Courtyard Houses: The Great Masters of a Nation Hidden Within

Gao Jianguo waved his hand: "Hey, it's a habit I picked up in the army."

Staff Officer Lin was taken aback: "You were a soldier?"

Gao Jianguo nodded: "We fought several tough battles before we were withdrawn in 53, and then we switched to civilian work in 55."

Old Chen chimed in from the side: "He was awarded the First-Class Merit Citation twice and the Second-Class Merit Citation three times on the battlefield. He's a true combat hero, and currently he's the deputy captain of the factory's militia team."

Staff Officer Lin and his entourage immediately straightened their backs and gave Gao Jianguo a solemn salute in unison.

The men from the grassland tractor factory were full of admiration. To be honest, before meeting him, no one would have imagined that he would be such a young man. With his resume, he would be considered a minor legend anywhere.

Gao Jianguo was a little flustered. Given his status, it wasn't appropriate for him to return the salute. But then he thought, "Isn't he the deputy captain of the militia? That makes sense." He straightened his back and returned a crisp salute.

Strictly speaking, this is not in accordance with the rules, but in this kind of occasion, it will only be used as a good story, and no one will be so bored as to nitpick.

After everyone took their seats, General Manager Guan explained the whole story of his visit to Gao Jianguo. He then looked rather embarrassed and said, "...That's the gist of it, Engineer Gao. You've already taken the day off, and we're still causing you trouble. We really feel bad about it."

Gao Jianguo didn't think it was a big deal. He was just taking leave to give his brain a rest. He was fine, and besides, it was just a few words exchanged, which wouldn't affect him at all.

As soon as Gao Jianguo learned that General Manager Guan was from the Grassland Tractor Factory, he had a pretty good idea of ​​why they had come. If he remembered correctly, the domestic supply of nickel was about to be cut off.

The nickel-free 601 cast armor steel was something these people came up with around April 1960, and at this point in time, it's probably still in the research phase.

他拿出去的那两种3z-t1跟3z-t2，其实就是往后的616焊接装甲钢和623铸造装甲钢。

The first one replaced 603 steel, and the second one replaced 601 steel, but neither of these has been released yet.

However, 601 steel has one advantage over the 623 steel that Gao Jianguo proposed: it doesn't require any nickel at all. But its disadvantages are also obvious. At this stage, these two materials need to be used in combination depending on the supply of materials.

He waved his hand: "Mr. Guan, you're too kind. I'm perfectly fine here. Please feel free to ask me anything."

General Manager Guan didn't mince words with him. They were both in the construction business, and since Gao Jianguo had said it was fine, he naturally wouldn't pretend to be helpful and pass the buck.

"I asked you one by one, and you surprised me so much. I have so many questions, haha."

Mr. Guan made a joke first before continuing with the question.

Are the conditions for mass production of 3Z-T1 and 3Z-T2 met?

Gao Jianguo nodded: "With the materials and equipment gathered, mass production is not a problem."

"Can your factory produce it?"

This time, Factory Director Yang took over the conversation: "To be honest, we are a steel rolling mill. Given our current conditions, we are afraid that we will not be able to carry out large-scale production in the short term. We are in serious shortage of equipment."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Guan felt a headache coming on: "Ugh, this..."

Factory Director Yang didn't take it seriously. The Third Rolling Mill didn't have the capability in a short time, and judging from the situation, it was clear that they couldn't just wait around. So he simply pushed the work out: "You can apply to our department to take over the production technology."

These days, such things happen every now and then. The whole country is a unified entity, and the ownership of technology is not so clearly defined.

Mr. Guan seemed somewhat tempted and asked, "Jianguo, what are your thoughts?"

This was to prevent the Third Rolling Mill and Gao Jianguo from thinking they were there to reap the benefits, so they not only listened to the factory director, but also had to consider the opinions of Gao Jianguo, the only researcher.

Gao Jianguo nodded: "That will work. Our factory really doesn't have the capacity right now. We lack both steelmaking facilities and equipment, and transportation is also a huge problem."

In any case, for him, the title of inventor was already attached to him; he already had the fame.

Given his current situation and the broader social environment, his economic gains are insignificant.

If Director Yang is willing to hand over the work, then it doesn't matter where the production takes place.

General Guan and Staff Officer Lin were deeply moved by the selflessness of the Third Rolling Mill and Gao Jianguo, and expressed their sincere gratitude.

After calming down, Mr. Guan asked about the thing he was most concerned about.

What are the contents of nickel, molybdenum, and rhenium in 3Z-T2 cast steel?

「0.8%到1.3%，0.25%到0.45%，0.02%到0.12%。」

When Guan heard this ratio, his mind immediately clicked. The steel they were using now had a nickel content of about 3.8% by weight. With the hull and turret included, a single tank would consume more than 700 kilograms of nickel.

而高建国这3z-t1跟3z-t2搭配起来，能把镍的用量一刀砍到100公斤上下。

Have you considered further reducing the nickel content of 3Z-T2?

"I thought about it, but going any lower would cause two problems: one is insufficient hardenability, and the other is poor low-temperature performance. My skills are limited, and I can't continue. I originally started this project for the thermocouple business, but I happened to find other better materials, so I didn't continue to work on it."

These two criteria are: one focuses on the performance and quality of the finished product, and the other focuses on its environmental adaptability.

In fact, the two problems that Gao Jianguo pointed out are precisely the main reasons why 623 steel was developed to replace 601 steel. In terms of hardness alone, 623 and 601 are not much different.

There's another hurdle that Gao Jianguo didn't mention, and can't mention right now: the source of raw materials for 601 steel is also a bottleneck. Although nickel has been omitted, the usage of other scarce elements has actually increased.

However, the biggest problem right in front of us is nickel. 601 steel has filled the nickel issue, which is a big step forward.

Since 601 steel is still underground and hasn't emerged yet, this is something that can't be discussed at the moment.

Hearing Gao Jianguo say that his skills were poor, Guan and the others from the grassland tractor factory felt really uncomfortable. Young man, who are you insulting?

In fact, they would never know that Gao Jianguo's real skills in metallurgy were far inferior to theirs; he was just very good at copying answers.

General Guan himself is an expert in armored steel. After thinking for a while, he nodded: "That makes sense. Such trouble could indeed occur. Comrade Jianguo's practical skills are truly solid."

Gao Jianguo thought for a moment and asked, "Are you worried about the amount of nickel used?"

General Manager Guan nodded: "That's right, the more we save, the better right now. But the current situation has far exceeded our expectations. We've tackled most of the problems, and you could even say that we've gone from being completely helpless to now being able to keep production running smoothly. Jianguo, you deserve the most credit."

Looking at this group of people who had truly started from scratch and created the first generation of nickel-free armor steel in China, Gao Jianguo felt genuine admiration. To use online novel writing as an analogy, he was at most a fan fiction writer, while these people were the real masters of original works.