Chapter 132: Dreamscape

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At the review meeting, based on the superior data for the T4 titanium-aluminum alloy, they had been able to predict that the T5 specialized blade material would be no worse. Yet when the simulated data appeared vividly before him, the impact was far more direct. He could hardly wait to prepare the material at once, put it through the testing instruments, and see the data from the actual material.

He was just as eager as Cheng Hainan. Everything was ready; all that remained was to begin.

“Cheng Xu, get everyone into position. I can hardly wait either!”

“Teacher, Academician Xie, let us begin the experiment!”

Wu Tong nodded firmly. The group entered the laboratory and began carrying out the preparation process step by step.

Setting aside the research and design of a new material, merely bringing one into existence usually required an enormous amount of exploration and experimentation. The preparation process demanded even more trial and accumulated experience before detailed procedures suitable for production could be established. Taking two or three months to arrange mass production was already considered extraordinarily fast.

Yet under Wu Tong’s deductions, the entire process was as though someone had pressed the fast-forward button. The time was compressed beyond measure, while the precise details of the procedure could still be specified.

Even so, before actually conducting the experiment, Wu Tong could only determine which general process to use. The specific parameters, such as temperature and duration, could be finalized only through experimentation itself. Only by personally engaging with the process and making adjustments in real time could the most accurate figures be established.

The clock continued turning without pause. The passage of time went unnoticed by the busy researchers. Gradually, the experiment entered its final stages, and the theoretical model was about to become a physical reality.

The material being melted and cast at high temperature in the furnace was the nickel-iron blade material at the heart of their experiment. Wu Tong had incorporated titanium into it to compensate for the shortcomings of nickel-iron, creating the effect of a composite material. That was why it had been designated T5.

The core technology involved in the experiment was single-crystal directional solidification. Single-crystal superalloy technology eliminated grain boundaries, allowing the material to maintain outstanding overall mechanical properties and structural stability at high temperatures while satisfying the design requirements of high-thrust-to-weight-ratio engines. Its manufacturing technology had become central to the production of advanced engines, and Academician Xie was a leading authority in the field.

“For superalloys used as specimens for single-crystal blades, the requirements for a fixed withdrawal speed, a simple stepped withdrawal speed, and a multistep stepped withdrawal speed are all extremely demanding. In the past, we conducted numerical simulations of the temperature field, mushy zone, and solidification-structure growth of single-crystal blade specimens, followed by directional-solidification experiments. In the end, we determined that a low fixed withdrawal speed combined with a multistep stepped withdrawal speed could produce alloy materials with excellent single-crystal integrity. Under a high fixed withdrawal speed or a simple stepped withdrawal speed, the single-crystal specimens developed stray crystals along the platform.”

Academician Xie carefully explained the essential principles of single-crystal technology to Wu Tong. These were the key points his team had discovered through tireless work and repeated experiments, searching for answers through failure after failure.

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Yet at that moment, Academician Xie concealed nothing. He passed every detail on to Wu Tong.

For such an extraordinary child, he hoped these few techniques could serve as a small stepping stone, helping her climb toward even greater heights—and lead the nation’s materials science to peaks his generation had never reached.

With gratitude, Wu Tong listened attentively, absorbing every piece of knowledge and making it her own.

“Teacher, raise the furnace temperature to two thousand four hundred degrees!”

Seeing that Cheng Hainan had set the furnace to two thousand degrees Celsius, Wu Tong had made a deeper intuitive deduction after receiving Academician Xie’s guidance. That was not the most precise temperature. It needed to be raised further. Otherwise, the metal would become uneven internally, ultimately causing the synthesis to fail. Even if it succeeded by chance, it would never reach the ideal data.

Cheng Hainan did not hesitate. He followed Wu Tong’s instructions exactly. Wu Tong was directing the experiment, so naturally they had to proceed according to her judgment rather than his own empiricism. An experiment could have only one guiding voice; otherwise, there was no point in continuing at all. This was also an excellent opportunity to cultivate Wu Tong’s ability to control a laboratory.

He had taken on the title of her teacher, but in materials science, what he could teach her was largely limited to basic knowledge. So in every other respect, he intended to think one step ahead for her.

“It is ready to come out. Elder Xie, Senior Brother Ruan, prepare for directional solidification!”

Wu Tong remained calm and focused, watching the furnace with rapt attention. At the most appropriate moment, she began operating in coordination with Academician Xie.

First, they opened the furnace. Then, following the predetermined temperature gradient, they carried out the directional-solidification procedure.

The key points had just been emphasized by Academician Xie, who now guided them through the process almost hand in hand. They executed every detail flawlessly, preventing internal turbulence in the liquid metal as it solidified. Using the rapid-solidification method, they continuously adjusted the withdrawal speed during the stable operation, allowing the material to solidify under controlled conditions.

At last, after a series of cautious, precise, and steady operations, they removed several pieces of blade material from the solidification apparatus. Their metallic blue-black surfaces shimmered with threads of silver, giving them a mysterious beauty.

The material had taken shape in a single pass. They had formed it directly into the shape of a blade. Since it had been designed specifically for blades, the blade model would naturally provide the most accurate test of its actual properties.

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“This is it. Perfect. Not a single stray crystal!”

Academician Xie gently stroked the surface of the material. It was smooth to the touch, almost like a baby’s skin. Regardless of everything else, the directional-solidification operation had been flawless. Producing a solidified material meant the experiment was already more than halfway successful. All that remained was to test and compare its performance.

Yet even by experience alone, he could sense the material’s quiet, unspoken superiority.

They began with the tensile tester. The tensile-strength data climbed rapidly, effortlessly surpassing one thousand megapascals. As the figures continued to rise, Cheng Hainan and Academician Xie exchanged a glance. Their excitement was impossible to conceal.

Since when had it become so easy for a material’s tensile strength to break through one thousand megapascals? Had it really become as ordinary as eating or drinking?

The final figure settled at 1,710 megapascals.

Everyone involved in operating or assisting with the tests was stunned into silence for a long time. Once again, the final test result had exceeded the simulated data. Was this going to become the customary outcome for their divine materials expert? Could such a thing really become routine?

Their materials genius truly was a god among men!

One mechanical-property test followed another: room-temperature creep resistance, mechanical fatigue resistance, thermal fatigue resistance, and impact resistance, followed by the various properties measured at high temperatures, including high-temperature ductility.

Then came tests for resistance to hot corrosion and oxidation.

The high-temperature melting-point test left the entire team even more astonished. Under instantaneous overheating, the material approached the unimaginable threshold of three thousand degrees Celsius. Its initial melting temperature was extraordinarily high, its structure exceptionally stable, and it could withstand prolonged exposure to temperatures below two thousand four hundred degrees Celsius.

Its thermal conductivity was extraordinarily high, its coefficient of thermal expansion extraordinarily low, and its density as low as possible. Its physical properties were astonishingly excellent.

This was truly the blade material they had dreamed of.

End of chapter