The top student must be diligent.

Chapter 233 Nuclear Fusion Enters Countdown

As various news spread more and more widely, people's discussion on this year's Science and Technology Awards Conference has remained hot.

As someone who won three first prizes in one conference, Xiao Yi undoubtedly became the hot topic of most discussion.

Basically, people have tacitly accepted that although he did not win the highest science and technology award, it is actually equivalent to winning the highest science and technology award.

However, Xiao Yi didn't pay too much attention to these topics about himself as usual.

After all, for other scholars, winning an award may be a "qualification certificate" to help them go one step further, but for a scholar like him who is already considered to be equal to top human scientists such as Einstein and Newton, winning an award is nothing more than icing on the cake.

have nothing to say.

Therefore, after returning to Fei City from Shangjing, Xiao Yi once again devoted himself to the research of twisted charcoal.

As for Liu Xiaodong and his companions, after returning to the laboratory, they were immediately treated like heroes. Everyone in the laboratory came over to congratulate them and asked them to treat them to a meal.

None of them are very old. The oldest, Tang Chunming, is less than 30 years old. With this award, it will be no problem for him to become a full researcher directly.

It can be said that you have completed in one day the journey that others have to walk for a lifetime.

Of course, the four of them did not act too high-profile. After all, they knew that this achievement was achieved with the help of Xiao Yi.

The reason they were able to win the award was that Xiao Yi was willing to take them to win the award, so that their laboratory could have a few more first prize winners in technological inventions.

For example, the winning projects of other technological invention awards are basically filled up with six people, while the natural science awards can only accept a maximum of five people. Therefore, except for projects like mathematics that are basically completed by one person, the winners of other projects are also filled up, mainly to get more winners for each winning unit.

In other words, there are only five researchers on their lithium-sulfur solid-state battery project, so only five people's names were filled in in the end.

Soon, a few days passed and the related heat gradually died down. Except for some people discussing it in some corners, the main focus of the general public shifted to other aspects, such as the upcoming Paris Olympics and the sanitation issue of the Seine River, which has frequently become a hot topic of discussion.

And time passed quietly again.

……

A month later.

late at night.

The lights in the laboratory were still on.

Xiao Yi was alone in the laboratory, experimenting with a new synthesis method.

Since the interior of the twisted carbon presents a complex twist-like structure, by using the effect of the magnetic field to control the flow of graphite in a molten state, there may be a chance to achieve a twisted shape in its internal structure.

However, one of the key issues is that the melting point of graphite is as high as 3652 degrees Celsius, so it can only be heated using an electric arc furnace or a plasma furnace, which will undoubtedly increase production costs.

Of course, for now, as long as we can produce materials suitable for becoming the first wall material, any higher cost is acceptable.

What's more, once nuclear fusion is really developed, these costs will be reduced rapidly.

After all, once electricity prices are reduced, the cost of almost all goods in the world will be reduced.

"Well...it will take a while to heat up."

Xiao Yi suddenly remembered that the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics seemed to be being broadcast.

So he took out his cell phone and looked online.

As a result, after just a few glances, his brows furrowed, and the silence of the CCTV anchor was quite deafening.

It wasn't until three people entered a house and the camera was pushed out of the door that he finally turned off the live broadcast.

With his IQ, he is still a long way from understanding such art.

Take another look at the electric arc furnace in front of you. The graphite inside has reached a molten state.

He then shut down the electric arc furnace and transferred the molten graphite inside to another furnace.

He spent a lot of time building this furnace specifically. The principle is similar to that of electromagnetic stirrers and other devices based on the principles of magnetohydrodynamics. It controls the flow, heat transfer, and composition of the melt through electromagnetic interaction between an external magnetic field and the melt.

However, the furnace he built himself uses the HTSC-1 superconductor magnetic field as its external magnetic field. With the super-strong magnetic field of HTSC-1, it can directly suspend the molten materials, thus avoiding problems such as impurity contamination.

Of course, products like magnetic levitation melting furnaces have already existed for a long time, but his magnetic levitation furnace has a key advantage: it can achieve more precise control over the internal molten material flow by automatically adjusting the magnetic field line. Here, he used the new model that combined the multi-fluid model and the NS equations in order to study the Greenwald limit.

So he named this furnace the Precision Magnetic Levitation Fluid Control Furnace, and he is also preparing to apply for the relevant structural patents.

Soon, molten graphite was slowly poured in, and under the control of the strong magnetic field, the melt was stably controlled in the middle of the furnace.

Then cover the furnace and start the vacuum pump to extract the air inside to prevent air from mixing in during electromagnetic stirring. This can also prevent the melt temperature from dropping and causing it to solidify again. In addition, a heating device is also installed inside, which basically avoids the possibility of solidification of the internal melt.

Then he went to the computer next to him and uploaded the mixing program that had been set up previously.

Then, the electromagnetic stirring process begins.

Although it cannot be seen from the outside, the real-time status of the internal melt is displayed on the computer. It can be seen that under the established program, the internal melt begins to flow and rotate as the external magnetic field changes.

Just like a nuclear fusion device, of course, the two are indeed quite close in principle.

In this way, along with the stirring process, the internal microscopic state of the melt is constantly changing.

And these changes will make the final lattice structure develop in the way Xiao Yi wants when the melt finally solidifies.

Although strictly speaking, a melt is a disordered liquid substance without a regular lattice structure like a solid, it is not completely random and disordered. It still has a certain order and short-range correlation at the microscopic level. This microstructural feature is usually called short-range order or local order.

During the stirring process of the precise magnetic levitation fluid control furnace, as long as the design program is good enough, this short-range order or local order can be controlled.

Just like that, as time passed, about five minutes later, Xiao Yi started the cooling process.

