Nanshan Special Steel is a special existence in the Huaxia iron and steel industry.

In terms of production capacity, Nanshan special steel, which does not even have blast furnaces, has a special steel production capacity of less than 2 million tons when it is fully calculated.

This data, in some small countries, may be very remarkable.

In ancient times, it could kill the whole world in seconds.

But in Huaxia, it's not enough to see at all.

In the whole of China, the combined output of various iron and steel enterprises can reach more than 600 million tons.

Your production capacity is not tens of millions, and you can't rank at all!

But it is such a manufacturer whose production capacity is not ranked, but it is an invincible existence in the field of special steel.

The level of bearing steel for automobiles and Nanshan special steel is the first in China.

The level of high-speed rail bearing steel and Nanshan special steel is the first in China.

High-end die steel, the level of Nanshan special steel is still the first in China.

In addition, there are some kinds of special steel, and the level of Nanshan special steel is one of the best in the industry.

Even some technologies are leading the way in the world.

With this unique position, Nanshan Special Steel has become an existence that no one dares to underestimate in the Chinese steel industry.

It is also for this reason that the aircraft carrier team has always been unable to handle the aircraft carrier steel plate, so they will want Nanshan Special Steel and Anshan Iron and Steel to work together to overcome this technology in the shortest possible time.

Time waits for no one, and the construction of aircraft carriers in China can't wait to need all kinds of special steel for aircraft carriers.

"Mr. Cao, the expert group for this review is authoritative experts from all parties, and at the same time, there are also many technicians who are proficient in production from China Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd., and everyone makes the final confirmation and review of the performance of the aircraft carrier steel plate."

"As long as we pass this review, we in Huaxia will have completely mastered the technology of aircraft carrier steel plates."

"We no longer need to beg people everywhere and import aircraft carrier steel plates at high prices."

Xie Lingyun, as the general manager of Nanshan Special Steel, naturally accompanied Cao Yang to Anshan Iron and Steel today to participate in such an important event.

Aircraft carrier steel plates are so important.

In particular, the steel plates used on the flight deck will be an impossible task if they can't build their own aircraft carrier.

In the case of Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, the flight deck is only 38 mm thick, which may appear thin at first glance and is a cause for concern.

In reality, however, this thickness is designed to ensure the high strength and heat resistance of the deck, not the thickness itself.

As long as the flight deck has high strength and high heat resistance, it has the ability to withstand attacks.

In addition, too high a thickness will increase the weight of the aircraft carrier, affecting its operating speed.

In this case, it is naturally required that the aircraft carrier steel plate needs to have higher yield strength, tensile strength, impact toughness, fracture toughness, corrosion resistance, wear resistance, heat resistance and fire resistance than ordinary steel.

Because aircraft carrier steel needs to withstand enormous weight, pressure, impact and friction to prevent deformation and breakage.

It also needs to resist impacts and explosions from the outside, as well as temperature changes and stress concentrations from the inside to prevent cracking and embrittlement.

In addition, aircraft carrier steel also needs to have higher corrosion resistance and wear resistance than ordinary steel to cope with corrosive factors such as salt, oxygen, and microorganisms in seawater.

Most importantly, aircraft carrier steel needs to have higher heat and fire resistance than ordinary steel to withstand the high temperatures generated by the tail flames of aircraft engines and the high-temperature radiation generated by the explosion of nuclear weapons.

In order to solve these problems, Xie Lingyun can be regarded as leading the team to make countless efforts day and night.

During this period, Cao Yang often participated in it personally.

Some of the alloy element formulas of this aircraft carrier steel plate and the setting of some processing parameters are all due to Cao Yang's great contributions.

Of course, Cao Yang doesn't need such credit.

It is more in Cao Yang's interests to give these credits to Xie Lingyun and to various engineers.

"We've done all the tests beforehand."

"And we compared the performance of the aircraft carrier steel plate announced by the United States, and all the properties of these special steels we developed have reached or surpassed the aircraft carrier steel plate in the United States."

"Today's review is more of a process, and the final result will definitely not be a problem."

Zhou Mulan is not nervous at all now.

