Genius is just the threshold for me!

"I haven't really thought about that," Lin Dong replied honestly.

Although he guided the design of the hollow air-cooling technology, he did not think deeply about how to implement it at the time.

The biggest problem with using single-crystal materials to make parts is that these things have to grow out of the crystal; they cannot be cut into shape, nor can they be excessively polished.

The parts that need to be made must be exactly what they should be produced.

The technology involved in controlling the growth of microscopic metal grains into a macroscopic material is incredibly difficult.

Now, he also needs to control the growth of grains into parts with different shapes and standard precision, down to the micrometer or half-micrometer... He really hadn't studied that before.

Although the third-generation single-crystal nickel-based material was the direction he guided to achieve mass production breakthrough.

However, the breakthrough he guided was in mass-produced materials, not in finished parts that involve high precision and advanced processes.

If it's a standard blade part, even without research, he can deduce it on the spot if he knows the material manufacturing process.

That is achieved by using ceramic molds and directional solidification technology.

A high-precision mold is made using ceramic, a seed crystal for directional growth is placed inside, and then ultra-high purity nickel-based alloy melt is poured in.

Next, a temperature gradient is established to achieve directional solidification. Then, the mold is slowly moved to change the temperature zone, allowing the internal molten liquid to grow in a directional manner according to the seed crystal. Finally, a part that matches the size of the mold can be grown...

One of the challenges to overcome here is the manufacturing of high-precision ceramic molds.

This involves the precision of the mold process, as well as consideration of the thermal expansion and contraction of the mold and the thermal expansion and contraction of nickel-based materials. If the model calculation is slightly inferior, the resulting parts will not meet the precision requirements.

Another challenge is establishing a temperature gradient, specifically how to achieve precise temperature control while maintaining a ceramic mold.

This determines whether crystal growth is directional, stable, and whether impurities will appear. The temperature conduction model involved is slightly wrong, and if the control model is slightly wrong, the growth of the part will be scrapped.

If Lin Dong were to use the simplest and most concise example to describe the entire manufacturing process...

It's basically about taking a square box, putting a small watermelon inside, and eventually growing a large square watermelon.

But what we need now is a blade with a high-precision cavity structure to achieve hollow air-cooling technology.

He needs to grow a perfectly standard "福" (fortune) character inside this watermelon; making a "福瓜" (fortune watermelon) is truly a difficult task.

"I'll take a look at it for two days; there shouldn't be any major problems."

Lin Dong told Jiao You something, then opened another interface and began to access the military industry intranet to view papers and technical details related to 3D printing.

More than a decade later, his experience watching 3D printing videos told him that the most convenient way to make these oddly shaped internal cavities was to directly 3D print them out.

Although 3D printing in the consumer market will not become widespread until 2013.

However, industrial-grade 3D printing was already born in the 80s and became widespread in the 90s, at which time it could be used to produce various parts for automobiles, medical prosthetics, etc.

At this time, industrial 3D printing technology has matured further and has begun to touch on parts in the aerospace field, such as nozzles for SpaceX rockets and some fuselage structural parts for Airbus A350 aircraft. Compared to meeting the requirements of a single-crystal turbine blade, the problem is not too big.

"Don't move!"

Lin Donggang opened the intranet to access technical papers and detailed rules on industrial 3D metal printing.

Suddenly, Xu Ziming came over from the assembly workshop next door and exclaimed in surprise upon seeing the scene: "The problems of hot cracking, impurity control, and recrystallization caused by residual stress in 3D printing of single crystal parts have not been solved... This technology is unusable."

"Uncle Xu..."

Lin Dong turned around, thought for a moment, and said, "These questions are about temperature control, control models, and temperature processing. They shouldn't be too difficult."

He can be considered a semi-materials expert because he was able to guide the mass production technology of third-generation single-crystal materials.

These problems are easy to understand. The main issues are the inadequate control of temperature and speed/direction during 3D printing. Once enough data is collected, creating a temperature and control model is quite simple.

"It's not difficult!"

