Sail across the sea

Chapter 415 Killing a chicken with a bull’s knife
“I see my future in him,” Xu Yun said quietly.

"Are you worried about not being able to afford a wife in the future?" Gao Fan teased. "What, do you have a girlfriend now?"

Xu Yun glanced at Gao Fan, his expression seemingly a little unnatural.

Gao Fan paused for a moment, then suddenly remembered something and stared at Xu Yun, asking, "You didn't actually get involved with our Squad Leader Huang, did you?"

Xu Yun frowned: "Why are you talking so rudely?"

"If you dare to do it, why are you afraid of what people will say?"

"It's still far from being a done deal. She only came to Nanquan once, saying she wanted to visit our campus."

"Why doesn't she visit our campus?" Gao Fan said. "When we graduated, she told me with absolute certainty that she would visit Peking University."

"Is that so?" Xu Yun asked warily.

Gao Fan could only quickly reassure him: "Don't worry, my zodiac sign and I are incompatible. She has no feelings for me, and I have no feelings for her. We are just classmates."

Xu Yun then realized that his reaction had been a bit excessive, and he said embarrassedly, "That's not what I meant. Actually, Chunyan told me about you. She said that you were quite low-key in middle school and didn't attract much attention. It was only before the college entrance examination that you suddenly emerged and surprised everyone."

Gao Fan didn't want to discuss this topic too much, especially in front of someone as intelligent as Xu Yun. Saying too much might expose his transmigrator identity. He changed the subject and asked:

"By the way, Lao Xu, do you know what water-based materials are?"

"Nonsense, how could I not know what water-based materials are?"

"You mean, you've researched it?"

"When we were working on photoresist at the Fenglin Institute, we considered using water-soluble phenolic resin. Our teacher even had me research the literature for a long time."

"and after?"

"Later, we found that the performance of water-soluble phenolic resin did not meet the requirements. However, I heard that Director Bi and his team did not give up on this direction, but just have not yet found a suitable water-based material."

"That makes things easier. If I commissioned you to research a water-based material, which also includes film-forming substances, fillers, additives, and dispersion media, and requires that it form a film at room temperature, has high water resistance, and uniform filler, and most importantly, that the raw materials are readily available, inexpensive, safe, and non-toxic, can you do it?"

Xu Yun frowned: "How am I supposed to know if I can do it just by talking? At least tell me what this material is used for, right?"

"It's for painting houses," Gao Fan said. "It's water-based architectural paint used to paint the walls in the rooms."

Ironically, the seemingly sophisticated photoresist we all know is actually the same thing as the latex paint we use to paint our walls—both can be classified as coatings. Photoresist is simply a coating applied to the surface of a silicon wafer, with the same structure as latex paint.

The biggest difference between the two lies in the fillers they use. Photoresist uses a photosensitive substance as its filler, which decomposes under light, thus preserving the pattern on the photomask. Latex paint uses various pigments as fillers, which cannot decompose under light, otherwise they will fade.

Gao Fan only suddenly realized the similarity between the two just now, which is good, as it will save him a lot of trouble in explaining it to Xu Yun.

Xu Yun thought for a moment and said, "There is a lot of theory on water-based materials. It shouldn't be a big problem to develop a coating that meets your requirements. You can find any engineer who studies this field to do it."

Gao Fan shook his head: "I don't need ordinary water-based paint, but a paint with a certain level of technology. There are quite a few companies producing water-based paint in China now, but the quality is too low. The main problems are poor water resistance and low filler uniformity. When applied to the wall, it's bumpy and uneven, and it comes off easily with water, making it impossible to clean. "Another point is that domestically developed water-based paints don't pay much attention to environmental protection. As you know, architectural coatings come into direct contact with people, so it's definitely not acceptable if they're not environmentally friendly."

Xu Yun was getting frustrated: "But this isn't my area of ​​expertise. If the engineers in those companies can't meet your requirements, why should I be able to?"

"Because you have a high IQ. If you used half of your photoresist skills on architectural coatings, what you made would definitely be the best performing architectural coatings."

"Isn't this like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut?"

According to ancient records, the butcher Ding must have used a scalpel when he butchered the ox.

"Okay, one last question: why should I help you with this research?"

"Because you're short of money. You don't even have money to pick up girls, let alone forty-eight legs. Have you ever heard of bride price? Don't think that just because Luping isn't part of Maolin Province."

Xu Yun was defeated. He found that he could never win an argument with Gao Fan, who often found unexpected yet reasonable angles that left him speechless.

"Are you trying to hire me as a technician? Aren't you in the vitamin C business? Why are you starting to work in paint?" Xu Yun asked.

Gao Fan shook his head: "It's not that I want to hire you, I'm hiring you on behalf of a township enterprise. My sister is the deputy general manager of that township enterprise. They used to make reflective coatings for road construction, but now they want to make architectural coatings, so they came to me."

“I’ve heard you mention this before. You said that Chief Engineer Yun found you by following the clues after seeing that reflective paint.”

"I definitely didn't say that."

"why?"

"Because I am not a melon, a melon is a plant."

"Then what did you say?"

“I was talking about following the clues… uh, that’s not the point. The point is, this company needs an engineer who understands water-based coatings, and I think you’re a good fit.”

"Where would I find the time?"

"You're graduating soon, right? You'll definitely have nothing to do for the next two months. Don't tell me you haven't finished your graduation project. Also, there are two months between graduation and the start of graduate school, which adds up to four months. Four months is enough time for you to develop five world-leading water-based architectural coatings for them."

Xu Yun rubbed his forehead: "Gao Fan, how much do you think of me? Someone like me who has never worked with water-based coatings before, developed five world-leading products in just four months. This industry is too easy, isn't it?"

"Or, being a domestic leader would be fine too..."

"Tell me, do you already have a well-developed idea, but you just need me to bring people to help you conduct experiments and verify it?"

"Let's assume this is the case, would you be willing?"

"It depends on whether your idea is valuable."

(End of this chapter)