Company to develop high-performance polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fibers.

In 1971, Toray launched high-performance polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber products on the market. Subsequently, the performance, variety, and output of the products continued to develop, and they are still in a leading position in the world. Since then, Japan's Toho, Asahi Kasei, Mitsubishi Rayon and Sumitomo Corporation have successively invested in the production of polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fibers.

Bao Zixuan obtained the patented technology and production authorization of carbon fiber materials from the Japanese through patent exchange. This material has not received much attention at present, at least in Japan. It can be said that Bao Zixuan has made a mistake.

Another thing Bao Zixuan didn't mention is that titanium alloy and carbon fiber are both luxury versions of ground-effect aircraft. In the future, it may be necessary to produce an aluminum alloy version due to cost, or it may be necessary to produce a steel version of the ground-effect aircraft because there is not so much transportation capacity. In short, future ground effect aircraft will have multiple versions with high, medium and low configurations, and will be customized according to customer needs. I believe that many people will choose ground-effect aircraft as a means of transportation, provided the product is safe and mature enough.

Bao Zixuan: "The material problem is already a problem, so next we have to process various parts. Our time is limited, and I hope you won't waste every minute here."

Fortunately, the drawings left by the Germans were very detailed, and Bao Zixuan only made slight changes. Otherwise, the structural layout and parts trial production alone would take a long time, and it would be impossible to complete prototype production before the Falklands War.

The data and drawings assigned to each engineer are different. Everyone knows that this is the boss's defense against them. At the same time, they also carry out a detailed division of labor to make their work more efficient. This is normal in the production of large equipment, if anyone can easily see the detailed drawings. It is very difficult to keep a product secret. Competitors can easily copy it by poaching someone.

Looking at the detailed drawings and technical parameters, everyone felt that the money was not too profitable. After all, this is not research and development, but more about processing parts and testing the area in charge.

Although there are detailed drawings, engineers still have to inspect every produced part. After all, there is still a big difference between the things on the drawings and the real thing. The most important thing is to produce aviation equipment without any carelessness. Problems in any link may lead to the crash of the entire aircraft.

You must not let the company suffer losses due to your own negligence, let alone lose lives. If this happens, their days in Heiyun will be over. And most importantly, his reputation has been ruined. It is estimated that it will be difficult to find a job in the entire industry. No aviation or shipbuilding company will hire an engineer who has no sense of responsibility.