cosmic hegemony

Chapter 78, Material or Material

Li Fu, Liu Shiying and others looked at the silver-gray engine in front of them as if they were looking at a rare treasure. It was about 5 meters long and 1 meter in diameter. generally.

"Haha, I didn't expect that we could manufacture a plasma engine in just over a month. If it weren't for you, Xiao Li, it would be something that I would never have dared to think about. At the beginning, we thought that if we could make progress within ten years Even if it’s pretty good, it’s only been a little over a month now.”

Liu Shiying couldn't help sighing for a while. During more than a month with Li Fu, he really understood how terrible the genius Liu Yi said was, and there was nothing Li Fu didn't understand. Many people thought Li Fu could think of methods one by one that he couldn't even think of, and the progress of the whole project can be described as a thousand miles a day.

"Old Liu, you are too proud. Without the concerted efforts of everyone and the strong support of the country, even if I have some ideas, it will have no effect at all. What's more, if it weren't for everyone's experience in designing aero engines in advance, we really If you start from scratch, it will definitely not be completed overnight.”

Li Fu smiled and shook his head. Although Li Fu is now at the core of plasma engine research, he should be more modest in this kind of thing. Now he is quite harmonious with Liu Shiying's team. He even calls Liu Shiying Old Liu.

"Haha, let's not be too busy to be happy, let's quickly carry out the wind tunnel test. Only when the real test is successful can it be regarded as a real success. I don't know if we can use new materials and the most advanced air-cooling technology to withstand the core of the engine. high temperature."

Seeing Li Fu's modest appearance, Liu Shiying nodded in satisfaction, and quickly turned the topic back to the plasma engine. She was still worried because according to the theory, the operating temperature of the plasma engine was above 2000 degrees, and the core The temperature can reach 5000 degrees, such a terrifying high temperature is definitely the biggest test.

Soon, the engine was transported to the wind tunnel experiment, ready to accept the most critical wind tunnel experiment test.

Through the thick glass, Li Fu, Liu Shiying and others looked at the plasma engine quietly waiting for the test. Everyone seemed a little excited. After all, this is the first plasma engine in China, although the performance is still unknown. The same, but everyone is still excited.

"start!"

Following Liu Shiying's order, someone next to him gently pressed a few openings, and everyone's eyes were fixed on the engine in the wind tunnel laboratory.

Li Fu only felt the whole ground tremble slightly. In the laboratory, the plasma engine started instantly, and the powerful air compression ability could instantly evacuate all the air in a space the size of a basketball stadium. Even if it was separated by thick glass, Li Fu Fu still heard a thunderous roar.

I saw an orange-red tail flame ejected from the tail of the engine, the length unexpectedly reached tens of meters, and soon the orange-red tail flame turned into a completely white tail flame, very dazzling, as if it was a Look at the sun with your eyes.

Accompanied by the orange-red tail flame completely turning into a blazing white tail flame, the temperature in the surrounding air increased rapidly, and there was a faint feeling of hazy feeling, a strong heat seemed to come oncoming, even through the thick The glass still has heat conduction.

"Didi!", "Didi!" There was a huge monitor next to the crowd, and all kinds of data changed rapidly, making the research team smile.

The engine's thermal efficiency, propulsion efficiency, total efficiency, EPR (engine pressure ratio), N1 (fan speed), EGT (exhaust gas temperature), power consumption and other data are constantly beating on the huge display.

"It's great. It has surpassed the most advanced engine parameters in the world just at the beginning. If the power meter is fully turned on, it will be absolutely terrifying."

"No wonder it is said that the plasma engine is the core of the future fighter, and it is the existence of the so-called aerospace fighter. This data is really perfect!"

"I can't imagine that we can actually manufacture such an advanced engine. The power and temperature are awesome!"

The researchers in the research team looked at the numbers on the huge monitor, and all of them had smiles on their faces. Those who studied the engine knew exactly what these data meant.

"It's really an electric tiger. Looking at the power consumption, it has already consumed more than 5000 kilowatt-hours of electricity in just a few minutes!"

"This thrust is so powerful that our entire wind tunnel laboratory felt trembling faintly. Seeing that there is no water glass on the table, our wind tunnel is the highest standard wind tunnel laboratory!"

