Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1445 Don't Stick Too Close and You Won't Get Down (4k)

"Okay, Committee Member Gao, I'll organize it right away, they'll come tomorrow!" On the phone, Engineer Pan's voice was filled with excitement that could be heard even through the receiver, and Gao Zhendong could even imagine the joy that was overflowing from him.

After hanging up the phone, the piezoelectric ceramic plate of the computer beeped. Gao Zhendong didn't like listening to music and songs in the office, so he didn't install speakers on his computer, even though Factory 1201 had already developed a sound card based on the digital processor.

I had just thought of Factory 1201 when comrades from Factory 1201 came looking for me, and they came together with comrades from Factory 3.

"Chief Engineer Gao, we've encountered a problem." These words came from the colleague in charge of linear motors at the Third Factory.

"What's the problem?" Gao Zhendong had already given them the relevant materials for the linear motor. Although it wasn't exactly a direct delivery of a finished product, there were at least no major technical issues.

If there's a problem, it's that they want to further improve performance in a certain aspect based on the basic principles and examples.

"We've encountered some difficulties in improving precision, not in terms of principles, but in terms of materials. That's why we've come to you hoping to see if you can offer any solutions, whether it's in terms of materials or by exploring alternative approaches in terms of principles and structure." The colleague from the Third Factory spoke quite frankly, highlighting the crucial role of a leader.

When it comes to hard work, the project leader is usually not the one who suffers the most, but when it comes to merit, they are undoubtedly the one who does it. Of course, this is under the premise that the research group is functioning normally.

Gao Zhendong nodded: "Is there anything more specific?"

"Yes! We have discovered a problem, namely the magnets... Under our current technological conditions, the magnetic field strength generated by the permanent magnets used in linear motors is insufficient, resulting in a large lag error when the motor steps. At the same time, the magnets are easily affected by external electric and magnetic field interference in complex electromagnetic environments, causing stepping inaccuracies."

"The magnetic field strength is not enough... What kind of permanent magnet are we using now?" Gao Zhendong asked.

"AlNiCo magnets are the best-performing permanent magnets we could find, and they're not cheap either. With a magnetic energy product of 5 MGOe and a remanence of about 1 T, they are already the best materials capable of generating magnetic fields."

Gao Zhendong nodded: "Yes, the performance is indeed very poor..."

He said it casually, but his comrades felt somewhat ashamed, because it really was the best permanent magnet material available at the moment.

However, for Gao Zhendong, the material's performance is indeed poor. At least in terms of the main parameters, it has almost no advantage, except for two special areas—high temperature and aerospace. Even in these two areas, it loses a lot of advantages due to other compensation technologies.

However, in this context, there are no specific requirements for either of these properties. Therefore, AlNiCo magnets become the worst choice.

The key issue is that this stuff has a drawback—cobalt is very expensive.

After thinking it over, Gao Zhendong decided to skip the samarium cobalt magnet generation and go straight to neodymium iron boron, which would become the most common magnet and also had the best performance under normal conditions.

After all, this thing can be used to impose sanctions and control exports, so you can imagine its performance.

Another reason he made this decision was the high price of samarium cobalt...

However, Gao Zhendong wouldn't let it go so easily to others. After all, samarium cobalt magnets haven't been officially invented yet. It's true that I don't often take this path, but I have to control the crossroads first. Not to mention that although samarium cobalt is expensive, it has advantages over neodymium iron boron in some aspects and is also a very useful permanent magnet material.

"Yes, the low magnetic energy product and low remanence are indeed defects of this material, and they will certainly cause the problem you just mentioned. As for its susceptibility to interference, have you found the root cause of the problem?"

"No, we're only considering that the shielding is insufficient, and we're trying to find a solution, but it's quite difficult." Some things simply cannot be completely shielded.

Gao Zhendong didn't blame them: "Well, it's okay that you don't understand this. After all, you use magnets, not study them, so you're not very clear about their properties. Actually, the root of this problem comes from another property of magnets: coercivity."

The comrades were a bit confused. Compared to the magnetic field strength that they could intuitively feel, this thing was indeed somewhat unfamiliar. After all, you can tell how strong a magnet is by sticking it to an iron plate and bending it with your hand, but coercivity is a hidden characteristic.

