Xiaomi Heavy Industry, its first entrepreneurial venture!

Chapter 147 Hand-made Batteries! (Third Update!)

After clutching the train ticket in her hand for a while, Ji Shuangshuang sighed, took out her phone, found Lin Yi's number, dialed it, and then dragged her luggage into the station.

The call connected, and Lin Yi's laughter immediately came through:

"Got home?"

"We've arrived!" Ji Shuangshuang replied jealously, then glanced back at the train station.

My dad's beat-up Passat has disappeared, leaving only a few people rushing to catch a bus in the middle of the night.

Turning her gaze away, she asked the person on the phone, "I'll arrive in Suzhou around 3 a.m., could you come pick me up?"

"Ok?"

Sensing Lin Yi's confusion, Ji Shuangshuang placed her right hand on her forehead, her voice filled with helplessness:
"As soon as I got home, a matchmaker came to the door. My mother thought she was too noisy, but she couldn't just kick her out. So, she simply brought up my core problem."

"It's the Lunar New Year, and I have nowhere to go for the time being, so I have to go back to the factory to work overtime."

After speaking pitifully, Ji Shuangshuang received no comfort, only a "6" from Lin Yi.

Just as he was about to retort, Lin Yi's voice came through the phone again:

"I'm near the train station, wait for me for 20 minutes."

A gentle remark made Ji Shuangshuang's eyes widen to their maximum.

She brought the phone close to her eyes, glanced at the number on the line, then brought the microphone to her lips and asked the question that had been on her mind: "What did you say?"

After asking the questions, Ji Shuangshuang felt her heart pounding so hard it felt like it was about to burst out of her chest.

What do you mean by "near the train station"?
Could it be at Guangling Railway Station?
impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
However, based on my understanding of Lin Yi, he couldn't possibly be lying.

So he really was near the train station.

Exiting the call page, she quickly found the previous text message. Looking at the content, Ji Shuangshuang's pretty face flushed red, like a ripe apple.

This is a very clear confession of his feelings!

Who would go to a girl's door before she's ready?

Pah! Shameless!

Just as I was about to speak, a voice came from the receiver:

“I told them I was near Guangling Railway Station, there was a chemical plant here, and I was ordering some goods. The deal was done, and they asked me to wait 20 minutes.”

After learning the whole story, Ji Shuangshuang rolled her eyes, then raised her hand and gently patted her cheek:
"Ji Shuangshuang, calm down, you need to calm down."

Thirty minutes later, Ji Shuangshuang tossed her luggage into the back seat, skillfully climbed into the passenger seat, and fastened her seatbelt.
"So you really came here to buy materials?"

Lin Yi pursed his lips, looked to the left with one eye, and then rolled his other eye. "Yes! I'm also waiting for someone's text message, but that person is heartless and hasn't replied. So I can only be alone, grieving in the quiet night, and then I entrust myself to the lab, passing the time with experiments."

Upon hearing this, Ji Shuangshuang tilted her head slightly to the right, rested her chin on her hand, and responded with a heavy nasal tone:

"Too talkative, too sarcastic!"

Finally, perhaps realizing that her words had been hurtful, she turned to look at Lin Yi:
"What do you want for supper later? It's on me."

Upon hearing Ji Shuangshuang say she was treating everyone, Lin Yi couldn't help but sigh softly, tapping his fingers lightly on the steering wheel as he replied:

"All the small restaurants near the factory are closed. If we want to eat, we only have two options: either cook for ourselves or go to a big restaurant."

"Considering that it's troublesome to account for hospitality expenses, I personally suggest that we cook for ourselves."

Neither option was a good one. Helplessly, Ji Shuangshuang looked up, covered her face with her hands, and let out one wail after another.

The straight-line distance from Guangling to Gusu is more than 130 kilometers. Even if you go through other cities, the distance will only increase to 200 kilometers.

Lin Yi covered 200 kilometers in just 1 hour and 45 minutes.

After helping Ji Shuangshuang throw her luggage into the room, Lin Yi left a message saying "Get up early tomorrow" before returning to his office.

…………

The Chinese New Year is approaching, but Meng Hai has no intention of celebrating it at all.

Confucius said, "At fifty, I knew the mandate of Heaven; at sixty, my ear was attuned to the truth."

He is at the age of knowing his destiny and being able to accept things as they are.

I have some power, not much, but enough.

I have a lot of money, enough to get by.

