Capítulo 1772: Chapter 1751: Popular Science
Rostotsky looked at Gao Yang and slowly said, “So, what is the real bargaining chip that’s useful to you? It’s basic materials.”
Gao Yang really didn’t understand these things. He curiously said, “Basic materials?”
Rostotsky nodded and said, “That’s right, when it cos to materials, for a country, especially an industrial country, basic materials are the most important, especially tallic basic materials. These are the industrial foundation of a country. High-end equipnt manufacturing is the industrial crown of a country, but you need materials to make this crown.”
Gao Yang nodded with a hint of understanding, while Rostotsky continued with a smile, “Huaxia has developed very fast in recent years, and the research progress on gas turbines is also not slow. However, there is still a need to import so key components from Ukraine, why is that?”
Gao Yang shook his head, indicating he didn’t understand.
Rostotsky smiled and said, “Because there is a lack of basic technology at certain key points. The basic materials industry requires significant investnt and long-term research to achieve so results. Having money to invest is one thing, but more importantly, it takes ti, and those who don’t understand might not see the outcos. They believe it’s an insignificant industry. Huaxia has developed rapidly these years, and theoretically, Huaxia could use reverse engineering technology to create any complex equipnt, like the aircraft engines that have been troubling its developnt for years. But why does Huaxia face such challenges?”
Gao Yang softly said, “I truly don’t know the important role of basic materials because I didn’t understand it before.”
Rostotsky laughed, “Let give you an example. Once, I was tasked with obtaining so key technology from an Arican engine. Finally, we managed to get a turbofan engine and handed it over to one of our institutions for reverse engineering research. At that ti, the direction of technological developnt was very clear: on fighter jets, turbofan engines would replace turbojet engines. So the engine I was tasked to bring back was highly valued. They replicated the engine, but do you know what the result was?”
“What was the result?”
Rostotsky shook his head, slightly helpless, “They perfectly replicated that engine, but the power of the engine was two levels below the original. Why? Because the rotor material of the turbofan wasn’t up to standard, because the strength of the turbine blade material wasn’t sufficient to withstand ultra-high temperatures and pressure. Full power output would cause damage, and only by actively reducing the output power could it barely be used. But its performance was still two levels below the original.”
Gao Yang nodded and said loudly, “So that’s how it is! But since the physical object is obtained, shouldn’t it work to make it with the sa material? Isn’t tallurgical analysis not that difficult? I don’t understand this, so please don’t laugh.”
A few Black Demons all laughed.
Glewatov laughed and said, “It’s not like that; it’s not as simple as you think.”
Rostotsky laughed, “Let explain, with such high-end tal materials, even if you obtain the physical object and can analyze the specific components, even using the sa materials, you still can’t achieve the sa effect.”
Rostotsky gestured to Glewatov, “Give a piece of paper and a pen, and I’ll explain it to him.”
After getting the paper and pen, Rostotsky sketched on the paper and smiled, “With the sa materials, different manufacturing processes and flows will produce completely different performance characteristics. For example, I’ll give the simplest example. A certain type of steel contains iron, nickel, chromium, tungsten, and manganese, just a few materials. You obtain the physical object, analyze it to know the components, but you don’t know when precisely tungsten should be added. Simply put, during a key casting stage, should all materials be added together? Or should nickel be added when the basic material iron reaches one thousand degrees Celsius, and then manganese at one thousand two hundred degrees, or should it be the opposite?”
Gao Yang asked dumbfoundedly, “Is it that crucial?”
Rostotsky nodded, “Yes, it’s very crucial, extrely crucial. A small difference could lead to vastly different material performance. Research in basic materials is without mistakes; one direction’s failure might an success in another. Sotis, a material with superior performance might just result from luck, purely luck leading to the discovery and use of a brand new material.”
Gao Yang sighed, “It’s so complicated.”
Rostotsky laughed, “It’s really complicated. This requires long-term investnt with no output for an extended period, and it also demands a large amount of funding. Honestly, research into basic materials, especially high-end basic materials, is like burning money.”
Glewatov said blandly, “So material used in aircraft engines consists of at least dozens of alloys, and so component quantities are less than one in a ten thousandth. But lacking this material, the performance discrepancy is imdiate. So unless you can get hold of all the production information related to this material, you can only achieve similar performance materials. As for identical ones? That’s impossible. They might be better or worse than the original. Why? Because it involves another significant area, which is the level of manufacturing process, the refinent level—it involves a series of issues, very complex.”
Rostotsky laughed, “So, no matter how fast Huaxia develops, no matter how wealthy it is, sotis it also gets restrained by seemingly trivial problems. Because once it involves high-end basic materials, you can only slowly research, slowly test, little by little. And this requires ti.”
Glewatov said with a blank expression, “Like the service life of Soviet fighter jet engines was one thousand hours, while Arican engines reached more than ten thousand hours. This is due to a different understanding of warfare and different concepts of equipnt use and research. But if it were possible to increase the service life without it being too costly, of course, we would want to extend the major overhaul intervals and increase the service life. But we can’t—our materials are inferior to Arica’s. However, the Soviet Union surpassed Arica in the application of titanium alloys. For example, using titanium alloys to build nuclear submarines. Is Arican national power inferior to the Soviet? Is Arican technology not advanced enough? Neither, they just haven’t found the right path. Perhaps one day, they’ll suddenly succeed because they’ve made a breakthrough.”
Gao Yang nodded repeatedly and said, “Thank you for the enlightennt, now I understand. So, I should make a move in this area?”
Rostotsky nodded, “That’s right, you should pay attention to this area, and you’re very fortunate because I can tell you which things in Ukraine are genuinely good, especially those suitable for you.”
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