At 8:30 a.m. on January 2, after New Year's Day, Zhong Bai took a copy of his materials about the next development route of Ningyuan Rare Earth Metallurgical Plant and found Xu Guangxian in the office of Beijing University.

This was the first time Zhong Bai had handed himself this kind of formal written material, so Xu Guang read it for half an hour.

During the viewing process, Academician Xu showed a shocked look on his face from time to time, and he didn't ask Zhong Bai immediately after he closed the materials, but thought quietly for a quarter of an hour again!

A big guy of this level thinks for fifteen minutes, and the amount of information is outrageous!

And Zhong Bai was like an old monk in this process, and he never said a word!

Because he knows that it will take a certain amount of time for the other party to digest this knowledge that has been years ahead of him.

Sure enough, when Xu Guangxian raised his head again, his eyes had already flashed with a longing light.

He looked at Zhong Bai, who was sitting quietly opposite him, and asked, "Xiao Zhong, can you explain why you want to focus on rare earth permanent magnet materials for this high-end product?" Also, this NdFeB material, I remember that RB scholars did not say much clearly at the meeting in Beijing in September last year, and you clearly stated its advantages in this material? ”

Xu Guangxian's "Beijing Conference" in September last year refers to the "Seventh International Conference on Rare Earth Cobalt Permanent Magnets and Their Applications" hosted by the Huaguo Rare Earth Society in Beijing, China from September 16 to 18, 1982.

It was at that meeting that RB Sumitomo Special Metals announced their new discovery – a new high-magnetic energy level rare earth permanent magnet material, NdFeB permanent magnets!

At the time, the RB people only claimed that they had discovered this kind of thing, and emphasized that it was powerful, but they were vague about the specific information, and the operation of the little RB, you know.

And these two questions were expected by Zhong Bai, so he directly said the answers he had prepared.

"Rare earth elements are known as 'industrial vitamins', with irreplaceable excellent magnetic, optical and electrical properties, and in the three major application fields of magnetism, light and electricity, the most extensive field is undoubtedly the permanent magnet material, which has a large role and a small amount of rare earth elements, which can improve the product structure, improve the scientific and technological content, and promote the technological progress of the industry, and is widely used in new fields such as electronics, machinery, metallurgy, military, petrochemical industry, glass ceramics, etc., and wants Ningyuan rare earth metallurgical plant to turn losses into profits. You have to come up with a decent fist product! So I chose permanent magnet material. ”

This understanding, in the previous life of rare earth industry practitioners, almost everyone can recite it, but at the beginning of 1983, permanent magnet materials are just in the process of the transition from the second generation to the third generation, and the concept of NdFeB permanent magnet materials has only been put forward for less than a year, and it is in a very small range.

This is mainly done by RB, and the sense of confidentiality of the small RB has always been quite strong and has not been leaked, so it is not surprising that Academician Xu Guangxian has not heard of it.

You must know that the spirit of RB people's research and the spirit of exploring new things is no worse than that of MD people, especially in the 80s in the exploration of industrial high-tech new materials, RB's attitude towards China and the progress made are not exaggerated to describe with the word "hanging".

If Zhong Bai hadn't been reborn, then it would not have been until 1985 that Hua Guo would follow RB's ass and slowly begin to understand the third-generation permanent magnet material, that is, NdFeB.

At that time, RB had already developed NdFeB manufacturing technology for one or two years under the guidance of a large company led by Sumitomo Corporation.

"Okay, I agree with that." Xu Guangxian nodded and said: "Indeed, Ningyuan Rare Earth Metallurgical Plant has no fist products, which in itself is a huge obstacle to turning losses into profits, even if you use the low-temperature roasting and decomposition process of sulfuric acid you proposed, coupled with my 'cascade extraction method', to extract neodymium oxide with high purity through hydrochloric acid system, but I have not come up with the application direction of its advanced products in the future, your idea of NdFeB is not bad!" ”

Zhong Bai shook his head with a smile and reminded: "The low-temperature roasting and decomposition process of sulfuric acid was not proposed by me, it is already your personal patent No. 4105 registered with the Swiss Patent Office. ”

"You kid, it's obviously your idea, I'm just planning it...... It's just the two of us, do we need to make this matter so clear? Xu Guangxian made a rare joke with Zhong Bai, but then a smile on his face was closed, and he asked: "However, in this material, why do you dare to be so sure that there is a broad market for NdFeB permanent magnet materials?" At present, ferrite permanent magnet materials still occupy more than 90% of the global permanent magnet material market? ”

The "ferrite permanent magnet material" mentioned by Academician Xu Guangxian is the second-generation permanent magnet material that has reached the peak of application and has begun to decline slowly.

For this question, Zhong Bai blurted out his answer without hesitation: "Ferrite is indeed the largest in production and the most widely used, but its most fatal feature is low remanence and small recovering permeability. This leads to weak magnetic properties, although it has the advantage of not being easy to corrode, but it is used in high-precision products, it can not guarantee the long-term high magnetism of the product, thereby reducing the life of the product in disguise, as long as better new materials appear, it is an inevitable trend to be replaced. ”

"So, you conclude that NdFeB is a better new material and will definitely be able to replace ferrite?" Xu Guang first drew a conclusion through Zhong Bai's words and asked rhetorically.

Zhong Bai nodded slightly: "I dare not say that the market share of ferrite will drop from 90% to 0% immediately, but at least from this year, it will definitely decline slowly with the emergence of new permanent magnet materials, and eventually be driven out of the hegemony." What we need to do is to seize this rare historical opportunity and have the ability to develop and produce new products in the early stage! ”

In the more than a year since his rebirth, what Zhong Bai remembers the most is not only the new industrial technologies or new products themselves that shine from his hands, but the astonishing profit margins they have just come out!

Whether it is KCO's special nitrogenous fertilizer a year ago, or the DWX series products that have only recently shone in Europe and really opened the market, Zhongbai can be sure that within one or two years, the net profit margin of the product will be more than 100%, or even hundreds of percent!

So this time, before RB Sumitomo Co., Ltd. officially mass-produced NdFeB permanent magnets, Zhong Bai felt that he must seize this rare opportunity to seize the lead and introduce NdFeB permanent magnets to the world by the Huaguo factory!

Zhong Bai's tone was very firm, and judging from the way he spoke, he was full of absolute confidence in this project, which made Xu Guangxian feel a lot!

That is, his "cascade extraction method" has just been successful in the laboratory, and when he reported to the outside world, Xu Guangxian himself used the same tone to describe this world-leading method of extracting rare earth elements, painting a picture with a bright future for the leaders!

Although it did not achieve its own goal later, and the domestic rare earth industry in China did not take the initiative to transform and change the low-end structure of the production chain because of the arrival of the "cascade extraction method", Xu Guangxian knew that this responsibility was not in himself, and his vision was not wrong at the beginning!

Therefore, when he saw Zhong Bai's expression, Xu Guangxian unconsciously had relatives in the center!