With the increasing number of deep space exploration projects, the original rocket thrust has also begun to be somewhat stretched.

Even the Hongyan rocket, which has the largest thrust at present, is difficult to launch a massive satellite or an alien lander to a planet hundreds of thousands or even tens of millions of miles away from the earth.

"The Mars exploration program needs a new high-thrust rocket, and the first thing we need to do is to solve the heart problem of the rocket!"

At the first all-staff meeting of the Rocket Research Institute after the Spring Festival, Zhang Xingyang announced their next priorities:

"In the middle of this year, we will overcome the difficulties of the 500-ton liquid oxygen kerosene engine!"

"Create a powerful heart for our future deep space exploration!"

During the time that Zhang Xingyang was in charge of the institute, he led everyone to overcome countless technical problems that they had not solved before.

Therefore, even in the eyes of outsiders, it is an exaggerated enough thing to complete the development of a new rocket engine in a year, and it is a rocket engine that has never been deployed.

But in the eyes of everyone in the research institute, there is nothing strange about it.

It seems that all technical problems will be solved in the hands of Zhang Xingyang.

As a result, the conference room full of people resounded with a tsunami of applause.

In the video conference of other branch venues, there was also thunderous applause.

It can be seen that only in terms of technology, Zhang Xingyang already has a strong influence.

Of course, on the economic front, the influence is also very strong.

After all, the research institute, together with its many factories, companies, industrial bases, etc., is enough for more than 80,000 employees.

It has only become a domestic carbon fiber Longteng material group, with more than 30,000 employees.

Among these people, there are about 20,000 scientific researchers.

The institute invests billions in various technologies every year.

So, don't look at how much you earn every year, but you can't afford to invest a lot of money in it.

This is also an important reason why various patented technologies of the institute have emerged in an endless stream in recent years.

In the past year, the institute has applied for the registration of thousands of patented technologies.

These are the results of countless real money and silver.

The 500-ton liquid oxygen kerosene engine is not just a five-fold enlargement of the original 110-ton liquid oxygen kerosene engine.

There are a lot of issues involved.

First of all, there is the turbine disc at the heart of the engine.

"The turbopump we currently use on the Hongyan rocket can deliver 400 kilograms of fuel per second, and if we want to increase the thrust of the engine to 500 tons, we need to deliver at least 1,500 kilograms of fuel per second."

Su Xiao first briefly introduced the situation that everyone is facing now.

The turbine pump is the heart of the engine and is responsible for transporting liquid oxygen and kerosene from the fuel tank to the combustion chamber.

function, equivalent to the human heart.

Of course, its power is much stronger than that of a human heart, and even if such power is placed in a fantasy world, it is at the level of a dragon's heart.

"According to the results of supercomputing simulations, to achieve such a throughput, the turbopump will have to rotate at 16,000 times per second and the pressure will reach 75 megapascals!"

Today's rocket research institutes are not short of money, and all kinds of equipment are naturally available.

The supercomputer Shenteng 1800 has an actual computing speed of one trillion times per second and a peak computing speed of two trillion times.

This machine is specially customized from the computer, and its performance ranked 43rd in the world's top 500 supercomputing in 02.

In the research institute, it is also an extremely important scientific research equipment.

The time allocated to the Materials Testing Center is not very sufficient.

After all, the Rocket Research Institute doesn't just study rockets, it also includes some powerful guys.

Those things that can't be actually experimented with require supercomputing for much longer than Su Xiao and them.

"Our current challenge is to find a material that can handle such high strength and high pressure!"

"According to the two-day experiments, the superalloy we used before showed microscopic fracture at 12,000 revolutions."

"At 16,000 rpm, it only took 30 seconds to run, and a large area of cracking occurred."

Su Xiao frowned and explained to everyone in the audience the shortcomings of the existing materials.

