"Professor Lü, I think we can lower our requirements a bit."
“1000Gpa, this tensile strength is extremely difficult to achieve.”
"If you feel that small space elevators are insufficient for transportation needs, we can certainly build more, can't we?"
Wei Rong earnestly and patiently persuaded him.
Lu Yongchang stared blankly at the carbon nanotubes in front of him.
After a long silence, he suddenly spoke up: "That makes sense."
Before Wei Rong could even show a hint of joy, Lü Yongchang continued, "That's right, single-walled carbon nanotubes won't work!"
Wei Rong: "???"
He looked at Lü Yongchang with a puzzled expression.
Is this what he just said?
As for Lü Yongchang, he seemed to have misunderstood the puzzled look on Wei Rong's face: "Don't you understand?"
"It's very simple. Even with the most ideal structure, a single-walled carbon nanotube can only achieve a tensile strength of 800 GPa under the best conditions, which is definitely not enough!"
"We need to start with multi-layered walls!"
"Considering the reduction in tensile strength caused by the preparation process, purity, and spinning method..."
"To be on the safe side, we need to increase the tensile strength of a single carbon nanotube to over 1500 GPa!!"
carbon nanotubes
Wei Rong stared blankly at Lü Yongchang, then slapped his smooth forehead.
So Professor Lü didn't listen to a word I said just now?!
A hint of urgency flashed in his eyes: "But, Professor, the theoretical calculations for multi-walled carbon nanotubes are too complex. We simply don't know its upper limit in GPa!"
Lü Yongchang chuckled softly.
"Doesn't this just demonstrate the extreme plasticity of multi-walled carbon nanotubes?"
Wei Rong: "..."
Is that even possible?!
After some debate, Lü Yongchang unilaterally declared Wei Rong's arguments invalid.
So, Wei Rong "excitedly" started working as Lü Yongchang's assistant.
...
"Wei Rong, can you take a look at sample number 56?"
Without looking up, Lü Yongchang said, "I remember they were all arranged in a zigzag pattern."
At the microscopic level, the atoms of single-walled carbon nanotubes can be arranged in different ways.
Serrated, hand-shaped, and armchair-shaped.
The carbon nanotubes produced by these three arrangements also have different tensile strengths.
As for multi-walled carbon nanotubes...
There are countless ways to arrange them.
After all, two-walled carbon nanotubes are multi-layered, and two-hundred-walled carbon nanotubes are also multi-layered.
What Lü Yongchang and his team are doing now is... the simplest and most basic method.
Exhaustive search method.
To put it simply, it's about trying them one by one.
By continuously experimenting with permutations and combinations, and then analyzing and calculating the data to find the patterns, the most suitable multi-layer wall arrangement can be precisely determined.
It sounds simple, but it's actually quite difficult.
Even with the help of the entire research team at Zero and One Lab, the experiment progressed relatively slowly.
"They're here!"
Wei Rong's voice grew louder as he approached, accompanied by a series of hurried footsteps.
A few minutes later.
"Oh, what a pity."
"The tensile strength is only 50 GPa, which is unqualified."
Lu Yongchang nodded calmly, then said softly, "Remember to enter the data for me. Zero needs a large number of samples for analysis."
Wei Rong nodded silently, standing beside Lü Yongchang, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopping himself.
"What's wrong?"
The moment Lü Yongchang caught a glimpse of Wei Rong out of the corner of his eye, he asked in a low voice, without pausing his work.
Upon hearing Lü Yongchang's question, Wei Rong sighed softly, a hint of bitterness in his eyes.
"Professor Lü, we've already processed over 80 samples, but..."
"To date, we have not discovered a single carbon nanotube with a tensile strength exceeding 100 GPa. I'm wondering if we've chosen the wrong direction?"
Without pausing his hands, Lü Yongchang shook his head slightly and said decisively, "No, my intuition tells me the direction is absolutely right!"
"Believe me!"
As he spoke, a barely perceptible glint of green flashed in Lü Yongchang's eyes, even though his back was to Wei Rong.
The direction is definitely not wrong.
Even before the experiment officially began, Lü Yongchang had verified his chosen research direction through the "hints" of the technology tree system.
The results are obvious: multi-walled carbon nanotubes are definitely the right direction.
At the very least, its potential as a cable material for space elevators is enormous!
Lu Yongchang's confident words eased some of Wei Rong's worries.
As a former academician of the Xia Guo Academy of Sciences, Wei Rong had long heard the "legends" of some top researchers who completed research tasks by relying on their research intuition.
He didn't really believe this "story" at first.
But he never expected that this scene would actually unfold before his eyes.
Although Wei Rong still didn't quite believe in this so-called scientific intuition, he could only swallow his words with a wry smile when he thought of Lü Yongchang's past achievements.
Holy crap!
A shout filled with surprise came from afar.
Wei Rong frowned slightly and asked in a deep voice, "Xiao Wang, what's going on?!"
"Remember to maintain order in the lab!"
The researcher, referred to as Xiao Wang, was filled with shock. He pointed to the experimental table in front of him and stammered, "Academician Wei, please come and take a look at this sample!"
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