Chapter 444 Torch Company’s first big order

With the help of the three major groups of Bingzhuo, Luozhou and Fuzhou, Xingcheng Special Steel and Northeast Special Steel soon sent representatives to the capital to meet with Chang Haonan.

After some simple greetings, Chang Haonan got straight to the point:

"You two, our Torch Company has developed a set of design methods for chemical heat treatment processes. However, metallurgy is an asset-heavy project after all, with a large investment and a long return period. Moreover, our company's expected business scope does not include this industry, so we We hope that this method can be transferred to solve the problem of high-end bearing steel materials that we most urgently need at present."

The reason why it is called "method" is because this research is still in a very preliminary stage. Apart from Chang Haonan himself, there are only a few researchers poached from the Institute of Computing Technology of the Academy of Sciences in charge, so there is no research yet. form a complete software.

After saying this, the expressions and eyes of the two other people made Chang Haonan feel that if there were not three bearing groups as middlemen and various official endorsements, he might be regarded as a charlatan.

"Mr. Chang, this..."

Fang Manchang, the chief craftsman from Xingcheng Special Steel, hesitated to speak, but there were so many flaws that he didn’t know where to start asking.

Metallurgy sounds a bit like herbalism or alchemy in some fantasy works, at least in the late 90s.

Despite a rudimentary understanding of the role of the various elements in alloy compositions and the impact of various material processing techniques on properties, in general the development of new formulas is still highly dependent on experience, luck, and alchemists. It’s the craft of a metallurgical engineer——

After the birth of atomic absorption spectrometers and flame atomizers, it is no longer possible to keep the specific composition of materials confidential. As long as a sample is available, any undergraduate can analyze it in a few days or even hours.

However, even with the exact same elemental formula, different processes will bring about completely different material properties.

Just in the field of chemical heat treatment mentioned by Chang Haonan, the commonly used methods can be broadly divided into carburizing, nitriding, carbonitriding, nitrocarburizing, composite diffusion, and refined surface diffusion...

If it is based on the state of the permeability agent in the furnace or the ion generation pathway, there are other classification methods.

Each technology also includes dozens to hundreds of process parameters, which leads to almost unlimited possibilities.

This is the secret that every technology-leading country or company keeps secret.

For example, anyone can find out by just looking for a process manual that the national standard number of M50 steel is 8Cr4Mo4V, while the national standard number of M50NiL steel is G13Cr4Mo4Ni4V, but this does not mean that anyone can smelt the latter. .

In other words, it cannot be smelted completely up to standard.

After M50NiL steel was first developed by the Swedish company SKF, many capable peers quickly followed up on relevant research. Although the steel produced in different countries can ultimately be said to be M50NiL, there are still differences in specific properties.

Although the steel produced in Germany, Japan, the United States, the Soviet Union (Russia) and other countries may not be exactly the same as the original Swedish goods, in general they have their own strengths, or at least the difference is not big, and they are completely usable. can be substituted for each other.

However, the M50NiL steel produced in countries with relatively weak technology is significantly different from the original products in one or more aspects, and some of its properties are even worse than those of M50 before treatment.

Unfortunately, China is among the latter.

In the previous life, it was not until the second half of the 2010s that the bearing steel used in domestic third-generation engines was completely replaced by imports.

But now, someone actually said that he has the ability to "design" a set of heat treatment process flow. The first reaction of the two experts in charge of the process was disbelief, which is normal.

But before Fang Manchang could organize his next words, his question was interrupted by Guo Zhanwen, who came from Northeast Special Steel next to him:

"I wonder if it would be inconvenient for Mr. Chang to introduce the...principle of your design method?"

Fang Manchang, who was only halfway speaking, glanced at the latter with a slightly strange look.

This question is a bit strange.

For their industry, there is a huge gap between understanding the basic principles and industrial practice, and even if they are spoken out, it does not mean anything.

"The principle is quite simple."

Chang Haonan didn't care too much and explained directly:

"The driving force of chemical heat treatment is the chemical potential gradient. At a certain temperature and kept for a period of time, the diffused elements are first enriched on the surface. When the diffusion concentration reaches a certain value, they will begin to diffuse from the surface to the center, and the outermost The layers are the penetration layer, then the diffusion layer, and finally the matrix. The entire heat treatment process can be roughly divided into three stages: chemical penetration agent decomposition, adsorption and diffusion.”

"The entire three steps can establish a prediction and control model for carbon concentration distribution in the carburizing layer based on chemical reaction thermodynamics and Fick's diffusion law to achieve process design and optimization."

