Chapter 879 Wrong Direction

The symposium is only to gather the project team and clarify the next task direction.

So it didn’t last too long.

The remaining task is research and development.

However, there is still a lot of work to be done in order to transform theory, which is currently imperfect, into practice.

The workload is completely different from writing a paper.

This is why Chang Haonan had to mobilize people from so many units to provide support—

High-power picosecond lasers are readily available at Haojing Optics and Machinery, but if the entire laser processing equipment is compared to a machine tool, then the laser is only equivalent to the tool head on the machine tool.

A series of auxiliary equipment is also needed to control the accurate and efficient operation of this "light knife".

Every profession has its own specialties, and much of the content involved here is something Chang Haonan has never come across before.

So, similar to the design of the WS-10, after the symposium, the entire project team was divided into three different directions.

The first direction was led by Chang Haonan himself, who was responsible for further improving the ablation threshold model.

Even if we count from the time when machining became a formal discipline, it has gone through at least two centuries of development. In this process, the accumulated production data is vast, so empiricism can play a very important role.

However, laser processing obviously cannot wait two centuries.

Not even twenty years.

Therefore, there is not enough experience to refer to.

In order to put the machine into production in a short time, it is necessary to be able to reverse, at least partially reverse the entire process flow when the material to be processed and the expected processing results are known.

The second direction is led by Academician Hou Xun, who is responsible for the research and development of the entire laser processing equipment hardware level and providing necessary experimental data support for the first direction.

The Haojing Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics has been working on this field for many years and has accumulated certain technical experience.

However, Chang Haonan put forward an additional requirement, which is that not only the laser source itself, but also the components related to the machine tool processing features must be domestically produced.

On the contrary, for things like motors and lens assemblies, if the progress is really not enough, the requirements can be relaxed appropriately.

Judging from the current international situation, China does not need to worry about being strangled in the short term.

The main thing is to coordinate with the bait thrown out before.

Otherwise, he may be working very hard, but when others check, they may find that you have bought a bunch of localized volume holographic gratings that are compatible with pulsed lasers.

That's pure fun...

As for the third direction, there is no leader for the time being.

Because this is not strictly speaking "a" direction.

Instead, it is responsible for ensuring the various materials needed in the manufacturing and use of equipment, ranging from radioactive isotopes to cable and optical fiber lubricants.

Their progress will be reported to Lan Xinzhi of the Equipment Industry Department of the Science and Technology Commission, who will then coordinate with Chang Haonan...

As instructions and documents were signed by Chang Haonan, the newly-formed R&D team gradually began to operate.

Although these members from different systems cannot cooperate as seamlessly as the WS-10 project team for the time being, it is never a bad thing to start running-in in advance.

Race against time!

……

Just as Chang Haonan was preparing to launch the project.

Oxfordshire, southern England, UK.

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

Professor Martin Bock was sitting around a semicircular conference table with several corporate technical representatives from Oxford Lasers and Edinburgh Instruments.

At this moment, everyone's eyes were focused on a curtain on the wall of the conference room.

What was displayed on the screen was the paper that Chang Haonan had published not long ago, as well as some related experimental data.

Professor Bock's student and assistant Emily Tursen stood behind a podium not far away, controlling the speed of the PPT playback and occasionally making some necessary supplements on the specific experimental conditions.

James Cumbert from the Edinburgh Instruments spoke first:

"Matt, we have received reports from several research institutes and laboratories, all of which stated that they were able to reproduce the experimental results in Professor Chang's paper. However, because the calculation process involved is relatively complicated, it is still difficult to promote the same method."

"So, the general concern in the industry is whether the transient thermoelastic model proposed by Professor Chang is universal or can only achieve a good fit within a limited range?"

In fact, once Chang Haonan's article was published, it attracted not only a huge amount of attention, but also continuous questioning.

Although the voices of doubt are not loud, they all come from industry insiders who are researching related fields.

Because the model proposed by Chang Haonan is indeed a bit too complicated for most engineering scientists who lack theoretical mathematical foundation.

At least not to the extent that you can simply plug in the parameters and get the result.

As a result, for the time being, everyone can only use the dozens of data mentioned in Chang Haonan's paper to repeat the experiment.

The other data cannot even be calculated, let alone verified.

Of course, the spectators may not care, but for companies that hope to commercialize laser processing technology, the risks involved cannot be ignored.

