"The electroslag remelting steel technology is simply a major breakthrough in the manufacture of barrel materials for tank guns." When they came to the No. 2 Machine Factory, Director Xie Huimin of the No. 2 Machine Factory greeted them quite cordially and took them directly to the production plant.

Xie Huimin pointed to the equipment that was being produced and said.

At this time, you can clearly feel the heat wave hitting people, and the steel ingots below are forming, and you can see the fiery red steel ingots, which are extremely dense and compact.

Since ancient times began to smelt metals, one of the important contents, is how to refine the impurities, when the temperature is not enough, can not melt the metal, there are often people martyrdom, personally jump into the furnace, increase the furnace temperature, and the commonly used beating, is also through this kind of hammering, constantly knock out the carbon in the steel, so as to improve its purity, increase toughness.

Technology development to the present, there have been a series of progress, among which electroslag remelting steel, is a quite excellent way of operation.

This is a secondary refining technology, in the water-cooled crystallizer using the resistance heat generated when the current passes through the slag to re-melt and refine the metal or alloy, after melting, the high-purity molten steel goes down to form the desired shape, and now because the production is a cannon barrel, so what goes down is directly a dense round steel ingot, and those slags, at this time, are floating at the upper end of the gradually condensed molten steel.

"The steel remelted by electroslag is of quite good quality, with high purity, low sulfur content, less non-metallic inclusions, smooth ingot surface, clean, uniform and dense, uniform metallographic structure and chemical composition. The as-cast mechanical properties of electroslag steel can meet or exceed the indicators of forgings of the same steel grade. Xie Huimin said: "The steel ingots we cast are of higher quality than forgings. Therefore, after the steel is smelted, it directly enters the next process of manufacturing the barrel, and there is no need to forge it at all. ”

This is the first set in the country, which is used to produce the most needed tank barrels, and now, walking along the production line, you can see the cylindrical steel ingots that have been remelted by electroslag, and they are directly sent to the next machine, which is a large drilling machine equipped with an extra-long drill bit, after the barrel is fixed, while it is still hot, it begins to drill a hole in it.

This is not simple, it belongs to the "deep hole processing" that is very difficult to process, the drill bit is six or seven meters long, with the continuous drilling, there may be deviations at any time, as long as the slight deviation occurs, then the borehole will be scrapped, and the entire gun barrel will be scrapped.

In particular, since the drill bit is drilled, the machining surface cannot be seen, so the operator cannot see it directly, and can only operate with experience.

"The teachers of our second machine factory are also experienced." Qin Zhenhua said with a sigh.

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After drilling, followed by the self-tightening of the body tube, this set of technology, is also imported from abroad.

The first was the British naval gun, which was wound with a dense steel wire on the outside to increase the strength of the barrel, and later came out with a multi-layer barrel, as for the modern self-tightening process, it started with the British L7 rifled gun.

In principle, it is not complicated, in fact, it is to stuff a conical device into the back of the hole that has been drilled, and the largest circle behind it is higher than the inner diameter drilled, and then, in the back, use a hydraulic press to put this conical device into it, that is to say, to stuff this size thicker than the steel pipe into it, and expand the inner chamber, and the outer diameter does not change, in this squeezing process, the inner chamber of the gun barrel is squeezed tighter and denser.

Easier said than done.

After many years of domestic research, no results have come out, and it is not until now that it is truly available.

This is the principle of self-tightening of the barrel, and then, a series of operations such as rifling, chrome plating, etc., after inspection and measurement, you can determine whether the barrel is manufactured successfully.

"Now, the production line is still in the trial operation stage, and our monthly output is maintained at about a dozen." Xie Huimin said: "Therefore, our first machine factory has been urging us to build and install the cannon barrel, but we can't pull out the seedlings to help it grow, this process can only be familiar slowly." ”

After speaking, Xie Huimin continued: "Moreover, we are not only making artillery, this set of equipment also plays a greater role, and our future tank guns also need to be produced on this set of devices." ”

After speaking, Xie Huimin glanced at Qin Zhenhua: "Assistant Qin, you are too busy with your usual work, and the experiment of our 120mm tank gun is still waiting for your progress." ”

Don't rush us, you urge us, we still want to rush you.

Hearing this, Qin Zhenhua apologized: "Yes, our first machine factory is too slow, but please rest assured, our scientific research projects are accelerating, and the 1224 tank and the Storm 2 tank can be equipped with 120 mm tank guns." ”

Now a machine factory has developed the 1223 tank and the Storm 1 tank, these two tanks are equipped with 105 mm tank guns, and the 1223 tank is the first model of the second generation of tanks, and when it was designed, it was intended to directly buckle the existing cast turret, so it was impossible to stuff a 120 mm tank gun.

As for the Storm 1 tank, if you want to sell it as soon as possible after it is manufactured, in exchange for valuable foreign exchange, it is impossible to install the 120 mm tank gun that is still under development, or the mature and reliable 105 mm tank gun is more suitable.

Now, 120 mm tank guns and 125 mm tank guns need to compete, see which one is more suitable, 125 mm shells, has begun to test fire, master more technical information, only 120 mm tank guns, has not yet begun to load, Xie Huimin is a little anxious.

"You have too many R&D projects in one machine factory." Xie Huimin said: "You can't chew too much if you are greedy for more than you can chew, so if you can't afford some other projects, you can also give us some of the second machine factory, let us help share it." ”

Qin Zhenhua smiled and looked at Xie Huimin: "Director Xie, are you talking about the upgrade of the 59 tank?" ”

I originally had this kind of hunch, and this time I came over, I originally wanted to inquire about the news, but now, the other party has taken the initiative to confess.

"Yes, the army is planning to upgrade the tank gun of the 59 tank, this kind of small work, you don't have to bother with the first machine factory, our second machine factory, we can change the gun barrel steadily." Xie Huimin said: "After all, your machine factory is also doing big business, so you don't look down on this little work." ”