Zhou Linlei may still have some concerns, so his words are a little vague. After listening to his narration, Qin Hai recalled in his mind the equipment that needed this kind of performance material, combined with the No. 98 steel mentioned by Ji Ming Chu before, he could already guess a few points about the materials that Zhou Linlei cared about.

"Zhou Gong is talking about the sealing material of the steam catapult, right?" Qin Hai asked with a smile.

High temperature and sealing, these two requirements have been pointed out very clearly, plus Ji Ming said at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty that the successful development of No. 98 steel has a relationship with this work, and No. 98 steel is used to build aircraft carriers, Qin Hai can no longer guess the use of this sealing material, and it is in vain to be called a material genius.

The so-called steam catapult is a device used on aircraft carriers to eject aircraft. China's aircraft carriers, which were converted from the former Soviet Union's Varyag, use a glide take-off method, which is only suitable for fighters with a lower weight. For bulky bombers, AWACS aircraft and heavy fighters, it is not enough to get enough lift by simply taxiing on the deck of the aircraft carrier, and it is necessary to use the guò catapult method to achieve the necessary take-off speed.

At present, there is only one practical ejection method in the world, steam catapult. It works by using high-temperature and high-pressure steam to push a set of sliders on the deck, so that the sliders are pushed forward at an extremely high speed. The aircraft that needs to be ejected to take off is connected to the slider, and when the slider slides, it drives the aircraft forward. When the aircraft reaches sufficient muzzle velocity, release the slider and the aircraft is ready to fly.

The pipe of a steam catapult is a structure with a slit at the top, and a piston in the pipe that slides under the impetus of high-pressure steam. The piston is connected to the slider outside the pipe, which can drive the slider to move together when sliding. The connector should be able to move at high speed along the gap of the pipeline, and at the same time avoid the leakage of high-pressure steam in the pipeline, so that the middle seal is very critical, it must meet the conditions of wear resistance, high temperature resistance and good sealing performance, and the requirements for materials are very demanding.

Qin Hai had participated in the demonstration of the sealing material of the steam catapult device in his previous life, and he had some understanding of this technology, so as soon as he heard Zhou Linlei say this, he knew what the other party wanted.

"This ......" Zhou Linlei didn't expect Qin Hai to be able to guess what he was referring to, and he was a little at a loss for a while. The construction of aircraft carriers is a secret of the military, and the development of a steam catapult is naturally within the scope of secrecy. It is very surprising that such a confidential matter was revealed by others. He turned his head to look at Ji Mingchu, not knowing whether to admit it or deny it.

Ji Mingchu laughed heartily: "Xiao Zhou, you understand now, right?" Xiao Qin is not an ordinary person, and what you say can't be hidden from his eyes at all. I don't think you need to hide it anymore, just say what you have. ”

Zhou Linlei is also in his 50s, but he can only be called Xiao Zhou in the mouth of Ji Mingchu. Hearing Ji Mingchu say this, a little embarrassment appeared on his face, and he turned his head to look at Qin Hai, humming and not knowing where to start.

"According to the information I have read, the steam catapult used on the US aircraft carrier uses a double steel belt for the seal, and a special layer of rubber is embedded in the middle. Zhou Gong now feels that there is a difficulty, is it steel belt, or rubber? Qin Hai asked, he deliberately mentioned the situation of the US military in order to hide his understanding of this matter, so that Zhou Linlei felt that he might have learned about this technology from the information of foreign armies.

Sure enough, Zhou Linlei was relieved when he heard Qin Hai talk about the U.S. military. Since Qin Hai knew something about the relevant technology, there was no need for him to hide it anymore, so he said honestly: "Comrade Xiao Qin is really well-informed, and he has actually paid attention to the technology of foreign armies. That's right, the steam catapult we are developing is based on the design idea of the US aircraft carrier, which uses two layers of steel belt and one layer of rubber as a seal. At present, some progress has been made in the research of high-temperature resistant rubber, but there are relatively large difficulties in the steel belt materials on both sides. ”

"What is the difficulty, the precision of the machining?" Qin Hai asked.

Zhou Linlei shook his head and said: "The problem of machining precision can be solved, but the difficulty is the wear resistance of the steel belt." The steel belt and the pipeline should be tightly combined to prevent steam from leaking out, and at the same time, the steel belt should slide at high speed. We have done a practical job, and the existing steel will basically wear out after about 200 reciprocating slides, which is completely unable to meet the practical requirements. ”

Even in peacetime, aircraft on aircraft carriers take off and land dozens of times a day as daily training. In wartime, there can be hundreds of takeoffs and landings in a single day. If the service life of the steel belt is only 200 times, it means that the steel belt has to be replaced every day or two. Replacing the steel belt is not a simple job, and it may take several days to change it once. Therefore, the steel belt that can only be used 200 times is no different from a waste product, and it cannot meet the requirements of normal use at all.

