Material Empire

Sadao Hirano and Motohisa Nakagawa left holding a small piece of dysprosium-terbium ferroalloy sample given to them by Sun Yuzhi like a baby. They will take the earliest flight back to Japan to conduct the most comprehensive test on this sample for Evaluate the value of this new permanent magnet material.

Sun Yuzhi sent Sadao Hirano and his party out of the Daqin Group's Beijing Office, watched them leave in a taxi, and then returned to the building and came to Qin Hai's office. Qin Hai called Sun Yuzhi to sit down on the sofa, looked at his worried look, and asked with a smile, Why, old Sun, haven't you figured it out yet?

Take the patent of dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy and exchange it for the patent of neodymium-iron-boron. Isn't this deal a bit of a disadvantage? Sun Yuzhi asked.

Qin Haidao: Although the performance of dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy is better than that of NdFeB in all aspects, its biggest problem is that its price is too high. A big piece of fat meat. What's not worthwhile to exchange a piece of chicken rib for a piece of fat meat?

I'm engaged in scientific research, and I don't know much about the market. Mr. Qin, do you really believe that dysprosium-terbium ferroalloy will not be promoted because it is too expensive? Sun Yuzhi asked hesitantly.

The research idea of ​​dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy was first provided to Sun Yuzhi by Qin Hai. According to Sun Yuzhi's initial thoughts, he also felt that the prices of dysprosium and terbium were too high, and the market prospect of new materials was not good. But at that time, Qin Hai actively encouraged him to carry out research, and said that as long as the research is done, it will be useful.

Sun Yuzhi mixed dysprosium iron boron and terbium iron boron with different formulas, and unexpectedly found that the mixed sinter has a high magnetic energy product and Curie temperature, far exceeding the performance of neodymium iron boron. But when he was overjoyed and went to congratulate Qin Haibao, Qin Hai said that what he had created was just tasteless, and he might as well exchange it with Chunshan Company for the patent of NdFeB.

Sun Yuzhi couldn't understand Qin Hai's way of turning his hands into clouds and turning his hands into rain. However, he is the boss and he is just an employee. Since the boss has made such a decision, what else can he say? He faintly felt that Qin Hai must have something to say, and this was not something he should inquire about.

Qin Hai did have something to hide from Sun Yuzhi, not because he didn't believe in Sun Yuzhi's loyalty, but because he was worried that this nerd would accidentally slip up and reveal the secret. Qin Hai's plan is to lure Chunshan Company to the evil path of dysprosium-terbium ferroalloy, and then use the rare earth monopoly he just obtained to increase the price of dysprosium and terbium tenfold, making dysprosium-terbium ferroalloy a commodity that everyone can buy. At that time, Chunshan Company should regret giving up the patent of NdFeB.

In addition to the sharp weapon of rare earth management rights, Qin Hai has another trump card in his hands, which is another research idea for a new and cheaper rare earth permanent magnet material. After Chunshan Company has gone far enough on the road of dysprosium-terbium ferroalloy, if this new material can come out, it will ruin the efforts of Chunshan Company.

Old Sun, don't worry, the group won't do anything you are not sure about. Qin Hai said, By the way, from now on, you will leave the research on dysprosium-terbium-ferroalloy to the students. I have another research idea , I want you to try it.

What idea? Sun Yuzhi asked curiously.

Qin Haidao: Think about it, in the periodic table of elements, next to boron are silicon and carbon, and further away there are nitrogen and phosphorus. The properties of these elements are similar. If boron is used with these elements Instead, replace neodymium with adjacent praseodymium, cerium and lanthanum, can one or even a variety of new permanent magnet materials be produced? Especially use cerium to replace neodymium to form a cerium-based rare earth material with strong magnetism .”

Use cerium instead of neodymium, and carbon or nitrogen instead of boron? Sun Yuzhi stared in disbelief, This idea is very novel. Let me think about it, the synthesis of carbides is a bit difficult, but what about nitrides? The stability is not enough, and it is easy to escape during the sintering process, how to solve this problem?

Old Sun, shouldn't such a problem come from your mouth? Qin Hai smiled, You are confused, there is always a way to solve the technical problem. In the worst case, the sintering process is not good, and the bonding process is not good enough. Can't you?

Sun Yuzhi also laughed embarrassedly, he was also concerned about chaos, in fact, there is really no need to worry too much about craftsmanship, there are always more solutions than difficulties. He patted his head and said: I'm really confused, I'm really confused. However, Mr. Qin, your idea is indeed very interesting. If you can really succeed and replace neodymium with cerium, the price of permanent magnet materials will suddenly drop. It has dropped by 70% to 80%, this is an epoch-making invention... By the way, the dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy will really become tasteless!