Now Su Xiao, who has just celebrated her thirtieth birthday, is no longer like the little girl when she first entered the research institute, giving people a full sense of seriousness when she frowned.

The speed of an ordinary aero engine is less than 50,000 revolutions per minute, which is converted to less than 1,000 revolutions per second.

And the speed of the rocket engines is almost twenty times higher than theirs!

Extremely high rotational speeds require not only ultra-high material strength, but also extremely high temperatures.

With such a high speed, even with a lot of heat dissipation, heat build-up is a terrible thing.

The operating temperature of the rocket engine turbopump is above 2500 degrees for a long time.

The temperature of the general aero engine is basically 1500 degrees, which has already caused a headache for a group of aviation designers.

However, Su Xiao and them, compared with the aviation designers, also have a good side.

That is, the service life of rocket engines is extremely short.

Without considering reuse, the working time of a single mission first-stage rocket will not exceed 200 seconds.

And the service life of an aero engine, even if it is small, is hundreds of hours.

The difference between the two is still relatively large.

"Can we try to add a little rhenium metal to the single-crystal superalloy?"

A researcher who had just entered the research institute came up with his own idea at this time.

Su Xiao looked at him, thinking about his resume in his mind.

Lu Junsheng is one of the beneficiaries of the institute's university-university cooperation project, and has been researching the field of superalloys during his doctoral studies.

However, the superalloys he studied at that time were different from the superalloys with working temperatures of more than 3,000 degrees that are required today.

It was a superalloy developed for Turbofan 10 to improve heat build-up in the engine core.

"Tell me what you think." Su Xiao also had a certain interest.

Rhenium is one of the rarest elements in the earth's crust, with an average estimated content of 1 part per billion, and the world's proven reserves are currently only 2,000 tons, which are very small, most of which are associated with molybdenum and copper ore.

As a result, the metal is extremely expensive, costing around $1,500 per kilogram.

In fact, at this point in time in 03, rhenium metal is still at its low price, and after nearly ten years, its price will soar to $10,000 a kilogram.

Of course, there are very complex factors to interfere with, but even excluding the factor of speculation in futures, the actual price of rhenium metal has remained roughly at $3,000 a kilogram in the future.

This is a very high price for industrial raw materials.

In contrast, pure titanium for industrial use is normally only 15-20 US dollars per kilogram.

The price difference between the two is a hundredfold.

"In our previous laboratory single crystal growth furnace, after adding 5% rhenium metal, the strength and high temperature resistance of the superalloy have been improved, and the microstructure properties have also been greatly improved."

Lu Junsheng confidently presented his previous research results at the university.

"At that time, after applying our experimental products, the operating temperature of the engine was increased by about 8 percent, which increased the thrust of the engine by about 3 percent."

Many of the people present have worked with the turbofan engine project team for several years.

It is no stranger to the data of aero engines.

Naturally, they can also understand the significance of Lu Junsheng's previous research.

Don't underestimate the three percent thrust.

An engine with a thrust of 140KN, if it can increase the thrust by three percent, it means that the take-off weight of the fighter can increase by about one ton.

If the problem of hardpoints is not taken into account, two more ultra-long-range air-to-air missiles can be installed.

Alternatively, it is possible to increase the combat range by about five percent.

"It's worth trying." Su Xiao said after thinking about the few articles about rhenium metal that he had seen recently.

In fact, the superalloys they used before were also added with rhenium metal, but they have not conducted in-depth research in this area.

Because the turbopump disc of the rhenium metal scheme was added, it failed in the first experiment.

At that time, they temporarily abandoned this technical route.

But now, they have no other better solution, so they can only start all over again.

The only way they can think of to improve the strength and operating temperature of superalloys today is to add a reinforcing agent and continue to improve the metallurgical process.

However, the laser powder metallurgy they now use is already one of the most advanced in the industry.

After deciding on the research direction, the experimental center began the preparation of several rhenium alloys with different addition ratios.

A few days later, the first test samples were born.

