Chapter 1578 The Great Blowout Era

Half a year later, December 2012.

Lian Hai.

In the damp and cold morning fog, a special convoy led by police cars and escorted by engineering vehicles drove over the frosty road and slowly entered the gate of Lianhai Chemical Research Institute.

The specially modified semi-trailer truck in the center is like a mobile fortress. Its sealing and shock-absorbing design isolates it from all external intrusions.

The convoy came to a stop and the engines stopped.

The only sound in the air was the sharp sound of the sea breeze passing through the dead branches.

Behind the semi-trailer is a minibus that looks similar to Coaster, but with a red flag logo.

After the side door opened, a group of technicians in dark blue uniforms with the "MCC" logo embroidered on their chests filed down.

They did not rush to approach the truck bed, but turned tacitly to another van-type equipment vehicle at the end of the team.

Special hydraulic lifting platform, high-precision laser positioning device, forklift attachment with adaptive balancing system...

Precision tools are removed efficiently one by one.

The two forklifts that had been on standby quickly completed their "armament upgrade".

While the technicians were busy working, Sun Fei, who was in charge of the delivery mission, jumped down from the third car in the front row.

He took a few quick steps and headed towards the Institute of Chemistry team who were there preparing to pick up the car.

The two leaders are naturally the director Zhang Tao and the secretary Cui Yan.

"Academician Zhang, Secretary Cui, hello!" Sun Fei shook hands with the two of them.

Cui Yan was not a full-time researcher, so she simply said hello and then took a step back to start arranging the people behind her to connect.

Zhang Tao was full of excitement:

"Researcher Sun!" He shook hands vigorously and patted the other person's forearm. "Before, we only communicated through emails and phone calls. Today, we finally meet in person."

Then he added sincerely:

"Your work has taught us a good lesson."

Although the two parties have cooperated for some time, most of the information was transferred through Chang Haonan and Torch Laboratory.

The only face-to-face opportunity was the unveiling ceremony of the Micro Characterization Technology Consortium (MCC) and the launch of the MTA-01 equipment two months ago.

But it was Cui Yan who attended the event.

"You're too kind." Sun Fei waved his hand quickly, and said humbly, "It was the times that gave me the opportunity, and it was Academician Chang who gave me the trust and guidance at the critical juncture. Otherwise, neither I nor Huiju Technology would have come this far."

"To be honest, at least half of the credit for those papers should be attributed to the Torch Laboratory's computing team."

He spoke frankly and did not mean to take credit for it.

"Don't underestimate yourself... Being worthy of Academician Chang's trust is also a kind of recognition."

Zhang Tao smiled and patted Sun Fei's arm, expressing his feelings as someone who had experienced this:

"If we hadn't persisted in the field of domestic instruments and equipment in the past few years, how could we have these stories later?"

As they exchanged greetings, the truck's huge rear door of cargo box slowly opened with the sound of hydraulic rods.

Under the transparent polymer tarpaulin, a huge and precise outline is revealed on a special shock-absorbing bracket.

TEM-APT combined equipment.

MTA-01.

The streamlined shell exudes a cool metallic luster, and the complex interfaces and probes are tightly covered by a protective cover.

At first glance, it should be divided into three parts and then assembled at the installation site.

Sun Fei took the thick stack of documents from his assistant and handed it to Zhang Tao.

"Academician Zhang, these are the documents related to equipment acceptance and commissioning."

Zhang Tao looked at the dozen or so documents in front of him and was somewhat shocked:

"so much?"

“The equipment is still in the technical verification stage, and the transportation, installation and commissioning processes of MTA-01 are being improved simultaneously.”

Sun Fei explained,

"For technical reasons, we adopted a phased signing process, that is, from unpacking inspection, internal transportation, base confirmation, equipment installation, function calibration to final acceptance test, each key node requires a separate signed confirmation document."

"Understood, understood."

Zhang Tao nodded, took the document, divided it into two copies, and handed them to Wang Lingxiao and another teacher behind him.

This kind of thing still requires cross-confirmation by multiple people.

Then he raised his head again and said half-jokingly, "Will there be any problems halfway through the installation?"

"Don't worry." Sun Fei pointed to the nameplate photo on the document, "This machine is numbered CN002, and it is already the second machine to land in China... We have verified the entire process once on CN001, and there will be no major problems."

"The second one?" Cui Yan, who had just returned to the side, couldn't help but interrupt, "But in the first batch of cooperative trial lists released by MCC, it seems that our Institute of Chemistry is the only one in China?"

Zhang Tao also cast an inquiring look.

“The first CN001 was supplied to Torch Laboratory.”

Sun Fei spoke in a normal tone, as if he was saying something that was a matter of course.

Of course, it is indeed natural.

After all, the Torch Laboratory is not a "partner" but a participant in equipment development.

"Academician Chang is relatively low-key and has not publicized it."

Zhang Tao was slightly startled, and his eyes behind the lenses flickered.

