"Add more ingredients!" Wang Yingxuan said loudly again.
The workers added iron-manganese alloy to the red-hot molten steel. This was done to remove the pores in the steel during the reaction and because the reaction was too intense and all the carbon was removed, so what was actually smelted was wrought iron, so a little carbon had to be added to the steel.
"The furnace is on!" Finally, Wang Yingxuan suppressed his excitement and shouted in a trembling voice.
The workers worked together to rotate the huge gears on both sides and used the new crane to slowly tilt the converter. When the converter tilted to a certain angle, a stream of hot water flowed out from the furnace mouth, so brilliant that it was impossible to look directly at it.
The molten steel flows vertically into the cold iron ingot mold. The mold expands when heated, and the molten steel shrinks when solidified, so there is no need to worry about sticking together. After cooling, the mold is turned upside down and knocked, and steel of various shapes will fall off the mold.
Zhu Shimao and the others finally put their hearts back into their stomachs. My goodness, this is too exciting...
~~
Everyone went outside to drink cold drinks, take a shower, and change clothes. When they came back in, the researcher handed the steel bar, which was as thick as three fingers, to Mr. Zhao, Director Wang, and Wang Yu, the chairman of Jiangnan Steel.
Wang Yu has been dealing with steel for half his life. His family's original Wangji Steel Works in Wuhu was the most advanced steelmaking plant in the entire Ming Dynasty and even in the world at that time. Although he has seen too many amazing things about the 01 Institute over the years, he still can't believe that steel can be made by just bragging. It's more like bragging...
In Wang Yu's heart, steel is sacred and is forged through thousands of hammers. Even the most advanced technology today has to go through the entire process of melting iron ore to get pig iron, refining pig iron to get wrought iron, and then carburizing to get steel.
The first two steps are easy, just start with the blast furnace, the output is large and it is not too troublesome, but steelmaking is very arduous.
It takes six or seven days for the bar iron to become high-carbon carburized steel, but at this time the bar iron only contains carbon on the surface, and the inside is the same as before. If it is used to produce high-quality steel for sword blades, craftsmen need to keep hammering and folding carburized in the forge until the carburized steel layer reaches the required thickness.
All the processes require a lot of fuel and skilled workers, and the cost is extremely high. That is why "steel" is so sacred and noble in the minds of blacksmiths. How can it come out directly from a blast furnace like iron smelting?
Is that reasonable? Is steel still worthy of respect? Is it still valuable?
While he was daydreaming, Wang Yingxuan was trying hard with both hands to bend the steel bar, but no matter how hard he tried, there was no sign of it bending.
Lao Wang grabbed the steel bar with both hands and smashed it against an iron ingot beside him. Sparks flew, but the steel bar did not break as before, nor did it deform.
This shows that the sulfur content and carbon content should be qualified.
Wang Yingxuan showed no joy, because steel with high phosphorus content will significantly increase its strength. But phosphorus is more harmful, it will reduce the plasticity and toughness of steel and make it cold brittle. It is because the phosphorus in the steel cannot be removed that the 01 Institute has been stuck in the same place for so many years.
Although in theory, since iron ore does not contain phosphorus, steel should also not contain phosphorus. But Lao Wang has been disappointed so many times over the years that he has become extremely cautious.
He also had someone take a piece of newly smelted steel and put two bricks on each end of it, and then hit it hard with a sledgehammer.
With loud bangs, the steel was slightly bent each time by the hammer, and then bounced back to its original shape without any signs of breaking or shattering.
As he kept beating, Wang Yingxuan couldn't help but burst into tears.
Because this shows that the phosphorus content in the steel is also qualified, otherwise it would not have such toughness...
Seeing this scene, Wang Yu opened his mouth in shock. But he still refused to accept it, and called another guard over to draw a steel knife to chop the steel bar in his hand.
The knife chopped down, sparks flew, and the steel knife left a faint white mark on the steel bar. Wang Yu simply took the knife and chopped the same spot repeatedly.
Until the blade of the steel knife bent, the white mark on the steel bar only became bigger and deeper, and it was not a big deal.
Obviously the hardness is also qualified.
The strength, hardness, toughness and elasticity are all qualified...isn't that steel?
"Is it really steel?" Wang Yu was stunned.
"Based on these characteristics, it should be high-carbon steel with a carbon content greater than 0.8 parts per thousand." Wang Yingxuan suppressed his excitement and said, "But we still need to conduct tests to get the exact carbon content!"
"Then why are you still standing there? Go quickly!" Zhao Hao patted his shoulder.
"Okay, I'll go right away!" Wang Yingxuan immediately took the samples and ran next door. In order to facilitate testing, he also brought the equipment with him.
In fact, the carbon content can be estimated by metallographic observation under a microscope, but quantitative calculation using chemical methods is obviously more rigorous.
The principle of the chemical method is very simple. The steel sample powder is burned at high temperature in sufficient oxygen to convert all its carbon elements into carbon dioxide. Then the carbon dioxide is absorbed by potassium hydroxide solution, and the volume of carbon dioxide is measured. Then its mass is calculated, and the carbon content of the steel powder can be calculated.
