Sail across the sea

Chapter 582 A famous teacher gives birth to a great disciple

Gao Fan couldn't hear Chang Zhongren and the others' murmurs. At this moment, he was at the Canghai Research Institute in Ruizhang, discussing the development of new fluorochemical processes with engineers.

"Our goal is to study a type of PTFE with high wear resistance. The main reason for the poor wear resistance of PTFE is that its crystal structure is a layered structure. When they rub against each other, relative slippage easily occurs between the crystal planes at the microscopic level, resulting in a low coefficient of friction. However, it is also prone to macroscopic frictional peeling."

"In order to improve the wear resistance of PTFE, we plan to use irradiation to break or crosslink the surface molecular chains of PTFE, triggering free radical reactions and thus changing its microstructure."

"To this end, we established an amorphous/crystalline hybrid model of PTFE to simulate the chemical bond breaking and free radical reactions caused by high-energy particle bombardment, and then calculated the mechanical parameters of PTFE after irradiation, such as hardness and elastic modulus..."

In front of a terminal, Lin Ruoyi pointed to the images on the screen and spoke eloquently to everyone.

"Engineer Yu, what do you think of this result?"

After Lin Ruoyi finished presenting her research results and returned to her seat, Gao Fan handed her a glass of water, then turned to the engineer Yu Guanqing beside him, seeking the latter's opinion.

"Excellent!" Yu Guanqing gave a thumbs up and praised, "The practice of modifying PTFE by irradiation is widely used internationally, but it is still a new topic for us."

"Some time ago, Xiaolin proposed using computational chemistry methods for research, which we all found very novel and somewhat skeptical. Later, Xiaolin presented the simulation results, and we conducted experiments based on the calculated parameters. We found that the results were in high agreement with the calculation results, and that's when we were convinced."

"Everyone says that with such a system, it will be much easier to do research in the future. You can run the calculations on the computer first, and then do the experiments. It saves time and effort."

Hearing Yu Guanqing's undisguised flattery, Lin Ruoyi blushed slightly. She pointed to Yang Kai sitting in the corner and said, "I studied computer science, what do I know about computational chemistry? This model was all done under Professor Yang's guidance, and I certainly lived up to expectations."

Yu Guanqing then gave Yang Kai a thumbs-up and said, "We've always known Professor Yang's level of expertise; this is what they mean by 'a great teacher produces a great student.'"

Yang Kai hid his head in the shadows and said leisurely, "Old Yu, you came all the way from the Petrochemical Design Institute to the Canghai Research Institute. Why haven't you changed that habit of giving people a thumbs up? I feel like you're measuring my distance, thinking about how to shoot me or something."

"I've talked to you about this before. The things you do in materials science can be done using computational chemistry methods. Aren't you a little late to be convinced now?"

Hearing Yang Kai expose his shortcomings, Yu Guanqing felt a little embarrassed. He said to Yang Kai, "Hey Yang Kai, how can you be so ungrateful? I was just praising your student, okay?"

"Of course I know computational chemistry is a good thing, but back in the petrochemical design institute, how could I have the resources to do this? The computer scientists there didn't understand chemical engineering, and the chemical engineers didn't understand computers. I couldn't even understand the simulation program you're working on now."

"You can't do without understanding," Yang Kai said with a cocky air. "We're almost in the 21st century, the information age. Those of you who only know how to use test tubes are falling behind. Your boss, Mr. Gao, sent his wife back to help you set up the computing center to improve your research capabilities. Starting next week, I'll be teaching a three-month computational chemistry course at the research institute. Mr. Gao said everyone has to attend, and there will be an exam at the end. If you fail, you'll be expelled."

"Old Yu, I know you're naturally slow-witted and definitely need me to tutor you. You should at least treat me to a meal or something."

Yu Guanqing retorted irritably, "I have plenty of simple meals. Do you want a large meal or a small meal? I'll go prepare it for you right now."

The two had known each other for many years and were considered friends despite their age difference. Yang Kai was more than ten years younger than Yu Guanqing, but he always took pleasure in teasing Yu Guanqing. Yu Guanqing couldn't do anything about it, but he genuinely admired this younger brother.

This time, Gao Fan assigned the research institute the task of researching new fluorochemical products and processes, including improving the production processes of products such as hydrofluoric acid, fluorocarbons, and fluorine materials, researching new catalysts, and developing modified products. Yu Guanqing was appointed as the head of the research group.

Upon receiving the assignment, Yu Guanqing felt a mix of joy and worry.

The good thing is that the research institute was able to entrust me with such an important task, which means that I have a stable position in the institute, and the anxiety I felt when I first switched jobs has finally subsided.

The worrying part is that there are simply too many tasks. Gao Fanlin listed dozens of them, each equivalent to Yu Guanqing's workload in a year at the petrochemical design institute, but now he needs to lead a team to complete them all in less than a year.

Yu Guanqing suppressed the urge to confront Dean Zhou Xiaoyun and continued reading the task list Gao Fan had given him. Unexpectedly, he discovered that behind each task lay research ideas. In some places, seemingly concerned that researchers might have chosen the wrong direction, explanations were offered for the given ideas.

Yu Guanqing had some experience in fluorochemicals, and just by looking at the content, he knew these ideas were very valuable. Some of these ideas were ones he could have come up with himself, but they would have required a considerable amount of research beforehand. There were other ideas he felt he would never have been able to come up with without encountering numerous setbacks; it was only after Gao Fan's guidance that he suddenly had a breakthrough.

He excitedly clutched the list and went to Gao Fan for advice, asking how Gao Fan had come up with these ideas. Gao Fan's answer was somewhat ambiguous, only saying that he had another team that had done many years of literature searches and discussions, and that what he had provided to Yu Guanqing was merely a research review; whether it was correct or not, Yu Guanqing would have to lead a team to verify it.

Research approaches need to be tested; that's common sense. But Yu Guanqing, based on his years of experience, could judge that even if not all of these research approaches were correct, at least 80-90% were correct. Such a high accuracy rate cannot be explained by a mere research review.

Moreover, Yu Guanqing didn't believe that this information could be formed simply through literature searches; after all, he had read the literature. In his mind, there was a conspiracy theory he wouldn't share with outsiders: whether Gao Fan had another team that could obtain information from the competitor's production workshop.

Of course, this was not something Yu Guanqing could ask.

(End of this chapter)