Material Empire

Everyone has played with magnets as a child, knows what magnetism is, and knows how strong magnets are. In the impression of ordinary people, if a magnet the size of a fingernail is attached to a piece of iron, it can be easily broken off with just two fingers. But this time, what they saw overturned their common sense. What kind of magnet is this!

The gate is obviously not a place suitable for science popularization, so a "strong magnetic material exhibition area" was specially set up at the place where everyone just entered the venue. In this exhibition area, there are pictures, texts, videos and other materials introducing the principle, performance, application, etc. of strong magnetic materials. At the same time, there are many games designed based on strong magnetic materials. For example, a very strong Eiffel Tower can be built with countless short magnetic rods, a magnetic head as thick as a mung bean can absorb iron pipes weighing dozens of kilograms, and there are even magnetically levitated railcars made of permanent magnetic materials. A group of well-dressed people The audience sat on this kind of car floating in mid-air like children and had a great time.

Joris also wanted to stay in this exhibition area and play all kinds of fun things, but he came with a report mission, and he couldn't be willful whether he had money or not. Frightened, he sat on a swing held by a strong magnetic material and swayed a few times, letting the cameraman take pictures of this thrilling scene, and then left the strong magnetic exhibition area and continued to move forward.

The entire exhibition hall is divided into dozens of exhibition areas, and each exhibition area corresponds to one or several related materials. Same as the previous ones, the exhibitions in each exhibition area put a lot of emphasis on entertainment features, or use all kinds of flashy materials to dazzle the eyes of visitors, or design various participating projects to let people experience the materials in person the magic.

Such an interesting exhibition, Joris is naturally like a fish in water, holding a microphone in his hand, chattering, pretending to be cute, sweeping the exhibition area by area:

"Let's take a look... This is the solar energy materials exhibition area, and here is the solar panel. Yes, as long as you take a flashlight and shine on this board, we can see the electric fan attached to it It started to turn... I have to say, the wind is still very strong, and I feel a little cold..."

"...We finally escaped from the cold solar energy exhibition area, what, you said I still have the flashlight in that exhibition area in my hand? No, no, no, I don't want to return the flashlight to that lovely explainer for the time being, because in this It has a greater effect in the exhibition area. Have you seen it? There is a wall opposite. As long as I shine the light on the corresponding position on the wall, the wall will make different sounds...

Let's give it a try and wow...it's so much fun. I now very much suspect that there are a dozen Chinese hiding behind the wall, changing records according to the light of my flashlight. I went to the back of the wall, there is no lurker we expected here, the real mystery is on this wall, here is a description: The material on this wall is called photosensitive ceramics, which can sense changes in light..."

"Look, there's an interesting place up ahead, let's go over and see... No, no, no, I'm not going to cross this suspension bridge, because the four ropes hanging from the deck... What do you say, Bobby, what do you say about them Not a cord, just four wires? Yes yes, I agree with you, they are literally thinner than my headphone wires...

Look, there are two fat people who weigh more than 200 pounds. Really holds up to 400 lbs. Let me see, the instructions here say that the thread is made of high strength high modulus polyethylene fiber and the abbreviation is HSHMPE... are you sure that such a long abbreviation is still called an abbreviation? "

"Okay ok, we're finally back in the forest, and lo and behold, there's a river here, of course, it's just a model of a river. The water in the river is muddy, what experiments are they doing... oh, they installed A polymer permeable membrane, a miracle appeared, the river water became clear through this membrane.

Let's hear what scientists say. They say that this membrane can be used to filter drinking water on the battlefield, and it can filter dirty water into drinking standards. Bobby, come here, just now you said you were thirsty, I am going to pee now, and then filter it into drinking water for you to drink..."

"..."

Almost all the audience, like Joris, were dazzled in the exhibition hall. For the first time in their lives, they know that there are so many amazing materials in the world, such as electrical functional materials, sensitive materials, magnetic functional materials, new energy materials, smart materials... If they don't understand the characteristics of these materials, the booth There are rich introductions on the website, as well as physical displays, which are enough for everyone to understand.

Even the steel, cement, ceramics, plastics, etc. that everyone is used to every day have changed their appearance at the exhibition, which makes people surprised that they have so much attention. Take ceramics as an example, not to mention ceramic knives for cutting fruit, but there are also ceramic turning knives that can be used to cut metal. It is said that it is harder than diamond, and it has really reached the realm of cutting iron like mud. Wait, isn't ceramic itself mud? Use something made of mud to sharpen iron, and iron like mud... Is this a wrong rhythm of the script?