It sounds simple, but with the help of Institute 01 and Institute 04, it took a lot of effort to figure out the equipment and procedures for this set of tests.
Finally the test results came out, the carbon content was about 9/1000, which is completely the "steel" in the traditional sense!
Upon hearing the news, the researchers at Institute 01 cheered enthusiastically. Everyone jumped, shouted, and hugged each other, crying and laughing.
The past eight years have been extremely difficult, but we have finally produced the first batch of qualified steel.
They threw the skinny Wang Yingxuan into the sky again and again. The emotions that everyone had been pent up for many years were finally released at this moment!
In fact, they wanted to abandon Master Zhao, but no one dared...
~~
Zhao Hao was also very happy. He had people set off a full 100,000 firecrackers to celebrate. All researchers were commended, promoted, and given bonuses! He also announced that this converter steelmaking method would be named the Wang Yingxuan Steelmaking Method!
Wang Yingxuan was very calm. He picked up the broken glasses from the ground, put them on and said, "We haven't mastered the phosphorus removal technology yet. I feel unworthy of this reward. Please take back the reward. I don't have the face to bear this name."
People in Guanzhong are honest and straightforward. Fortunately, most researchers have the same temperament, so it is not a problem to offend many people.
"Oh, that's wrong." Zhao Hao happily took the cigar handed to him by Zhu Shimao, took a puff and said, "Although every step we take forward is of great significance, this step is especially significant!"
Then he said to Zhu Yu: "Old Zhu, don't you think so?"
"Of course. Just this batch of steel produced in half an hour. We at Jiangnan Steel would need seven or eight days to smelt it. Not to mention the huge amount of manpower involved, we also have to use charcoal all the time..." Zhu Yu has now estimated that the cost of converter steel is one tenth of that of traditional methods, and its efficiency is so much higher.
He had no choice but to admit defeat, and he kept saying, "Young Master is truly amazing. I, Old Zhu, never dreamed that one day I would be able to forge steel like I can forge iron!"
"This shows that you lack imagination." Zhao Hao laughed and was in a very good mood.
"This is what you deserve. If you feel uneasy, it's very simple. Just keep working hard and figure out the phosphorus removal method, right?" He patted Wang Yingxuan on the shoulder and said:
"Can't you do it before we use up all the iron ore in Kaiping?"
"That's impossible." Lao Wang shook his head quickly. Actually, he already had an idea. But this kind of thing can't be rushed, it must take time and repeated experiments.
"That's it!" Zhao Hao laughed and said, "Let's call it Wang Yingxuan Steelmaking Method. That's it!"
~~
The success of converter steelmaking can be said to be his biggest breakthrough in the past ten years. It is more important than the Zhang Jian steam engine!
It’s not that Zhang Jian’s steam engine was not of great significance, but it was still many years away from the steam engine he really wanted.
Although converter steel has very strict requirements on iron ore, as long as the supply of phosphorus-free iron ore is guaranteed, qualified steel can be obtained!
This is a world that only looks at results, and results are always more important than process.
The importance of steel cannot be overemphasized. The industrial process of almost all industrialized countries began with the Great Steel Production Campaign. Without large quantities of high-quality and low-cost steel, there would be no mechanical production, and no industrial revolution!
Even before the Industrial Revolution, the importance of steel was unparalleled. Its role as the most important industrial and military material cannot be overstated.
And what Zhao Hao is refining now is steel!
Think about it, steel cannons and steel guns can be arranged. You can also put steel armor on warships, or even directly build ironclad ships!
Well, let’s wait for the steam engine for the ironclad ship…
But railroad tracks can be laid all over the world without waiting for trains! The load capacity of a horse-drawn tram is several times that of a trackless tram, and it is faster and more labor-saving!
Tools and wooden machines can also be made of steel. Only when tools and machines made of steel are used for production can standardization be achieved...
Not to mention bridges, tall buildings, barbed wire and the like.
Uh, that’s wishful thinking… Young Master Zhao wiped the saliva from his mouth and smiled bitterly. Just thinking about what he had imagined, he was afraid that the production capacity would not be achieved even in ten or twenty years.
Alas, we still have to keep our feet on the ground and work hard!
He glanced at Wang Yu and said with a smile, "How about it, are you interested in becoming the head of this coal and steel consortium?"
"Of course I'm interested!" Wang Yu agreed immediately, "Even if you don't tell me, I'll still be willing to take the initiative!"
He said with a wry smile: "After seeing the converter steelmaking method here, I can no longer read the previous methods. I can't go back, I really can't go back..."
"It's right that we can't go back. We just need to stride forward. The further we go, the better!" Zhao Hao said proudly: "Let our descendants live in a world of steel!"
"Young Master is so romantic..." Old Wang and Old Wang were so shocked by what Zhao Hao described that they burst into tears.
Zhu Shimao and others disagreed. What good is there in a world of steel? How can it be as beautiful as mountains, rivers and countryside when it is gray and rusty?
However, the mountains, rivers and countryside are vulnerable to the world of steel...
ps. It's another day when no one helps to look after the kids... two beasts. No more tonight, but it will be fine tomorrow, the little one is going to kindergarten. I'll try to make up for today's missed time.