How technical can a bead in a small ballpoint pen be?

There is really a lot of knowledge in this, although the refill of the ballpoint pen is not long, but when used, the total length of the writing will reach 800 meters or even 1,000 meters, in the process of writing, this ball can not be worn, otherwise it will not be able to turn!

Therefore, the hardness of the ballpoint pen refill must be high, some use tungsten carbide, and some use special stainless steel.

Only hard is not enough, it can not be particularly hard, otherwise it will not be able to be processed, and the processing requirements are also very high, and the error can not exceed 2 microns, after all, this ball should be stuffed into the hole of the pen head without falling off, and it can also roll back and forth normally, so that it can be evenly dipped in ink.

The production of this small ballpoint refill requires not only special materials but also high-precision processing capabilities.

In 1948, Dongfang established the first Fenghua ballpoint pen factory in the magic capital, but the nibs needed to be imported. In recent years, there are more and more domestic ballpoint pen manufacturers, the technology is becoming more and more advanced, and the processing technology has finally been mastered, but the steel used in the small balls in the ballpoint pen nib still needs to be imported. If you want to produce it domestically, you have to import it from abroad at a high price, and in later generations, the East is the world's largest producer of ballpoint pens, and even spends more than 15 million dollars a year to import this steel.

There are only two countries in the world that can produce this steel: Switzerland and the island nation, which is enough to show the advanced nature of this steel.

Over the years, the steel production in the East has been increasing, and the slogan of catching up with and surpassing the two hooligans was just around the corner, and in the nineties, the steel output even reached the first place in the world, but this is only the production of crude steel.

In the steelmaking process, the most energy-consuming, polluting, and low-profit is to turn iron ore into crude steel, and this process only needs to spread the pie, but what about high-performance steel? If you can't produce it yourself, you need to import it, and even later there was a spectacle: the island companies purchased crude steel from the East, and then refined it into high-performance steel, and then sold it to the East.

The crude steel produced in the East is low-grade steel, with low profits and high energy consumption, while enterprises in European and American island countries produce special steel with high added value, and the money is earned by foreigners! This is the benefit of industrial upgrading, but it is not so easy to upgrade.

Ishino Yutong heard Qin Feng say that he wanted to produce a furnace of special stainless steel, and immediately began to sell, what special steel do you produce, you don't have the ability, buy it from our island country!

Qin Feng's face showed a smile: "Isn't it ballpoint pen ball steel, it's not high-tech, and besides, you still use backward tungsten carbide, this technology should have been eliminated a long time ago, we can use special stainless steel to make ballpoint pen balls, so the price is cheap." ”

"Can you smelt ballpoint pen steel? That's impossible! Ishino Yutsu's eyes widened in surprise: "I'm here to watch you smelt!" ”

"Of course not." Qin Feng shook his head: "This is our secret, but when the smelting is completed, I can send you a sample, and you can go back and test it yourself to see if it meets the standard." ”

"Okay, then we'll wait, if you can make it out of stainless steel, then our island nation will import it from you!"

After saying that, Ishino Yumichi left with his men.

The rest of the people were a little confused.

Yang Xin and the others opened their eyes wide: Mr. Qin, can you really make this kind of steel? For us, as long as we can make some ordinary steel, it would be good to make some high-carbon steel and the like, but the ballpoint pen is made of special steel!

Zhou Minghui was a little surprised, Mr. Qin, didn't you say that you want to build a steel cable? Why do you want to make ballpoint pen balls again? Your thinking is too jumpy, we can't keep up.

Qin Feng smiled: "Everyone, now is the time to give us a long face!" If foreigners can do it, so can we! A small ballpoint pen can't be made, are we still worthy of industry? ”

"Mr. Qin, do you know these techniques?"

"Well, it's not difficult, let's refine a few furnaces, it's enough for a year in China." Qin Feng said: "Now while it is still smelting, let's prepare the raw materials first, we need some rare metal powder, and we also need a large amount of stainless steel, which must also be processed into powder in advance......"

The East can't even produce a ballpoint pen ball, and it still claims to be a scientific and technological power! This is the original words of many small compositions, these words are too much, and the leaders above are angry: Okay, then let's refine a few furnaces and let them see what our oriental technology is!

The deck steel of the aircraft carrier can be made, the blocking cable of the aircraft carrier can also be made, and the steel of the ballpoint pen ball can still be difficult for us?

In fact, it was not built before, not because it couldn't be made, but because the market was too small.

When the Oriental ballpoint pen production was at its highest, it only made 38 billion pieces per year, which required more than 1,000 tons of ballpoint pen steel.

More than 1,000 tons, it sounds like a lot, but a large steelmaking furnace can smelt hundreds of tons of steel in one furnace, and this more than 1,000 tons is just a dozen furnaces, the number is too small, and it is not enough to toss!

The enterprises of the island countries and Switzerland have been built for more than half a century, the global market is theirs, and they are already in a monopoly position, and there is no need for others to engage in it, because the investment is too large and the income is too low, but when the leaders above speak, this has become a * governance task at any cost.