"The temperature at the outlet is too high, it has already exceeded 2000 degrees, and the temperature of the core of the rotor must be doubled. I don't know if our new materials and the most advanced air-cooling technology can satisfy it, otherwise If not, this rotor won’t last long.”

As if to verify this sentence, the engine that originally spewed out a bright white and dazzling exhaust flame suddenly appeared a special gas at its tail, and the entire engine began to turn red, and then soon began to turn white, like a burning gas. The red steel block is like, making everyone immediately realize that something is wrong.

"No, stop the engine immediately!"

Liu Shiying yelled loudly, and the people next to him immediately pressed a few buttons to stop sending high-voltage electricity to the engine.

"coax!"

As the roar gradually became smaller, the engine slowly stopped running, but the black gas was still coming out, and then an open flame could be seen burning from the engine.

However, this wind tunnel laboratory is the most advanced laboratory. Soon, water droplets in the wind tunnel laboratory sprayed towards the engine, and countless water mist covered the entire wind tunnel laboratory. The powerful exhaust system gets all the water vapor, etc. out again in no time.

After a long time, a completely scrapped engine appeared in everyone's field of vision. The shape of the engine was slightly deformed at this time, and there were obvious traces inside as if the magma had been dried. The rotor at the core of the engine was completely broken. When it melted, it turned into molten iron and flowed out, and after cooling, it turned into dry candle oil.

"More than a billion dollars are gone!"

Someone nearby looked at this engine, and the entire population was stunned. All the materials used in this engine are the most advanced materials in China at present, plus the processing and manufacturing of various blades, etc., the cost of manufacturing the entire engine alone costs I bought more than one billion Chinese coins.

Liu Shiying on the side had a dark face and a very ugly face. Looking at the engine that was cooling down gradually, the whole person looked dumbfounded.

"Material, or material is not enough!"

The analysis in Li Fu's brain quickly came to the conclusion that it was not that the plasma engine was not good, but that the material used to make the plasma engine was not good. It relied on a strong current to ionize the compressed air, and the temperature was as high as 2000 degrees, and the core temperature was as high as 5000 degrees, even with the most advanced air cooling technology, the most advanced high-tech materials.

But in less than 10 minutes, the rotor at the core of the engine was completely burnt out, melted into molten iron, and the entire engine was completely scrapped.

"Why is this happening? We have clearly researched the plasma engine, but we still lost to the material level in the end!"

Liu Shiying seemed a little frustrated. This engine has used China's most advanced materials and the most advanced air-cooling technology, but it still can't resist the high temperature of the core.

"Old Liu, don't be discouraged. Problems always appear one by one. Just like before, we also encountered many problems. Let's solve them one by one."

"Judging from the experiment just now, at least we have already developed a plasma engine, at least it has shown that our efforts are not completely fruitless, and there will be fewer and fewer problems to be solved later, as long as we can find a We can be considered a real success if we have a high-temperature material that can withstand this temperature."

Seeing Liu Shiying's frustrated expression, Li Fu couldn't help but go to comfort him.

"It's difficult. The core temperature of this engine exceeds 5000 degrees. We have adopted materials from aerospace technology and the most advanced air-cooling technology, but there is still no way. Look at this engine, the core rotors are all melted, and this is only 10 Less than a minute."

Liu Shiying shook her head helplessly. The failure of the test this time was undoubtedly due to the material, and everyone present knew this very well.

Material science and technology, although inconspicuous at all, does not sound very high, but often material science and technology is the basis for determining the height of a country's science and technology. The reason why many scientific research projects in the country have always been far behind the international advanced level , a large part is the reason for the material.

To give a very simple example, the material used on the core rotor of an aero-engine must have high temperature resistance, friction resistance, and many strict requirements such as continuous operation at high temperature without deformation, etc., general materials cannot meet these requirements at all. .

However, our country did not pay enough attention to basic materials in the past, so the development of materials technology is quite different from that of advanced countries in the world. In fact, the content of materials technology is not very high. What is really needed is continuous improvement. It takes a lot of data to experiment.

Only with sufficiently large experimental data can we say that we have made achievements in material science and technology. However, this kind of project that continuously invests resources in experiments, but the results may not be effective soon, our country did not pay much attention to this aspect before. In the past ten years, the more advanced the development of high-end technology, the more gradually realized that basic material technology has become a big obstacle, and then vigorously invested resources into it.

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(End of this chapter)