"Then it's as you say," Yang Xu nodded and continued, "... By the way, what name should we give it?"
"So we just need to continuously improve the catalyst to keep it active during the high-temperature growth process of the carbon nanotube. In theory, we can increase its length."
Quite satisfied with his ability to name, Lu Zhou turned his questioning eyes to Yang Xu. He originally planned to ask for his opinion, but saw that he didn't respond for a long time, so he hesitated to ask.
Standing next to an optical microscope, Lu Zhou slightly turned the fine focus spiral and observed the carbon nanotube fibers on the glass slide.
What's the difference between this and dismantling the entire core cabin shell and sending it back to the furnace
Lu Zhou: "...?"
When he heard that the problem was with the loop heat pipe, Lu Zhou's heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he immediately realized that the problem might not be simple.
It's just that after asking, even if you want to regret it now, it's already too late.
Hearing that Director Li's tone was not quite right, Lu Zhou stopped talking and asked straight to the point.
"… What's wrong?"
Lu Zhou smiled sheepishly, thought seriously for a while, and then spoke.
"Just call me N-1."
As for N-1, naturally it is because it is No. 1. If newer similar materials are developed in the future, we can just follow the rules of 1234 and so on.
Jinling Institute for Advanced Study, Materials Science Laboratory.
For spacecraft, heat dissipation is a very serious problem, and it is also a problem that is difficult to find during the design stage. Although current technology has been able to simulate the total heat production and heat dissipation, this simulation may still deviate from the actual situation due to various reasons.
"...What about the directional growth technology used in SG-1 superconducting materials? Have you tried it?"
He took out his cell phone and took a look. Seeing that it was Director Li, Lu Zhou said hello to Yang Xu, then pressed the connect button and walked to the corridor outside the laboratory.
"Hello?"
"I have tried every method you can think of," Yang Xu shook his head. "The pore size of this high tensile strength carbon nanotube is much smaller than that of the SG-1 material, and it is difficult to synthesize it through directional growth... And taking a step back, even if it can be done in this way, it will be difficult to accept in terms of cost, right?"
"I'm afraid so."
Lu Zhou thought for a while and said, "Let's register a carbon nanotube sample first, and wait for the catalyst for preparation."
"That's not true. There is still some thinking." Yang Xu pulled out a report from the side of the experimental table and handed it to Lu Zhou. "According to the information fed back from several sets of experimental data, by improving the catalyst The type of carbon nanotube molecules can effectively improve the proportion of long carbon nanotube molecules in the product. Judging from this property, this kind of carbon nanotube molecules with nitrogen-containing groups on the surface is similar to some samples I have made before. Very similar."
Keeping the synthesis process secret and simply submitting the sample with nitrogen-containing groups on its surface as an interesting carbon nanotube is also feasible in the materials science community.
After listening to Yang Xu's words, Lu Zhou nodded and said: "... Then just follow the idea you mentioned. If the funds are not enough, just tell me."
Sure enough, Director Li's next words confirmed his bad premonition.
What does it mean
Do you look down on my taste in naming
"... There is something wrong with Hangke Group. The cooling system of the core cabin is not powerful enough," Director Li said in a heavy tone after a pause of about two or three seconds. "The launch plan may have to be postponed."
This is true not only in the field of materials science, but also in any field of academia. The more popular a problem is, the more research institutions are interested in it, and the faster results can be produced.
Therefore, improving the catalyst and extending its deactivation time is indeed a technically feasible and cost-controllable research idea.
"Can't you make it longer?"
Upon hearing that there was a heat dissipation problem, Lu Zhou immediately asked, "Can't it be solved by installing a heat sink?"
"The best it can do is this."
Lu Zhou: "After the patent is registered, we can consider sorting out the content other than the preparation process and submitting it to a section."
In a sense, it was quite lucky to be able to find the problem on the ground. After all, after the spacecraft is in the sky, it is almost impossible to overhaul it.
After touching his chin and thinking for a while, Lu Zhou spoke.
According to the data observed under the microscope, the shortest sample is only 5-10μm, and the longer one can reach 2mm, but the number is only handful.
"…You mean, the entire loop heat pipe needs to be redesigned?"
Lu Zhou: "..."
Oh my god...
If a research institute works behind closed doors without exchanging opinions with other scholars or research teams, it may not be possible to see results after pondering a problem for more than ten years.
Staring at the picks on the microscope with a complicated expression, Lu Zhou still asked reluctantly, "Don't you have any ideas?"
Director Li said in a serious tone: "...the problem is not with the heat sink, it is said that it is with the loop heat pipe."
"it's me."
"Don't worry about this. I won't be polite to you when we are really short of funds." Yang Xu smiled, paused and continued, "By the way, I have to ask you something. Now the laboratory preparation The problem has been solved... Do I need to register a patent?”
Without thinking much, Yang Xu subconsciously asked this question.
After about four or five minutes, Lu Zhou's eyes left the eyepiece and looked at Yang Xu standing next to him.
Although he also considered some more appropriate names to describe the properties of the material, such as "super tensile carbon nanotubes" or "carbon nanotubes that are 100 times more tensile than steel," they took up too much space to write, so I gave up the idea.
There is nothing special about the naming principle. It is purely because the nitrogen-containing modification groups on the surface of this carbon nanotube are too distinctive compared to other carbon nanotube materials, so we simply use the letter N to name this series of materials. .
To take a recent particle example, the American GOES-17 satellite has design flaws in its cooling system, which makes it susceptible to solar radiation and overheating, making it unable to obtain infrared cloud images in a timely and effective manner. It is like a blind man at night. Hundreds of millions of dollars The investment was almost in vain.
"What happened?"
It's okay if it's a superconducting material. It's used in high-end fields. If the amount is not large, it's acceptable to be more expensive. But if it’s just a tensile material that costs so much, it’s a bit unnecessary.
What is despairing is that even carbon nanotube samples grown to 2mm. Compared with the smooth and smooth carbon nanotube threads on the piece of cloth, the sample lying on this glass slide is like a pile of beard residue, which is evenly shaved. kind…
Yang Xu: "What about the paper?"
The voice coming from the other end of the phone was a little bitter.
For the growth of carbon nanotubes, the deactivation of the catalyst during high-temperature growth is an irreversible rule and is also one of the main reasons that limit the length of carbon nanotubes.
At this moment, a call suddenly came to Lu Zhou's cell phone.
Redo the loop heat pipe!
Yang Xu shook his head.
"It's nothing..." Yang Xu smiled awkwardly but politely, "I just think it's quite your style."
If more research institutions can be attracted to participate, it will also be a beneficial thing for him.
However, as soon as these words came out of his mouth, he regretted them.