He remembered that Chang Haonan had clearly stated that Torch would not be involved in the specific synthesis testing, and he thought that the other party would not want the equipment.

It turns out...it's not that we don't want it, but that we want it earlier and give it priority.

Obviously, the other party has more important and secret projects in progress.

Thinking of this, Zhang Tao sighed slightly——

That equipment that changed the industry was probably just a handy piece of equipment to help them advance a higher priority project?

However, the weight of this "casualness" is enough to make countless peers look up to him.

At this moment, the forklift has accurately and slowly unloaded the huge shock-absorbing bracket together with the main body of the equipment on it, and it has landed steadily on the electric flatbed trailer next to it.

Zhang Tao, Wang Lingxiao and MCC's quality inspectors stepped forward immediately.

They carefully checked the integrity of all disposable fixing papers on the brackets - this is the key evidence to determine whether there is excessive vibration or rough loading and unloading during the transportation process.

Every piece of sealing paper is intact, as if it were new.

Zhang Tao no longer hesitated and signed his name on the first "Unpacking and Shipping Status Confirmation".

Then he waved gently behind him.

The heavy-duty electric flatbed truck that had been prepared long ago started silently and drove steadily along the specially made gentle slope platform onto the asphalt slope leading to the test center under the breathless gaze of the crowd.

The installation location has already been reserved inside the test center——

A huge concrete base with a mirror-like surface and multiple layers of seismic isolation materials embedded inside.

The surroundings are brightly lit and the temperature and humidity are constant.

Sun Fei's team did not start the installation immediately, but first conducted a half-hour retest of the base's horizontality, load-bearing limit, and natural frequency.

“The plinth is in perfect condition and meets the highest standards.”

The team leader engineer reported to Sun Fei.

Sun Fei nodded, and then signaled: "Start the installation."

The following process is like performing a delicate surgical operation.

The small crane arm on the electric flatbed truck slowly extends, and the magnetic suction cup accurately absorbs the main body of the equipment.

Under the guidance of the laser locator, the huge body was suspended and translated with millimeter accuracy, and finally landed steadily on the predetermined anchor point of the base.

Then came the docking of peripheral modules - vacuum pump unit, high-precision power supply cabinet, liquid nitrogen cooling circulation system, central control console...

The docking of each interface and the tightening of each bolt are accompanied by strict torque detection and vacuum sealing test.

Time passes in high concentration.

It lasts from morning to evening, and from sunrise to the afternoon of the next day.

After the last signal cable was connected, Sun Fei personally pressed the start button on the central console.

A low humming sound was heard in the test center, and the indicator lights on the equipment lit up one by one.

On the huge main control screen, the words "Micro Characterization Technology Alliance, Inc." appeared clearly with a blue background and white border.

"It's done!"

Someone let out a low cry, and the tense atmosphere relaxed instantly.

Although a journey of a hundred miles begins with a single step, we have finally completed one of the most important milestones.

"This is the first large-scale domestic equipment since the completion of our No. 2 test center." Zhang Tao stared at the Chinese characters on the screen, feeling deeply moved, "and it is directly the most expensive one."

"We quoted the cost price to the cooperative trial unit," Sun Fei responded half-jokingly and half-seriously while quickly operating the initialization program, "The price should be lower than the single-function transmission electron microscope you imported before."

"The equipment itself is cheap," Zhang Tao said, like a child who has just received a new toy, constantly walking around and carefully examining it. "But our institute has upgraded almost all of the power supply, cooling, seismic isolation, and magnetic protection of the underground test center, and even paved a ramp for the transfer vehicle to drive in. This supporting investment is not cheap at all."

Sun Fei didn't respond.

Powering on the equipment normally according to the process is only the first step.

A round of actual sample testing is still required to verify that its functions meet the contractual agreement before final signing.

"Ling Xiao," Zhang Tao turned around and ordered, "Go get the batch of verification samples that we have prepared, and arrange for the machine test as soon as possible."

"Understood!" Wang Lingxiao responded and turned around.

"Wait." Zhang Tao added in a low voice, so that only the two of them could hear, "Randomly select from several groups, shuffle the order before preparing the samples, and assign new numbers... You, me, and Director Chen of the center only need to know the corresponding relationship."

Wang Lingxiao's eyes narrowed, and he understood: "Okay, teacher."

He left quickly and returned with a sealed sample box soon.

Inside are more than a dozen powder samples in different forms.

As the equipment provider, Sun Fei is only responsible for the performance of the equipment.

He did not need to care about the contents of the sample. He signaled his assistant to place the sample box next to the sample preparation table, and then prepared to operate it himself.

This can also be regarded as on-site training for the technical personnel of the Institute of Chemistry.

"One of the core breakthroughs of MTA-01 is to use a uniform nano-tip sample to replace the complex and poorly reproducible thin-section sample preparation of traditional TEM."

Sun Fei's voice rang out clearly in the quiet testing center.

Dozens of eyes were focused on his hands covered in nitrile gloves.

Everyone knows that this may very well be the prelude to an era of material boom.