Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 587 Alumina Ceramics: From Rockets to Missiles (Part Two)

As the plane flew high in the sky, Fang Wen used his supernatural abilities to observe the situation in the rear cabin while piloting the aircraft.

Beside the neatly stacked wooden crates of porcelain, seven new passengers sat awkwardly on folding chairs, with Gong Xiuneng keeping them company.

Clearly, they had never flown in an airplane and had an instinctive fear of flying at high altitudes.

Fang Wen said, "Please don't be nervous, everyone. I will safely lead you to your destination."

"Sir, how long will it take to get there?" one of them asked.

"This flight is expected to take 7 hours and will not involve any stops or transfers. You can rest on the plane."

After Fang Wen finished speaking, he left the rest to Gong Xiuneng.

Gong Xiuneng asked enthusiastically:

"Have you felt unwell anywhere? For example, dizziness, tinnitus, nausea, or anything like that?"

The seven people gave different responses. Some felt a little unwell when the plane took off but have now recovered, while others felt short of breath and wanted to vomit.

Gong Xiuneng was well aware of these situations. He took out Taishan Airlines' special motion sickness medicine, gave it to the people who were feeling unwell, and instructed them to rest more and not to move around.

The seven passengers gradually calmed down, and their motion sickness symptoms were relieved.

Time passed slowly, and the plane took off from Jiangxi and flew to the war zone in southeastern Hunan.

Although he used radar to avoid Japanese warplanes, Fang Wen still piloted his aircraft to an altitude of 6000 meters to avoid unnecessary trouble.

After flying over the combat zone, the rest of the journey is relatively safe.

The flight took seven hours and covered 2000 kilometers, with one refueling stop along the way, before it flew directly to the base in northern Myanmar.

After the plane landed, the group disembarked, and Fang Wen then revealed his identity.

"We've arrived at the base now, and there are some things we can discuss. My name is Fang Wen, General Manager of Taishan Aviation, and I'm the one who invited you to participate in the research and development of new materials. Come on, let me take you to settle in first, and then we'll talk business."

With that, Fang Wen led the seven people to the residential area of ​​the research institute and arranged two apartments for the two families.

He then took two ceramics experts to the research institute and convened a meeting with the chemical engineering team.

Once everyone had arrived, Fang Wen said, "These two are ceramic experts I invited from 4000 miles away. Please introduce yourselves."

Amid applause, the two stood up.

The older master craftsman spoke first: "My name is Zhou Jingtang. I apprenticed under Wang Dafan, one of the 'Eight Friends of Zhushan,' and I run a kiln in Yaoli to fire porcelain. The man next to me is my apprentice and son-in-law, Chen Shouye. He also learned the craft from a young age."

"Do you know why we've asked you to come here?" Fang Wen asked.

Zhou Jingtang shook his head: "With the chaos of war, the family workshop has been closed for a long time. We can't even take care of the basic needs of our family. When I heard there was work available, I agreed."

"We at Taishan have always had good welfare benefits, so you can rest assured. The main reason we invited you here is to rely on your experience in porcelain firing to provide assistance for our military weapons."

"Weapons?" Zhou Jingtang looked blankly at his son-in-law. They only knew about making ceramics and had never thought that they would be involved with weapons.

Amid their confusion, Fang Wen continued to explain.

“We are developing a weapon to deal with the Japanese devils. But when this weapon is fired, it will generate extremely high temperatures. Ordinary metal materials will melt and deform under high temperatures. Therefore, we need a ceramic material that can be attached to metal to resist the high temperature by taking advantage of the high temperature resistance of ceramics.”

The two were trying to understand Fang Wen's words. In fact, high-temperature resistant ceramic coatings and traditional ceramics are no longer the same thing.

In response, Fang Wen shared some of his knowledge about high-temperature resistant ceramic coatings.

"What I mean is that ceramic coatings undergo melting and decomposition at high temperatures, constantly consuming themselves and carrying away a large amount of heat, thus acting as a thermal shield for objects. The glazes in your ceramic process have a similar function to some extent. The reason I invited you here is to combine your expertise in ceramic technology to apply a high-temperature resistant glaze to our device."

After he said that, the two understood.

Glaze is a thin, glassy layer that covers the surface of ceramic products. During high-temperature firing, the glaze melts and flows, eventually forming a smooth, dense glassy layer on the ceramic surface.

This glassy layer can isolate the ceramic body from high temperatures and protect it, similar to how high-temperature resistant ceramic coatings protect the substrate material through their own changes at high temperatures.

Chen Shouye couldn't help but express his understanding: "It means that you need to apply a layer of glaze to your equipment so that it can act as a heat insulator at high temperatures."