"But I have a better way."

Xu Ziming walked up, closed Lin Dong's interface for finding papers on the intranet without saying a word, and said earnestly and meaningfully.

"I read the email that Jiao sent me. I studied the hollow air-cooled cavity of the turbine blades in the Emei project this morning, and it has an outlet channel."

In this way, apart from the external ceramic mold, all that's needed is to add a ceramic core to the blade.

Once the leaves have grown properly, a special solvent is used to dissolve the ceramic core inside, and the air-cooled cavity is then created.

Xiao Dong, don't get stuck in a path dependency on new technologies. Don't try to solve everything with new technologies. If the old technology can solve the problem, then let's use the old technology...

New...new technology path dependence?

Lin Dong was stunned for a moment.

Wang Xingguo and Jiao You, standing nearby, were also stunned by Xu Ziming's sudden outburst of vocabulary.

...This is all new technology, how can there still be path dependence?

"Make the internal core, then melt it down..."

Lin Dong thought for a moment and said seriously, "Uncle Xu, adding a ceramic core significantly increases the complexity of the production mold, and we will need to conduct a lot of new experiments to collect data..."

It would be more convenient to just collect the data and do 3D printing directly.

"Don't!"

"I'm not familiar with 3D printing, but I'm more familiar with this ceramic mold."

Xu Ziming refused without hesitation, saying, "Leave this to me. I'll coordinate with Engineer Jiao and the Emei project team. You don't need to handle it."

Yes, it's more convenient.

It will definitely be more convenient for you.

You can do multiplication in the same amount of time, linear equations in two variables in the same amount of time, and calculus in the same amount of time.

But I'm just a primary school student. Solving linear equations in two variables is difficult enough, and you want me to jump straight into calculus...

One increases workload tenfold, the other increases workload a thousandfold. It's clear which is more important.

"Oh well."

Seeing that Xu Ziming rarely took the initiative to handle things, Lin Dong didn't say anything more and handed the matter over to Xu Ziming to deal with.

There are always things to do. No matter how capable one person is, they can't keep up with the industrial system of a country or the technological development of a civilization.

Since someone is willing to take the initiative and is capable of completing the task, he will definitely wholeheartedly agree.

"Promoting this Emei Mountain project is really difficult..."

At this moment, Jiao You seemed to have figured something out. Seeing Xu Ziming's relieved expression and recalling the idea of ​​the blade core that he had just proposed, he couldn't help but sigh.

As the chief engineer of 624, he has handled countless experimental devices, including many made of single-crystal materials.

He naturally understood that adding an extra core to the ceramic mold made of single-crystal material would cause the computational workload and precision processing of the entire mold model to increase exponentially.

"Uncle Jiao, this is just the beginning. The J-20 fighter jet is already the pinnacle of individual air combat equipment. The next generation of fighter jets will no longer be individual air combat equipment, but system-wide air combat equipment... In order to meet the requirements of system-wide operations, the takeoff weight of the fighter jet will conservatively be more than 50 tons. The engine design at that time will be really difficult."

Lin Dong replied, "Fifth-generation fighter jets represent the last hurrah for individual aerial combat."

More than a decade later, the sixth-generation fighter jets J-36 and J-50, which were put into test flights, no longer focused on individual tactics, but began to focus on system-wide and group combat.

The entire fighter jet acts as a frontline combat command, leading several loyal wingmen in group combat and coordinating the entire system in coordinated operations.

If we talk about fifth-generation fighter jets engaging in beyond-visual-range combat and platform-based warfare, then they are the kings of individual combat. Missiles can silently shoot down enemy targets at a distance of 200 or 300 kilometers.

So, the system-of-systems combat of sixth-generation fighters, the combat command center is not just a top soldier, but also the captain of a squad composed of a group of top soldiers, who, together with various equipment, can extend the strike range to six or seven hundred, or even thousands of kilometers.

This is also a transitional and experimental system for realizing aerospace warfare and verifying space warfare in the future.

