Chapter 1035: Real gold is not afraid of fire

 The other side of the ocean.

"Damn, this is slander. Orientals are actually starting to slander us!" Elaine Marie Thomas, head of the metallurgical department at the Tacoma Foundry, said angrily: "They actually dare to slander that our steel is substandard!"

Opposite him was Navy representative Durant. Facing this man, Thomas almost put his hand on the sacred little book and swore to God.

 “You really didn’t fake it?” Durant asked Thomas.

"Of course, how could we fake it, except for that stupid toughness test." Thomas said: "You also know this."

Some of the requirements of the Navy are too harsh. For example, the Navy requires that the toughness of steel be tested at minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature is equivalent to minus 73.3 degrees Celsius. Is it useful to test the performance of submarines at this temperature?

The coldest places in the world are the North Pole and the Antarctic. The coldest Antarctic can reach minus 100 degrees, but they are inland high-altitude areas. Submarines are not tanks and cannot be driven at all. As for the North Pole, the temperature in winter is usually minus 5 degrees Celsius. Around ten degrees Celsius, the lowest temperature on the Arctic ice is less than minus 70 degrees Celsius. As for the seawater under the ice, the lowest temperature will not exceed minus 1.5 degrees Celsius. Submarines are sailing underwater and are not shuttling through the ice, so they are useful. That kind of test?

The U.S. Navy has proposed such harsh standards, but domestically developed steel simply cannot meet those requirements. Even Navy representatives are well aware of this, so everyone has a tacit understanding of this data. Don't go into details, otherwise, there will be no qualified steel at all.

HY-80 barely passes the test, HY-100 is not satisfactory, and the latest HY-130 cannot meet this standard.

  After all, the various data of steel are checks and balances with each other. If one of the data increases, it will be difficult for the other data not to decrease.

“Apart from this data, are there no other data problems?” Durant continued to ask.

"Of course not. We know that we are building submarines for the navy, so how could there be problems with other data." Thomas said: "We guarantee that there will be no problems with other data."

“That’s good, bring a piece of our most advanced HY-30 steel and conduct an on-site demonstration to show the reporters that our American technology is the most advanced!”

HY-130 steel is the most advanced steel produced by Tacoma Foundry, with a yield strength of 890 MPa, which is quite strong in the eyes of Americans, ranking first in the world. As for the 2200 MPa that appeared in the East, In their eyes, Pa's super steel is just bragging.

Hearing what Durant said, Thomas' expression changed: "Do we need to disclose our advanced steel because of the accusations from Zhang Zhongshuo? This is obviously a humiliation! This will cause technical leaks!"

"No, at this time, we just want to leak it to others. The most advanced steel is still in our hands." Durant said: "The press conference must be held. It has already been held in our testing facility. Waiting inside."

Thomas's face was even more ugly.

"What's wrong? It was the Navy's decision to announce it to the outside world. What are you worried about?" Durant asked.

Thomas had no choice but to nod: "Okay, then let's pick a suitable piece of steel."

“No need to choose, just use the steel you prepared for Virginia-class nuclear submarines, cut off a piece and take it away.”

The most advanced submarine of the U.S. Navy is the Seawolf class, but it is also too expensive. The Cold War is over. There is no need for the U.S. Navy to replace the Los Angeles class with the Seawolf class one by one. Therefore, they built the Virginia class nuclear submarine. The displacement of this nuclear submarine has been reduced from 9,000 tons to 8,000 tons, and it uses an integrated nuclear reactor with the same lifespan as the submarine. These have reduced its price. At the same time, the original plan has also reduced the maximum diving depth from 600 meters to 450 meters. meters, it is enough to continue to use the original HY-100 or even HY-80 steel.

 However, when they discovered that Dongfang’s nuclear submarine was strolling at a depth of 600 meters, they knew that other indicators could be lowered, but this indicator must not be lowered!

Even, in order to adapt to deeper seawater, they decided to use HY-130 steel to build it. This kind of steel is stronger, so it can dive to the same depth without using a steel plate as thick as the Sea Wolf grade.

In 1998, the first submarine USS Virginia started construction. It has been launched this year and will be put into service next year. The fourth submarine USS North Carolina started construction last year. These four submarines are all part of the first batch. At the same time, the The second batch of submarines is also being planned intensively.

Now, the U.S. Navy must show how powerful its submarines are and let the world know the advanced performance of its submarines.

Thomas' face was a little ugly, which made Durant a little curious: "Thomas, what's wrong with you? Are you feeling uncomfortable? If you feel uncomfortable, you don't need to go. Our navy will organize this event."

Thomas shook his head: "No, it doesn't matter to me. I'll go to the inspection office of our steel casting plant right now."

“No, we can’t go to your own inspection office. That’s not convincing. We need to go to the NADCAP laboratory.” Durant said.

Every steel mill must have its own inspection agency to conduct various quality inspections on the products it produces. However, since this kind of inspection is done by itself, it is not authoritative. Therefore, the U.S. Navy announced this time that it plans to It is conducted by a specialized authoritative organization, the national NADCAP laboratory.

