"Xiaolin, why are you playing bigger and bigger, and you want to fight the idea of a 10,000-ton hydraulic press?" Liu Xianghai said to Lin Zhenhua with a smile.

Lin Zhenhua pointed at Liu Xianghai and said: "Old Liu, if you want to talk about this matter, it still has something to do with you, you are the initiator." ”

"What do you mean by that?" Liu Xianghai asked.

Lin Zhenhua said: "Do you remember the five-blade fan you designed for me before you left?" ”

"Remember, I did the math again after I came back, and found that there was no problem with the design given to you, and you produced according to that design drawing, which is definitely world-class." Liu Xianghai said confidently.

"That's right, Lao Liu, let's be honest, I'm going to start producing five-blade fans as soon as spring begins." Lin Zhenhua said, "However, after the fan changed from three blades to five blades, the blades became narrower, and to achieve the same strength, the steel plate was required to be thicker." In addition, the shape of the leaf surface you designed is more complex than the original, and it cannot be formed by stamping with 50 tons, and it must be driven to 200 tons. ”

Liu Xianghai nodded: "That's right, I remember that you didn't buy an old 200-ton punch press from Yan Yuanhe, you used to only use it as a 50-ton punch, and now it's full load." ”

Lin Zhenhua said: "This is the problem. When we produce ordinary fans, the mold of the blades is made of cast iron, which is not a big problem at a pressure of 50 tons. But now after driving to 200 tons of pressure, the mold will be unbearable, and the mold will be damaged after punching one or two hundred blades. We have decided to change to a forging die, we have made a preliminary calculation, the punch pressure is 200 tons, and the pressure of the forging die can also get 2000 tons, so that the die can not be deformed under high pressure. ”

"Oh, it seems that the one who started it was really me." Liu Xianghai said with a smile.

"How about it, Lao Liu, you said in the letter that you have helped us coordinate, when can we go to forge?" Lin Zhenhua asked eagerly.

Liu Xianghai said: "We have a 2,000-ton die forging machine in our base, but there are many experimental tasks recently, and it is impossible to use the machine for you when it is free." Let me contact you with two shipyards, the Jiangnan plant has a 10,000-ton hydraulic press, as you all know, it was built by our country in 1962 by independent forces. However, they are also very busy at the moment, and the fees are relatively high, I thought about it, and I think you don't necessarily need such a lot of pressure, and there is no need to waste money in vain. ”

Lin Zhenhua said with a smile: "Lao Liu, this is not right, I really want to use a 10,000-ton hydraulic press to press this set of molds, not to mention anything else, it will be sold for a lot of money as a cultural relic in the future." The 10,000-ton hydraulic press of Jiangnan plant is a world-renowned independent innovation achievement of New China. ”

Liu Xianghai said: "This is true, such a sharp weapon as a 10,000-ton hydraulic press is a symbol of a country's industrial base." ”

"What, you agreed?" Lin Zhenhua asked.

Liu Xianghai shook his head: "Forget it, meaning is meaning, there is no need to use such a lot of pressure, it is a pity to waste the machine time of 10,000 tons." I have already contacted Hudong Shipyard for you, they have a 5,000-ton forging machine made in the Czech Republic, and it is enough to help you open the mold. ”

"That's just as well." Lin Zhenhua said.

"After the die forging, we still have to do machining, we need to rent a vertical lathe, and we also need a gantry milling." Peng Gang reminded on the side.

Liu Xianghai nodded: "Don't worry, Master Peng, this has already been contacted, and you can also use the equipment of the Hudong factory." You just have to pay the standard. ”

Lin Zhenhua asked: "Lao Liu, this is all your face, right?" Otherwise, with our small factory, people would be willing to lend us equipment. ”

Liu Xianghai waved his hand and said: "We and the Hudong factory are a family, before and after the process. We design, they make, how many years of partnership. In fact, we sometimes rent their equipment to make some experiments, and we also pay for them. However, this time to make civilian products for you, you do need a little favor in it. ”

Lin Zhenhua said with a smile: "Haha, I didn't expect Lao Liu to learn to talk about human feelings and go through the back door." ”

Liu Xianghai glared at him and said, "Isn't this still for you Xiaolin to force." After so many years of friends, you finally opened your mouth, and I didn't have the face to reply to you. Your eldest sister Qin is okay and gave me a blow, saying that you helped us so much back then, even if we violated the principle a little, we should help you. ”

Everyone had a lunch at Liu Xianghai's house, Qin Ying was a nostalgic person, and when she saw her old colleagues coming, the lunch was very sumptuous and everyone was very moved. She is now also the wife of a division-level cadre, and it is indeed not easy to cook for a group of workers in person.