As a result, TISCO worked hard and studied repeatedly, and five years later, TISCO's nib steel came out and went public in large quantities, directly squeezing the related enterprises of the island countries and Switzerland to the brink of bankruptcy.

What is high-tech about the tiny nib steel? It's just that we don't plan to dabble in it, if we Orientals want to do it, we will definitely be able to do it, and it's still the price of cabbage!

However, this is also TISCO's secret, how did Qin Feng know?

What is the composition of TISCO's nib steel, Qin Feng of course does not know, but in the process of developing the blocking cable, they experimented with a large number of formulas, one of which can not guarantee the improvement of tensile performance, but can greatly improve the performance of wear resistance, the big guy didn't care at first, and treated these as scrap, but later, when the news of TISCO's successful research and development came, the big guy remembered this scrap, went to the warehouse to find it, and then sold it to a ballpoint pen factory.

The quality is ok! Although it is not as good as TISCO, it can be used!

However, at that time, the market had been occupied by TISCO, and they did not have this idea.

Now, it's time to take out the by-products of the research and development of this blocking cable, you know, now the island people don't have this kind of technology! The ballpoint pen beads of the island people are tungsten carbide, tungsten is not cheap, we use special wear-resistant hard stainless steel!

Qin Feng began to arrange, and everyone became busy.

The first step is to clean!

In fact, if it is conventional smelting, it does not need to be cleaned, the molten steel of the previous furnace is poured out, while it is hot, and the next furnace is poured in, which can save a lot of heating energy, similar to the blast furnace, it has been used after the furnace is opened, and rarely stops.

However, if you want to smelt special alloys, the remaining trace raw materials or slag in the steelmaking furnace may affect the quality of special alloys.

Even if it is exactly the same operation, if you are unlucky, it may not meet the standard. Otherwise, a steelmaking enterprise as strong as Kobe Steel will not falsify the data, and some of them are indeed difficult to achieve.

"Mr. Qin, if we want to experiment, we can use a small high-frequency furnace to study the process first." Yang Xin said worriedly beside him.

It is not easy to develop a new steel, although the furnace here is not big, there are 20 tons of furnace, if it is wasted, it is not cost-effective, first do a few dozen kilograms to do experiments, it is more safe.

"Lao Yang, you don't have confidence in me?" Qin Feng said with a smile.

"Where, Mr. Qin, I'm just ......"

"Don't worry, I'm confident." Qin Feng said, and looked around again: "What about Zhang Jianli and Zhao Yuanshan?" Why didn't you see it? ”

"Each of them is in charge of a workshop and is busy every day. Mr. Qin, if you want to see them, I'll call you. ”

"No, keep them busy." Qin Feng looked at Zhou Minghui beside him again: "Zhou Gong, next prepare to put the material, this raw material is very important, especially the two rare metals of titanium and Ling, when you add it, the heat must not be wrong, otherwise there will be an accident." ”

"Understand, we need to react these two metals with carbon to produce titanium carbide and niobium carbide, but we can't let the chromium and carbon in stainless steel interact, otherwise it will produce chromium carbide and the properties of stainless steel will change dramatically."

Qin Feng couldn't help but sigh: "Amazing, Zhou Gong." What did you study in college? ”

"No, after work, I like to go to the library when I have free time and read foreign literature, but when this is the time, the foreign literature does not say."

"I know this, I can't say it clearly, so I'll write it down for you. There are several other elements, and the proportion and timing of the product are different, and the product performance is different. ”

By the time these arrangements were made, the furnace had been cleaned and ready to be opened.

All kinds of raw materials were put in, because there are no raw materials for smelting stainless steel here, so what is stuffed into it is the stainless steel products on the market, if this furnace steel is scrapped, the loss is huge!

Yang Xin was still a little worried, and kept watching from the side, the electric furnace was heated, the interior was heated, the steel was melted, and then oxygen was blown on the top, and then various elements were put in, which seemed to be very random, but in fact they were all the result of careful adjustment.

"Next, the solution treatment is carried out! This step is very important, the temperature should be kept at 1,100 degrees Celsius! Qin Feng was also slightly nervous, sweating on his forehead, and then, a handkerchief was stretched out by his side to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

Whether this batch of steel can reach enough hardness depends on this step!

"Okay, now it's stabilized, and the temperature should be lowered slowly!"

"Out of the oven, into the wire drawing machine!"

At this point, Qin Feng finally let out a long breath, the smelting has been completed, and if it is not successful in the end, it depends on the test results!

Ballpoint pen balls are small steel balls, these small steel balls are made through steel wires, and various ballpoint pen companies import steel wires, and then process them into ballpoint pen balls themselves.

The wire drawing machine began to run, and the drawn filaments were directly bundled, each baled with a weight of five tons, and four bales were beaten, and a furnace of molten steel was finally used up.

At this time, Qin Feng suddenly felt that his stomach was growling, and he glanced outside curiously, it was actually dark! He didn't eat at noon and didn't eat at night!

