Chapter Thirty-Nine: Technical Report

  In the quiet and peaceful campus, lush green trees can be seen everywhere, with shiny grass covering the flat ground. In the classrooms scattered all over, the rustling sound of turning pages can be heard, occasionally accompanied by students' debates, teachers' explanations and questions, although not loud but still echoing far and wide.

  "Instead of teacher, this is my thesis, please guide me!" A student with red and swollen eyes, the school's white shirt had lost its whiteness, including pants and shoes that had added a lot of stains.

  However, his body did not appear to be tired at all, but rather seemed to be slightly excited from completing the report, and was trembling slightly. Moreover, his eyes were filled with confidence, shining brightly and spiritedly, which completely clashed with the two dark eye circles.

  "Is this your first time writing a thesis?" Newly appointed teacher Dai Rui of the Mechanical Manufacturing Department at Autonomous Region Industrial University still had the style from his previous job in Hechi, and his busy schedule almost didn't give him time to look up and see what the student looked like. After taking the report, he only asked this one sentence, but it wasn't that he disrespected students, because he also came up this way.

  The first university in the autonomous region is now the Industrial University, located in the newly developed high-tech zone. The school has a large scale and a strong research atmosphere around it, but currently, there are only three faculties and one special major. The three faculties are Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Civil Engineering, and Economics and Administrative Management, which are also the limits of the teaching strength that can be found in the autonomous region at present. The special major is the Basic Education Major, which is specifically set up for teacher training.

  All students in the school, if judged by the admission standards of later generations, would definitely be those who have spent more than a decade studying hard and diligently, or "geniuses" with exceptional talents, such as top scorers. Therefore, the students at this university in the autonomous region are definitely unqualified.

  The best and worst students when entering the school, although they have all received systematic cultural education in technical schools, the only difference is that some are in technical positions. After entering the school, they can master more advanced knowledge faster, and have a deeper understanding of their own experience, especially since they have been dealing with various drawings, technical materials, etc. for a long time, they have stronger adaptability to university life.

  And the "worst" are those who hold purely technical positions, they can only read drawings and materials and then produce qualified or even excellent products at a speed that ordinary people can't imagine, but other than that, they're not doing well. Their math level is probably like that of elementary school graduates in later generations. Apart from their super strong learning willpower and down-to-earth learning attitude, there's nothing else.

  "You're an intermediate technician and were also one of the top technical workers in the factory before coming here. How do you feel after adapting for nearly two months?"

  Dai Rui finally finished grading the last assignment and had time to talk to this student who submitted his report last. "Sit down, for now we are just friends, not teacher and student! There's no need to be so formal." Dai Rui capped his pen and saw that the student looked a bit stiff but very confident, he smiled in satisfaction and asked him to sit down.

  "How to say it? It's been over two months since I came, and apart from feeling that learning theoretical knowledge is very difficult, everything else is fine!" The confident student said about his own pain points, and various self-invented movements came out, such as touching his head and smiling foolishly or unconsciously making some small movements. After thinking for half a day, he still said calmly: "Higher mathematics is the most painful, a differential formula makes me suffer terribly, let alone linear algebra and other things, which are even more bitter! I don't know when it will end!"

  "Oh, these subjects are indeed very difficult, but through your own hard work, I'm sure you'll master those important knowledge in the future. Moreover, aren't there some classmates in your class and even in the whole department who have excellent math scores? Every student has their own strengths and weaknesses, by learning from each other, you can make common progress, why not humbly ask them how they study?"

  After finishing, Dai Rui picked up the student's report and said roughly after glancing at it: "You must have spent several nights in the library to complete this. There are oil cake stains and rice grain marks on it, only missing saliva. It seems that a lot of hard work has been put into this report! Eating and drinking were all solved in the library, and writing the final submission report should be written at a sober time, why bother making it so unbearable..."

  After being praised by a teacher of similar age, the student could only scratch the back of his head even harder, knowing that his foundation was relatively shallow and definitely not as good as those monsters. However, he had high hopes for the report, which took him a week to complete, otherwise, how could he have endured so many sleepless nights in the library, so many times dozing off while leaning against bookshelves, and so many times being carried back to his dormitory by the librarian? It was all these unspeakable hardships that made him produce such a report. Not having high hopes and confidence would be strange, but as for the report being written in such an unimpressive manner, it could only be blamed on the teacher's excessive pressure, otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to work overtime to the point of exhaustion.

  The two of them chatted and laughed for a while before Dai Rui solemnly began to review the report, which represented the rigorous scientific attitude and hard work. Xu slowly opened the report and read it carefully, thinking that it was actually written quite well.