After resting overnight in the guest house, early the next morning, Liu Xianghai personally took Lin Zhenhua and his entourage to Hudong Shipyard by minibus.

The process of forging the die was very long, and Lin Zhenhua handed over the task of specific communication to Peng Gang and Sun Yuanyuan, and let them stay in the forging workshop and wait for the results of the forging die. Yang Wenyong naturally stayed with Peng Gang and them, the young man had never seen a forging machine when he was so big, and now he looked at it at 5,000 tons, which was an eye-opener.

Everyday people like to say that steel is as strong as steel, but under a 5,000-ton forging machine, steel is as soft as dough and can be easily forged into various shapes.

The drawings of the forgings needed by Hanhua Company had been handed over to Hudong Factory by Liu Xianghai before, and now all that needs to be done is to forge it. Standing outside the safety line, the crowd watched as the huge calipers carried the billet heated to 1,200 degrees Celsius to the bottom of the hammer, and then the hammer began to forge the billet with a snort, upsetting it into its designated shape.

After the forging process is completed, the forgings are sent back to the heating furnace to be slowly cooled down to eliminate the internal residual stress, reduce the surface hardness, and facilitate future machining. These specific heat treatment processes are very routine practices in the Hudong plant, and they do not require the people of Hanhua to worry about it.

Liu Xianghai and Lin Zhenhua did not stay at the scene to watch the forging die process, but walked out of the workshop and wandered around the factory, chatting about what had happened in the past few months. Lin Zhenhua first introduced the development of Hanhua Company, which made Liu Xianghai sigh. Next, it was Liu Xianghai's turn to tell Lin Zhenhua about himself.

"How is it, Lao Liu, has your large propeller processing started?" Lin Zhenhua asked with great interest, and after asking, he felt that something was wrong, and hurriedly said: "Oh, by the way, does this involve military secrets, and you can't say it?" ”

Liu Xianghai said: "These things are a secret to others, and it doesn't matter if you Xiaolin keep them secret." If even you can't believe it, who else can I trust? ”

"Really?" Lin Zhenhua is very happy, he was also a military fan and military blind in his previous life, and he was interested in military affairs, "By the way, Lao Liu, I never dared to ask you, what model of propeller is the model you made, Song-class or Yuan-class, or nuclear submarine, right?" ”

Liu Xianghai shook his head: "I can't tell you. However, this matter has not yet been included in the schedule, and it must at least be ...... to really start production Alas, even I can't tell the time. ”

Lin Zhenhua asked in surprise: "Won't it?" Lao Liu, you've been back for more than three months, haven't you? Now it is advocated that time is life, and you have mastered the technology of five-axis machining, why has it not been included in the process until now? ”

Liu Xianghai sighed: "Xiaolin, don't you believe it, in more than three months, the time I can really sit down and do research is no more than 10 days." ”

"Lao Liu, are you starting to engage in [***]?" Lin Zhenhua said, "Did you go to the flower world of Shanghai, eat and drink every day?" Are there any unspoken rules? ”

Liu Xianghai was angry with Lin Zhenhua: "What do you say!" What an unspoken rule. When I returned, I was appointed director of the Propulsion Systems Engineering Institute, and I ended up getting involved in a lot of administrative work. There were many people who were persecuted during the turbulent years, and some of them were protected incognito in small factories like me. Now that these people are coming back one after another, they all need to implement policies. ”

"I don't think your policy is being implemented quite well?" Lin Zhenhua teased.

Liu Xianghai said: "That's right, my policy was personally inquired about by Minister Zhang Zhifang, and the head of the Military Commission also spoke, so I directly put it in place." Some other comrades are not so lucky, some of them still have a little political problem, and some of them have completely abandoned their profession in the past ten years or so, and they have returned, but they are useless, they can only eat, not work. However, these people have all contributed in the past, and they have also suffered some grievances in those ten years, and the organization cannot ignore them. I'm just dealing with these things every day, and I'm very busy. ”

Lin Zhenhua said angrily: "Isn't this nonsense, let you be a scientific researcher to engage in administration, what kind of policy." ”

Liu Xianghai said: "It's also a loss, I'm engaged in administration." In any case, in the propeller institute, no one dares to argue with me in terms of professional level. Therefore, there are some things that I have said that others do not dare to refute. If they were replaced by a purely political cadre, it is estimated that the intellectuals would not be convinced. ”

"However, you can't do scientific research yourself and guide your subordinates, it's always okay, right? The two who went to the Hanhua factory last time, Chang Qingbo and Yu Wenzheng, I think their skills are not bad. You give them some hints, can't they figure it out? Lin Zhenhua offered advice.

