Chapter 1089 The results of the auditions that made people laugh and cry.
The Han tribe actually had quite a few copper mines. The nearest one was the Babaoshan copper mine. A little further away, in the sandbar area in the middle reaches of the Liuyang River, where the raccoon tribe that raised cats was originally found, there was also a copper mine, but the Han tribe had not yet developed power there, so it had not been mined.
To the north, in Heyuan County controlled by Youye, he had previously reported that there was also a copper mine, and he had organized mining and smelting, but later Luo Chong ordered the mine to be closed and no more mining was carried out.
Finally, at the far southern end of the continent, on Qiongzhou Island, there was also a huge copper mine, which had been mined for many years by the former Xin tribe. Now that the Han tribe has taken over, it is currently only mining a small amount, which is actually not very useful.
The only place where the Han tribe currently has a long-term and stable supply of copper mines is the Babaoshan mine in Liuyang County, and the copper produced by this copper mine must also supply the copper consumption of the entire tribe.
The biggest copper consumption item is the currency of the Han tribe. Now we have to add the consumption of weapons and ammunition. Even if the Han tribe uses the technology of bullet reloading and saving shells, the reserve of ammunition cannot be too low. The bullet warhead also needs brass armor. Although there is not much copper in this part, it is basically impossible to recycle.
You can still pick up the shell, but where can you find the warhead?
In addition, there are copper parts needed for various machines. Although this part is not much, there is a certain demand.
Now let the Han tribe use bronze to build an industrial production line at once. Just think about how huge the amount of copper consumed is.
This is still the current situation of the Han tribe. If the Han tribe opens the electric power era and uses a large number of copper wires, the consumption of copper will increase by more than ten times in a short period of time.
If you want to open the electric power era and use a large number of copper wires, you must not only save money, but also open up new sources to meet the supply.
It is inevitable to mine new copper mines, and at the same time, you must save money before consumption. At that time, the Han tribe is likely to directly issue paper currency and gradually recycle and eliminate the original metal currency, which will be more conducive to development.
But temporarily, it is impossible in a short time. We should focus on the current difficulties and solve the problems of brewery production first.
Luo Chong asked the institute to use copper-plated production line at the beginning, mainly considering the problem of rust. Ordinary carbon steel is easy to rust, and container-type mechanical equipment is used to produce food and beverages, so you can't paint the inside of these mechanical containers. In addition, beer is liquid, and rust is an inevitable result under long-term contact.
So Luo Chong wants to use more stable copper to solve the problem, but the copper production of the Han tribe is not enough, so now we can only think of other ways.
In fact, the best choice for production line equipment in the food industry is not copper utensils, but stainless steel. The biggest advantage of stainless steel is its stable chemical properties.
However, stainless steel is just a general term. There are more than 100 types of alloy steel that can be called stainless steel, but the basic components are only those few types. The correct written name of stainless steel should be acid-resistant steel, that is, steel that is not easily corroded and has stable chemical properties.
The simplest and easiest one to be made by the Han tribe is chromium-iron alloy steel. This stainless steel is just adding about % of metal chromium to normal carbon steel. The properties of metal chromium are very stable under natural conditions and are not easily corroded. However, the mineral reserves under natural conditions are not very large, and they usually do not exist in the form of a single mineral deposit. Most of them exist in the form of associated minerals.
For example, just like the manganese iron mine in Taigang County of the Tang tribe, there is also a composite iron ore called chromite, which poses great difficulties for the geological detection of the Han tribe.
However, we cannot give up directly when there are difficulties. Luo Chong originally planned to start large-scale development of the food industry after moving to the south in the fall. As a result, he has just built a brewery and encountered such great resistance and difficulties. If there is no stainless steel, how can we develop in the future?
So no matter how difficult it is, the Han tribe must develop stainless steel.
After making up his mind, Luo Chong left the brewery. He first went home to think carefully. After making a plan, he set off again to the research institute in Xingang County and called Dali and Lin Fei over.