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean. We have the corresponding glaze formula, but we lack experience in ceramic production. Therefore, we would like to invite you to participate, which may help us overcome this difficulty."

After some discussion, the two ceramic craftsmen finally understood what they needed to do and subsequently joined the chemical engineering team to research and develop new materials.

Ceramics, a traditional Chinese craft, has long been transformed into a key technological material for industrial applications due to technological advancements.

The alumina ceramics developed under Fang Wen's leadership represent a very important industrial application of ceramics.

This technology is currently only held by a few companies in Germany and the United States.

Using their expertise, they have developed alumina ceramics into various high-temperature resistant materials, such as spark plugs, boiler liners, and engine combustion chamber liners.

It is precisely because of this technological monopoly that other countries are unable to make breakthroughs in high-temperature resistant devices.

Similarly, Fang Wen's industrial system also relies heavily on this material. Once Europe goes to war, it will be impossible to buy the raw materials for this material, and they will have to make it themselves.

Therefore, mastering high-quality alumina ceramic technology can not only improve the elastic performance of rockets, but also expand Taishan's industrial strength.

The intense research work is underway. The chemical engineering team pre-treats the alumina as raw material, and then two ceramic craftsmen make the bushings before firing them in a high-temperature kiln.

Even with the help of two ceramic experts, a series of mistakes still occurred during this process.

After all, alumina is different from kaolin, and the required temperature and high-temperature transformation process are also different.

There is only one solution: keep firing the equipment and record the data from each firing, then eliminate the data repeatedly.

This is a very tedious process that may take a long time to yield results, which is not what Fang Wen wants.

In order to shorten this process as quickly as possible, Fang Wen decided to participate and see if his special abilities and treasures could help.

He also took this opportunity to organize and review the skills he possessed.

Mechanical perception is a fundamental ability, derived from the danger warnings from the Native American bronze cauldron, the X-ray vision from the Silkworm Eye Gem, and the ability to summon insects from the South American mosaic gem.

These capabilities do not seem to be of any help in the research and development of high-temperature resistant ceramics.

Oh, and there's another secret treasure.

It's the Viking King Rune Ring obtained from Greenland.

This ring can generate a peculiar lightning power, but it is not very powerful; it can only paralyze people a few meters away.

Such a treasure was considered a divine artifact in ancient times. A king or warrior wearing the ring could summon lightning from afar to paralyze his enemies, just like a god.

However, Fang Wen only used it once, when he was optimizing semiconductor equipment, he borrowed the power of the rune ring to sense the electric field.

Oh, right, electric field induction.

In fact, under high temperature conditions, changes in material structure will inevitably lead to the release of charges, which in turn will cause changes in the electric field.

With this idea in mind, Fang Wen immediately put it into action.

In the newly built kiln area to the west of the research institute, Fang Wen put on his rune ring, preparing to participate in another firing of alumina ceramics.

He took the swing nozzle fittings, which were ready to be fired, from Zhou Jingtang. The nozzle lining had already been fitted with an alumina lining, a mixture containing AlO powder, MgO sintering aid, and PVA binder.

At the same time, he channeled energy into the ring on his right index finger.

Immediately, the electric field sensing was activated.

This is a strange state of perception where everything is composed of electric fields.

They have strengths and weaknesses, and they interact with each other.

However, they are basically in a state of equilibrium. Fang Wen ran his finger over the blank, and the electric field of the blank showed a brief "ripple-like oscillation". This was caused by the redistribution of charges due to the tiny displacement between the atoms of the blank and the interference of the human body's electric field.

After Fang Wen removed his finger, things returned to normal.

Fang Wen then placed the clay body into the kiln, and Zhou Jingtang closed the kiln opening and began firing.

At this moment, Fang Wen injected more energy into the ring to gain a stronger sense of electric field.

He 'saw' it.

As the furnace temperature rises, the electric field of the embryo in the kiln exhibits high-frequency irregular fluctuations.

From the perspective of the chemistry group, the PVA adhesive should begin to decompose into small molecules such as CO and H₂O, with polar molecules breaking away from their original arrangement and the electric field disorder caused by the violent movement of charges.

"What's the temperature?" Fang Wen asked quickly.

The chemical engineering team pulled a metal temperature probe out of the kiln and replied, "400 degrees."

Fang Wen didn't say anything about it, but simply kept the temperature point and its changes in mind.

Soon, the second phase of high-temperature changes appeared.

The fluctuations in the electric field of the embryo suddenly weakened dramatically.

This is because PVA in the embryo material decomposes in large quantities at high temperatures, leaving inorganic particles of aluminum oxide and magnesium oxide.

In formulation reactions, this is called the degreasing process, which removes organic matter from the materials.