The big guys didn't eat, looking at those shiny filaments, their eyes were full of excitement and curiosity.

And that's it?

"Already made?" At this time, a few dwarfs walked in outside, led by Ishino Yutsu, and said, "Cut out a section and send it to the laboratory department to test it." ”

Regular steelmaking plants have an inspection department, and the iron ore must be tested to determine the iron content in order to determine the mixing ratio, and the products produced must also be inspected, and the inspection report will be issued and shipped together.

"Yes." A little man behind him pulled out a pair of pliers, put them on the end of the filament, leaving a section of about ten centimeters, and gripped the handle hard.

Quack! There was a soft thud.

The little man was a little confused, why couldn't he drag the ten centimeters on the left? What's going on? He looked at the pliers again, only to see that the edge of the pliers had collapsed!

This filament is used to make ballpoint pen beads, so the diameter is only about 2.3 mm. This is a plier made in their island country!

The little man was stunned for a moment, and then replaced it with the side of the pliers, and the groove on the side was specially used to cut the steel wire, and the No. 8 wire could be cut, not to mention this small filament.

He pinched hard with one hand, no, pinched constantly! Use both hands, or keep pinching! By the time you let go, the sides of the pliers and the filament were already tightly stuck together!

"How can it be so hard?" Ishino Yumitsu's eyes widened: "How did you do it?" ”

You don't need to test on the equipment, just look at the current situation, you can know that this wire is not ordinary, even if you can't make ballpoint pen balls, you can also use it in many other places! Yutsu Ishino felt a little incredible.

"Wire cutters!" Qin Feng shouted.

So, someone brought a pair of pliers specially used to pinch the steel bar, and the handle more than one meter long was pressed, and the wire was finally cut.

"Alright, you can put this one to the test." Qin Feng said: "If your requirements are met, please remember your promise, and in the future, the ballpoint pens produced by your island country can also import raw materials from us." ”

The faces of the islanders were ugly.

"The big guys have worked hard, let's go, let's eat!" Qin Feng beckoned to the others.

People are iron, rice is steel, and if you don't eat a meal, you will be hungry.

The big guy came to the cafeteria, still very excited.

"Mr. Qin, even if this filament does not meet the requirements of a ballpoint pen, it can be used in many places, I have worked in Shougang for decades, and I have never seen such a hard wire." The old expert Du Longqing spoke.

Just now, he has been present, because he came from Shougang to help, so, Mr. Qin wants to release the satellite, he can't say anything, just be a spectator here, and when the island people cut it with pliers, he was surprised, and then he was completely convinced.

Mr. Qin is too good! The first furnace was successful, and such advanced steel was smelted!

"When the country is opened, we see the gap with foreign countries, but there are also people who have an inferiority complex, feeling that no matter what we are, we are not as good as foreign countries." Qin Feng said: "A small ballpoint pen ball, they have all said that it is high-tech, hmph, what is so great about this thing, let's not believe in this evil!" ”

"Yes, Mr. Qin, what you said is so right! We have a gap, but as long as we catch up, we can catch up with foreign countries one day, or even surpass them! Du Longqing nodded.

"That's right, especially our private enterprises, don't have so many concerns, as long as there are foreigners who say we can't do it, we will prove it to them!"

Du Longqing's face changed slightly, yes, this is completely what private enterprises can do, if it is a state-owned enterprise, even if it is Shougang, dare to do this? A furnace is scrapped, or expensive stainless steel, who can afford this responsibility?

Or private enterprises have more potential!

Qin Feng looked at the other party's expression, and knew that the other party was already tempted, but this has to be done slowly, subtly, and later, these experts from Shougang will be reluctant to leave, and they can do a better job here!

"The steel of this ballpoint refill is just the beginning, in the future, we will make more and more awesome products! Come, cheers to the rise of industry in our East! ”

Cheers!

The big guys are excited.

In the laboratory department of the steel plant, the islanders were looking at the inspection results of the instrument, full of shock.

"Hardness test, 1100hv, and the hardness of our tungsten carbide balls is still a little worse, ours is 1200hv!" The little man took the results of the test and was a little proud.

Ishino Yutsu's face was ugly: "This hardness, in fact, is enough, and this is just a raw material, not a finished product, if the ballpoint pen manufacturer makes this filament into a ball, and then after the quenching process, the hardness can be strengthened, reaching 1200HV is no problem." ”

Ishino Yutong is an expert, and he already has an ominous premonition: he shouldn't have said that sentence today, and as a result, he smashed the pot of their island country's enterprise!

If the East could produce the same steel, there would be nothing to do with their island country, because the production cost here is very cheap!

"Only hardness is not enough, and other indicators need to meet the standard." Yutsu Ishino looked at the machine on the other side.

"The abrasion test is not over yet, but for now, it should be up to standard."

"What about corrosive performance? Next, test the corrosion resistance. ”

When all the tests were over, it was already eleven o'clock in the evening, and Ishino Yutong held the test report with an extremely ugly face.

The Oriental people really made a furnace of ballpoint pen ball steel, and they succeeded at the first time, how did they do it?