78: Bringing his wife and children to Harbin Institute of Technology

At 6:30 a.m., just as dawn was breaking, the machines in the new factory started roaring to life.

The old and new equipment have been divided into areas and are in their respective positions. The two production lines for rough processing and fine processing have also started up together.

The advantages of Liu Xiaojun's modified tooling were immediately apparent. The positioning was precise and stable, eliminating the need for repeated adjustments and saving a lot of time. Before nine o'clock in the morning, he had already steadily produced eight semi-finished products.

Master Li checked each part one by one with measuring tools. When he put away the calipers, he smiled very happily and praised, "At this rate, we can definitely produce twenty pieces today, which is more than half as fast as the old methods."

Ye Bingwen took a marker and quickly walked to the front of the production board. He wrote down the day's output and progress stroke by stroke. After he finished writing, he turned around and instructed, "Master Li, while the output is increasing, we can't let our guard down on quality. I'll have to trouble you to keep a close eye on it."

After saying this, he raised his hand to look at his watch, his tone somewhat hurried, and said, "I have two very important professional classes this morning, so I have to go back to school. I'll leave the factory to you for now."

Liu Xiaojun immediately straightened up, patted his chest, and confidently assured him, "Uncle Ye, you can go to school without worry. Master Li and I will be here to keep an eye on things, there won't be any problems."

Ye Bingwen put aside his concerns, gave a few brief instructions, and then set off for the school.

The first class was on engineering materials science, and that day we were talking about composite materials. Professor Zhou, who was in his forties, taught the class. His teaching style was very practical. He was used to combining real-world cases from factories with his analysis. The theories that were originally dry and difficult to understand became easy to understand after his explanation.

In class, Professor Zhou focused on explaining the interfacial bonding principle of carbon fiber composite materials. With a serious expression, he cited a real example of aerospace component failure, saying, "This material is used in many aerospace components. It looks strong and reliable, but if the interfacial bonding is not done properly, it will delaminate and crack under stress. This will not only cause equipment failure, but in severe cases, it can also lead to safety accidents."

Ye Bingwen sat attentively listening to the lecture, but his mind was racing. He suddenly thought of the carbon fiber layup process in the factory, and his mind cleared up. Chen An had casually mentioned that a mixed weaving transition layer had to be added between carbon fiber and glass fiber. It turned out that this was to solve the key problem of unstable interfacial adhesion. In this way, the other party's professional judgment was confirmed.

Professor Zhou then shared a brand-new technology in the industry.

"Let me tell you a practical way to toughen the composite material," Professor Zhou said with a smile. "By adding a small amount of rubber microparticles to the base resin, you can significantly improve the impact resistance of the composite material without making major changes to the production process."

These words struck Ye Bingwen like a chord, and he immediately identified the key to technological improvement.

The bell rang, and the classroom immediately became lively. Students packed up their books and got up to leave. Ye Bingwen immediately stood up and caught up with Professor Zhou, who was about to pack up his course materials and leave. He didn't ask the basic questions in the textbook, but instead threw out some thorny problems from the industry.

"Professor Zhou, I'd like to ask you a practical question about toughening modification," Ye Bingwen said calmly, his words hitting the nail on the head. "After phenolic resin cures, it becomes quite brittle. Conventional rubber toughening methods tend to reduce the material's heat resistance. In actual production, how can we balance the toughening effect and high-temperature resistance to find the most suitable ratio?"

Professor Zhou abruptly stopped packing his things, looked up at Ye Bingwen, his face full of surprise. In all his years of teaching, he had never seen an undergraduate ask such a question. This was far beyond the scope of the textbook and belonged to the cutting-edge research challenges in the field of composite materials that were still unresolved.

Before Professor Zhou could answer, Ye Bingwen continued to express his thoughts clearly and logically: "If we don't use the common micron-sized particles, but instead incorporate nano-rubber microparticles, can we effectively improve the toughness without compromising the material's heat resistance? I've read relevant foreign literature, and some teams have already conducted related experiments, but there hasn't been any actual production and application in China yet."

Professor Zhou was even more surprised, and his eyes showed a hint of inquiry. He asked, "You even studied foreign language professional literature? These kinds of niche and cutting-edge materials are so rare that even the school library might not be able to find them all."

Ye Bingwen realized that the questions he had just asked were far too advanced, exceeding the scope of an average student's understanding, and might arouse suspicion. He quickly composed himself and explained calmly, "I previously assisted in Professor Cai's lab, and I've seen some internal experimental data and some foreign language archives. I only have a rough understanding of the basics and can't be considered a professional at all."

Professor Zhou nodded slightly. Although he was still a little puzzled, he became even more curious about this student.

"What kind of composite material products does your off-campus factory mainly process?" Professor Zhou asked earnestly.

Ye Bingwen answered truthfully, saying that the factory specializes in making composite parts for military applications.

Professor Zhou immediately chimed in, saying, "That's perfect. It's worth a visit to see for yourself. I'll bring two graduate students to your factory next week for a tour and exchange, and we can also help you sort out those technical problems."

"Thank you so much!" Ye Bingwen was overjoyed and quickly took out his notebook to write down Professor Zhou's contact information.

During the break between classes, Ye Bingwen walked to the public telephone downstairs in the teaching building and dialed the landline in the factory. The call was answered shortly, and Liu Xiaojun's excited voice came through the receiver: "Uncle Ye, good news! The first batch of twenty parts has all been successfully completed. Master Li has checked them one by one, and all the dimensions meet the standards. There isn't a single defective product."

Ye Bingwen's anxiety eased slightly, and he said in a low voice, "Give the phone to Master Li." The receiver was handed to Master Li, whose steady voice, tinged with amusement, rang out: "Xiao Ye, just focus on your classes. With the current quality of the finished products and the production speed, delivering the 500-piece order in three months is no problem at all. I'll take full control of things at the factory."

Ye Bingwen still dared not relax, and used the knowledge he had learned in class to assign tasks: "Master Li, please tell Chen An to check and tighten all the anchor bolts of the equipment before leaving get off work today, and pay special attention to that old milling machine."

He briefly explained the reason: "The new factory floor was not completed for long, and the foundation is not hard enough. If the machines vibrate for a long time, the bolts will easily loosen, which will affect the precision of the parts processing later."

"Understood, I'll arrange it right away," Master Li replied and then hung up the phone.