Seeing the expressions on his comrades' faces, Gao Zhendong smiled and explained to them what cohesion was.

If we compare the active magnetization and active demagnetization of a permanent magnet to bending and restoring a steel wire, then magnetization is like bending the steel wire, while applying a magnetic field in the opposite direction to demagnetize is like bending and restoring it. As we all know, if we want to restore the steel wire to its original state, it is not enough to simply bend it back to the original position during restoration; we must bend it further in the opposite direction to ensure that the steel wire returns to its original state.

The same applies to permanent magnets. To demagnetize them to 0, a larger magnetic field needs to be applied in the opposite direction. This extra magnetic field is called coercivity.

In short, simply put, the higher the coercivity, the deeper the roots of a column in water, and the less susceptible it is to external magnetic fields.

The example Gao Zhendong used, wielding a steel wire, was very easy to understand for comrades with rich practical experience: "Chief Engineer Gao, does that mean that AlNiCo has low coercivity?"

Gao Zhendong nodded: "Too low, too low."

The expression on his face was exactly the same as when Sun Wukong asked the Dragon King for a weapon, saying "Too light, too light."

This is a very obvious weakness of AlNiCo: its coercivity, in the most extreme cases, is only 1/20th that of NdFeB. Although its coercivity is several times that of ordinary magnets, it is still not enough compared to NdFeB and Samarium Cobalt.

"Then should we put more effort into the structure... but we should also think of ways to address the problem of low magnetic field strength."

Gao Zhendong shook his head: "You don't need to worry about that, I'll take care of the materials for you!"

what?
Although we knew that Chief Engineer Gao had made great achievements in materials, this news still surprised our colleagues.

Is this wishing well possessed by a spirit? Didn't they say that spirits weren't allowed after the founding of the People's Republic of China?
Anyone would be confused in this situation.

I'm happy as I am, but isn't this a bit too fast? We just found the problem, and Chief Engineer Gao has already prepared the answer.

"Isn't this... a bit too much of a delay for your work?" The comrades, who thought Gao Zhendong was going to put aside his work and devote all his energy to dealing with this issue, felt a little flattered.

Gao Zhendong shook his head: "It won't delay anything. Actually, the answer is pretty much ready."

"Ready-made?" This isn't just a wishing well come to life; this is an imperial artifact!
"Lidi Huo" is a prop conjured by the Monkey King in Journey to the West, which claims to grant him knowledge of the past and future for five hundred years.

Seeing the surprised expressions on his comrades' faces, Gao Zhendong explained, "Well, I was researching ferrites a while ago and got some insights, hehehe." He didn't go into more detail, nor could he, and left the rest to his comrades to fill in the blanks themselves.

Sure enough, his words immediately dispelled the surprise of his comrades. Ferrites and magnetic materials are inherently linked, and it is quite normal for Chief Engineer Gao, with his great abilities, to make some discoveries about permanent magnet materials while researching ferrites.

Others may not have this ability, but Chief Engineer Gao can.

"Just design it based on a magnetic energy product of 45 MGOe, remanence of 1.2 T, and coercivity of 1200 kA/m. You don't need to worry about the rest. By the way, the coercivity of AlNiCo is around 80 kA/m."

Knowing they were unaware of the coercivity of AlNiCo, Gao Zhendong thoughtfully explained it to them as well.

All the comrades who heard it felt numb, like they'd been struck by lightning.

The magnetic energy product of AlNiCo is only 5 MGOe...

He casually mentioned that it had increased by as much as nine times!
This one thing alone can solve their big problem!

Not to mention its equally superior remanence and coercivity, which has a much larger range than the energy product—15 times greater!
But the more this was the case, the less the comrades felt that Gao Zhendong was exaggerating. After all, there are basic principles to boasting, but real ability doesn't have to be so particular.

No one would dare to boast to such an extent. When something seems so outrageous that it's unbelievable, it's often true.

"Haha, okay, okay. We'll go back and redesign the linear motor, start all over again!"

With such a huge change, the primary and secondary windings of the linear motor undoubtedly need to be redesigned, and the parameters of the permanent magnet have been completely overturned!
Completely tearing down and starting over should have been a very painful thing, but judging from the expressions on the comrades' faces at this moment, it had become an extremely enjoyable thing.