He has a reputation, though not top-tier, but he's still considered a big shot in his area.

The son had a granddaughter, which wasn't perfect, but in two years, with a little work, the young couple could have another child.

Having a grandson is considered having many children and grandchildren, and having a granddaughter is also considered having many children and grandchildren.

It can be said that, with the exception of a few things, worldly desires have lost their appeal to Meng Hai.

But just two days ago, he met a young man, and in the young man's proposal, he saw a possibility, a possibility called the Nobel Prize.

This possibility reignited his dormant desires.

What is the Chinese New Year compared to the Nobel Prize?
Only useless people celebrate the New Year!
Truly useful people should be in the laboratory at this time, studying hard, surpassing themselves, and becoming stronger!

So he had to plead and beg his wife to agree to let him work in the lab for eight hours during the day and go home at night during the Lunar New Year.

So early in the morning, he took his breakfast and went to the laboratory at Suzhou University to wait for the young man to appear.

His phone rang at 9 a.m.

He had memorized a phone number without a name saved on it, but he had recited it dozens of times in the past few days.

Lin Yi's number.

Upon answering the phone and learning that the other party was at the door, Meng Hai didn't hesitate at all; he grabbed his phone and rushed out of the laboratory.

Twenty minutes later, he met Lin Yi at the school's main gate, along with the girl behind Lin Yi and several young people behind her.

He saw in these young people a quality that belonged to researchers.

With a calm expression, Meng Hai nodded to these people and pointed inside the door:
"President Lin, the laboratory is ready. All the equipment inside is prepared according to your requirements. If it's not enough, I'll get more from other places."

Upon hearing Meng Hai's words, Lin Yi remained expressionless, his face stern as he directed Cao Bin and the others to move the materials from the truck.

There weren't many materials; each one was packaged in a separate small box.

The trunk of the Santana was completely filled.

Picking up one of the small boxes, Lin Yi naturally followed behind Meng Hai, slowly walking towards Suzhou University.

Having lived two lives, this was Lin Yi's first time visiting Suzhou University.

Because it was winter, the trees on both sides were withered and had few leaves, so there was not much scenery to see.

Entering the laboratory building, Meng Hai called over the building's security guard, flashed his badge, and pointed at Lin Yi and the others, saying:

“These few days, these people will need to use the laboratory building. If they arrive before me in the morning, please let them in first.”

The security guard's eyes swept across Lin Yi and his companions, as if he were preparing to memorize everyone with his gaze.

Upon reaching the upper floor, Lin Yi also saw Meng Hai's so-called laboratory.

After touring the lab, Lin Yi beckoned Cao Bin and the others over, pointing to the equipment: "Check the equipment." Upon receiving the order, Cao Bin and the remaining nine students stepped forward and skillfully began inspecting the equipment.

Meng Hai watched their skillful movements. After a while, he frowned and whispered tentatively:
"Who are these?"

"The technical backbone of Xiaomi Heavy Industry's special metal processing plant are all my juniors. Today, I gave instructions while they did the actual work."

"Which school are they from? They seem very skilled at conducting experiments!"

"Graduate student in the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Dongda Men's Vocational and Technical College".

"hiss……"

While the two were chatting, Cao Bin and the others had finished checking the experimental equipment and had also taken an equipment inspection form, filled in some information, and then took the form to Lin Yi, waved it in front of Lin Yi, and then handed the form to Meng Hai.

Meng Hai took the checklist, studied it carefully for a moment, and then put it in the box at the entrance of the laboratory.

After he finished putting down the watch, Lin Yi clasped his index fingers together and squeezed them, the knuckles making a series of cracking sounds that echoed softly in the quiet laboratory.

After finishing his activities, he unzipped his jacket and very solemnly took out a document from his left breast pocket, gently placing it into Cao Bin's hand:

Whether you can get into the youth talent development program depends on yourselves.

"Go!"

One sentence made Cao Bin feel as if the document in his hands weighed a ton. He held the thin few pages in both hands, took a few deep breaths, and then bowed deeply to Lin Yi.

Behind him, nine other students from the School of Materials Science and Engineering also bowed to Lin Yishen.

After bowing, the group took the documents and walked to the side to begin studying them.

Although the entire document is only about ten pages long, it contains very detailed information, including possible scenarios for each step and corresponding solutions.

After reading the precautions, the group finally turned their attention to production.

