Chapter 357

Chapter 357: Treasure of the Dragon Knight

The newly established National Defense Star was eagerly awaiting orders, and competitors were like enemies. Chen Haiqing rushed to Hainan, eager and anxious, to secure connections that allowed him to enter the newly built aircraft carrier fleet of the South China Sea Fleet. He feared that if he arrived just a moment too late, Lin Mo might be taken away by someone from Shenyang Aircraft Corporation.

Chen Haiqing’s worries were indeed justified. He arrived just in time, for the engineers at Shenyang were up to no good and openly invited Lin Mo to visit them. That would be like sending a lamb into a tiger’s den, a situation unacceptable for National Defense Star.

If someone really did take him away, would National Defense Star still have a place in the industry?

"Hmm, let me think!"

Lin Mo stroked his chin thoughtfully. He had plenty of useful items related to fighter jets. During his time with Shenyang, not only had they gained a technical expert for free, but Lin Mo had also reaped significant rewards.

Chen Haiqing looked at him with eager anticipation. He knew his brother was genuinely capable; otherwise, how could he have been reserved for roles at several major aircraft design firms ahead of time? When Lin Mo could no longer fly, he would ultimately have to work at his own aircraft design firm.

In the fierce competition for talent, the 611 Institute had the upper hand. The J-1 that Lin Mo piloted was developed by the 611 Institute, and his mentor happened to be a retired expert from there. Without a doubt, Lin Mo had the inherent mark of the 611 Institute imprinted in his very being—like a natural lineage passed down.

Other aircraft design firms, however, were not ready to give up so easily. Following the release of the “monstrous” design plans, they gained even more confidence in vying for Lin Mo. They eagerly listed plans to compete against the 611 Institute in their future development strategies, unwilling to let them have it too easily.

"I say, how many good things do you have? Just take them all out for me!"

Seeing Lin Mo’s confident demeanor, Chen Haiqing grew anxious. He had let several technical advantages slip away to Shenyang because of his negligence, which was driving him mad. His father had warned him; if Lin Mo was poached by Shenyang, he could directly expect to be out of a job as the future manager of National Defense Star.

Taking over a business? Forget it!

He would have to start from scratch with the children of the working class, toiling away for someone else.

That would cut off his economic lifeline!

He was used to spending freely, and his parents’ petty allowances wouldn’t cover his expenses. Moreover, there were family rules—he would have to buy a house and a car to get married; all luxuries purchased by his family would be taken back after marriage unless he could keep 70% of the cash himself. Otherwise, he could expect a tragedy.

Being a wealthy second-generation child or a second-generation official wasn’t easy; the pressure at home was intense. If he couldn’t bear the weight of this identity, he would be stripped of all the superior living conditions and would have to sweat as hard as anyone else to make ends meet. It was a matter of survival of the fittest.

Rather than facing the disheartening feeling of falling from a high place, he found it better to prepare himself for adapting to life at the lower levels of society as soon as possible.

"Here, I have some alloy formulas that can be used for fighter jets. Do you want them?"

Lin Mo still held back a bit, not giving Chen Haiqing too much surprise.

"Formulas?" However, Chen Haiqing was not as Lin Mo had imagined; instead, delight washed over his face, and he began to dance wildly. "I want them, I want all of them! Hahaha! I knew you had some good stuff!"

He dramatically threw his arm around Lin Mo’s neck, insisting he wouldn’t let him go this time.

Alloys are materials created from two or more metals and non-metals through specific methods, possessing metallic characteristics. They are typically synthesized by melting into a uniform liquid and then solidifying. Depending on the number of elements, they can be classified as binary, ternary, or multi-element alloys.

Alloy formulas? These weren’t worth much to Lin Mo, as he had a gold giant dragon that could feed on metals. As long as this creature wanted to, it could easily create countless alloy compositions without any effort, even easier than using a specialized alloy metallurgy furnace.

Creating experimental alloys, even a tiny variation of a thousandth could change the properties of an alloy. For example, stainless steel can be categorized into 200 series (chromium-manganese-nickel), 300 series (chromium-nickel), 400 series (chromium), and 600 series (precipitation-hardened), based on the ratios of alloying elements like chromium, nickel, manganese, molybdenum, titanium, niobium, and copper.

Nature has 90 types of metals, and with permutations and combinations, plus variations in proportions, an infinite number of many kinds of alloys can emerge.

In the military industry, special alloy formulas are essentially closely guarded secrets. Filtering valuable alloy types from a multitude of formulas requires a significant investment in resources, as well as countless trials to create an alloy recipe library.

This database often represents the foundation and confidence of a country’s industrial system, including military applications. All material applications of metal industrial products are based on this database.