Hearing Durant's arrangement, Thomas' face became even more ugly.

 “What’s wrong with you?”

"It's okay, let's go." Thomas took a deep breath. The yield strength of HY-30 steel is only 890 MPa. It has been produced for more than ten years. Over the years, the process has been perfected and the yield rate has been improved. very high.

 No problem, it will definitely be fine, no need to worry.

At this time, if Thomas confesses to Durant, there may be a turning point and joining forces with the Navy will make it easier to fool people. However, this also means that many things will be exposed to the Navy, and she may also be in big trouble, so , she still had a lucky mentality.

It was this mentality that left Thomas with absolutely no room for change and made the U.S. Navy lose face.

 NADCAP Laboratory.

 A large group of reporters put on testers' white coats and stood in front of the laboratory's testing equipment, holding cameras or video recorders in their hands, ready for interviews.

Durant walked in with Thomas with a smile on his face.

"Everyone, we have been tainted by Zhang Zhongshuo's program recently. We will use facts to prove how strong our steel is. We will finish the demonstration today and will file a lawsuit in court tomorrow to sue Zhang Zhongshuo's program for what it did to us. Slander and let them know that they can’t speak nonsense!”

Durant held a steel plate in his hand: "This is a piece of HY-130 steel that we took off the production line of the steel plant. It is an advanced martensitic steel. This steel has a high enough yield strength to Our submarines can dive to deeper places, so next we will show you the yield strength of our steel."

A staff member took the steel plate from Durant and placed it on the test equipment. This is a piece of equipment placed vertically. There are four metal columns on the four corners, which are also hydraulic cylinders. There are two test benches on the upper and lower sides. Place the steel on them and start the instrument. The hydraulic cylinder will provide a certain pressure and act on the steel to detect the compressive yield strength.

 As the machine started, everyone opened their eyes wide.

Originally, the data output of the test instrument was only for the microcomputer on the right, but in order to allow everyone to see it more clearly, an LCD TV was temporarily added to the wall. The screen is larger and the data is clearer.

 At this time, the numbers above are beating continuously.

 One hundred MPa, two hundred MPa... The pressure kept rising, and Thomas's heartbeat gradually accelerated.

 Seven hundred megapascals, eight hundred megapascals!

This has exceeded the yield strength of HY-100 steel. If this kind of steel is put up, it will snap. But now, the equipment continues to pressurize, and the steel is still stably withstanding the pressure!

 After exceeding 800 MPa, the increase in pressure began to slow down, gradually accumulating to a pressure of ten MPa, and later, to five MPa.   880 MPa, 885 MPa, 890 MPa!

Steel withstood the stress test!

"Everyone, this is our most advanced submarine steel. It can withstand a pressure of 890 MPa. This means that our submarine can dive to 800 meters or even thousands of meters! Our steel is the only Advanced steel based on titanium alloy! It is the best pressure hull material for submarines!" Thomas said excitedly.

Dongfang's submarines can dive to a depth of 600 meters, so of course they have to dive deeper. They will never know that this is Qin Tao's deep-diving lifeboat made of titanium alloy, deliberately imitating the noise of 091 to fool them. of.

They have to admit that no matter how good the steel is, it cannot compare with titanium alloy. However, apart from Lao Maozi, no other country in the world can build titanium alloy submarines. Therefore, their submarine technology in the United States is the most advanced.

“Excuse me, is the strength of 890 MPa very high? We heard that the pressure hull used by Dongfang submarine has reached a strength of 2200 MPa?” a reporter asked in confusion.

"Orientals are bragging!" Thomas, as a metallurgical expert, immediately refuted this statement: "This is a boring way to fool people who don't know how to do it. It cannot be believed at all! Their steel may be able to achieve this kind of yield. Strong, but certainly not for use on submarines!”

"Why?"

“Because the higher the strength, the lower the toughness.” Thomas introduced eloquently.

"We must first understand metals. Solid metals are all crystals. The atoms inside the crystals are arranged differently. Common steel crystal atoms are arranged into cubes, but the cubes are also different. Steel with a face-centered cubic arrangement is called austenitic Body, this kind of steel is very soft and has good ductility, so we use this kind of steel in stamping and other processes, but the strength of this kind of steel is not very high."

"If we rapidly quench austenitic steel, martensite will be formed. During this process, the atoms are rearranged into a body-centered cubic structure, so that irregular slip planes are formed between the atoms, which means that it will become hard. And as the temperature decreases, the thermal movement of atoms decreases, the ability of crystal dislocation movement further decreases, and the material becomes harder. Therefore, if we want to make high-strength steel, we must use martensitic steel, but, as I just said After that, as the strength increases, this steel will become brittle!”

"There may be 2200 MPa steel, but this kind of steel will be very, very, very brittle. Needless to say, if a submarine is built, it may break just by rolling it." Thomas used three "Very" words to emphasize. Emphasize this feature.

