Studying at Western University starts with a knife-forging competition

After finishing all this, he sat down at the worktable, took out a notebook from his shoulder strap, and began to record the process and parameters of each technology used that day.

This is a habit he developed during his two years of university; he is no longer the junior apprentice in Longquan who only knew how to swing a hammer and bury himself in work.

When he was in Longquan, his father was his master. Whatever his father said was the way to go. He just had to follow the instructions step by step. There was no need to ask why, and even if he did, he might not get a very good answer.

But at Clemson University, in Professor Robert's workshop, everything is supported by data and theory.

Over the next few days, Lin Yuan went through the basics of heat treatment from beginning to end.

Normalizing treatment refines grain size and improves microstructure defects after forging.

Annealing eliminates stress and reduces hardness to improve machinability.

Spheroidizing annealing improves the machinability of high-carbon steel and serves as a pretreatment for quenching.

Improper normalizing leading to coarse grains and mixed grains, improper annealing temperature causing uneven microstructure, the influence of hardenability curves and cooling rates on different steels...

The professor's workshop is equipped with a metallographic microscope and a hardness tester. After completing a batch of samples, he would cut off a piece, grind and polish it, and then etch it in a nitric acid-alcohol solution to examine the metallographic structure. After examining it, he would compare it with the heat treatment process data he had recorded to analyze the impact of each process on the microstructure of the material.

He went through each and every aspect of the forging process, including the placement, force, angle, and timing.

How does the position where the hammer falls affect the flow lines of the metal and the thickness of different parts of the billet? How does the arc surface of the hammerhead affect the amount of deformation and the uniformity of elongation? His father had taught him these things but hadn't explained the principles. Now, he used the metal plastic forming theory and stress analysis taught by his professor to fill in that part of the principle.

He also began to use the Spirit Tempering skill more and more smoothly.

At first, he could only rely on the system to sense when using the tempering process, but now that he has integrated theory and craftsmanship, he has a sense of certainty that "yes, this is the feeling" when he uses the tempering process to temper the internal structure of steel. It's like his father used to say "Okay, this one is good" when he was forging a steel billet. With the craftsmanship passed down from three generations of his family for decades, he can judge whether the heat is right and whether the forging is sufficient, but he can't explain why.

Now Lin Yuan not only knows that he is "recovered", but also knows why he is "recovered".

By combining the heat treatment theories he learned from the professor, Quenching was able to more accurately control the internal structural changes of steel.

The relationship between normalizing cooling rate and grain refinement, the effect of annealing heating rate on cementite morphology, and the variation law of carbide size distribution before and after spheroidizing treatment—these theoretical data learned in class were intuitively perceived and verified in actual operation through quenching.

He practiced more and more deeply each day, but he didn't show any impatience or fatigue.

Every day, when you open the door of the red brick house, you are faced with a new steel billet; when you leave, the workbench is clean and tidy, and all the tools are put away.

But Robert could see the change. At first, he would come to see the samples Lin Yuan had completed every two days, but later he came every day.

On the fourth day, Robert picked up a billet that had just undergone spheroidizing annealing and examined it, holding it up to the light to look at the cross-section after pickling.

He put the blank down.

"What you made before was like a graduation project that a very good undergraduate student spent a lot of time polishing." He carefully chose his words. "This one now is like a standard prototype that a graduate student spent three years specifically researching this process to make."

He glanced at Lin Yuan.

"How did you manage to do that in just a few days?"

Lin Yuan used tongs to send the next piece of billet into the furnace, and only turned around after closing the furnace door.

"Previously, these three things were separate. The university theories were the same, the family-inherited skills were the same, and then there were some of my own methods." He paused, "These past few days I've been trying to combine them together."

Robert took off his glasses, wiped the lenses, and put them back on.

"continue."

"Okay, Professor."

On the fifth day, Lin Yuan began to try to integrate the special skills previously awarded by the system into the basic forging process.

First is the Stacked Fire Fusion Forging skill—this skill was originally a reward from the main quest, which he hadn't obtained yet and couldn't truly unlock full access to. But now, at the Quasi-Master level, he can touch the edge of this skill, feel its existence, but can't fully utilize it.

But just touching the edge is enough.

When forging composite steel billets, he can sense the heating conditions of different steels in the furnace—which part heats up quickly, which part is not fully heated, and where the temperature gradient may cause oxidation of the forging surface.

Previously, this kind of perception could be judged with about 70-80% accuracy based on experience, but now it is accurate to every inch.

He experimented with a composite forged billet using 1084 and 15N20.

The two types of steel have different carbon contents and different forging temperature ranges. In the past, he needed to strictly control the furnace temperature and forging rhythm to ensure that the two types of steel deformed synchronously within the same temperature range.

Now, with the ability to sense the activity of the flame, he can adjust the force and frequency of the hammering in real time during the forging process—if the temperature in the 1084 area is too low, he can slow down the pace slightly; if the temperature in the 15N20 area is too high, he can appropriately increase the hammering force to make the metal flow faster. By adjusting the forging parameters, he can balance the impact of temperature differences on forging.

After the forging was completed, he cut a section, polished and acid-washed it. The texture of the joint surface was clear and clean, without micro-cracks or oxide inclusions.

After examining the interface with a metallographic microscope, Robert remained silent for about ten seconds before saying, "This would be very effective in a match."

Lin Yuan wanted to say that he hadn't fully mastered it yet, but he swallowed the words back.

The sixth day was a drizzly day. Fine raindrops tapped against the high windows of the workshop, and the sky was overcast. Looking out from the door, the oak trees on campus were shrouded in a blurry green by the rain.

Lin Yuan took out the set of forging tools stored in the system.

[The Apprentice's Forging Tools]

[Quality: Excellent]

[Description: A gift from a master blacksmith to his apprentice. A hammer, tongs, a flat hammer, a punch—everything is included. The giver infused his hopes into each tool, wishing the apprentice to pass the trial of fire and become a true son of the dragon.]

This set of tools was a reward given to him by the system when he was promoted to expert level.

At the time, he felt his skills weren't good enough to use this tool, so he kept it in the system and never took it out. Later, he got busy with various things and forgot about it until he accidentally flipped through his storage compartment while preparing to reshoot the audition video and remembered that he still had this thing stored there.