I am an industrial worker during the War of Resistance

Chapter 32 Chen Changzai's Complaints

It took three whole days to complete the casting of the blanks for the three main beams, four columns, and a set of hydraulic cylinders on the forging press.

When the base of the first casting forging press was kept warm underground for three days before being hoisted out.

Everyone looked at this big, grayish-brown thing with smiles on their faces.

This thing is the hope of industrial workers. With it, their industry can take another step forward.

After the base was hoisted onto the railcar, it was sent to the machining workshop of the machine manufacturing plant.

All the components will be precision-machined here.

Those three main beams still need to have their stress relieved here.

At this time, Chen Chang was with his students from the chemistry lab, in a separate workshop of the machine shop, preparing a chemical plating solution.

This type of electroless electroless plating solution is called nickel-phosphorus alloy plating solution.

The primary function of this plating solution is to form an extremely hard and highly corrosion-resistant coating on the metal surface.

The most important component here is the metal "nickel" in the plating solution.

Speaking of nickel, it was a pleasant surprise that northern Shaanxi brought to Chen Changzai.

In later generations, he served as the production vice president of a large military industrial enterprise.

He is very clear about the distribution of mineral resources in the country.

Although their military factory can tinker with various production equipment and products on its own.

But they can't produce the various ores buried underground.

If their military factories want to produce products, they first have to go to various raw material processing plants to purchase various metal and non-metal materials.

For example, common ferrous or non-ferrous metals such as iron ingots, manganese ingots, steel ingots, copper ingots, aluminum ingots, nickel ingots, and chromium ingots.

In addition, various rare metals are needed in the production of alloys.

For example, tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum, niobium, and titanium are substances that must be added during smelting due to various requirements.

These all need to be purchased from outside.

If you want to purchase these items, you need to know where the manufacturers produce them.

However, none of the manufacturers that primarily smelt these metals are located in northern Shaanxi.

Even among steel mills that smelt crude steel, there are no large factories.

There isn't a single company that can smelt other metals or rare metals.

Because there are no metal deposits at all in northern Shaanxi.

Later, members of the national prospecting team also discovered some metal ore deposits in northern Shaanxi.

However, upon inspection, it was discovered that they were almost all ore shards that were broken beyond repair.

Let alone large-scale industrial mining.

Even investing in a small factory or setting up a makeshift workshop could result in significant financial losses.

If we consider metal deposits as a family's wealth...

In that home in northern Shaanxi, even if a thief came, he would have to leave crying, and would still leave the homeowner two hundred yuan so that the homeowner wouldn't starve to death.

At least that's what Chen Changzai knew.

The nearest copper mine is four or five hundred kilometers away from here.

Those places are not yet under the control of the military.

They wanted to smuggle the ore back from there and smelt it in Wujiabao.

That would be a huge loss.

Given the current road conditions, to haul back 100 jin of copper ore, enough for both people and horses, it would take at least 300 jin of grain.

How much copper can be extracted from 100 kilograms of copper ore?

Haha, high-grade copper yields more than two jin, while low-grade copper yields less than half a jin.

Don't say that the military can't deal with copper ore like this.

Even the richest Americans in the world would go bankrupt if they dared to transport copper ore like that.

That's several hundred times the cost; nobody can afford that.

Even now, the copper used in the army is still collected from copper coins and copper bills from the civilian population, as well as copper ingots that the Special Branch comrades manage to smuggle in from outside.

That's why Chen Changzai was always reluctant to build a generator; that thing wouldn't work without copper.

Don't say that generators don't use much copper. Once you have electricity, you have to send it out, and wires need copper. Electric motors, which are powered by electricity, need even more copper.

This is fatal.

For industry to truly develop, it needs many things besides iron.

For example, the electroless chemical plating solution for nickel-phosphorus alloy that is currently being prepared. As for why Chen Changzai suddenly had nickel in his possession...

This story begins with the very beginning, when Chen Changzai and his students were burning sulfuric acid.

At that time, Commander Chen led his men to the place where Chen Changzai said he had seen pyrite, and brought back pyrite that could be used to burn sulfuric acid.

At first, Chen Changzai didn't pay much attention, but on the second day of burning sulfuric acid, he suddenly noticed that the color of a piece of pyrite was a bit off.

The ore had blackish-green or bronze-colored stripes.

Upon seeing this ore, Chen Changzai instructed everyone to search for it among the pyrite ore brought back by the soldiers.

Although not many were found in the end, they still amounted to about one-tenth of the total.

The ore that Chen Chang was looking for was nickel pyrite, which contains a certain amount of nickel metal.

However, the nickel pyrite here is just like the mineral deposits found by geological teams in later generations.

It can't be broken any further.

For the past six months or so, all those who collect pyrite have been specifically looking for this nickel-pyrite ore.

But even now, Chen Changzai has only accumulated a little over a thousand catties.

These are all Chen Changzai's precious treasures.

Therefore, Chen Changzai would never use these nickels unless absolutely necessary.

But today has come to the point where there is no other choice.

When preparing nickel-phosphorus metal plating solutions.

While working, Chen Changzai complained to his students, "We just can't find more of the metals needed for these alloys here."

Otherwise, I wouldn't be using these things so carefully.

If we can find nickel and chromium ore here.

I dare to plate every single rifle with a nickel-chromium-phosphorus alloy.

The barrels of the bolt-action rifles we manufacture now have a slow rate of fire, so through phosphating, their service life can still reach about five or six thousand rounds.

However, if used on machine guns, the lifespan of phosphate coating is at most three thousand rounds.

But what if it's plated with a chrome coating?

That bolt-action rifle could easily fire forty or fifty thousand shots.

It can fire 20,000 to 30,000 rounds from the machine gun barrel.

But we don't have any chromium.

Fortunately, fate was kind to us.

We managed to get some nickel.

While this coating isn't as good as chromium, it's still much better than phosphated barrels.

The machine gun can fire at least 20,000 rounds, which should be enough to solve some of the problem.

Ah, if only our territory were a little bigger.

However, once our forging press was successfully completed...

We'll plate all the machine gun barrels we make with nickel first.

Back then, the machine guns we made weren't much worse than those of the foreign devils.

At this moment, Chen Changzai was like an old man, constantly complaining.

"Teacher, I think that day isn't too far away."

Chen Changzai said to the students.

"Yes, it won't be long. Once the forging press is completed, we can show the enemy what it means to have bullets raining down."

Go and push over the finely ground hydraulic cylinder and column.

"Ready to apply the plating."

Chen Changzai gave the instructions.

"Okay, teacher, we'll push it over right away."

The hydraulic cylinder and the four columns of the forging press are all precision components that require long-term operation.

For precision parts like these, a hard coating is necessary for protection.

The inner wall of the hydraulic cylinder, the hydraulic cylinder push rod, and the four columns of the forging press are the things that need to be protected.

　Thank you to all my friends who have supported me.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)