The production process document is also short, consisting of only one simple page.

"This is already high-purity lithium carbonate, why do we still need to calcine it?"

"This is not simply calcining lithium hydroxide; there is also something that looks like lithium azide here, and we need to add this in little by little."

But the person who spoke quickly frowned.

He read the document over and over again before suddenly looking up, his eyes wide, and asking Cao Bin with a hint of self-doubt, "Old Cao, we're not going to get blown up, are we?"

"This thing doesn't look like a stable thing at all!"

Amidst the noise, Cao Bin picked up the document, read it several times, and then reluctantly put it down.

Throwing these high-purity lithium oxides into a fire and calcining them together with other materials—this stuff just seems absurd.

Cao Bin yawned, then approached Lin Yi with the documents in his hand and asked him very seriously:
"Senior brother, is it really okay to follow this procedure?"

"100% sure!" Lin Yi nodded emphatically, then patted his chest.

“If you can’t do it, I’ll do it myself. But when it comes to the prizes, you’ll have to move aside.”

Upon hearing this, Cao Bin closed his eyes, and at the same time opened his mouth to breathe in the fresh air.

After a few minutes, he stopped taking deep breaths of fresh air, and then suddenly opened his eyes.

When Cao Bin turned to look at his classmates again, he had automatically put himself in the role of a manager:

"You guys help me out, I'll do it myself."

After speaking, Cao Bin changed into a dustproof suit, took out the documents from the file bag, and distributed them to the respective individuals in order.

Upon receiving the documents, the students immediately began preparations according to the requirements outlined in them.

Under Meng Hai's watchful eye, Cao Bin carefully took out a small package, opened it, and removed the metal materials inside.

It is a piece of metallic lithium.

It is approximately 20 cm long, 8 cm wide, and 6 cm high.

Soon, Cao Bin held the metal bar in both hands and sent it into the furnace:

"Adjust the temperature to 1143.5℃."

As soon as he finished speaking, the temperature of the electric furnace suddenly rose, and in just a few minutes, the metallic lithium turned into a pile of liquid.

"Open the furnace valve switch, open the hydraulic switch connecting the electric furnace and nitrogen cylinder to 2.31 pressure, so that the nitrogen directly impacts the liquid lithium metal."

As nitrogen pressure was slowly injected, a beautiful pattern gradually appeared on the surface of the liquid lithium metal.

Soon, the pattern transformed into the outer shell of metallic lithium.

"2.5 bar, continue filling with nitrogen."

The new order was given, and everyone put away their smiles, put on serious faces, and increased the nitrogen injection pressure.

After several attempts, once the pressure of the injected nitrogen reached 5 bar, Cao Bin suddenly shouted, "Prepare to add sulfur!"

With that shout, everyone's attention was drawn to the molten lithium.

Now, it's time to add another element, sulfur.

The method of adding it is exactly the same as that for nitrogen.

The preceding steps also involved constantly stirring the molten lithium metal, but in the later steps, the added sulfur became solid, and oxygen was also added at the same time.

Meng Hai stood to the side, watching these people operate, not daring to even breathe loudly, for fear that if he blinked or took a breath, the student in front of him would change the steps.

Or rather, they are afraid that if they blink, they will miss a detail.

Under Meng Hai's anxious watch, Cao Bin stopped adding solid sulfur once it reached the corresponding threshold and began controlling the temperature.

"Raise the temperature to 1345℃ and maintain it for 30 minutes!"

"The temperature will rapidly drop to 745℃ and remain there for 10 minutes!"

"The temperature rose again, reaching 1500℃, and was maintained for 25 minutes."

One instruction after another came from Cao Bin's mouth, and the temperature of the furnace rose and fell repeatedly in response to his commands.

Upon observing this place, Meng Hai had a misconception: that he had come here not to witness the birth of a new type of solid-state battery internal material.

Rather, they were witnessing the birth of an unparalleled divine weapon.

Isn't the purpose of repeatedly heating and cooling down to quench the wood?

It's amazing!

Who came up with this brilliant idea?
However, lithium metal is very reactive and also very soft, so it's hard to say how many cuts it can make.

Just as he was wondering, Cao Bin suddenly shouted:
"Ready to be baked!"

This shout immediately brought Meng Hai back to his senses, who was lost in thought.

He focused his eyes, but all he saw was Cao Bin taking out a piece of material that was greenish in color.

No, that's it?

(End of this chapter)