Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1462 A Two-Pronged Approach (3k)

"Of course, I'm not telling you to just throw water vapor in there, that would really cause a crash. There's a proper way to do it." While his comrades were still in a daze, Gao Zhendong added even more details.

I knew it wouldn't be that simple, but that's normal. If it were simple, we would have thought of it all, and we wouldn't need Committee Member Gao to remind us.
"So what is your proposal?"

Gao Zhendong didn't hesitate: "In an inert protective atmosphere, a certain amount of water-containing gaseous compounds are added. When heated, they decompose and release water vapor, achieving an etching effect, such as hydrazine. This is called taking it slow and steady."

That's absolutely incredible! Engineer Pan almost swore.

The idea is simple to put together, but the ingenuity behind it is something that most people wouldn't be able to come up with.

"As for the details, you can test them yourselves when needed. I'm just reminding you."

"Of course, of course. If you have to test this yourself, we might as well quit now."

Although this sounds a bit ridiculous, like "The leader actually came to eat here in person," it's really the case for the comrades in charge of carbon fiber implementation. They've already shown you the way, so why would they carry you there themselves?
Wouldn't that be a joke? Our own comrades are the biggest joke.

"Okay, I was just mentioning it casually. Actually, water has many uses, not just this, but let's not worry about that now and consider it when we need it. What about physically adsorbed oxygen? How do we plan to do that?"

By the way... that's a bit unsettling to hear. Your casual remark is something that would take others a long time to work on and solve.

But I don't have time to complain about this anymore.

Without even a moment's mourning for the incidental water vapor, the first thing to rush to the scene was the physical adsorption of oxygen.

—They don't have any ideas about this for the time being.

Three days is really too short. It's already the limit to figure out the route, identify the problems, and solve some of the simple ones.

"I haven't thought about it yet, time is a bit tight." There's no point in hiding anything here.

Gao Zhendong thought for a moment and said, "Well... let's consider using these two options first, and we can talk about others when there are special needs, or after we have developed the most basic carbon fiber mass production process, we can expand on them later."

He said it casually, but it made his comrades feel uneasy.

What do you mean by "consider using two first"? One is enough. You're insisting on having two good things in a row, aren't you?

Gao Zhendong didn't give them time to be surprised: "One method is to use a reducing solution composed of sodium β-anthraquinone sulfonate, sodium dithioate, and potassium hydroxide to remove it. The second method is to treat it with boric acid solution at a certain temperature and then carbonize it."

How did he come up with such details? This question popped into everyone's minds, but then they were relieved. He's normal, he probably just thought of it as a side effect.

"Well, we have solutions for both of these. What about the other problems?"

“Okay, we also noticed…”

Gao Zhendong and his comrades would ask and answer questions like this, sometimes even getting multiple answers to a single question, and multiple solutions to choose from for each question, which made them very happy.

"You must pay attention to pre-oxidation. If the core of carbon fiber quality is the quality of the precursor fiber, then the other core is the result of pre-oxidation."

Seeing that his comrades were all concerned about carbonization, a process directly related to the name carbon fiber, Gao Zhendong reminded them.

Engineer Pan replied, "You are right to remind us. We have given considerable consideration to pre-oxidation. However, after studying the pre-oxidation process, we found that it is a process with an extremely simple principle but very complex and variable combination of conditions. Therefore, we plan to implement it one by one during the research process."

It's not that they didn't consider it, but rather that they couldn't think of it all. The conditions involved in pre-oxidation are numerous and complex, and it's impossible to think of so many in a short time.

They were considering using an exhaustive approach to solve the problem after entering the experiment, which is a common method used by those who work on materials.

Gao Zhendong thought for a moment and said, "How about this, you guys stop exhaustive research for now, just get the product out first and then go deeper. I'll give you a set of parameters, you can work on that first."

Is there such a good thing?
Because the principle of pre-oxidation is very simple, they didn't even consider asking Gao Zhendong for advice, since it was obvious.

Because the actual process of pre-oxidation is extremely complex, they did not consider how much they could get by consulting Gao Zhendong. After all, these are all details, very practical, and it is difficult to get results without hands-on practice.

I didn't expect that Committee Member Gao would have a whole set of equipment here?

Although Committee Member Gao derived the parameters out of thin air, the first combination of parameters was definitely derived out of thin air, which is more reliable than the ones that his group derived out of thin air.

This is not superstition, but experience—experience gained from working with Committee Member Gao for a long time.

"That's great! That will save us a lot of time and resources. It's just a bit of a waste of your time," Engineer Pan said with a smile.

In this way, the research time and resources required for the initial process combination can be completely eliminated, allowing us to jump directly into the experimental stage. All that is needed is equipment and materials, which greatly speeds up the process.