Therefore, the two companies, which already had a cooperative relationship, approached Professor Bock together and asked him to verify the authenticity of the paper.

Of course not the data.

But the model.

“It’s normal that most people can’t understand it.”

Martin Bock showed a confident expression on his face:

"The calculation process in that paper is not easy to understand even for ordinary scholars with a mathematics background."

"However, thanks to the help of supercomputers, I have already figured out the rules contained therein..."

He said, gesturing to the side.

Then, Tursun switched the PPT on the screen to the next page.

Above is half of the formula calculation, and an image with densely packed curves and data points:

"Although we still don't know the specific derivation process of Professor Chang, we can be sure that within the energy, wavelength and time scales we usually study, the transient thermoelastic model he proposed can basically fit the experimental data, and the largest error is only about 5%."

"In other words, can we really use mathematical methods to calculate the thermal processing of the molecules on the surface of materials, and the accuracy can meet the needs of industrial production?"

Although he received a positive answer from Professor Bock, there was still an expression of disbelief on Campbell's face.

Thomas Linton, the representative of Oxford Laser Company who had been sitting next to him, did not speak, but frowned slightly.

As a high-tech enterprise, they have naturally heard about the molecular dynamics simulation which has been very popular in the past two years, and have even invested in a number of research groups doing related research.

But this kind of investment is a flood-like attempt, not to say that they are really optimistic about this field.

In fact, most companies believe that it is unlikely to accurately apply numerical calculation methods to the field of microscopic particles within at least 8-10 years.

On the one hand, it is due to the insufficient level of computer hardware, and on the other hand, it is also due to the limitations of mathematical theory.

But this paper and Professor Bock's conclusions clearly slapped them in the face.

Perhaps he saw the shock of the two company representatives, and Bock paused for a moment before explaining:

"I specifically looked it up. Professor Chang Haonan is not only the co-prover of the Poincare conjecture, but is also the developer of TORCH Multiphysics, a numerical computing software that has had a great influence in recent years."

"So it's not surprising that he can perform at a level far beyond that of an average person in this interdisciplinary field."

"But……"

Linton hesitated, but continued:

“With such an instructive model, why not start commercialization right away?”

As a corporate executive, he cares first and foremost about money.

"Because theory is theory, it is not easy to commercialize it."

Bock replied:

"To truly achieve continuous laser processing, the requirements for processing equipment and control systems are very stringent. The laser source needs to have five degrees of freedom in space. In addition to laser power and beam quality, there are at least 7-8 parameters that need to be controlled simultaneously."

"This is an extremely complex system even in the field of mechanical processing, not to mention the need to maintain the stability of the optical path itself while performing control. The difficulty is almost equivalent to producing semiconductors using photolithography."

This analogy finally gave Linton and Campbell a slightly more intuitive concept.

“I suspect that if you switch from anisotropic carbon fiber composites to metal, the situation might improve a little, but not much.”

At this point, he gestured to Wilson to turn the page again:

This time it's a somewhat confusing table.

"Please look at the data in red in this table. The data in blue is the data I fitted after generalizing the calculations."

The former wanted to keep it a secret, but seeing that the two representatives did not seem interested, he gave up the idea and explained directly:

"It can be seen that the parameters used for fitting in the paper are not very complex, and there is almost no regularity in the selection of points. This shows that even in the laboratory, they do not have the ability to control the laser source for high-complexity precision processing, let alone the industrial stage."

This explanation is reasonable and well-founded.

"Then... since the Chinese can't do it, can we do it with our level..."

Professor Bock had been waiting for this question, so he spoke only halfway through the conversation:

“It can be done in the lab.”

He pointed to the curtain in front of him:

"The complexity of the blue data in the table is close to the requirements of actual industrial production, but the success rate is not very stable at present. However, we are currently trying to use the technology in the field of semiconductor processing to improve the equipment. If there is sufficient funding and manpower, we should be able to see some results soon."

Looking at Professor Bock who was full of confidence, Linton and Campbell looked at each other and read the meaning of "it's worth a try" from each other's eyes.

"Well, Professor Bok."

Oxford Lasers took the lead in this collaboration, so Thomas Linton stood up as the final word and walked over to Bock:

"We will provide you with the maximum support within the scope of our authority and wish you success as soon as possible!"

Martin Bock smiled and stood up to shake hands with Linton:

"It should be. May we succeed as soon as possible..."