As the person in charge of the aircraft carrier steel plate project, she is too clear about the results of this year's research.

If none of these can pass the review, then there is no reason.

Today, she personally accompanied Cao Yang to visit Angang, and then came to the review site to see what projects the experts were confirming.

Therefore, this review is mainly for the product, not for theoretical confirmation, so there is no need for Zhou Mulan and Xie Lingyun to answer too many questions.

As long as the product performance meets the requirements, then everything is easy to say.

On the contrary, it is useless for your theoretical knowledge to talk about the sky.

"It's true, as long as the tests are done normally, there's nothing to worry about."

"Among the aircraft carrier steel plates we developed this time, in addition to those used on the flight deck, there are also steel plates used in the cabin."

"Even some steel plates can be used to manufacture the shell of nuclear submarines, which can be regarded as directly pulling the special steel level of China's ships to the international advanced level."

Xie Lingyun and Zhou Mulan said a word, and everyone's mood was quite relaxed.

The most stressful time is when the project has just started, and no one knows if they will be able to complete the R&D task on time.

After all, there is a big gap between the level of special steel for domestic ships and the international advanced level.

Seeing the huge disparity in numbers, everyone is not fully confident.

After almost a year of hard work, these gaps were eventually leveled.

While a few of them were communicating in a low voice, the experts were also full of surprise and confirmed one test after another.

Corrosion resistance, yield strength, tensile strength, electromagnetism, weldability, formability, and machinability......

Some of the indicators are tested on site, and some are confirmed in detail by the test report.

Either way, the end result is perfect!

Pass!

Pass!

Or passed!

In the end, the review lasted for three days and passed smoothly.

Because everyone thinks that there are already several countries in the world that can manufacture steel for aircraft carriers and submarines, such as the United States, Dongying, France and polar bears, among which polar bears and the United States have the highest level, and the technology of decades ago has only caught up with China now.

Therefore, the successful research and development of the aircraft carrier steel plate cooperated by Nanshan Special Steel and Anshan Iron and Steel has not been treated very specially.

In the evening of the same day, Huaxia TV reported the news that we had successfully developed the steel plate of the aircraft carrier.

Although the news did not give a particularly detailed introduction to the information on the aircraft carrier's steel plate, it also mentioned several parameters that the United States had announced to the outside world, indicating that we have reached them.

Even after this news, Huaxia TV specially arranged a team to conduct an interview on the research and development process of the aircraft carrier's steel plate and prepare to make a special documentary.

The more people who know about the steel industry, the more they know that it is not easy to develop aircraft carrier steel plates.

This project is totally worthy of being filmed as a documentary.

However, with the announcement of this news, it naturally caused a lot of repercussions.

"Liu Gong, Anshan Iron and Steel and Nanshan Special Steel have cooperated to successfully develop aircraft carrier steel plates, and it is estimated that Anshan Iron and Steel will have a more obvious dominant position in ship steel in the future."

"Is it possible for us to cooperate with Nanshan Special Steel to jointly develop special steel used in civilian merchant ships, especially the steel plates used in special ships such as LNG ships?"

As the general manager of Baosteel South, Lai Liang has actually had a very good life in recent years.

Although there is Nanshan Special Steel, a rival, in the special steel market and Baosteel to compete for the market, Baosteel has developed rapidly in automotive steel and other businesses and has made a lot of money.

However, the scale of the market has become larger, and Lai Liang has naturally begun to pursue some other things.

is like an aircraft carrier steel plate, Lai Liang naturally understands the importance of this.

Baosteel's strength is not military products, but civilian products.

Therefore, the high-end special steel used on LNG ships and other ships has entered his field of vision.

"Nanshan Special Steel will cooperate with Anshan Iron and Steel this time because the cooperative project is aircraft carrier steel plate."

"If we go to them, I guess they won't take care of us easily."

"They must also be worried that in the process of cooperation, we will learn the technology, and in the end he will not get any benefit."

Liu Jianguo, as a senior engineer of Baosteel South, is naturally very clear about the situation of Nanshan Special Steel.

Baosteel has not thought of cooperating with Nanshan Special Steel, and even some people's minds are more complicated.