After all, in the vast expanse of space and the boundless starry sky, it is only possible to accomplish this through systematic and integrated warfare.

If we continue to use individual combat, it will only turn into a performance of fighting spirits and horses, where whoever is faster and runs the fastest will be the most powerful.

Moreover, because space offers ample room for maneuver, even if you are fast enough to catch up, you will most likely be unable to evade and catch up, and you must rely on a systematic approach to pursue and contain them.

After all, overload is an objective physical phenomenon.

The spacecraft travels at a speed of ten kilometers per second, performing sharp-angle maneuvers at this speed to constantly keep up with the enemy aircraft's pursuit...

Unless a breakthrough is made in Higgs field-mass elimination technology, space mech battles will forever remain only in the game.

This is also how he taught Hsu Ching-ling to play drone games, always emphasizing that she shouldn't think of herself as a drone pilot.

Instead, we must learn to think from the perspective of a commander and from the perspective of the overall battlefield situation, and consider how to arrange various tactics.

Operating drones can be handled by intelligent systems, whose millisecond-level reactions are faster than any human operation. However, strategic and tactical planning is something that intelligent systems cannot accomplish.

"Next-generation fighter jet? Sixth-generation fighter jet?"

Jiao You did not answer.

Upon hearing Lin Dong's words, Wang Xingguo's heart skipped a beat, and he looked at Lin Dong with wide eyes and surprise: "This sixth-generation fighter jet, there's not even a rumor about it in the US... Xiao Dong, you already have an idea?"

next to.

Xu Ziming and Jiao You also realized what was happening and looked at Lin Dong with surprise and anticipation, as if they were hoping for the answer they wanted.

They had all witnessed Lin Dong's extraordinary talent and knew very well that what was like a sixth-generation fighter jet to them, which they could not see clearly at all, was obvious to Lin Dong at a glance, and he already had a premonition in his heart.

"Um... I do have some ideas about this sixth-generation fighter jet, but they're just ideas." Seeing the expectant looks in the three men's eyes, Lin Dong thought for a moment and then nodded in response.

He does indeed know some information about the design roadmap for sixth-generation fighter jets.

In 2024, Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group's J-36 and Shenyang Aircraft Corporation's J-50 completed their first test flights, and in 2026, they completed their first official maiden flights. They will begin to be deployed to the armed forces in 2030. In addition to being super fighter jets, these aircraft are also front-line combat command aircraft.

In addition to missile attacks, laser and microwave weapons are also added to intercept incoming targets at the speed of light.

The combat mechanism, which relied on pilot judgment, has been transformed into an intelligent combat system with a super AI brain.

The strategy has shifted from missiles that could only guide their own launch to a system-wide guidance and command system...

However, he learned about these sixth-generation fighter jets and their concepts from later generations.

Moreover, it was more than ten years later when he returned home for a holiday, and Lin Weiliang, nearing retirement, told him this with a proud expression while drinking...

As for why Lin Weiliang had to tell him...

Because in his previous life he did not follow his father's military industry path, but instead struggled in society, he was already trapped in the vortex of life and work like most ordinary people, and only glanced at this information briefly before forgetting it in the blink of an eye.

"Okay, okay!"

When Wang Xingguo heard that there was an idea, he didn't look disappointed; instead, he became even more excited.

Those of us who do research and development are not most afraid of difficulties, but of having no ideas and no direction.

This is like how we used to learn from the US, the Big Brother, and the European Union to cross the river. Because we had a direction to refer to, although everything was difficult, at least we made it through smoothly.

The three major projects were the J-20, the WS-15 turbofan engine, and the J-15 carrier-based aircraft.

Because there were no references or materials available, and the breakthroughs were achieved entirely through forward research and development, the three projects either stalled for many years or came at a great cost.

"Can you make a general design plan?"

Wang Xingguo said expectantly, "As long as we have a plan, we can divide the work and work together. Once we develop this sixth-generation fighter jet, our current J-20 can be used as a basic unit, and all the core personnel can be released from quarantine..."