To put it more bluntly, if problems arise, it's Gao Zhendong's fault; it's just a matter of time to fix them. The pressure on the comrades' shoulders suddenly lightened, to the point of feeling as light as nothing.

Moreover, to be fair, the results achieved by Committee Member Gao were not that disastrous, absolutely not.

In a relaxed atmosphere, Gao Zhendong presented the various selections and parameters for the pre-oxidation process, explaining the rationale and considerations behind each one to his colleagues. This reassured them; the fact that he could explain the intricacies behind the process so clearly indicated that the results from these parameters would be quite good.

Compared to his group, who were still in the stage of blind men touching an elephant, Committee Member Ren Gao had already thoroughly grasped the essence of the matter.

There were many things to do, and a lot of time was spent on them; the entire afternoon was spent on this.

However, compared to the significant importance of laying the foundation for mass production research of carbon fiber, this amount of time is insignificant.

Regardless of who evaluates it, the question of whether it's possible to complete such a task in a day, or even several days, isn't about the length of time, but rather the feasibility.

If it's true, then it's absolutely worth it. Laying the foundation for a field in just a few days, and then being given a boost and support – such a good deal is hard to find even with a lantern.

"...Alright, that's about it. The rest of the work is up to you comrades." Gao Zhendong smiled as he looked at his comrades, who had received a high-intensity knowledge lecture for most of the day but showed no signs of fatigue and were full of energy.

Amidst expressions of gratitude, the comrades packed their belongings, and some headed straight for the canteen at the Third Factory.

Engineer Pan was amused and annoyed: "Hey, you're really not polite, and you're quite skilled at it."

Gao Zhendong laughed: "You'll get used to it once you're skilled. That's the effect we're aiming for."

However, when it comes to skill, no one is as skilled as Engineer Pan.

Sure enough, the very next morning, he appeared in Gao Zhendong's reception room again, this time accompanied by three unfamiliar faces.

“Committee Member Gao, I’m here again, hahaha,” Engineer Pan laughed loudly.

While gesturing for tea to be made, Gao Zhendong said with a smile, "I was just afraid you wouldn't come."

He was just making casual small talk, but others heard a completely different story.

See, it's better to be safe than sorry. I'm just afraid Lao Pan won't come. This doesn't sound like it's being said to Lao Pan, but rather to someone else.

That's not actually the case, because Gao Zhendong had no idea who the other three people were, so there was no question of him telling anyone about it.

Engineer Pan knew that Gao Zhendong did not know these three people: "Let me introduce you. This is Chief Engineer Wei from our institute. The institute attaches great importance to this project. Our chief engineer represents the institute and personally participates in this project."

Gao Zhendong quickly welcomed him and extended both hands to shake hands.

It seems this is their internal arrangement.

Chief Engineer Wei also firmly grasped Gao Zhendong's hands with both of his, repeatedly saying that he had long admired him.

I have truly heard of Gao Zhendong for a long time. Although I can't say exactly how much Gao Zhendong has done, at my level of technical expertise, I have long heard of him. This has nothing to do with Gao Zhendong's status as a science committee member; it's all due to his achievements. There's bound to be someone in a certain field who has heard of him, and that person's level can't be low, especially at the technical level.

After everyone sat down, Gao Zhendong didn't linger.

"I think everyone is aware of what happened this time, so let's get straight to the point."

"Okay!" Chief Engineer Wei readily agreed.

It seems that Lao Pan is the one holding the sign, but General Manager Wei is still in charge. That's fine, as it doesn't interfere with either side. Anyway, as long as things are going well, Gao Zhendong's side will be fine too.

"My idea is to work on both para-aramid and meta-aramid fibers together!"

Gao Zhendong's opening remarks were like a bombshell, launching a simultaneous attack.

However, these words really got the comrades off guard. Should they all get involved?

"Committee Member Gao, aren't we getting a little impatient?"

Although aramid fibers were just being proposed at this time and had not yet been mass-produced, and there was a lack of understanding about them in China, the basic concepts of para- and meta-position in organic chemical materials were still generally clear to everyone.

Although para-aramid and meta-aramid differ by only one word, they are actually quite different, not only in performance but also in manufacturing process.

In short, para-aramid has high strength, while meta-aramid has good high-temperature resistance, fire resistance, and flame retardancy.

This made it impossible for Gao Zhendong to part with either one, as it was used for bulletproofing and the other for fireproofing.

Chief Engineer Wei's words were not entirely without reason; working on both of these things at the same time would put immense pressure on the company and present a great deal of difficulty.

We originally started working on this in the 60s, after Citibank's aramid 1313 was introduced in 1967. As for successful domestic production, that was a matter of the 21st century, and para-aramid came a few years later than meta-aramid.

(End of this chapter)