Research starts with PhD students

Chapter 267 Research Completed! Zhang Shuo: A few tons a day is no problem!

Factory 259 fully supports the construction of ion cannon-related components, which is a mandatory order issued by the higher authorities.

Ion cannon-related components refer to components other than electronic systems, radar docking equipment, and precision calibration systems, mainly including ion cluster manufacturing, circular accelerators, superconducting magnetic field equipment, launch port reactors, etc.

These parts, when assembled together, can be used to emit field force ion clusters on the ground to manufacture gold.

The reason for the mandatory order is naturally because making gold can make money.

Money is the most important thing.

The development of any field is supported by the economic foundation.

The ion cannon itself can greatly improve the level of military technology and directly enhance military strike capabilities, allowing the country to become the first across levels in areas such as air defense and space defense.

However, the improvement of military capabilities is not urgently needed.

Now that the international situation is relatively safe, the mass production and service of ion cannons can be delayed by one or two years, which will basically have no impact.

Even if ion cannons are not mass-produced and put into service, the international community knows that China's possession of ion cannon technology can form a direct deterrent.

The superiors have always thought so, and the mass production and service of the ion cannon will proceed according to the planned schedule.

Gold manufacturing is different.

It is a technology that directly creates money. With enough money, more support can be provided to various fields.

It is the same for a country and ordinary people.

If you have money, everything can be solved!
……

More than two months passed.

Zhang Shuo returned to the Source Point Theory Research Center once and worked steadily for about a month. After a theoretical breakthrough, he returned to the ion cannon R&D base.

Compared with two months ago, the R&D base has undergone great changes.

The R&D base originally had two ion cannon experimental equipment, one of which was not perfect and required the use of the other high-temperature ion cluster generator every time it was used.

Now there are two more ion cannons in the base, and each one is placed several kilometers apart, which means there are four "ion cannon launch sites".

Each of the four ion cannons has more 'key components'.

For example, the ion cluster ring accelerator. Each ion cannon is equipped with two ring accelerators in order to supply high-temperature ion clusters more efficiently.

Similarly, two metal ion cluster generators were also installed.

The same is true for other components.

In fact, the main limitations of ion cannon manufacturing are reactors and superconducting strong magnetic equipment.

The reactor is the 'launch port' and the 'reaction port' of the ion cannon.

The emission port allows the ion cluster to enter a special strong magnetic environment, which will cause a nuclear fission reaction, and then eject the reacting ion cluster. The process takes very little time, requires very precise control, and the materials required are also very special.

The reactor has high technical requirements and the manufacturing process is naturally very complicated.

Superconducting strong magnetic equipment requires precise control of the intensity of the released magnetic field. In addition, due to the special requirements of "superconductivity", the equipment is relatively easy to manufacture, but it takes a lot of time to ensure stability and debugging.

The manufacturing and debugging problems of these two devices limit the mass production of ion cannons, and are also the main problems that Factory 259 has to solve.

Although mass production has not yet been achieved, with the full support of Factory 259, the R&D base has added two more devices and many more key components in just two months.

When Zhang Shuo returned to the R&D base, Teacher Zhao and his team were also there.

They went to the four "ion cluster launch sites" together. Each launch site was newly built and separated from the original testing room and office area.

Liu Xu introduced the new equipment, as well as the past experiments, manufacturing and other issues. He mainly talked about manufacturing efficiency. "Now several ion cannon equipment can support a maximum of one launch every five minutes."

"This is not the highest efficiency yet. We estimate that the maximum launch rate is once every half a minute, but we need four ion cluster accelerators."

"But for gold manufacturing, it doesn't need to be so efficient. The most important thing is sustainability. We have been testing sustainability during the manufacturing process."

"For now, four hours of operation per day can be guaranteed."

Teacher Zhao listened and nodded, "Safety is still the most important thing. Don't ignore safety issues for the sake of production."

Liu Xu continued, "The problem of continued use is mainly on the reactor."

"The reactor must be safe to fire. It needs to be cleaned after each launch and also needs cooling maintenance."

"Another issue is electricity, which is a big limitation for now."

The electricity problem has been solved.

In addition to pulling in two new lines, it is also planned to build a power plant in the surrounding area to supply the ion cannon research and development base.

Liu Xu continued to introduce and also talked about the data problem. "Now the number of launches per day is about 200, and about kilograms of gold are produced."

"It was like this last week. It's about average efficiency."

“However, as the number of devices increases, manufacturing efficiency will definitely continue to improve.”

He also takes great pride in talking about manufacturing efficiency.

In the past two months, the research and development base has produced nearly four tons of gold, and now produces more than one ton per week.

According to the international gold price, the base can create more than 100 million US dollars in wealth in one week.

The money comes in too fast.

Liu Xu was very proud when he spoke of this. He had never imagined that as an engineering technician who was developing advanced weapons, he would actually be engaged in the mass production of gold.

Although it is only temporary, the work content will definitely be adjusted as the base expands.

However, creating so much gold every day makes me feel very happy.