But no matter what you think, Nanshan Special Steel just ignores you, and Baosteel has no temper.

Now seeing the news of Huaxia TV, Lai Liang was stimulated again, and began to think about whether he could cooperate with Nanshan Special Steel.

Even if there are some terms that can be appropriately compromised, it is okay to distribute the benefits to Nanshan Special Steel.

Otherwise, with the continuous rise of Angang's status, Baosteel's influence in the domestic steel industry will not be so great.

"The main products of Nanshan Special Steel are all kinds of special steels, which basically do not include the steel plates used on ships."

"This time they cooperated with Anshan Iron and Steel, mainly because they collaborated on technology research and development, and most of the production was handed over to Anshan Iron and Steel."

"Therefore, whether we learn technology or not, the impact on them is very limited."

Lai Liang kept finding reasons for himself, trying to find a reason to convince Nanshan Special Steel.

However, Liu Jianguo is not optimistic at all.

Of course, after working for so many years, he is not so iron-headed.

Since the boss is interested in contacting Nanshan Special Steel, let's talk about it first.

……

Just when Huaxia got the aircraft carrier steel plate and the topics related to the aircraft carrier attracted a lot of attention, two major events happened in the United States one after another.

A submarine was on the verge of scrapping due to damage to the sonar tank and ballast water tank due to the "impact on the submarine seamount".

Immediately after that, the "Nimitz" found that the nuclear power plant on the aircraft carrier had "minor material defects".

At this time, Huaxia reported that it had done the steel plate of the aircraft carrier, and also mentioned some parameters.

The United States has specially tested the steel plates used in nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers, but the results are surprising.

They found that the performance of the steel plate they used could not meet the labeled data, and there was a significant gap with the announcement of Huaxia.

Soon, the United States discovered that half of the steel supplied by steel mills to shipyards had falsified inspection data.

After further investigation, Elaine Marie Thomas, a steel mill inspector, pleaded guilty to fraud.

Because she forged the test reports of at least 240 kinds of submarine steel and aircraft carrier steel plates from 1985~2010, and tampered with the steel strength and toughness test results as "qualified".

As soon as this news came out, public opinion was in an uproar!

"Mr. Cao, have you heard of the falsification of the data of the aircraft carrier steel plate and the submarine steel plate in the United States?"

Zhou Mulan couldn't help but call Cao Yang directly.

In the process of developing aircraft carrier steel plates this year, Cao Yang also stayed up late many times to do experiments with Zhou Mulan and others, and the relationship between the two sides is also very familiar.

In this process, Zhou Mulan also saw Cao Yang's R&D strength.

People who do research don't necessarily have much respect for people in high management positions.

But for people with strong R&D capabilities, they must look up to it.

Otherwise, when she heard about the fraud of the American steel plant this time, she would not have called Cao Yang directly.

"I also saw it, this thing really refreshed everyone's cognition."

"In the past, we always felt that the special steel plate technology in the United States was the most advanced in the world, especially in the field of ships, people developed very advanced steel plates in the eighties and nineties, and we didn't catch up until decades later."

"Now, it doesn't seem to be exactly like that."

Cao Yang didn't expect that the fraud of the steel plate of the aircraft carrier and the nuclear submarine of the United States in this life would be exposed in advance.

It is estimated that this has also dealt a severe blow to the public knowledge of Huaxia.

I preach about the United States every day, but I was slapped in the face, right?

"When I checked the yield strength and tensile strength of steel plates, I always felt that it was very, very difficult to achieve the data they were published to the public."

"Especially at very low temperatures, it is even more difficult to maintain a certain yield strength."

"This time, the U.S. nuclear submarine will be damaged, and the relatively low temperature of the environment is a very important reason."

Zhou Mulan was obviously angry about this matter.

The American steel plant cheated and cheated her.

According to the data that there is no falsification, she thinks that the aircraft carrier steel plate has been made by her a few years ago.

Where do you have to wait until now?

However, it seems that now Anshan Iron and Steel has reached the data published by others, and the technical level of the aircraft carrier steel plate has surpassed that of the United States?

Thinking about it like this, Zhou Mulan was not so angry again.