"Chief." Lin Fei greeted him as soon as he arrived.
Luo Chong waved his hand indifferently and asked directly, "I heard that the production line of the brewery encountered difficulties. We don't have such a large chemical copper plating reactor, right? And you want to use bronze alloy to produce equipment, but the copper output is not enough?"
Lin Fei heard what Luo Chong said, and he no longer concealed it, so he replied, "Yes, everyone is very worried now, but we have received a report from the members of the capping machine team yesterday, saying that the leader intends to develop a new steel to make production equipment. Is this true?"
"Of course." Luo Chong nodded and said with certainty.
"As the top metal machinery research and development institution in the Han tribe, I think your knowledge of metal properties and applications should also be the best in the tribe, so you should know that steel is actually an alloy made of iron as the main material.
"Carbon steel is sharp, cheap, and suitable for daily use. The molybdenum steel you just developed has better heat resistance and higher hardness. So, from this, you should be able to see that as long as we add various metals to the alloy steel, we can get special steel with corresponding properties?
"So I have a new idea now. Is it possible to develop a new type of alloy steel with very stable chemical properties, which generally does not react with acids and alkalis, and is not easily corroded by oxygen? In simple terms, it is steel that will not rust. We can temporarily call it stainless steel!"
Dali and Lin Fei's eyes lit up after hearing this. 'Stainless steel'! If this kind of thing can really be made, it is indeed a good thing. You know, just this one will not rust, or it is not easy to rust, can solve many problems that could not be solved before, or problems that were solved before but are now simpler.
However, what metal should be fused with iron to make stainless steel?
This is the fundamental problem, because no one knows.
Luo Chong seemed to be able to see what they were thinking, so he listened to Luo Chong continue.
"It doesn't matter if we can't find the corresponding special metal. We can cast a wide net and conduct an experimental audition. Even if we may not be able to make stainless steel, we can find more other metals and more steels with special properties in the experiment. That is also a good thing. Things that are not used now may be used one day. Don't you think so?"
Lin Fei and Dali both nodded. Luo Chong's words made sense. This alloy steel project could even be set as a long-term research direction. Although they didn't know what they had discovered, the process of discovery was a process of accumulation. The things they developed would be useful sooner or later. However, they still had no direction in their minds, or they didn't know where to start.
At this time, Luo Chong said again, "We can try to find it in iron mines or around iron mines in various places. I have a feeling that this new metal must be a composite iron mine like the manganese iron mine in Taigang County of the Tang tribe. Manganese steel is harder and more brittle, suitable for making rails for heavy-duty trains. So why is there no new type of composite iron mine with this kind of chemically stable and non-corrosive steel?"
"Then, where should we look for it, chief? Should we look for it in the existing iron mines in the Han tribe?" Dali asked, still a little confused.
"Yes, not only the iron mines that the Han tribe is mining now, but also the iron mines that have been discovered but not mined yet, including the iron mines you are mining and smelting. In fact, you can't guarantee that there are really no other metals in them. For example, those slags, can you be sure that there are no other metal components left in them?" Luo Chong said.
Dali and Lin Fei nodded again. They understood what Luo Chong said. For example, the slag discharged from the blast furnace, let alone other special metals, even iron cannot be completely refined. There must be iron in it.
And if there is a metal with a melting point higher than iron, then the possibility of it being left in the slag and discharged together will be very high. However, iron smelting is usually too busy, so who has the time to care about the slag?
Even many of the slags of the Han tribe are now mostly towed away for road construction.
In fact, Luo Chong knew the basic composition of stainless steel. In addition to the main iron, there is also metal chromium, which is the most basic. Steel without chromium is generally not called stainless steel. However, this is a relatively low-end stainless steel. Stainless steel with better quality should also add a certain proportion of nickel, which is also one of the main materials of stainless steel.
