Chapter 349 Methods for Improving the Toughness of High-Temperature Copper-Carbon-Silver Composite Materials

Qin Anguo left with the reply, and Academician Zhang Pingxiang stayed to participate in the optimization of high-temperature copper-carbon-silver composite superconducting materials at the Sichuan Institute of Materials.

The addition of an academician, who is also a founder in the field of superconducting materials, has made the institute more active.

Some researchers who are bolder and more motivated in academics began to approach him to ask questions after knowing the identity of this big man.

For Zhang Pingxiang, as long as it is related to superconducting materials, he will not refuse anyone. This is a real scholar who is obsessed with the field of superconducting materials and has a heart that always climbs up.

Of course, under normal circumstances, if a researcher in the laboratory finds Xu Chuan to communicate with him about a problem, Xu Chuan will not refuse.

But most of the time, he is not in the laboratory.

As Fan Pengyue said, this is a hands-off shopkeeper. Whenever he remembers or needs it, he will come to visit and leave when he is done.

So most of the time, the researchers in the laboratory want to find Xu Chuan to ask questions, but they can't find him.

Now there is a new big man. If you don't seize the opportunity, you will regret it if you miss it.

Academician Zhang Pingxiang took the initiative to request to stay and study and optimize the copper-carbon-silver composite material. Although he asked Xu Chuan to treat him as an ordinary researcher in the laboratory, how could Xu Chuan make such an arrangement?

For an academician-level big shot, the cost of business trips can no longer be calculated in money.

Fortunately, Fan Pengyue has sufficient experience in dealing with such things. He followed Chen Zhengping during his doctoral studies, and he basically handled such things.

As for Xu Chuan, he didn't care about these.

After Academician Zhang Pingxiang came, he almost lived in the institute. The two of them kept exchanging ideas and opinions in the laboratory to find a way to optimize the physical properties of high-temperature copper-carbon-silver composite superconducting materials.

"How about doping some zirconium oxide through nanotechnology? Zirconium oxide itself is a superconducting material at ultra-low temperatures. Its superconducting principle comes from the twisted crystal structure. In theory, it should be very suitable for your copper-carbon-silver material."

In the laboratory, Academician Zhang Pingxiang looked at the data on the computer screen, thought for a while, and then spoke.

Xu Chuan thought for a moment and said, "You can give it a try, but I don't think there is much hope. Unfortunately, the mechanism data of zirconium oxide has not been entered into the material model, so it is impossible to simulate it through the model."

Recently, he has been discussing with Zhang Pingxiang how to change the brittleness of copper-carbon-silver composite materials.

Compared to metals, brittleness and difficulty in deformation are a major feature of ceramics. In order to improve the brittleness and toughness of ceramics, it is generally adopted to reduce the grain size and make it submicron or nano to improve plasticity and toughness.

Or effective ways such as doping zirconium oxide toughening, phase change toughening, fiber toughening or particle in-situ growth enhancement are adopted to improve.

But these methods are OK for other ceramic materials, but it is difficult to work for superconducting materials.

Because the superconducting mechanism of high-temperature superconducting materials itself comes from the strong correlation effect between electrons. If other materials are doped or the grain size and structure are changed, it is very likely to directly lead to the failure or reduction of superconductivity.

If the reduction is not large, it is still acceptable. But judging from the current data, the degree of reduction is probably quite high.

Hearing this, Zhang Pingxiang asked with interest: "If your model can really be perfected, it will completely subvert the research methods in the materials industry, but it is difficult to do so."

"And as more and more material mechanism data are added, the size of the model will become larger and larger. The existing supercomputers may not be able to support this model soon. Perhaps quantum computers are its way back."

In the past few days, at the Sichuan Hai Materials Research Institute, he not only exchanged a lot of knowledge about superconducting materials with the person in front of him, but also saw the real "killer weapon".

Although the role of the model in front of him is still extremely limited, it has opened up a new path in the field of materials research.

In the past research process of materials, the research on a new material is generally based on experience.

Although computer simulation can also play a certain auxiliary role in this process, such as using computer simulation technology to predict and analyze the properties and behaviors of materials.

This link includes theoretical calculations, molecular dynamics simulations and finite element analysis, etc. But in fact, the accuracy of the simulated results is not very high, and the role played in the entire material research process is still quite limited.

