In just one night, the metal smelting center had already forged out one-fifth of the ship's alloy steel modules.
These modular steels did not need to undergo any further processing, nor did they need to be bent with water and fire like in ordinary shipbuilding.
Twenty monster laborers had already started welding the hull of the super giant ship on the load pile foundation. With the help of two magnetically assisted lifting equipment, they pieced the modules together and welded them with the most advanced welding technology that humans had yet to master.
Not to mention anything else, just the exposure of this welding technology would make the American industrial sector go completely crazy.
Welding was a very important technical topic in industrial processing.
The most common method was electric arc welding, which was the welding technique where you held a transformer and used a welding rod to tap on it. This kind of welding method was quite fresh and had a feeling of eating all the food in the world.
However, in a slightly higher grade factory, this welding technique could only be used to weld scaffolding and scraps. If you wanted to weld products, you would have to use semi-automatic submerged arc welding or automatic gas shielded welding technology.
When Ye Qing first recruited peons, he used electric arc welding to weld a seam, which shocked Ye Qing.
In the industry, when describing a weld as beautiful, there was a phrase called fish scale pattern. It meant that the weld was like fish scales, layer upon layer, very neat. This kind of fish scale pattern could only be created by the best welders. At the same time, the uniform weld pattern meant that the quality of the weld was guaranteed.
The cracks inside the weld were small, and the strength was uniform.
If a master artisan came, he could weld any pattern he wanted. He could even use the weld pattern as a drawing.
The emergence of automatic welding technology solved the awkward problem of uneven welding skills. The stable automatic wire feeding mechanism and the self-moving guide rail ensured that the weld height between the metal materials was uniform. At the same time, this was the only technology used to weld precision.
But …
They couldn't weld thick parts.
Welding wire could only weld on the surface of the metal. This was common sense. But for large machines, the thickness of the welded metal was usually more than ten centimeters. If only the upper and lower sides were welded, there would be a gap in the middle, and the strength would be much lower than the unwelded area. Once there was a collision or violent movement, the metal would break.
This was especially fatal for the ship that had to withstand the waves.
Therefore, in order to be able to weld qualified super-thick parts, the engineers racked their brains and tried every possible method.
For example, when welding a super-thick piece, first cut out the slope of the two pieces of material to be welded, then pile up and weld them layer by layer. Before the advent of more advanced welding techniques, masters who could master the welding technique of super-thick parts were all national treasures.
The thickness that could be welded represented the rarity of this master.
With the development of welding technology and mechanical motorization technology. Welding super-thick parts had also been a chaotic situation. All kinds of non-mainstream technologies that were said to be accessible to everyone emerged one after another. Later on, electroslag welding technology was developed and unified the world.
Electroslag welding can be used to weld extremely thick parts, such as tank armor. Its principle was to leave a gap of about 30 millimeters in advance during welding. During welding, the welding wire would slowly melt and accumulate in the gap, filling the gap bit by bit.
But …
Electroslag welding could not weld the super thick hull of the super cargo ship in front of him. This was because the defects of electroslag welding were very obvious. The heat generated during welding was very large and the welding time was very long. During welding, clamps must be used to firmly clamp the two pieces of welding parts to ensure that thermal deformation does not occur.
At the same time, a specific angle was needed to ensure that welding slag accumulated in the reserved seam. This angle was the best. If it was inclined, the maximum angle could not exceed 30 degrees. Otherwise, the welding slag would overflow.
Look at the super-high-speed cargo ship that was being welded in the Longxitan factory. The thickness of the armor in its important parts was more than two meters. Most of the remaining parts were between 50 centimeters and one meter. How could they be welded?
The super huge ship weighed tens of thousands of tons. How could they fix it? How could they rotate it to ensure that the weld was always vertical?
If the Newport News shipyard came, they would all cry together on the dock.
The only non-mainstream solution was to cut out an inclination angle of less than 30 degrees at the weld before welding. Then, they would use surfacing technology to weld it bit by bit. But here came the problem. Not to mention how many years it would take to complete the welding, how could they quickly cut out a slope for this kind of super strong armor material?
After welding, how could they ensure the overall strength of the weld and prevent cracks, bubbles, and slag inclusions?
To ask this question, they had to first understand how the dreadnoughts of World War I and World War II with armor thickness of 40 to 70 centimeters were manufactured.
It was simple. They didn't need to weld at all. They didn't have the welding technology. The thin armor was directly pieced together layer by layer with rivets.
This was also the reason why it took a few years to build a battleship, and only specific workers could build it.
The strength of the multi-layer splice was naturally much worse than the outer armor formed by forging and welding. In terms of strength and resistance to metal fatigue, it was much worse. It was also more time-consuming. After World War II, this technology was eliminated by the big countries.
The super-thick hull welding technology that gave the world a headache was easily conquered by the Longxitan shipyard, oh no, the Longxitan factory.
Two 3D electron beam metal melting printing devices the size of a car were attached to the two sides of the super-thick armor by magnetic force. They relied on electron beams in the internal vacuum bombardment room to instantly bombard the special alloy metal powder prepared by the Master Metal Experts into a high-speed fluid between liquid and gas.
These fluids were sprayed through special nozzles into the gap of the modular armor held by the magnetic robot.
The gap was only five millimeters wide. The bright fluid that was sprayed out collided with each other like particles in a particle accelerator. The fluid quickly cooled and solidified under the effect of the auxiliary cooling nozzles and adhered to the gap. The two electron beam printing devices were doing synchronous and rapid reciprocating movements. Like a printer, they quickly filled the gap of the armor.
The armor was mixed with hard alloy, but the material of these printing devices was the super hard alloy powder carefully prepared by the Master Metal Experts. After the printing was completed, this "weld" not only showed a perfect metal crystal arrangement under the metal observation device, but there were also no hidden injuries or bubbles.
The strength of the "weld" was higher than the armor of the super cargo ship.
This was the real top industrial technology. It was also the reason why Ye Qing dared to use a civilian super cargo ship to fight against a warship. Of course, its cost was also shockingly high.
To put it bluntly, the United States might not be able to master this technology even after five or ten years.
…
Another day passed. In the Longxitan factory, the super cargo ship was showing its first signs of ferocity.
With the bow as the starting point, one-fifth of the purest alloy steel shell had been assembled. On the back of the alloy shell, there were crisscrossing alloy keels that looked like dragons.
A certain proportion of nickel-titanium memory alloy had been added to these alloy keels. The industrial term metal fatigue would never exist in front of it.
7: 30 in the morning.
Ye Qing announced to the higher-ups that the research and development of the [Electromagnetic Engine] in the factory had entered a critical moment. He would be stationed in the factory for the next two days to keep an eye on this project.
The company's affairs were very easy to arrange. After the arrangement, Ye Qing specially went to do a new hairstyle.
Originally, Ye Qing had short black hair. This time, the two sides of his temples were cut short. The top of the hair was very layered and became the most fashionable "airplane hairstyle" that young people liked the most. He also dyed it a light green that could only be seen under the light.
Wearing a fashionable Prada men's outfit and a pair of sunglasses that could change color at will, Ye Qing was now a handsome and young prince.
At 10 in the morning, Ye Qing brought a Master Metal Expert who looked like a bodyguard to Zhongyun Airport in a low-key manner. He did not take the private channel to take the exclusive plane. Instead, he took the VIP channel. He took the first-class cabin to the capital first and then transferred to Japan.
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