The cooling process is naturally also specially designed, and a variety of cooling methods are adopted, including electromagnetic stirring cooling, radiation cooling and gas cooling, so as to avoid affecting its internal structure during cooling.

Until finally, the melt solidifies again and the temperature returns to room temperature.

Xiao Yi opened the furnace and looked at the columnar material that had already formed inside.

He raised his eyebrows and then took out the columnar material.

After observing it for a while, I found that the color of its exterior was no longer black or silver-gray like graphite, but had a hint of light gold and blue.

“Is it a bit like highly oriented pyrolytic graphite?”

Xiao Yi raised his eyebrows slightly.

Never mind, let’s experiment first.

First, observe its surface to determine its surface uniformity.

After observation, it can be basically determined that its uniformity is quite good.

It was worth the effort to design a new furnace and spend a lot of time writing the program.

Various further tests were then started.

After testing, it was determined that the internal state was slightly uneven.

After he divided the sample into 10 small pieces, he was able to clearly test through experiments that there were certain differences in properties.

This may be related to the accuracy of the furnace and the test time.

The process needs to be further optimized.

However, what surprised Xiao Yi a little was.

The small piece numbered 7, which is more golden in color, has exceptional properties. In particular...

When he used the material to simulate the situation of it facing high-energy neutron bombardment, it actually showed resistance to neutron radiation that was almost close to the theoretical value of twisted carbon!
This means that this seventh small piece is infinitely close to his goal!

It can even be said that this seventh small piece has achieved his original goal!

Such properties are already able to meet the requirements of the first wall material for controlled nuclear fusion that can operate for a long time.

At this moment, he was already extremely excited!

Even when he won the Fields Medal and three first prizes some time ago, he was not as excited as he was at this moment.

Because this means that nuclear fusion can be truly realized.

It also represents that science and technology really have no end!

Look at the gold on this little piece.

Does this count as a ten-shot combo, and does it mean you get paid directly?

Xiao Yi smiled with relief.

All the confusion that had arisen in my heart at the beginning disappeared at this moment.

Of course, his mood soon calmed down.

This seventh small block did achieve the purpose, but he also needed to figure out the internal structure of the seventh small block and how to achieve stable production.

Only in this way can such materials be produced on a large scale in the future and provide basic materials for the construction of new nuclear fusion reactors.

But in any case, this material has officially announced that the countdown to the realization of controlled nuclear fusion has begun.

The sound of the wheels of history rolling has come from afar!

"Ah~"

After yawning deeply, Xiao Yi looked at the time and found that it was already quite late.

It's time to go to bed.

It's a rare night that I managed to stay up all night.

But it is conceivable that he will have a good dream tonight.

I cleaned up the lab and returned to the office.

It was so late that he simply slept in the office.

But before going to bed, he saw a video about the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics on the Internet.

Then, the scene of the Smurf making the scissors hand gesture made him completely silent.

He'd better not dream tonight.

……

Silent all night.

the next day.

When people were discussing the opening ceremony, Xiao Yi just woke up from his dream.

Although he still dreamed at night, fortunately, they were not those messy dreams. Instead, they were dreams in which he ignited a nuclear fusion reactor and announced that mankind had officially entered the nuclear fusion era.

As for the next task, it has also been made clear.

Carry out more experiments on the seventh small piece and look for the possibility of further optimization. It would be best if it can reach the theoretical properties of twisted carbon. Even if it cannot be achieved, there is no need to worry too much, it is enough.

As for the seventh small piece of material, he directly named it MHT-7.

Without any rest, Xiao Yi officially started the research on MHT-7.

Undoubtedly, it is simpler now than before.

……

Time gradually came to the end of August 2024.

It's time to start school for the new year.

The freshmen of USTC report on the 23rd, and the entrance examination is on the 24th. This is considered a "fine tradition" of USTC, and it fills the emptiness of those who were senior high school students a few months ago and have not taken an examination for a long time.

Of course, for these students, they also care about what the next courses will be like.

In some freshman dormitories of the School of Mathematics, after getting to know each other, some of the more extroverted freshmen have started discussions.

The talented teenagers in Hua Luogeng's mathematics class were even more excited: "Oh my god, our number theory teacher is Professor Xiao Yi!"

"Huh? Huh? Huh?"

Upon hearing the news, the students in Hua Luogeng's class were shocked.

"The Xiao Yi you're talking about, is that the Xiao Yi I'm thinking of?"

"Is there another professor named Xiao Yi in the School of Mathematics at HKUST?"

"Fuck!"

Soon, the news spread and almost the entire school was shocked.

As a school that focuses on science and engineering, Xiao Yi's name is well known to everyone in HKUST.

If you don’t know Xiao Yi, the first thing people would suspect is whether you are from HKUST.

Then, this year's Hua Luogeng class greeted other classes.

The junior class said they also wanted Xiao Yi to teach them mathematics.

But the students in Hua Luogeng's class who are sophomores and above can't sit still.

Zhuo, why?

They were the ones who came here first, so why can’t they enjoy it?

In the end, there was no other choice but for this, the School of Mathematics issued a special notice, saying that Xiao Yi's lecture classroom would be moved to a large classroom, and anyone who was interested could attend the class.

It can only be said that Xiao Yi's influence has reached an extremely high level.

Even Principal Bao Hexin joked, "I feel like if Professor Xiao were to be the principal, he would be more convincing than I am."

In other words, this is not ancient times, otherwise Principal Bao’s words would have carried a somewhat dangerous meaning.

However, with the start of military training, the freshmen no longer have the time to care about who is attending classes, so they just have to get through the training first.

The time has come to September 9rd.

And this day is the time for new graduate students to enroll.

Xiao Yi also came to the school on this day and met several of his graduate students.

(End of this chapter)