  The title of the report was written in neat, bold characters: "On the General Method of Selecting Mechanical Materials". The content and tables that followed, including the descriptive text, were all written by the student with a steel pen in neat handwriting. Even the diagrams were carefully crafted with a ruler and pencil. Just looking at this serious attitude is enough to satisfy him. The saying "attitude determines fate, details decide success or failure" lies in this. Of course, he doesn't hope that this student will only have a positive attitude but fail miserably due to lack of attention to detail. He carefully looked through the content, and naturally, the key information in the report was what he focused on.

  The topic of the thesis is the method of selecting mechanical materials, and it is considered that students are asked to discuss this issue.

  In the manufacturing industry, the selection of mechanical parts is a very important task. The appropriateness of material selection directly affects the performance, lifespan and cost of machine parts. Material selection that does not meet usage requirements and cost budget is considered a failure. Whether the material selection of parts is correct or not mainly depends on whether the material can satisfy usage requirements while having good processability and low cost.

  So an industrially developed country or manufacturing factory, the participants in industrial production, that is, technical personnel, must be the most capable of selecting materials. Otherwise, how can they use the cheapest materials to make the most suitable machines and maximize profits?

  "Is this report really done by yourself?"

  After reading for a while, Dai Rui closed the report and thought for a moment before speaking to the students: "For us mechanical engineers, whether in design or manufacturing, there is an eternal truth: 'The failure mode of a machine determines its design and material selection.' A machine's design concept is formed in the designer's mind and ultimately transformed into a physical object through manufacturing. We can't control right or wrong, but we are responsible for manufacturing. First and foremost, we need to analyze the stress on parts, estimate their failure modes, and then consider material selection. How to design is a matter of mechanical design expertise. So, being able to select materials is an essential ability for mechanical manufacturers. Do you think this report reflects your abilities?"

  "When I was in technical school, I had contact with such topics. At that time, the teacher did not require us to be familiar with all materials, and my main direction at that time was welding of various materials. In this aspect, the ability is definitely lacking, but the content of this report is absolutely worth learning and summarizing, it represents the advanced nature of our industrial technology, as a technical personnel, it is necessary to be familiar with..."

  "That's not bad, but don't you think that what you've written, or rather, borrowed is a bit too much?" Dai Rui didn't directly point out the student's mistake, because it wasn't exactly a mistake, just a lack of awareness in that area. Dai Rui was well aware of this and didn't dare to speak rashly.

  "The teacher said it was because I wrote too much, the content was redundant and also because I copied too many contents from books?"

  "Don't think too much, I don't mean to blame you. Whether it's because the content is too long and complicated, or for other reasons, it doesn't matter." By this time, Dai Rui again gestured for the students to sit down, not to suddenly jump up in surprise. Opening the report again, pointing to some places, he said: "For the first time writing a report and there was no template given as reference, except for giving you the topic, nothing else was explained, it's very good that you could do this."

  After hanging his head low for a while, the student finally lifted his head and said: "Teacher, you don't have to comfort me like that. I remembered where I went wrong!"

  "Haha! It seems you're a clever person and will definitely achieve something. Of course, apart from that, can you really comprehend the content involved in this report? Don't tell me you've just been copying books these days without using your own brain to think and learn!"

  A topic for a thesis is given to students without any guidance, and then they are left to their own devices in the library, searching for materials and gathering resources. All this is not just to let students surround themselves with a theme, take the initiative to think and learn, and make contact with a large amount of knowledge, but also to gain knowledge and make progress.

  "These days of hard work and late nights have indeed taught me a lot." As he said this, the student's eyes became even more spirited. "When doing mechanical work, there are different requirements for different parts. For example, its casing and base must not produce obvious elastic deformation, and must have a certain degree of rigidity. However, since they will not bear large stresses, strength, plasticity, toughness, etc. are secondary considerations, so at this time we can choose cheap ordinary gray cast iron."

  "The job should bear smaller force or even just withstand static pressure, we can choose a lower grade of grey cast iron. If there is a certain tensile strength requirement, then increase the grade accordingly. If it needs to withstand impact, such as our car's rear axle housing, then ductile cast iron will do. In this way, the production cost of our machine will be greatly reduced and the efficiency will be higher. Of course, there are still many things worth learning and thinking about, the vast knowledge and application between them is never fixed, and there will always be different paths leading to the same goal..."

  "Do you know the importance of these things? Including what you haven't said yet." Dai Rui took a sip of cold tea, not knowing if it was the leftover water from that day that was hard to swallow, but there was no way out and could only make do with quenching his thirst. "What does a factory rely on to stand in the market? What makes its products win enough profit? What can a super-large group rely on to stand in the world, and how can a regional industrial system lead the way in the era of global industry?"

