The research on iron-based superconductivity presided over by Ning Jing has progressed very rapidly thanks to Qin Hai's investment regardless of the cost, and the results have been published in top international journals one after another, making her even more famous than her mentor Chen Zongze. Two months ago, when Ning Jing and Qin Hai talked on the phone, they reported that they had discovered a new type of material with a critical temperature higher than 77K, but the preparation method was not yet mature and could not be made public for the time being. Once a breakthrough is made in the preparation method of this new material, the research on superconducting motors will usher in a new stage of vigorous development.

77K is the boundary of the liquid nitrogen temperature region, and a critical temperature above 77K means that the material can produce superconducting properties with liquid nitrogen as a coolant. Cooling with liquid nitrogen is very inexpensive and highly operable in reality, and in the absence of room-temperature superconductors, liquid nitrogen temperature-zone superconductivity is the goal that engineers are striving for.

"For the problem of superconducting coils, we pin our hopes on our younger siblings." Zhou Linlei said with a smile, I heard that Qin Hai's girlfriend is an expert in superconductivity, and Zhou Linlei's evaluation of Qin Hai was suddenly much higher, regardless of his age in his 50s, he actually called Qin Hai a brother.

"In addition to the problem of the coil, the permanent magnet material is also a big problem, and the most used NdFeB magnetic energy product is high enough, but the Curie temperature is too low, and the temperature of the working environment is a little higher, and the magnetism disappears, which is still not enough for the motor we need." Zhou Linlei then raised a second question.

Qin Hai pointed at himself with a smile and said, "For this problem, Zhou Gong has to pin his hopes on me." ”

"You?" Zhou Linlei was surprised, "What, Xiao Qin is engaged in magnetic materials?" ”

"I don't have any majors, and I've been exposed to all kinds of materials." Qin Haidao. "However, we now have a new permanent magnet material, which is based on cerium. The magnetic strength is higher than that of NdFeB, and the Curie temperature can reach more than 600 degrees Celsius. Does Zhou Gong think it is enough? ”

"A new permanent magnet material capable of reaching 600 degrees Celsius in Curie?" Zhou Linlei asked in surprise, "Why haven't I heard of it?" ”

"This ...... Maybe it's because Zhou Gong is too busy with his work on weekdays and doesn't pay attention to reading relevant literature, right? It's been more than half a year since we published this kind of material. Qin Hai said.

Zhou Linlei patted his head in annoyance and said: "Yes, yes, I have been thinking about the problem of steam catapults for most of the year, and I really haven't paid attention to the information of magnetic materials and superconducting materials, I didn't expect the technology to develop so fast, and I knew it was so ......."

Speaking of which. He suddenly froze, and secretly looked at Ji Mingchu from the corner of his eye. Ji Mingchu has been listening to the conversation between the two of them, and naturally sees Zhou Linlei's small action. He smiled and asked, "Why, if you knew this was the case, did you have to stick to your original idea?" ”

"I can only say that there are more reasons than the original idea, but the obstacles are still very big." Zhou Linlei replied honestly.

"Why don't you tell Xiao Qin what you think? You see, you were leaving, and I told you to stay, and you were still unhappy. What is the result, don't regret staying and chatting with Xiao Qin, right? Ji Mingchu asked.

"How can you not be happy......" Zhou Linlei's face was slightly red, just now he really felt that it was a waste of time to stay and chat with Qin Hai. Unexpectedly, he got such important information in a few words, and if he knew this, he would not have revealed that he wanted to leave. Now that Ji Mingchu has exposed his old bottom all of a sudden, he is naturally quite embarrassed.

"You tell Xiao Qin what you think, maybe your problem can be solved by Xiao Qin and them." Ji Mingchu encouraged Zhou Linlei again.

"Hmm...... All right. Zhou Linlei hesitated for a moment, then nodded and accepted Ji Mingchu's Jianyi, he turned his head to Qin Hai, and said seriously: "Xiao Qin." In fact, we have another idea in addition to the idea of steam catapult. That's electromagnetic ejection, I don't know if you've heard of it? ”

"Electromagnetic catapult?" Qin Hai smiled. "Of course I've heard of it. So, the motor you just said requires a lot of instantaneous power, which is used for electromagnetic ejection? ”

Electromagnetic catapult is another type of ejection in addition to steam catapult, the principle of which is to use the power of electromagnetism to eject the aircraft on the aircraft carrier. Compared with steam catapult, the structure of the device used in electromagnetic catapult is simpler, and there is no need to lay complex pipelines, nor does it need to consider the storage and leakage of high-temperature and high-pressure steam. In addition, the power of electromagnetic catapult is determined by the magnitude of the electric current, so it is more controllable than steam catapult, and belongs to a more promising way of aircraft catapulting.