Everyone listened very carefully.

 After listening, the reporter just asked again: "So, will this happen to our HY-130 steel?"

“Of course not, our steel has been rigorously tested!”

 “Can you show us this test?”

 “Of course, no problem.” Thomas at this time had absolutely no idea how wrong this easy answer was.

The sample was taken out from the yield test device just now, and Durant raised it proudly: "Everyone has seen that the steel used in our navy's submarines is this advanced steel! It can withstand huge seawater Pressure allows our submarine to sail easily in the deep sea, and next, we go to impact the test machine."

 The most common method of measuring steel toughness is impact testing.

 Fix the steel sample on the anvil, and then hit the sample with the weight at the lower end of the pendulum. If the sample does not absorb the energy of the hammer, and if factors like friction, air resistance, etc. are not taken into account, then what does it mean that the pendulum ends at the same angle as it started? The toughness of the sample is 0!

 Different end angles of the pendulum can be converted into different degrees of toughness, indicating that the sample absorbs corresponding energy from the weight.

“Excuse me, can you lower the temperature of the sample? Not too much, for example, to zero?”

"Of course there is no problem." Thomas continued to nod easily. The Navy required to test the toughness at minus one hundred degrees Fahrenheit. Now it only tests the toughness at zero degrees Celsius. Of course there will be no problem. They are very confident in this test.

 The sample was placed in ice cubes and left to stand for a period of time. This is more intuitive and allows everyone to know that the steel has dropped to the same temperature as the ice cubes, and then was sent to the impact testing machine.

The weight is horizontal at ninety degrees, downwards, hitting the sample in front of everyone's eyes, and then swings back, rising and rising, and finally returns to the horizontal position.

 The test instrument shows: 88 degrees!

 Thomas was confused for a moment, how could this happen?

“Sorry, something unexpected happened during this test. We need to re-adjust the machine and then test again.” Thomas explained.

"No, there is no problem with the instruments in our NADCAP laboratory!" The person in charge of testing was immediately dissatisfied. I don't care what your steel is used for, and what the consequences will be if it fails. I only care about our laboratory. You say we There is a problem with the machine. Isn’t this slandering our laboratory?

“How about we readjust the equipment and test it again?” Durant said.

“No need to adjust, there is still the sample measured last time.” The inspector picked up another sample, inserted it into the machine, and restarted it.

　　Bang!

With a bang, the sample began to shake. The weight swung back about twenty degrees and then stopped.

“This is a leaf spring sent from the truck factory. It has first-class elasticity and the test results are fully qualified. The report is here.”

If it is other equipment, it may require debugging, but for this impact test machine, there is really no need for debugging. After all, it is just a pendulum. Some have high resistance, resulting in a small swing angle. Now that the swing angle is so high, what can be done? question?

 Durant’s words are useless. The NADCAP laboratory is a first-class laboratory in the United States, and of course it has its own pride.

 Now, the situation is deadlocked.

“Look, there seems to be a crack on the surface of that sample!” At this moment, someone held up a camera to take a close-up of the sample. Unexpectedly, he saw the crack clearly in the lens and immediately shouted.

The guys looked over, and sure enough, a small crack appeared on the surface of the sample! Right at the point of impact!

Although it is only a small crack, it can already explain the problem!

In the yield strength test just now, although it withstood a strong pressure of 890 MPa, the toughness was insufficient. To put it simply, the sample was too brittle. After being cooled by ice cubes and hit by a heavy hammer, the result was that the steel It cracked!

Perhaps there is something wrong with the testing instrument, but the cracks in the steel cannot be ignored!

As the camera clicked, Thomas became anxious. He ran in front of the machine, blocked it with his body, and shouted loudly: "Don't shoot, don't shoot! The results of this experiment will not count!"

 However, reporters have found valuable news, so how could they let it go?

The reporter who asked the question left quietly with a smile on his face, and there was no need for the rest of the report. He had to hide himself to avoid trouble.

 The next day, all kinds of news were overwhelming.

 Severe technical problems occurred at the Tacoma Foundry, a famous high-strength steel production plant! The steel plates produced are substandard!

These steel plates have been used on four Virginia-class nuclear submarines!

These steels will become brittle at zero degrees Celsius!

The reason is, of course, because this is martensitic steel. As the temperature decreases, the ability of crystal dislocations to move decreases!

This kind of professional terminology that Thomas introduced to everyone was put into the media, but they used this terminology on themselves!

Amid this turbulent wave, the U.S. Navy had to launch an investigation. Such an investigation suddenly became even more frightening.

 It turns out that the data is really falsified, and the falsification not only occurs in HY-130 steel, but also in other steel materials! Since 1985, data falsification has begun. All eight Los Angeles-class, three Seawolf-class, and four Virginia-class attack nuclear submarines are unqualified. Especially in cold areas, the pressure hull will become brittle. From then on, From now on, their submarines must not go near the North Pole!

 (End of this chapter)