After all, Huaxia has finally broken through the technical barriers.

"Is this low temperature really that big of an impact on the properties of steel?"

Don't look at Cao Yang's joint research and development, there are often some very innovative ideas coming out.

But when it comes to basic knowledge, he is definitely not as solid as Zhou Mulan.

People have honestly studied the steel plate for ships for more than 20 years, and they are familiar with every technical requirement.

"Steel undergoes a physical phenomenon called 'cold brittleness' at low temperatures, and when it reaches a certain temperature, its toughness drops sharply and shatters when touched."

"Most of the American nuclear submarines use HY-45 alloy steel, and the 'Seawolf' class fast attack nuclear submarines use HY-100 steel, which are all low-alloy steels with high hardness and high yield strength."

"Just like two sides of a coin, the harder and more yield-strength steel is, the less tough and brittle it is, and some types of steel become harder and more easily broken when they reach a certain low temperature."

"Submarines tend to have a displacement of thousands of tons, and they are bent and welded by many steel plates, which are inherently inferior to welding, and welds are more prone to fracture at low temperatures."

"For the United States, to compete with polar bears, the Arctic Ocean is a battlefield that cannot be avoided, so the cold brittleness index of steel at low temperature must be qualified, otherwise once it hits an iceberg, it will leak or fall apart, resulting in the tragedy of boat destruction and death."

"The U.S. requires steel mills to test steel toughness at -100 degrees Fahrenheit, or -73.3 degrees Celsius, and the testers at that steel mill think it's stupid because it's almost non-existent in nature."

"After all, the coldest areas of our earth are the South Pole and the North Pole, and some places in the South Pole can reach a minimum of -100 °C, but it is a high-altitude area in the interior of Antarctica, and submarines naturally can't reach it."

"The minimum temperature in the Arctic Ocean in winter can be below -50°C, the lowest ice surface at the North Pole is less than -70°C, and the sea water under the ice is generally not lower than -1.5°C."

"That's why people are fake, and it's hard to find out."

Zhou Mulan didn't say too much technical analysis to Cao Yang, after all, at this time, it was more like gossip to talk about the American Iron and Steel Plant.

Of course, why does steel become brittle when it gets cold?

This is also a headache for many people engaged in metallurgy for a lifetime, because there are too many reasons for the cold and brittleness of steel.

The chemical composition, metallographic structure, grain size, smelting method, heat treatment process, etc., can cause the steel to become glass-like at a certain temperature, and you can hardly do everything to create the perfect product with the "perfect" steel plate.

Zhou Mulan wanted to explain this thing completely, and it was not possible to do it in a few minutes at all.

Steel is an alloy after a certain percentage of carbon has been added to the iron, and high-carbon steel is harder and more brittle.

When the temperature drops to -50°C, some carbon steels become vulnerable.

Adding a certain percentage of elements such as nickel and manganese to the steel can regulate the performance of the steel at low temperatures, but it can also mean that it becomes something you don't want at room temperature.

From a microscopic point of view, all the elements in the steel manufacturing process will affect the arrangement of the atoms inside the steel, and the way the atoms are arranged is the real reason why it behaves at room temperature and low temperatures.

Solid metal is crystal, when the steel crystal atoms are arranged as a body-centered cube, it is more prone to low-temperature brittleness, and the steel arranged in a face-centered cube between the crystal atoms is called austenite, which basically does not become brittle due to the decrease in temperature.

But the metal with a square face is softer and is not suitable for building submarines.

The rapid quenching of austenitic steel results in the formation of martensite, where the atoms are rearranged into a body-centered cubic structure, which becomes hard and brittle due to the irregular slip surface between the atoms.

And as the temperature decreases, the thermal motion of the atoms decreases, and the ability of the crystal to move in dislocation decreases further, so the material becomes harder.

The hardness of the material is the opposite of the toughness, so martensitic steel will become brittle at a certain low temperature.

For submarines that need to dive deeply, the underwater pressure is very large, and the hull is subjected to hundreds of tons of pressure per square meter, and the steel is not strong enough to be easily deflated, so it is necessary to choose high-strength steel to build a submarine.