Stainless steel with added nickel has a characteristic, that is, it is whiter than ordinary steel, and the polishing performance is slightly worse. It is not as bright as other stainless steels, and the reflective performance is poor. Unlike other stainless steels, after a little polishing, the surface can be used as a mirror.
Stainless steel with added nickel is generally grayish white, not bright silver.
However, the Han tribe does not need this high-end thing. Ordinary stainless steel with a chromium content of less than 15% is enough to meet the needs of various food industries.
This kind of steel is resistant to acid and alkali, heat and high temperature. Even if it is used as a steam pot, it is not easily corroded by high-temperature steam. This is completely sufficient in the food and beverage industry.
Of course, if stainless steel with higher temperature resistance is needed, it must be both corrosion-resistant and high-temperature resistant. For example, to make fan blades for steam turbines, a certain amount of molybdenum can be added to chromium-containing stainless steel, so that the dual characteristics of high-temperature resistance and corrosion resistance can be met.
Among the metals in nature, tungsten has the highest melting point, so it is also the metal with the best high-temperature resistance. Chromium is the metal with the highest hardness in nature. It can not only be used to make stainless steel, but also to chrome-plate the inner bore of gun barrels to increase the service life of gun barrels.
The current design life of the gun barrels of the Han tribe is 10,000 rounds of bullets, while the life of chrome-plated gun barrels is generally more than 20,000 rounds of bullets. This is the value of chromium, so Luo Chong is also very interested in finding this metal.
After a brief discussion between Lin Fei, Dali, and Luo Chong, Luo Chong immediately gave orders to the county governors in various places, asking them to mine some specimens from the known iron ore mining areas in their jurisdictions. Even if it was the same mine, they had to take samples from different locations and then send them to Liuyang County. Then they would take them to the comprehensive research institute on the lake island for testing to see if there were any other metals besides the known metals.
In addition, the blast furnace slag in Xingang County also needed to be sampled and selected.
As for the previous tasks at the brewery, they would be put on hold for the time being, but the basic design would still have to continue. If there were no materials, they would look for suitable materials, but the design work must not stop, so that once the Han tribe developed stainless steel, it could be quickly manufactured and the brewery would not be delayed for too long.
Also, at the brewery site, the factory building that should be built would continue to be built. Equipment was a problem, and the building must be built first to avoid procrastination, which might turn into an unfinished project in the end.
Luo Chong's order was quickly issued, and all places received this task, collecting specimens from various iron mines within the Han tribe's sphere of influence, and then sending them to Liuyang County for testing.
Everyone didn't know what testing meant, but they understood the task of finding iron ore. In their opinion, the leader must want to make new metal materials again, and it was related to steel, otherwise it would be impossible to give such an order.
For a while, all places were busy. Dashu, on behalf of the Han tribe, got some iron ore specimens from Taigang County of the Tang tribe, and then loaded them on the Feiyu Express to Luo Chong.
In the middle and lower reaches of the Liuyang River, You Fu also received this news. He directly asked people to mine specimens from the hematite mine near the Baiwu tribe, and noted the specific location of the mining, and then loaded them on the ship to Luo Chong.
In Xingang County, Dali and Lin Fei were not idle either, and because they had first-hand resources, it was more convenient for them to do testing, because the chemical team of the comprehensive research institute that helped them develop molybdenum steel alloys had not left here yet, and they could participate in this work at any time.
It's no wonder that hard work pays off. After half a month of screening and searching, Dali and his team really found a metal with characteristics that matched what Luo Chong said. It
was indeed found in the slag, but it was not the slag from the iron ore blast furnace in Xingang County, but the slag from a blast furnace in the mint on the lake island.
This is a furnace specially used to melt lead. Because of its high pollution and toxicity, Luo Chong placed it in the swamp. As a result, after all the units related to metal smelting received the news, the mint finally realized that they had found unmelted metal in the slag.
Luo Chong didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he received the news. He never thought that the lead mine in Xingang County would be a chrome-lead mine.
(End of this chapter)
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