However, the technical problems faced by electromagnetic catapults are also much more complex than those faced by steam catapults. First of all, it is necessary to accelerate an aircraft weighing tens of tons to take-off speed in a few seconds than from a standstill, which requires extremely high power from the motor. Zhou Linlei just said to Qin Hai that he needed a motor with very high instantaneous power, which was the motor used to drive the catapult. The two major bottlenecks in the development of such motors are coils that can support high power and strong magnets that can operate at high temperatures.

In addition to the motor, the power supply is also a big problem. If the catapult is working on land, then it is natural to be connected to a line with a voltage of 100,000 kilovolts or more in order to provide powerful power in a very short time. However, on an aircraft carrier, it is very difficult to find such a high-power power supply equipment, and even a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier cannot provide such a high level of instantaneous electrical energy from its generators.

There is only one kind of equipment that can carry out high-power discharge in an instant, and that is supercapacitors. Capacitors with a capacity of several thousand farads are able to store an abundance of power and release it in a very short time. Compared with the rechargeable batteries that people use daily, supercapacitors have several advantages: first, their power storage capacity is stronger, and the supercapacitors of the same weight store dozens of times the power of rechargeable batteries; Second, it can support hundreds of thousands of repeated charging and discharging, while ordinary rechargeable batteries have been scrapped after one or two thousand charging and discharging; The third and most important point is that the charging time and discharge time are very short, which is exactly what electromagnetic catapults need most.

Zhou Linlei, as an electrical expert, was arranged to engage in the research of aircraft carrier catapults because the military's original idea was to use electromagnetic catapults. However, after a full investigation of the existing technical reserves, Zhou Linlei had to regretfully abandon this idea and began to preside over the design of the steam catapult device instead. Ji Mingchu knew that Zhou Linlei had always been obsessed with electromagnetic ejection, and he took this opportunity today to let Zhou Linlei push this problem in front of Qin Hai.

"Supercapacitors, superconductivity, and permanent magnet materials are the biggest problems we face in developing electromagnetic ejection devices." Zhou Linlei introduced to Qin Hai, "By the way, there are also high-power semiconductor components, especially high-voltage and high-power density IGBT chips, which are also monopolized by Western countries and banned from being sold to China." ”

"Sure enough, each of them is a world-class problem." Qin Hai sighed that the full name of the IGBT chip that Zhou Linlei said at the end is called "insulated gate bipolar transistor", which is a semiconductor component for power management in high-power circuits, and it is also a blank technology in China.

"Today, I heard Xiao Qin say that our country's superconductivity research has made breakthroughs, and permanent magnet materials have also made big breakthroughs, and it is really not easy to solve our two problems at once." Zhou Linlei said happily, "At this rate, maybe within 20 years, it is really possible for us to overcome the difficulty of electromagnetic catapult." ”

"20 years......" Qin Hai smacked his tongue, "Zhou Gong, you can't be joking, right?" ”

"I really have that confidence." Zhou Linlei said sternly.

"Uh...... I mean, 20 years? Qin Hai couldn't laugh or cry, Zhou Linlei obviously misunderstood what he meant, thinking that he thought that 20 years was not enough to solve these problems. In fact, Qin Hai has some understanding of the technologies mentioned by Zhou Linlei, and knows that if there is enough capital investment, coupled with the right research ideas, it will only take five to ten years at most to solve these problems.

"Xiao Qin, don't underestimate these technical problems, there are several research institutes in the Ministry of Electronics that are engaged in the research of supercapacitors, and no satisfactory progress has been made so far. As for IGBTs, it's even more difficult...... "Zhou explained.

Ji Mingchu interrupted Zhou Linlei's words, he looked at Qin Hai and asked, "Xiao Qin, you said it won't take 20 years, how many years do you think it will work?" ”

Qin Hai said with a wry smile on his face: "If I say it's 19 years, will Elder Ji rub my ear scraper?" ”

"Of course it will!" Ji Mingchu threatened with a smile, "I know that you Xiao Qin has potential, and when it comes to national defense construction, you are absolutely not allowed to lurk." ”

"At most, ......" Qin Hai thought about it in his heart, and was about to say a 10-year time period, when the words came to his lips, he suddenly saw Ji Mingchu's full head of white hair, he thought about it, and blurted out: "Five years!" ”

"Five years!" Zhou Linlei got up from the sofa and leaned in front of Qin Hai, staring at him deadly, and asked, "You mean five years?" ”

"Yes, five years." Qin Hai gritted his teeth and agreed.

The two technologies of supercapacitor and IGBT were still unattainable for China at that time. However, after entering the 21st century, with the spring breeze of high-speed rail technology development, China's scientific and technological personnel have achieved a breakthrough in only five years and reached the world's advanced level. Qin Hai understands some of the key elements of these two technologies, and he believes that if Daqin Group can come up with enough funds to invest, it is entirely possible to develop these two technologies in five years.

Of course, if you can give him more time, maybe you can save a lot of money on investment. However, can he wait, can Ji Lao's age wait? (To be continued)