High-strength steel is easy to become brittle at low temperatures, so in the manufacturing process, the toughness of steel at extremely low temperatures has become an extremely important assessment index.

These things are not like math problems at all, and there are standard answers to calculate what to do.

Instead, it is necessary to speculate on various situations and then carry out experiments to verify them.

The reason why materials science is a basic discipline is because there are too many basic experiments involved.

You see a successful high-end special steel, and it may be the result of many years of experimentation.

And when developing special steel, that development time was really the same as Schrödinger's cat, full of uncertainty.

Bad luck, you can't find the formula you want after ten years of experimentation.

If you're lucky, you'll find results in a few months.

Zhou Mulan has the most say in this characteristic of steel.

"This wave of steel fraud in the United States is estimated to have made some of our old domestic experts depressed, right?"

Cao Yang had also seen some news reports in his previous life, and he also had some impressions of some of the information.

Zhou Mulan is a professional in ship steel plates, and she must know many old experts.

"Don't mention it!"

"My teacher has studied the steel used for ships all his life, especially the steel used for submarines, which is the focus of his research."

After he heard the news a few days ago, he felt very worried, and he had mixed feelings in his heart, and sighed and said: What is this doing!"

When Zhou Mulan said this, she also felt very speechless in her heart.

She will call Cao Yang today to complain, and it has something to do with what happened to her teacher.

She was desperate to find someone to talk to.

"Your teacher is probably happy and unhappy when he sees this news, right?"

Cao Yang tried to substitute himself into the identity of an old expert, and felt that his mood should indeed be quite complicated.

"Yes, my teacher has also been engaged in steel research all his life, when he entered the industry on the first day, he sighed at the strength of the United States, looking at the steel and data of the United States, he could only look at the sky and sigh, feeling that the gap was too big, so big that he couldn't even see the back of the other party."

"But their generation has a huge advantage, that is, they are never discouraged, and they have the courage to compete with the sky."

"Although they have high spirits, they are down-to-earth when they do things."

"Although there was a huge gap with the United States more than 20 years ago, they believed that others could do it, and they could do it."

"In this way, we in China have been making progress in this field, but the United States is also improving."

"First it was 50 percent of the American level, then 60 percent, and when I retired, I just closed the gap to 80 percent."

At that time, he was still unwilling, and once complained to himself: If God gives me another 10 years, I will definitely be able to achieve 90% of the level of American steel." ”

"But the time doesn't treat me, although the teacher is unwilling, but there is nothing to be done."

"Later, when I communicated with the teacher, he still felt that decades later, although China has made great progress, the United States is still so strong."

"In the face of that beautiful steel data, my teacher only thought of narrowing the gap with the United States as much as possible, and did not think about surpassing."

"Because it's too difficult to surpass, whenever we have a breakthrough in steel, there will be a major breakthrough in the United States, unless the American steel companies stand there and wait, we have the possibility of catching up."

"But this time, the United States broke out that the steel data was falsified, which means that the real steel quality is far from its literal level."

"Judging from this situation, we have unexpectedly surpassed the aircraft carrier steel plate and submarine steel plate and become the world-class level in this field."

Zhou Mulan couldn't help but laugh when she said this.

This first came a little suddenly, and it came a little unexpectedly.

But it's so fragrant!

"Chief Engineer Zhou, this first, in fact, I think it deserves its name!"

"Your teachers have done enough and are good enough. It is precisely because of his dedication and that of his generation that he has laid a solid foundation for our country in many fields. ”

"Coupled with the efforts of Chief Engineer Zhou, we have today's transcendence!"

"And it can be seen from this incident that even nuclear submarine and aircraft carrier materials related to national security dare to be fake, what else does the United States dare not fake?"

"Is America really as strong as it seems?"

"I don't think so!"

"Let's work together, maybe we can create more miracles!"

Cao Yang is very confident about the future.

This kind of confidence is definitely beyond Zhou Mulan's imagination.

People of the older generation often see the gap, feel that they are much worse than others, and it is not so easy to catch up.

But chasing and chasing, in fact, I found that although there is a gap, it is not that big!

(End of chapter)