The general public is limited to watching the excitement, while some experts in the industry are paying close attention to the new trends of these materials. As for the visitors from manufacturers, they think more about whether these materials will affect their product design and whether they can make their products climb to a new level.

In a luxuriously decorated VIP room upstairs in the exhibition hall, a dozen people sat on a circle of sofas. In the middle is an elderly man, with a gentle smile on his face, listening to the report of Wang Hongsheng, the organizer of the exhibition and deputy director of the planning committee:

"Sir, this is the purpose of our exhibition. It is mainly to popularize the knowledge of material science to the public and arouse the society's attention to materials. In the manufacturing industry, materials and technology are two major elements. The two biggest gaps between foreign countries. Taking aero-engines as an example, we can imitate foreign engines to manufacture exactly the same blades and turbine disks, but because the high-temperature-resistant materials are lagging behind foreign countries, the service life of the engines is only ten times that of foreign advanced levels. one."

The chief nodded and said: "Yes, I just read your introduction materials on aviation high-temperature materials in the exhibition area, and I was very impressed. In the past, the Science and Technology Commission also reported this problem to the central government, but it is undeniable that the central government There is not enough attention in this area, too little investment and too much debt.”

Wang Hongsheng said: "Materials are a century-old project. Factories and equipment can be bought, and many industrial products can be imitated, but material formulas and processes cannot be imitated, and one can only explore by oneself, and this time may take decades or even thousands of years. A hundred years. Therefore, other things can be delayed, and material research cannot be stopped for a moment.”

The chief turned his head, looked at Qin Hai who was sitting on the edge, and said, "Comrade Xiao Qin, I heard that you have built a materials college yourself, and recruited hundreds of excellent materials experts from various universities and research institutes. Is there such a thing as going to your place to work?"

As soon as the chief's words came out, officials from various departments participating in the talks all turned their attention to Qin Hai. Some of these people knew Qin Hai before, such as Yang Xinyu, Cui Hongchun, and Deputy Director Bai of the Science and Industry Committee. They all knew more or less about the Anhe Institute of Materials. In addition, some officials had only come into contact with Qin Hai when they came to visit the exhibition today. They didn't know that he had such a big hand, and they were shocked when they heard what the chief said.

A private company has poached hundreds of scholars from various universities and scientific research institutes, which in any case is a matter of demolishing the corners of the country. The chief raised such a question face to face. Could it be that he wants to hold this young man accountable?

Qin Hai was not surprised by the chief's question. He knew that a few days ago, the chief had summoned Mr. Li, Mr. Li and others specifically about the materials exhibition. During the meeting, these leaders talked about the situation of the domestic material science community to the chief minister, and mentioned Qin Hai and his Anhe School of Materials. Both the teacher and Mr. Li have disciples and grandchildren who work in Anhe Material Institute, and they have also heard about the reasons for this. When they introduced it to the chief, they had many words of praise for Qin Hai.

With such a foreshadowing, when the chief raised this question, it should be just a gesture, and it would not be a question of accusing Master Qin Haixing. Qin Hai believed that what he did could stand scrutiny, so he felt very at ease.

"Boss, what you said is true. Our Daqin Industrial Group has an Anhe Material Institute, and there are currently hundreds of domestic outstanding material scientists working there. Many of the material scientific research achievements you see today are from Anhe. School of Materials." Qin Hai replied calmly.

The chief asked: "These scholars are the backbone of various schools and research institutes. If you poach them all like this, don't you pry the corner of the country?"

Qin Haidao: "Chief, you misunderstood. I didn't poach these people, I just fished them up."

"Haha, catch it? This is a new way of saying it, tell me about it." The chief said with a smile. As Qin Hai analyzed, the chief didn't intend to blame Qin Hai, but just wanted to hear how Qin Hai explained his behavior.

Qin Haidao: "These scholars recruited by Anhe Materials College are hard to stay in their original units and are ready to go to sea or go abroad. Even if I don't take them in, they won't stay in their original units. Instead of letting them all Jumping into the sea, it’s better to be caught by me with a net and raised in the School of Materials, at least the seeds of materials research can be preserved for the country.”

"Is that really the case?" the chief stared at Qin Hai and asked.