Consider the MiG-25 "Foxbat," which used extensive stainless steel materials. When equipped with the Soviet military initially, it drew significant attention from the Western world due to its high-performance parameters, even speculating that the Soviet Union’s military aviation manufacturing technology was world-leading.

It wasn’t until September 6, 1976, when Soviet pilot Lieutenant Belyankov defected to Japan in a MiG-25 "Foxbat" that the Western world finally peeled back the mysterious veil of this aircraft.

American and Japanese technical experts completely dismantled the MiG-25 and transported it to the Yoko Air Force Base, over 100 kilometers north of Tokyo, where thorough investigations revealed that 70% of its components were made of stainless steel. Although its maximum speed was impressive, and its technical performance was not as terrifying as imagined, it was nonetheless a technical victory brought about by special alloy formulas.

The MiG-25 "Foxbat" shot down various aircraft during its service. There were even reports suggesting that during the first Gulf War, a MiG-25 had shot down an American F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet.

As the future successor of National Defense Star, Chen Haiqing certainly understood the importance of alloy formulas for fighter jets. This wasn’t just about enhancing the strength of the airframe and replacing traditional aluminum alloys.

Particularly when the flight speed of a fighter jet exceeds Mach 2, the materials of the airframe must confront the threat of “thermal barrier.”

When an aircraft flies at supersonic speeds through dense air, the high-temperature compressed gases heating due to shock waves and the intense friction with air can cause the surface temperature of the aircraft to rise sharply as speed increases, leading to structural and material difficulties due to aerodynamic heating.

At Mach 2, the temperature at the nose of the aircraft slightly exceeds 100 degrees Celsius, but when it reaches Mach 3, the surface temperature can rise to around 350 degrees Celsius, exceeding the maximum temperature limit of aluminum alloys, drastically weakening their strength. At Mach 6, the temperature at the aircraft’s top can reach 1480 degrees Celsius.

In the aviation realm, the high-temperature situation encountered by aircraft during high-speed flight is referred to as "thermal barrier," which is also a challenge in the aerospace industry.

Fighter jets do not strive to pursue extremes but inevitably face a series of technical and material obstacles. Without reasonable solutions, the aircraft could burn into a fireball simply due to its speed in the atmosphere.

The MiG-25 "Foxbat" broke many conventional thoughts by using stainless steel as its main material and set multiple records in flight speed and altitude, being able to sustain a speed of 2.8 Mach at an altitude of 24,000 meters, with a maximum speed potentially reaching 3 Mach. Although it attained such performance, the local temperature inside the cockpit could even cook an egg.

The performance might be quite extreme and lack balance, but it allowed the MiG-25 "Foxbat" to become one of the few aircraft in the world to conquer the "thermal barrier (2.5 Mach)."

In addition to the MiG-25, the other two were America’s SR-71 and Russia’s MiG-31.

From wooden aircraft to aluminum alloy aircraft, and from aluminum alloy aircraft to titanium alloy aircraft, every advancement in aircraft materials signifies a revolution.

Even with modern fighter jets widely utilizing titanium alloys—lightweight, strong, resistant to metal fatigue, and chemically stable—titanium alloys are not without flaws. For instance, their machinability is poor, necessitating laser cutting or one-time forming; conventional metal processing methods are wholly unsuitable for titanium alloys. Beyond 400 degrees Celsius, their strength diminishes, and the impact of the “thermal barrier” effect becomes increasingly serious.

When Lin Mo constructed his “monstrous” design, he had already factored in this “thermal barrier” effect, and the gold giant dragon possessed sufficient alloy formulas, allowing Lin Mo to not worry about material issues under “thermal barrier.”

Perhaps for other aircraft design experts, this was an insurmountable chasm, but for Lin Mo, it unintentionally became non-issue.

Particularly for some aviation parts suppliers, once they obtained Lin Mo’s alloy formulas, they straightforwardly commenced production. They weren’t interested in knowing where the client’s formulas came from, which made the outside world somewhat overlook Lin Mo’s treasure trove.

However, for the gold giant dragon, material constraints were second nature, effortless. Lin Mo possessed a plethora of alloy formulas to choose from.

"I’ll copy some for you later; whatever you want, I’ve got it," Lin Mo said, holding an abundant treasure of alloy formulas, not knowing how many people would envy him, still unaware of the immense value these formulas held for National Defense Star.

"Great, fantastic! Let’s go; I’ll treat you tonight! Five-star hotel, just the two of us, let’s have a good heart-to-heart. By the way, I’ve heard you’ve created a lot of amazing skills in aerial combat; make sure not to keep them to yourself."

Chen Haiqing patted Lin Mo on the shoulder, laughing heartily as he pulled Lin Mo toward the luxury van.