The rise of great powers: starting from military industry - #130 - Chapter 130 Rare earths are not earth (please subscribe for a monthly ticket)

Rare earths are not earth!

It is the general name for a total of seventeen metal elements including the lanthanide series elements, scandium and yttrium in the periodic table of elements.

The reason why it is called “rare earth” is because there were few rare earth minerals discovered in the 18th century. At that time, only a small amount of water-insoluble oxides could be produced by chemical methods. It was customary to call this oxide “earth”, hence the name. Named rare earth.

Rare earth metals, also known as rare earth elements. Judging from current research, rare earth metals are not actually “rare”. The abundance of rare earth elements in the earth’s crust is quite high. Rare earth elements are not rare, but they are quite dispersed and few are concentrated into deposits that allow commercial mining.

According to the atomic electron layer structure and physical and chemical properties of rare earth elements, rare earth elements are usually divided into two groups: light rare earth and heavy rare earth.

Light rare earths include lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, and gadolinium.

Heavy rare earths include: terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium.

Of course, there is another classification method, which is also divided into two groups, namely the cerium group and the yttrium group.

The cerium group includes lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, and samarium, while the yttrium group includes europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and yttrium.

At present, research on the application of rare earths in the world is actually in the exploratory stage.

Whether it is Europe, the United States or the Soviet Union, their applied research on rare earths is almost at the same level.

Even its military application is still in the experimental stage.

As for the application of rare earths in electronics, it is still in the exploratory stage.

It will have to wait until later, when the electronics industry encounters a bottleneck, and everyone begins to explore and discover the functions of rare earths. After research, they are widely used in circuit boards and displays.

Liu Tao explained to Wang Baoguo and Liu Zhenbang, but he found that after he finished speaking, the two of them still looked confused.

He simply gave up.

“Leader, can the department get CNC machine tools, especially a full set of CNC machine tool technology?” Liu Tao asked.

In the mid-20th century, with the development of electronic information, the emergence of automatic information processing, data processing and electronic computers brought new concepts to automation. The use of digital signals to control machine tool movements and processing processes promoted machine tool automation. development of.

In 1952, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology installed an experimental CNC system on a vertical gun bed and successfully controlled three axes of motion at the same time. This CNC machine tool is also known as the world’s first CNC machine tool and opened the curtain on the development of CNC machine tools.

After that, starting in 1960, some other industrial countries, such as West Germany and Japan, successively developed, produced and applied CNC machine tools.

In the development of CNC machine tools, machining centers were born. This is a CNC machine tool with an active tool changer, which can process the workpiece in multiple processes at one time.

Now, the most advanced machining center in the world is the five-axis machining center.

In terms of CNC machine tools, China started relatively late. It was not until 1958 that it developed the first CNC machine tool. However, in the past two decades, China did not have enough understanding of the characteristics and development conditions of CNC machine tools. It had poor personnel quality and insufficient foundation. It developed blindly due to poor reliability and substandard quality of accessories. It had three ups and downs, and was finally terminated because its performance was too poor to be used in production.

In other words, domestic CNC machine tools have been almost standing still in the past two decades, far behind the world.

Next, if Panshan Machinery Factory wants to improve its manufacturing capacity, it must have CNC machine tools, three-axis CNC machine tools, four-axis CNC machine tools and even five-axis CNC machine tools.

“After I returned to Beijing, I learned more about it. We are currently negotiating with Japan, Germany, the United States and other countries on the introduction of CNC machine tools. However, the negotiations are not going very smoothly. It is difficult to import CNC machine tools in a short time, let alone a complete set of CNC machine tool technology. Yes.” Wang Baoguo sighed.

Liu Tao frowned.

I began to make some calculations in my mind, and it seemed that it was better to rely on others than to rely on myself. In the end, I would have to solve it myself.

For Panshan Machinery Factory, advanced machining centers are needed, especially five-axis machining centers.

On a larger scale, having large-scale CNC machine tool manufacturing capabilities in the country will be of great help to improving the overall industrial level of the entire country.

Liu Zhenbang also sighed: “Now even the higher-precision three-axis machining centers are embargoed by us internationally. They are strategic equipment with particularly strict supervision in Batumi.”

Liu Tao raised his brows, his eyes flashing with coldness.

The Batumi embargo is a wall standing in front of the introduction of China’s advanced technology and equipment.

The Batumi embargo restricts the export of high-precision CNC machine tools with more than three axes to socialist countries.

In other words, small CNC milling machines are not included in the prohibited list.

As for getting a four-axis CNC machine tool or even a five-axis CNC machine tool that is currently the top manufacturing equipment, it is very difficult.

Liu Tao was still thinking that now is the honeymoon period between China and the United States. It is said that even advanced fighters such as F15 and F16 can be sold to China. It is only because China has no money that they have not introduced them. CNC machine tools should be simpler.

Thinking about it now, I was still very stupid and naive, thinking too well of the other person.

He couldn’t help but think of Japan’s Toshiba exporting four five-axis CNC machine tools at a price of US$5 million each. As a result, the incident broke out and Toshiba was completely destroyed!

“I originally wanted to save some time, but it seems I can’t save it. I have to rely on myself for everything!” Liu Tao secretly said, “When I get back and complete the tank, I will specialize in CNC machine tools.”

“Sooner or later, the Batumi embargo will have to be smashed to pieces.” Liu Tao was very unhappy.

If you can’t buy a high-end CNC machine tool, then make it yourself.

Firearms and the like can be produced using traditional methods.

However, many of the Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and Type 80 tanks require the use of high-end CNC machine tools.

For example, important parts such as blades and crankshafts of diesel engines must be applied to five-axis CNC machine tools.

There is also the transmission gear of the transmission system, which plays a vital role in the tank. Through it, the power of the engine can be transmitted to various systems in the tank, and its accuracy requirements reach the micron level, which means that it The error is smaller than a hair, and this requires high-end CNC machine tools.

As for relying on workers and traditional processing equipment, it is simply unrealistic.

Liu Tao himself knew very well how many high-precision parts there were.

Without high-precision CNC machine tools, he could not build a few self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and tanks even after working so hard for a year.

He sighed secretly in his heart. After all, China’s foundation was too weak now and it was short of money and equipment. Whatever he wanted to do, he had to do it by himself.

In Europe, the United States or the Soviet Union, they are industrial powers. As long as the research and development work is completed, there will naturally be specialized factories to process the parts according to the design, and then the final assembly will be carried out directly at the tank factory. There is no need for such trouble.

As for their machine tools, the processing accuracy is very high, so there is no need to worry about the accuracy of the processed parts not meeting the standard.