When he said the last sentence, he suddenly felt enlightened. The biggest problem with dysprosium-terbium-iron alloy is that it is expensive. From the perspective of cost performance, it is still inferior to NdFeB. If one day, I can invent a cerium-based permanent magnet material that is cheaper than NdFeB, then dysprosium-terbium-iron alloys will be even less valuable. No wonder Qin Hai is so generously willing to exchange dysprosium and terbium ferroalloy with Chunshan Company. It turned out that he had such an idea in mind.

Thinking of this, Sun Yuzhi vaguely felt that maybe Qin Hai had already had a very mature idea about the cerium-based rare earth permanent magnet material he said, otherwise he would not have dared to set up such a big game and wait for the Japanese to jump into it. Qin Hai's previous actions have proved that he has an extremely accurate intuition in material research, so his intuition should not fail this time, right?

This is just an idea of ​​mine. Whether it can be realized or not depends on your research, grandson. Qin Hai naturally would not reveal where his foresight came from. The boron patent is exchanged with us, and the group will immediately enter the NdFeB industry, and I will use 30% of the profits to support the research and development of new cerium-based materials. You just let it go, money is not a problem.”

Haha, okay, with Mr. Qin's words, I will show you the new materials no matter what. Sun Yuzhi cheered up, patted his chest and assured Qin Hai.

Regarding scientific research, what Qin Hai can do now is to provide some enlightenment to the best of his ability, and then give strong support in terms of people, money, and materials. The School of Materials Science and Technology has formed a good scientific research mechanism. Whether it is scientific research services or incentives, it is very mature and has reached Qin Hai's original expectations.

The material science and technology exhibition was held for a week, attracting the attention of a large number of people ranging from central leaders to ordinary primary and middle school students. Numerous Chinese and foreign media reported on all kinds of tidbits at the material exhibition, from magical new materials to various ingenious experience games. The science popularization work on materials science also took the opportunity to set off an upsurge. A group of materials scientists, including Chen Heqian, received letters of invitation from several publishing houses.

Dozens of new material patents invented by the Anhe School of Materials found buyers at the exhibition. Although the sales revenue was only more than 10 million yuan, it was already an unexpected harvest for the scholars of the School of Materials. They were finally able to prove that they were not living in vain, but could generate income for the School of Materials. According to the incentive policy of the School of Materials, inventors of patents can get a part of the patent sales revenue as a reward. In just a few days, six or seven hundred thousand millionaires have been added to the school. , then no one will pay attention.

The hot sales of various patents of Anhe Institute of Materials have also produced a demonstration effect on other domestic universities and research institutes. Some leaders with more flexible minds began to put forward slogans such as patents prosper the school and application first, forming a theoretical foundation in various units. Ethos combined with practice.

The biggest achievement of the material science and technology exhibition is to let the central leaders and a large number of ministries and commissions officials realize the status of materials in modern industry. A few days after the material exhibition ended, the State Planning Commission submitted to the central government a plan for a new round of major complete equipment research. In the plan, it clearly stated that the key tasks should be materials and process research, and the previous heavy products and light materials should be abandoned. and craft mindset. This plan has been affirmed by the central leaders, and several leaders have given instructions on the plan, pointing out that we should pay attention to the development of new materials and new techniques. These leaders' instructions became the precious sword in the hands of the planning committee, and they were quickly conveyed to the hands of key enterprises participating in the tackling of key problems.

The Office of Heavy Equipment conducted another bidding. This time, the proposals submitted by various enterprises have undergone significant changes, and the material and process issues that have always plagued the development of the equipment manufacturing industry have been brought to an important position. In fact, the leaders and technicians of various companies are veterans who have worked in the industrial field for many years, and they don't know which things are the most important. In the past, they were only guided by the baton from their superiors, and they were afraid and unwilling to put too much energy on materials. Now that a consensus has been formed from top to bottom, they naturally put their work focus on the right position up.

Qin Hai, Chen Heqian, Li Linguang and other material experts became busier. For the material research projects declared by enterprises, they not only have to review, but also discuss with enterprises, make suggestions for enterprises, and help them find channels to solve problems. The problems faced by many enterprises have a certain commonality, and Qin Hai facilitated them to establish a cooperative relationship and jointly tackle key problems.

After being busy for more than two months, all the work is considered to have come to an end, just waiting for the fruit to come to fruition and harvest fruitful scientific research results. Qin Hai handed over the work of the Heavy Equipment Office to Wang Hongsheng, and then brought Chen Heqian, Li Linguang, Yue Kun and others, accompanied by a naval officer, to the 33rd Naval Institute.

Students of science and engineering can look at the periodic table. Carbon and nitrogen are really close to boron. The idea of ​​replacing boron with nitrogen is feasible... Well, this is the fourth-generation rare earth permanent magnet material we are talking about now.