Fang Wen immediately instructed the chemical engineering team to take the temperature again.

550 degrees.

Wait a minute, Fang Wen discovered a problem from the changes in the electric field.

The defatting process of the embryo was incomplete, and some residue remained.

However, the temperature continues to rise, which is not conducive to complete degreasing.

Therefore, the production process of alumina ceramics is not a one-time event.

He decisively demanded that the firing be stopped.

Another kiln was opened to continue.

But this time, there are special requirements.

The temperature needs to be maintained between 400 and 600 degrees Celsius for one hour.

Indeed, this firing method ensures a thorough degreasing process for the embryo.

Then, the kiln opening was opened, and the scalding hot blanks were picked out and placed into another kiln.

The kiln temperature needs to reach 1800 degrees Celsius.

As the temperature continued to rise, Fang Wen was able to sense the new "ionic electric field" slowly increasing.

This is the weak electric field formed by aluminum oxide breaking free from the crystal lattice and becoming "free ions" due to intensified thermal motion.

When the temperature approaches 1200 degrees, a "brief smooth zone" suddenly appears in the electric field. This is a signal that the magnesium oxide sintering aid melts to form a glass phase. The O- in the glass phase migrates rapidly, temporarily balancing the charge distribution of Al+ and reducing the fluctuation of the electric field.

When the temperature reaches 1600 degrees, the intensity of the ion electric field increases sharply to a new high, and the signal changes from "diffuse" to "dense block distribution". This is the key stage of alumina grain boundary fusion. Free ions concentrate and migrate at the grain boundaries, forming a strong electric field.

This step is crucial; whether alumina ceramics can be sintered and formed depends on whether the reaction is complete.

Fang Wen quickly said, "Keep this temperature."

Maintaining the kiln temperature is a technical task for the two ceramic experts, and they immediately got to work.

With their combined efforts, the rate of temperature increase in the kiln slowed down, gradually rising from 1600 degrees to 1800 degrees.

During this process, the alumina ceramicization gradually takes shape.

Fang Wen then spoke up: "Turn off the kiln fire and wait for it to cool."

The two ceramic experts immediately followed the instructions.

The next step is to wait for the kiln temperature to cool naturally, and then take out the sintered body to check the effect.

This would take some time, so Fang Wen left first, leaving only two ceramic craftsmen and the chemical team to wait.

Zhou Jingtang and his apprentice exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with confusion.

"Master, what is General Manager Fang doing?"

"I don't understand it either, but I always feel like what he did was right."

How can you know right from wrong if you don't understand it?

“Back then, my master fired a kiln of a new product that he had never fired before, and he seemed to have a clear idea of ​​what it was like.”

"If it's fired properly, that would be truly miraculous."

Fang Wen's private office on the third floor of the research institute.

Upon returning from the kiln area, Fang Wen copied down the reaction process he had noted, along with key data, onto paper and made annotations.

Every temperature and every step has been redesigned.

The firing kiln is changed from one to two. First, a degreasing kiln at 400-600 degrees Celsius is used, and then a high-temperature kiln is used for sintering.

This should be the key to success.

However, whether it is correct or not depends on the finished product. After finishing writing the document on the firing process of alumina ceramics, Fang left the office and went to inspect other factory areas.

24 hours have passed, and the kiln temperature has dropped to ambient temperature; it's time to open the kiln.

Zhou Jingtang and his apprentice carefully opened the kiln and took out the clay bodies inside.

It was then handed over to the chemistry group for testing.

After some testing, Huo Duanyang took the report to Fang Wen and reported the good news: "General Manager, the firing was successful. This is the first piece that has been successfully fired. Can you share your firing experience so that we can learn from it?"

Fang Wen smiled and said, "I wrote down the data and some of my guesses yesterday, and I'll give them to you."

He handed the two pages to Huo Duanyang.

Looking at the contents of the paper, Huo Duanyang couldn't help but say, "You've written down the reaction time, temperature, and the corresponding reaction process. If this data is correct, we can completely replicate it according to your instructions, and then we can directly produce the finished product. I'll go and organize the reopening of the kiln now."

Huo Duanyang left excitedly.

The chemical engineering team made a one-to-one replica based on what Fang Wen wrote.

The refiring process went very smoothly; the alumina ceramics could actually be fired according to those steps.

With this, Taishan has developed its own method for preparing high-temperature resistant ceramic materials.

Now that high-temperature resistant materials are available, new rockets can use new swing nozzle components.

In this way, missiles, which were originally expected to appear in the 60s, could be realized ahead of schedule.

More importantly, Fang Wen can achieve 'inertial mechanical guidance' even without chip technology.

If realized, it would be a strategic weapon surpassing the V-2 rocket.

(End of this chapter)