Although it's not my own...

Teacher Zhao said, "This place will become a gold production base in the future."

"The research related to the ion cannon will be relocated to other areas, but the relocation will not be too far because they are all related."

"The research on the ion cannon is almost finished. The next step should be to improve the stability of the technology, right?"

He looked at Zhang Shuo. Zhang Shuo said, "It's hard to support it in theory. The ion cannon can hit the satellite in a few seconds. As for the technical improvement, it can only be used in other places."

"For example, large aircraft carriers may be able to install ion cannons in the future, but this will require a smaller size and reduced strength."

Miniaturization and strength reduction have only one purpose:

Reduced energy requirements.

The energy demand of the ion cannon is still very large. Whether it is ion cluster manufacturing, superconducting strong magnets, or circular accelerators, they all require a large amount of electricity support.

Even the generators on an aircraft carrier cannot supply such high power.

Therefore, the research direction of ion cannon technology is miniaturization and reducing strength requirements.

After talking about ion cannon technology, the topic quickly turned to gold manufacturing.

The current manufacturing efficiency of the R&D base is several tons of gold every month. In the future, new equipment will continue to be assembled, the base will continue to be expanded, and the manufacturing speed will continue to increase.

Liu Xu fancied, "In the future, the expanded base will greatly increase the manufacturing speed. Now it is more than one ton per week, and it would be great if we can produce several tons per day in the future."

"It would be best if we could produce dozens of tons a day..."

Teacher Zhao smiled and said, "As long as we continue to expand production, we may be able to achieve it, but it will take a long time."

"If we can produce a few tons a day, it will have a significant impact on the international market. If we produce dozens of tons a day, gold will depreciate rapidly, right?"

“But by then, the scale will be very large.”

He said, shaking his head.

There are only four ion cannons, and the power supply can't keep up.

Even if the scale is expanded tenfold, only about two tons of gold can be produced every day. A power plant may not be able to supply it, and other supporting facilities will find it difficult to keep up.

That must be a few years later.

When Mr. Zhao and Liu Xu were imagining the future together, Zhang Shuo suddenly said, "Perhaps we can produce dozens of tons a day in the future."

“But if it’s a few tons, it’ll be fine soon.”

"what?"

Teacher Zhao, Liu Xu and others all looked over immediately.

Zhang Shuo said, "I came here this time because I made a breakthrough in theoretical research and obtained several sets of new data through calculations."

Then he looked at Liu Xu and said, "You can try it out."

Before Liu Xu could say anything, the others started chattering, "There's new data!"

"Is it better than the current one? Can the manufacturing efficiency be improved?"

“When will the experiment be?”

Liu Xu waved his hand and said loudly, "We can start the experiment right away."

"Our No. 2 prototype is prepared for experiments!"

"Today!"

……

The research has been completed.

The theoretical basis for producing gold by nuclear fission technology is mainly to study the efficient production of gold.

After submitting the task, Zhang Shuo had a clear understanding of the content, and based on this, he further understood the manifestation of strong force. He also used this to conduct a mathematical analysis of strong force.

The latter took quite some time.

In the technical direction of gold element manufacturing, calculations were mainly made based on theoretical foundations, and several sets of 'usable data' were obtained.

Available means 'can be achieved'.

The so-called "high-efficiency manufacturing" in theory may not be realized in reality, mainly because the ion cluster intensity required for "high efficiency" is very high.

In general, the gold manufacturing efficiency is positively correlated with the elemental reaction rate of the target material.

There is a positive correlation between element reaction rates, nature and ion cluster strength.

Of course, the overall picture is just a trend.

For the 'available data', specific calculations are still required.

After the visit, Zhang Shuo handed over several sets of data files to Liu Xu and asked them to conduct experimental tests separately.

Liu Xu said that the experiment could be carried out on the same day, but in reality it had to wait until the next day because the equipment components had to be adjusted numerically for different parameters and new debugging was also required.

The second day's experiment was conducted on machine number two.

The experimental process is to launch ion clusters to hit the target material according to new parameters.

Two target materials were selected this time, one is a mercury compound with added impurities, and the other is a high-purity lead compound.

The two materials are placed close together, and when the nuclear fission reaction occurs, most of the materials will be within the range of influence.

Teacher Zhao and Zhang Shuo were chatting together in the office of the main base.

The office building is seven kilometers away from Unit 2's ion cannon launch site, which is safe enough to ensure even if something goes wrong.

"How was the experiment this time? What's the estimate?"

Teacher Zhao is very interested in the results and is looking forward to it.

If the efficiency of single-time gold manufacturing can be improved, the overall efficiency will be greatly improved, which will reduce the cost of gold manufacturing and greatly shorten the time of "large-scale gold manufacturing".

Zhang Shuo said, "It's not clear exactly, we still have to wait and see the results of the experiment."

He added calmly, "But I estimate it to be between 10 kilograms and 100 kilograms."

"Increasing it tenfold should be no problem."

(End of this chapter)