  The industrial development of the autonomous region originated from the automobile manufacturing industry created in the United States, and it was this huge source of profit and industrial stimulus that allowed him to return home and slowly create a world in the poor and remote southwestern border like a mother hen laying eggs. The main reason for this may not be known to Dai Rui, but he understands that all of this must be due to the autonomous region having superior technology, and to continue developing and growing, it is necessary to ensure the leading position of these technologies.

  "Now I've completely put aside my teacher's identity and speak to you as a friend. One person must have a goal to strive for, let alone a group of people striving for a long-term goal? You and I both know that the development of our autonomous region up to today, and the development of our party up to now, what is the purpose? No one knows better than us the importance of these technologies in achieving our goals, no one can know how much sweat we've paid for our goals. The hard-won leading position doesn't mean we've already reached our goal, but rather tells us that we must firmly grasp the existing advantages and continuously create more and greater advantages!"

  "Of course, it's your first time writing a thesis, and you might think that these papers are just circulating within our school. So, like the clearly stated confidential technical materials in our library, you also wrote them down! To add persuasive power to your own paper is okay, but you must have enough discretion, especially for the future. Now take a look at what you've written..." As he spoke, Dai Rui pointed to a certain part of the report, about the axle's confidential content.

  Shaft is an important mechanical component for transmitting motion and power, the fuel engine in autonomous region including generator set has sufficient performance, the most important thing is to have a suitable shaft, without such core components as shaft, how can power machinery possibly possess the ability of outputting power.

  The autonomous region's most precise grinding and honing machines are made from high-grade, nitrogen-treated steel. Although the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine is still made from cheaper ductile iron, it undergoes special treatment to achieve excellent wear resistance. To withstand larger impact loads, stricter surface hardness, and wear resistance requirements, some axles, such as the engine's piston pin, require even more confidential processing methods. Fortunately, this student didn't have the endurance to read more materials.

  "This report has made a very detailed analysis of how to choose materials, but the analysis is somewhat excessive. The processing and manufacturing methods are all matched up, which makes this report not only redundant but also...". By this point, Dai Rui had discovered that his literary level was so low that he couldn't find suitable words to describe the unpublicizable nature of this report.

  In today's industrial era, having more advanced technology means having a monopoly on products, and thus having huge profits.

  Some common knowledge is known worldwide, but those who know and can solve them one by one are the real strong ones. For example: in mechanics, transmission shafts and connecting rods, everyone knows that they need to consider their comprehensive performance, that is, they have high requirements for strength, toughness, plasticity, etc.; rolling bearings, precision parts, cutting tools, etc., require ultra-high hardness requirements and no less than wear resistance, strength, and toughness requirements. Otherwise, there is no way to manufacture excellent machine tool equipment, let alone develop the mechanical processing and manufacturing industry.

  "Like the main drive shaft of heavy machinery, large high-pressure containers, large bridges and so on, it is nothing but a requirement for high fracture toughness. People with certain knowledge can know what kind of requirements are needed, but few people know how to make materials, what kind of processing methods to use, let alone be able to manufacture them."

  "I know, our teacher in technical school said so. I know that axles are used in alternating bending stress, torsional stress, impact load and wear conditions, and many times it's also due to fatigue fracture or excessive wear and tear that causes failure. But to actually manufacture an axle that meets the usage requirements is not easy at all. Such technical data should indeed not be leaked out, otherwise it would be a suicidal move..."

  "Actually, I don't blame you for writing what shouldn't be written, but to let you know the importance of a report's focus. The introduction should only introduce how to select materials, but you've included methods of manufacturing, which makes it seem redundant and unnecessary. Moreover, we won't be able to judge whether it can be made public later on. You know that excellent student reports can even be published in journals. So, the extra content has to be deleted!" Dai Rui quickly picked up a red pen and started crossing out the inappropriate content on the report.

  The manufacture of gears uses carbon steel, alloy steel, and copper alloys. Countries with certain industrial strengths, especially imperialist countries, almost all know this. However, truly being able to make a ten-wheeled cargo truck perform vastly differently is not the same. A poor one may only be able to carry a few tons of goods before becoming extremely laborious, moving like an old ox pulling a cart. On the other hand, a well-made one can easily pull over ten tons and run wildly around the world. Moreover, if it only carries the standard load set by the manufacturer at eight tons, its service life will be quite considerable.