"That's...that's all?"

Fang Manchang was still waiting to continue listening, but Chang Haonan stopped here.

"Of course it's more than that... In fact, the most complete and accurate method in my expectation should be to directly conduct molecular simulations. For metals, it is actually an atomic level simulation, and directly calculate the effects of different processing processes on metal materials from the perspective of microscopic particles. However, with the current computer level, it is far from being able to influence the characteristics, so I just mixed some molecular simulation ideas into it to make the entire chemical heat treatment process model more reasonable."

"As for the specific technology... that is of course our company's trade secret. If I were willing to share it for free, there would be no such meeting today, right..."

"Oh...that's right..."

Fang Manchang, who was shouted back, showed a somewhat embarrassed expression.

Although Chang Haonan's previous principles are clear and logical, for people in the industry like him, they are still not convincing enough.

But what they said later also makes sense——

If I explain everything clearly to you, what business would you still be doing?

But just when he was hesitating, Guo Zhanwen on the side had already skipped the intermediate steps:

"As expected of Mr. Chang, we have already heard about your ability and the level of your company. Then...when can we sign the contract?"

"what?"

"what?"

Not to mention Fang Manchang, even Chang Haonan did not expect that the plot would take such a direction.

He even prepared several calculation examples related to M50 steel in advance to enhance his persuasiveness, but now it seems...

No need at all?

Is trust between people so easy to achieve?

And you must know that Chang Haonan's asking price for this technology is 750 million yuan. For a technology that is not even a semi-finished product, although it is not considered sinister, it cannot be called cheap.

His lowest psychological expectation was about 500 million, but he originally thought that there should be a bargaining process, so he must have quoted a higher price first.

It turned out to be useless.

As for Fang Manchang next to him, he was even more stunned.

The special steel industry is not big to begin with, and there are basically no secrets in the industry. In addition, the level of domestically produced special steel is not very good. Compared with competition, the industry tends to stick together for warmth, so each other basically knows each other's situation.

Northeast Special Steel was formed by the merger of the three original special steel companies of Dalian, Fushun and Beiman. It is much larger than Xingcheng Special Steel and has higher turnover. However, the profit situation is not optimistic. Among them, Dalian Special Steel has recently He had just been pulled back from the brink of bankruptcy, and it was far from like he could casually take out a huge sum of money.

Taking advantage of a break during the meeting, Fang Manchang quickly used the excuse of going to the toilet and pulled Guo Zhanwen to a secluded corner.

"Are you going to spend this money like this?"

The two were college classmates before. Although they later entered different companies, they still kept in touch and had a good relationship.

"This is the intention of our company. No matter what, this money must be given."

Guo Zhanwen lit a cigarette for himself and the other party:

"This is just for the sake of our old classmates, let me explain it to you."

"At the end of last year, the country suddenly started to launch a precision manufacturing plan. Mr. Chang was the general consultant of the entire plan at that time. Our three steel mills also took this opportunity to apply for the completion of the reorganization and merger, which led to the current Northeast Special Steel. "

Everyone in the industry knew this story, so Fang Manchang took a deep breath from his cigarette, nodded, and motioned for the other party to continue.

"In the past two months, the country started to carry out the 973 plan again. Although I didn't see his name in the expert advisory group, but guess what? I saw him again among the members of the expert advisory group in important scientific frontier fields."

"Is there such a thing?"

At this time, Fang Manchang also realized the seriousness of the matter.

Although Xingcheng Special Steel also has a state-owned background, it is not a state-owned enterprise in the full sense after all, and it is still not well-informed in all aspects.

Guo Zhanwen finally concluded:

"This Mr. Chang, regardless of whether he has great ability or great connections, in short, he can speak to both the Science and Technology Committee and the Science and Technology Committee. Currently, he can be related to two cutting-edge research projects. At this juncture, the company he manages wants to sell us a set of process design methods, how dare you say you won’t buy it?”

"I……"

Obviously, Fang Manchang knew what his old classmate said made sense.

But he did not have such high authority before coming:

"I have to contact the company to make a decision... 750 million, which is equivalent to our profit for the first half of last year. It will have to wait until the afternoon at the earliest..."

"I can't wait for you anymore. The company requires me not to show any hesitation. I advise you to act quickly..."

Guo Zhanwen shook his head, threw the finished cigarette butt into the sink next to him, turned around and walked back towards the conference room.

Looking at his back, Fang Manchang gritted his teeth and trotted towards a public phone outside...