Only a fool wouldn't push it down!
Gao Zhendong nodded: "Okay, go ahead. I hope you can achieve the best results."

"Chief Engineer Gao, rest assured, with this permanent magnet, I'm confident I can achieve even greater results than you've requested!!!"

Putting aside the electromagnetic interference problem for which the cause had not yet been found, the comrades had already figured out the problem of magnetic field strength. They had done a lot of calculations and had already estimated the data in their minds, and the situation was extremely optimistic.

With the resolution of the magnetic field interference they just learned from Chief Engineer Gao, the comrades felt incredibly powerful!
"Okay, then I'll wait for your good news. Oh, no, you have to wait for my good news first, hahaha."

After seeing his comrades off, Gao Zhendong didn't even open the lottery search interface; instead, he started browsing the store directly.

Because he had some basic knowledge of the technology related to the foreign control of strong magnetic materials in his previous life, Gao Zhendong knew that the production technology of neodymium iron boron was not a problem at all under the current circumstances, so he wanted to try to obtain the technology through the store.

Gao Zhendong randomly picked a strong magnetic toy—a Buckyball. Neodymium iron boron, a super permanent magnet material that was considered precious in the 60s, is now ubiquitous in toys decades later, and it actually sits on the children's table.

This brings us to another characteristic of neodymium iron boron: although neodymium is not cheap, it is much cheaper than AlNiCo and Samarium Cobalt! The price of cobalt is almost an order of magnitude higher.

Moreover, neodymium accounts for less than one-third of neodymium iron boron alloys, and the rest are cheap products.

Samarium cobalt magnets, on the other hand, almost never have a content lower than 50%, making them very expensive.

It boasts excellent overall performance and a low price. Although its Curie point is relatively low, and its strength and machinability are not as good, it's practically perfect compared to the previous two. After all, most applications don't require much consideration of temperature, and temperature isn't unmanageable.

As Gao Zhendong expected, the Buckyballs he brought out were indeed made of neodymium iron boron. After all, there's nothing else but neodymium iron boron that can produce something with such strong magnetism and such a low price.

Although neodymium iron boron has good performance, it is not troublesome to produce. Gao Zhendong was delighted when he saw this. At this time, it was time for Comrade Liu Rongguo, the first furnace worker of the Third Branch Factory, to make his appearance!
He made a phone call to Liu Rongguo.

Liu Rongguo came with a young comrade.

"Chief Engineer Gao is a rising star in our department, and I brought him here to learn from him as well."

It's clear that Liu Rongguo is also cultivating his successors. However, Gao Zhendong certainly can't do this as well as they have. After all, Gao Zhendong's model is unique; besides expanding his influence as much as possible, his methods are something others can't learn. He's got it all; you can't teach him.

"Wow, that's good, a talent development program, not bad at all. But this time, you might have to be disappointed; you'll only learn through practice," Gao Zhendong said with a smile.

There wasn't much theory involved this time, and there weren't even any new methods. It mainly involved material proportions and process details.

Liu Rongguo laughed and said, "A chance to practice is the best opportunity. Practice is the best teacher. Didn't I learn from you little by little back then?"

Gao Zhendong laughed: "I get it, you found someone to tend the stove for you, right?"

After joking, Gao Zhendong took out the prepared materials: "Just do it according to this. If you are missing any materials, ask the ministry for them."

Liu Rongguo glanced at the materials list: "No need, the factory has all these things."

As the undisputed number one department in China for metal materials, the Third Factory's Technical Department boasts the most comprehensive range of metal materials, bar none.

Gao Zhendong nodded: "Okay, remember, be quick!"

Strong magnetic materials are not just used in linear motors; their applications are extremely wide-ranging. Not to mention, there's also a samarium cobalt magnet waiting to be developed, although Gao Zhendong hasn't gotten his hands on it yet.

"Don't worry, this thing will be very fast," Liu Rongguo said confidently. Having already gained considerable experience in furnace operation, he had already estimated the time. This new material had a complete process and all the necessary materials; how long could it possibly take?

Just as they were about to walk out the door, Gao Zhendong suddenly remembered something.

"Warning! This is a strong magnetic material, so please be careful. Also, don't stick it to your equipment and get stuck."

(End of this chapter)