  The reason why the gap can be reached is not only due to the power of the engine, but also the problem of the car's own structure. The engine power is not enough, it is difficult to give the car a powerful driving force. The hydraulic system and spring are not good enough, how can we make the car have the ability to carry heavy loads. Whether an automobile can bring out the performance of the engine and create the best benefit, its own weight, structural distribution, material selection and so on are very important.

  Like a six-wheeled off-road heavy truck with an engine power of 147 kilowatts, its maximum total mass is around twenty tons. If the self-weight is about ten tons and the load-bearing structure cannot support tens of tons of heavy pressure, it can only move at a turtle's speed after barely reaching the maximum total weight. How can there be good economic benefits? Especially in times of war, troops still expect it to deliver excellent off-road performance, bringing them truckload after truckload of supplies. How can a poorly performing vehicle enter the military procurement order and bring continuous benefits to the company?

  "Also, you should study mechanical materials more, mastering the knowledge in it will make your future studies easier. Moreover, regarding mathematics, you must give it sufficient attention, otherwise, future courses will be even more painful." After finishing speaking, Dai Rui handed over the report with many red lines drawn on it. "Go back and revise it again, some data needs to be re-verified, working so hard in the library at midnight, only to find out that you made mistakes with the data, what a huge loss that would be."

  "I'll definitely pay attention to how I write and correct the mistakes quickly. If there's nothing else, I'll get busy!" After handing over the report, the student bowed and left the office, then rushed to the library in a flurry.

  "I'm also puzzled, how can the autonomous region have so many advanced things? It's really inexplicable!" As he watched the students slowly disappear from view, Dai Rui held his teacup and thought about everything he had read in the library, and couldn't help but feel puzzled too. Of course, this wasn't important, what was important was that fortunately these materials belonged to the autonomous region, otherwise if imperialist countries got their hands on them, it would be a disaster!

  The university's teaching facilities are well-equipped, with a fully equipped sports stadium, a grand auditorium that can accommodate many people at the same time, numerous large classrooms, and superior canteens and dormitories. However, what is most distinctive about this school is its two "lacks" and two "mores". The lacks refer to the scarcity of teachers and students, as well as the school's relaxed requirements for teaching and learning. Both work and study are left to the students and teachers to arrange on their own, except for public courses and compulsory foundation courses that must be attended. As a result, there is a small number of students and teachers utilizing vast educational resources.

  More are learning conditions and the framework of libraries. There are many laboratories in universities for students to experience hands-on fun, and another condition is learning materials.

  In the only library, there are many types of books stored. Each type of book is not small in number, but what's special is that all the books have no duplicates, and the total number has reached a staggering 100,000 volumes. The vast sea of books was divided into several levels and placed on different floors of the library building. Only the lowest level can be borrowed out, and now only two people can enter the fifth floor to view the data.

  It's precisely because of this that the library has many more rules and regulations. As students who have been carefully selected to come here, they still need to pay attention to many things, especially in a place like the library with high confidentiality requirements. Which floor's books can only be read individually, which ones are limited to discussion within the library, which ones can be borrowed out and discussed freely, which floors even teachers cannot enter, etc. Many books in the library have strict requirements, such as the report that Dairui just reviewed, many of its contents clearly belong to the second floor's first storage room, this floor has only recently been opened to students, but the requirements of no external carrying and no use for literature assignments are still in place. Dairui certainly knows that these books must be one of the key factors for the rapid development of the autonomous region, but he definitely doesn't know that the knowledge contained within should be something from ten years later.

  That is to say, the five-story library of the Industrial University has a total of over 1 million books. In fact, according to different levels and grades, it can be divided into different categories based on Zhang Yu's literature year limit classification. The first floor is for all technical books that have appeared in today's world and in the past, which are completely non-confidential and do not have any special features except for being more clearly categorized and simpler than those of other universities.

  But the books on the second floor and above are not easy to move. Most of the materials on the fifth floor were invented before and after World War II, and according to this technical confidentiality law, it can be inferred that the ones placed on the second floor are also from another time and space around 1925. Especially since there are many technical documents used or being used by autonomous region enterprises and Asia Group, even if it is for commercial secrecy reasons, they cannot be written out randomly. Otherwise, where would you find so much funding to support a large group of students, and where would you find the root of the revival dream?

  Of course, this report is indeed excellent, a rare outstanding technical report. Many years later, when the student who has become an academician of the Academy of Engineering sees this report again, he still thinks that what he wrote at that time was indeed good, and the 100 points given by Teacher Dai Rui are well-deserved.

  PS: New author and new book need everyone's support and encouragement, please point out the shortcomings, I can make progress with your support and suggestions, thank you!