Great Power Industry: You're a private company building an aircraft carrier?

the next day.

As dawn broke in the east, the entire Laiyang Steel Plant came alive with activity, as workers bustled about, their faces beaming with smiles.

"Brother Chuan, I think Uncle Li is acting strange. He seemed to want to ask you something several times, but he was too embarrassed to say it."

Qin Chuan smiled and said, "It must be about the power plant. Once we've fooled the French, we'll deal with this."

"Thirty megawatts, Brother Chuan, you really dare to dream! I asked Uncle Yu, and for a thirty-megawatt power generation capacity, the boiler needs to be at least 150 megawatts. Even their Harbin boiler factory can't make that. Foreign ones aren't cheap; they'd cost at least several million dollars, or even tens of millions."

"That's right, overseas. Next, we'll go to Russia."

Having visited Er Mao's house last time, Li Jianshe was no longer intimidated by visiting Da Mao's house this time. However, he was still somewhat curious: "Does Da Mao have this kind of boiler?"

"Yes, there are some ready-made, and they're not expensive, about a million dollars."

A million dollars? That probably wouldn't even buy a single generator.

"You'll find out when we get there." Qin Chuan kept him in suspense. If he told him now, he didn't know how he would react. Maybe he wouldn't dare to go. After all, ordinary people are terrified of nuclear weapons.

Just then, the Frenchman arrived.

Abel and the others were somewhat embarrassed.

He got drunk after only three glasses of wine!

Although the East doesn't follow the Ustinov Law, I still feel a bit ashamed. When I get back, I need to work on my alcohol tolerance. No, I can't drink Eastern baijiu anymore. We're foreigners, we only drink foreign liquor!

"Engineer Qin, can you demonstrate the manufacturing process of P92 alloy steel for us today?" Abel asked Qin Chuan.

Yang Xue continued to follow beside her, helping with the translation, her eyes sparkling with hope.

"Of course, we've been waiting for you all. Let's go to the electric furnace workshop!"

"Master Zhao, add some iron steamed buns!"

"Mantou iron" is a colloquial term for crude steel. Crude steel from the steelmaking furnace is directly cast into iron lumps, which are round in shape and actually resemble bread.

"Xiao Chuan, sixty tons of iron have been put in!"

"Open the furnace! Heat it to 1700 degrees Celsius!"

Qin Chuan was not afraid of his steelmaking technology being stolen. On the one hand, the French already had it, and on the other hand, he could easily make their imitations ineffective with just a slight modification.

After half an hour.

"The temperature is right!"

"Blow argon gas!"

"Don't we blow oxygen when we're making steel?" Qin Jianguo, a veteran worker from Shougang Group, was quite curious.

The iron produced in the blast furnace is pig iron, which has too high a carbon content and is unusable. Therefore, it needs to be refined in the steelmaking furnace to remove the carbon.

One important method is oxygen top blowing. The oxygen blown in reacts with the carbon inside, whether it is carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide, it will turn into gas and escape.

Now, instead of blowing oxygen, Qin Chuan is blowing argon?

“Dad, this crude steel comes from the oxygen top-blown converter. We don’t need to add more oxygen. On the contrary, we need to deoxygenate it later.”

"Qin, what methods do you use to remove oxygen?" a Frenchman asked.

"First, use a high-intensity argon blowing method, with the intensity controlled at more than 25 cubic meters per hour, and blow argon for 20 minutes. Then add a silicon-aluminum-calcium-barium composite deoxidizer for precipitation deoxidation. Finally, add calcium carbide and ferrosilicon powder for diffusion deoxidation, and nitrogen can be adjusted simultaneously."

This introduction was entirely professional. Qin Chuan was worried that Yang Xue, as the translator, might not be able to express it clearly, since only someone who had studied professional French could do that. However, seeing the Frenchman nodding frequently, he knew that the translation was accurate.

"The process is exactly the same as ours for producing P92 steel. It seems you've also mastered the relevant technology!"

This translation is really pleasing to the eye! Qin Chuan was very satisfied.

After encountering several disgusting things, I've finally found something normal.

“No, this is only the first step,” another Frenchman said. “Deoxidation is an essential step in the production of P92 steel, but there are many more steps to follow. I don’t believe they can do it all right!”

"Then please take a look," Qin Chuan said. "What you French can do, we Easterners can do too. What you can't do, we can do as well."

"Are you kidding? Is there anything we can't do?"

“You couldn’t make that kind of steel cable yesterday, could you? It’s very expensive to buy in America, so you’re placing your order with us.”

The other person blushed and fell silent.

Yang Xue's eyes were sparkling.

The deoxidation process lasted for more than an hour, which amazed everyone watching. Which steel mill would be willing to do this? Turning the steel over and over with raw materials and constantly heating it, how much electricity would that consume?

"Alright, cast the steel ingots!"

What went in was iron ore shaped like steamed buns, and what came out looked even more like steamed buns: the steel ingots were cast into a short, tapered shape, well, calling them cornbread would be more appropriate.

"No, no, this will produce tube blanks that are too small!"

Looking at the cast steel ingot, the Frenchman spoke again.

Qin Chuan rolled his eyes at the other person: "Isn't it just to show you? If it gets bigger, can you even see it clearly?"

Bah! If I had a 10,000-ton hydraulic press, I could cast 60 tons of steel into a single steel ingot!

There's nothing we can do about it. We only have a 500-ton hydraulic press, and each steel ingot can weigh a maximum of 200 jin (100 kg). Any more than that, and it won't be able to be pressed properly!

Bang, bang, bang!

The steel ingot, like dough, is repeatedly kneaded on a hydraulic press, tempered and heated several times, and the mold is changed. After the fifth forging, it becomes a qualified billet.

"Okay, next step is reverse extrusion punching!"

"Heating, removing surface oxide scale, spraying lubricant, and extruding into tube blanks!"

Each process is almost identical to their French manufacturing process.

The tube blank is thus formed.

"Attention, spray quenching! The billet rotation speed is thirty revolutions per minute, and the water spray pressure is 4 bar..."

The Frenchman, who had been finding fault, nodded after hearing the last step of the process.

"The entire process is flawless; you have indeed mastered the manufacturing of this type of steel. However... this does not guarantee that the steel you produce is up to standard."

“Of course this needs to be tested,” Qin Chuan said. “After the spray quenching is completed, cut a piece and examine it under a microscope.”

Do we really need a microscope to inspect steel?

of course!

Half an hour later, under the microscope, the Frenchman carefully adjusted and examined the slide intently.

"The lath orientation is clear, it belongs to complete tempered martensite, and there are almost no impurities. Although the elements have not been checked yet, I can confirm that the δ-ferrite content here is no more than one percent. This is a perfect P92 steel!"

The Frenchman stood up and extended his hand to Qin Chuan: "Engineer Qin, your superb skills are truly admirable! I sincerely invite you to France; only there can you find your true stage!"