These dozen or so small experimental blocks used up the several kilograms of rhenium metal stored by the Rocket Research Institute.

Because this thing, although it was also used before, it was used relatively rarely, and the research institute did not have a special reserve.

Temporary ordering, it will take about a month to arrive.

After all, the domestic production of rhenium metal is very rare.

Rhenium metal mainly comes from the Escondida copper mine in Chile, followed by a certain amount of production in the northern state of the Eagle Sauce family.

And no matter which one you order from, there is a relatively long delivery time.

So for the time being, that's all they can achieve.

"That's what you've been tossing for a week?"

Zhang Xingyang picked up the silver-gray metal block on the table with great interest and asked.

"Yes, we added 2.5 percent rhenium metal to this piece."

Su Xiao looked at the alloy in Zhang Xingyang's hand and said:

"According to the tests, they have about 15 percent more strength and 20 percent more operating temperature."

Zhang Xingyang put down the metal in his hand and listened to Su Xiao's content.

I found that their research is actually quite rough.

It may be because the purpose is too clear, and they do not pay attention to the characteristics of many rhenium metals.

For example, after the addition of rhenium metal, a superalloy will form a topological dense phase, and its microstructure will become quite unstable.

Under the condition of high-intensity operation, there will be many problems.

For example, the third-generation single-crystal alloy currently used on the F-22 contains 6% rhenium metal, but the microstructure of the metal will change at high speeds, which will have a negative impact on the operating state of the engine.

However, Zhang Xingyang didn't think much about it, after all, they had just started to study rhenium metal for a short time, and it was normal that they could not study it thoroughly.

"When you follow up your research, you can continue to try to add a little metal ruthenium to the single-crystal superalloy."

Ruthenium metal is almost as rare as rhenium metal, and ruthenium was the last of the platinum elements to be discovered, only to be discovered in 1845.

Although it is the least abundant in the platinum series, the price of ruthenium is very low compared to platinum and palladium in the platinum series.

Moreover, ruthenium is a very good catalyst.

In 92, Robert H. Grubbs discovered a class of ruthenium metal catalysts that can catalyze olefin metathesis reactions, which is of great significance in the petrochemical field.

It may also be a factor of different fields, and Su Xiao may not have paid attention to these contents.

Therefore, after Zhang Xingyang proposed to add a certain amount of metal ruthenium to the rhenium superalloy, he showed a puzzled expression.

However, Zhang Xingyang's correctness and foresight in the field of technology for a long time made Su Xiao suppress his inner doubts.

"We have not yet started the trial production of the turbine disk, and the current rhenium metal inventory has been depleted."

After explaining to Zhang Xingyang the difference between these dozen rhenium superalloys, Su Xiao raised the problem of insufficient raw materials.

"Recently, the international rhenium metal price is relatively low, and we can actually hoard more."

Zhang Xingyang said after thinking about it.

Rhenium metal has an important use not only in the aerospace field, but also in the field of aero engine and chemical catalysis.

In China, the production of rhenium metal is very low, and it basically depends on imports.

Unless you can buy those high-grade copper mines abroad, it is difficult to have a certain say in the pricing of rhenium metal.

In recent years, the purchase of overseas minerals is still a troublesome and difficult matter.

There is not only the problem of funding, but also the problem of possible fraud.

For example, after a large amount of money was purchased from the other party's mine, but the other party suddenly announced that the transaction was invalid, then it was not just as simple as the money being wasted.

More importantly, it has lost the original layout for the mining industry.

This kind of thing was relatively rare in the past, because at that time, there were no domestic companies with such strength to go abroad to purchase.

But in the decades that followed, there were many, and I won't give examples here.

Therefore, compared with the purchase of mines, Zhang Xingyang still prefers to directly buy finished rhenium metal products, or semi-finished raw materials.

Double the monthly pass, ask for a monthly pass!!

(End of chapter)