Qin Hai understood this truth, he nodded, and said: "If this is the case, then it is necessary to develop a steel with better wear resistance, mainly because the surface of the steel must be tough enough to avoid wear while taking into account the sealing performance, right?" ”

"Exactly." Zhou Linlei replied that Qin Hai was able to say the performance requirements of the material so clearly, which made Zhou Linlei a little surprised, he always thought that Qin Hai was just an entrepreneur, even if he knew some technology, it should be limited to some skins. Now listening to Qin Hai say this, he looks like an expert.

"The properties of the material are clear, but they are very difficult to develop. We've had a lot of steel experts do it, but we don't have a good solution yet. Zhou Linlei said.

"We can give it a try in the School of Materials." Qin Hai said, in fact, he didn't have any good ideas about this kind of steel in his heart, just because Ji Mingchu found him, and he was obligated to do so.

Zhou Linlei was unceremoniously, hearing that Qin Hai took this matter on his head, instead of expressing a trace of gratitude, he asked aggressively: "If you come to do it, when will you be able to come up with qualified products?" ”

"It's hard to say." Qin Hai frowned. There are too many uncontrollable factors in material development. When you are lucky, you may happen to find the right recipe and smelting process all of a sudden, and it doesn't take too much time to solve the problem. But when you're unlucky, you may turn left and right at the gate you finally find and lose the essentials, and it will take you a few years casually. According to Qin Hai's own experience, the latter situation is more common in materials development, and researchers often have to take dozens of times the detour before suddenly discovering that the right path is in front of them.

Zhou Linlei turned his head to Ji Mingchu, smiled bitterly, and said, "Chief, if this is the case, our problem has still not been solved. The Seventh and Fifteenth Institutes all said that they could do research in this area, but their situation was the same as that of Comrade Xiao Qin, and they did not have a clear clue yet, so they could only keep trying. Doing so, I'm worried that I won't be able to keep up with the equipment. ”

Ji Mingchu's eyebrows also wrinkled, when Zhou Linlei first reported this matter to him, he thought of asking Qin Hai to help. Based on Qin Hai's previous expressions, Ji Mingchu felt that he should be able to create a miracle again and solve this problem in a very short time. Now it seems that Qin Hai also has times when he can't solve the problem, which makes Ji Mingchu a little disappointed.

"Xiao Qin, you don't have any good way to solve this problem in a year or two?" Ji Mingchu asked unwillingly.

Qin Haidao: "Zhou Gong is very clear about this, the requirements of this steel are too harsh, and the same requirements can not be found in the civilian field, so it is difficult to find products that can be used for reference." The Americans do have ready-made technology, but they are also highly secretive about it, and they simply do not see the open information. If we can find a way to get a little bit of this steel, even if it's just a few iron filings, it can increase the progress of our research by several times. ”

"Iron filings?" Ji Mingchu thought about it, shook his head again, and said: "Don't think about this idea, we don't have such a strong ability to go to the US aircraft carrier to get iron filings." ”

"Even if our people can board the US aircraft carrier, they may not be able to find iron filings. The groove on the steel belt and the pipe is tightly bonded, and if there are iron filings falling inside, the steel belt has long been worn out. Zhou Linlei added.

"That's right...... Wait, what did you just say? Qin Hai responded casually, and then suddenly felt a spark flash in his head, as if he had thought of an important question, and hurriedly stared at Zhou Linlei and asked.

"What just me?" Zhou Linlei was a little inexplicable, he thought about it for a while, and said: "I just said that it is impossible to grind out iron filings from the steel belt used by the US military, and the joint surface between the steel belt and the pipeline is very smooth, and there can be no impurities at all, otherwise the steam will leak out." ”

"That's right! That's it. Qin Hai was overjoyed and asked, "Can you be sure that there is a direct union between them?" I mean, isn't there a lubricant in between? ”

"Lubricants?" Zhou Linlei was stunned for a moment, and then said: "We have also considered this problem, if we can add a layer of lubricating material between the steel belt and the pipe groove, it can indeed play a buffering role, thereby reducing the wear of the steel." But the question is, what kind of lubricating material can withstand such high temperatures? There is not only the temperature of the high-pressure steam, but also the heat generated by the friction of the steel belt, and we have calculated that the instantaneous temperature may reach more than 800 degrees, and all kinds of lubricating grease will decompose at this temperature. ”

Qin Hai said with a smile: "Of course it is not possible to lubricate with grease, but if you change to other lubricating materials, the temperature of 800 degrees is not a problem." ”

"What material are you talking about?" Zhou Linlei glared at Qin Hai and asked.

"Carbon, what do you think?" Qin Hai replied with a confident smile. R1152