Liu Xianghai showed a hint of joy on his face, and he said, "That's not it. The most successful thing I did during this period of time was to teach the relevant researchers the complex surface processing principles that I had figured out when I was in the Hanhua factory. Those English books you gave me will come in handy with us. So far, the theoretical design of the new propeller machining is nearing completion, and the electronic engineering department has also helped to complete the design of the four-axis linkage. To put it mildly, the control system that others have made is much stronger than what you and Lao Chang have done. ”

"That's a good thing, I don't like to hear it." Lin Zhenhua said, "Since the design has been completed, why not start manufacturing as soon as possible?" ”

Liu Xianghai said: "The reason is very simple: there is no money. ”

"No money?" Lin Zhenhua's eyes widened.

"Not really. The theory of machining is complete, but that doesn't mean it's ready to be manufactured. For example, if the research on the material side has not been completed, what will you do with it? The materials room typed me more than a dozen reports, and the core was just one word: money. What kind of steel is used for the new propeller, what kind of forging process, what kind of heat treatment process, all need to be verified by experiments. Did you know that hundreds of experiments are needed just to verify the effectiveness of a heat treatment process? Every time they have to use a sample the size of a tile, the preparation cost of this sample is 200 yuan, and hundreds of experiments are almost 100,000 yuan. ”

"Only 100,000 yuan?" Lin Zhenhua really didn't understand, "Lao Liu, you won't tell me that such a big country doesn't even have 100,000 yuan, right?" ”

With his thoughts, at that time, he couldn't wait for Wang Ba's anger to burst out, and said: How much money is missing, I'll come out. With Lin Zhenhua's current net worth, it is not impossible to pay 100,000 yuan to come out. This is a matter involving national defense and security, what is 100,000 yuan?

Liu Xianghai said: "What, you don't believe it? The amount of money allocated by the state in a year seems to be quite a lot, more than a billion yuan. But every department needs money, engines, radars, artillery, missiles, you name it, which one does not cost money? Assigned to our propeller institute, it is one or two million a year, and the heat treatment process is only a small part of it, can I give them 100,000 yuan to use? ”

Lin Zhenhua was dumbfounded, he really hadn't calculated such an account. In his mind, the military industry must be the top priority, and any technical problems must be solved at any cost. In his previous life, he sometimes complained with his classmates when he talked about some of the short legs in Chinese technology. Problems that can be solved with millions of dollars can never be solved. How can such a big country squeeze out millions?

After listening to Liu Xianghai's introduction, he understood a truth, if you don't belong to your family, you don't know the price of firewood and rice. It is indeed not difficult for a country to squeeze out hundreds of thousands or millions, but how many tens of thousands of technical problems a country has to solve? If everyone wants to squeeze out money to do it, and squeeze it to the end, there will inevitably be no money to squeeze.

Of course, he Lin Zhenhua can come up with 100,000 yuan to help solve a heat treatment process problem, but then what? This process is just one part of the overall propeller manufacturing process. And the propeller is only one part of the shipbuilding. Does it depend on him to come up with his own fortune to support every problem?

In 1981, China's GDP was 480 billion yuan, and according to the proportion of developed countries' investment in science and technology to about 4 percent of GDP, China's expenditure on science and technology research was less than 20 billion yuan. The 20 billion yuan still needs to be allocated in dozens of disciplines, and the shortage of scientific research funds can be imagined.

As soon as people talk about it today, they will say why they didn't engage in engines, advanced machine tools, and microelectronics in those days...... All of these are developed countries that have to throw hundreds of billions of dollars into research and development, while our country can only take out a mere 20 billion a year to cover the entire scientific research system.

Do you want to build an engine with three or five hundred million? What a thick golden finger it has to erect.

A penny is hard to beat a hero, this is really not false at all.

(To be continued)