The model in the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute is different. It is derived from the source based on the mechanism of the material. With the help of computers and models, the entire synthesis process can be directly simulated.

To be honest, almost everyone who works on materials has thought about doing this, but no one can do it.

Because of insufficient mathematical skills, it is too difficult to establish a mathematical model for material research based on the mechanism of the material.

Only this person has this ability and this mind.

Xu Chuan smiled and said, "Let's worry about this later. At least it can provide us with a lot of help at present."

After a pause, he continued, "As for the doping of zirconium oxide, we can arrange for researchers to do an experiment to see how it works."

Zhang Pingxiang said, "I'll do this experiment myself. To be honest, I'm quite optimistic about it."

These days, he had a lot of exchanges with the young scholar in front of him. In addition to seeing his extensive knowledge in materials science, he also had some comparative thoughts in his heart.

After all, at his level, it can be said that he is standing at the top of the pyramid in the field of superconducting materials.

As the saying goes, there is no first in literature, no second in military power. He also wanted to try to see whether he, who had been immersed in the field of superconducting materials for decades, was stronger, or the young man in front of him who broke the record of high-temperature superconducting materials.

Hearing this, Xu Chuan smiled and didn't pay much attention. It is normal for those engaged in scientific research to have an unwillingness to admit defeat.

"It's okay, take your time, don't rush. If you want to retain the superconducting properties while also changing some of its physical properties, it's no less difficult than developing a new high-temperature superconducting material."

Zhang Pingxiang nodded and said: "It's okay. I came here just to make a breakthrough in the field of high-temperature superconducting materials. As long as there is hope, you can try it."

After thinking for a while, he then asked: "If the doping effect of zirconium oxide does not work, do you have any other ideas?"

Hearing this, Xu Chuan thought for a while and said: "As for ideas, we have been studying this these days. It is impossible to say that there is no such thing. Compared with doping, I may be more optimistic about coating."

Zhang Pingxiang thought for a while, frowned slightly and said: "In the process of depositing hard coatings through general ion plating reactions, there is often a droplet phenomenon. These droplets exist in the coating in the form of metallic phases, which will release the internal stress of the coating. It has a certain effect on improving toughness.”

“But the metal phase size of the droplets is large (in the order of microns) and randomly distributed (not uniformly distributed), which not only reduces the hardness of the coating but also significantly reduces the corrosion resistance and oxidation resistance. Therefore, it is not an increase in hard and super-hard coatings. An effective way to be resilient.”

"If you want to enhance the toughness of high-temperature copper-carbon-silver composite materials through plating, it may be difficult to do so. It may even destroy the surface crystal structure to a certain extent, causing superconducting failure."

"But since you proposed this idea, there must be another way. What is it?"

Xu Chuan smiled and said: "Yes, whether it is traditional plating methods or ion sputtering, it may not be able to solve the toughness problem of high-temperature copper-carbon-silver composite materials. It may even cause doping problems due to plating."

"But we can change our thinking. Since the molten droplets will produce a metallic phase, let's stop it."

"Among the traditional methods of toughening ceramic materials, there is such a way."

Hearing this, Zhang Pingxiang blurted out: "Whiskers (fibers) toughen!"

Xu Chuan nodded with a smile and continued: "Yes, the main mechanism of whisker (fiber) toughening is that when the whisker or fiber is pulled out and broken, it consumes a certain amount of energy, which is helpful to prevent the expansion of cracks and improve Material fracture toughness.”

"Moreover, the combination of the toughened material and the original base material is not a simple mixture. It is an organic composite, which is organically combined through an extremely thin interface, and then improves the bonding strength between the interface and the base material."

“In this way, it should be able to solve the problem of the crystal structure destruction of raw materials caused by the droplet metal phase and doping. In addition, its properties similar to thin film composites will not greatly affect the electron transfer of the superconducting material itself. "

"It's just that we need to find suitable toughening materials, I'm afraid."

Zhang Pingxiang took over the words and continued: "I'm afraid it's very difficult. When using whiskers (fibers) to toughen, the elastic coefficient of the reinforcing material must be higher than the original matrix; and the toughening and the matrix must be compatible. of."

"The first condition is easy to say. There are many materials with higher elastic coefficients than ceramic series materials; but the second condition is more troublesome because of the characteristics of superconducting materials. If they are compatible, this may lead to a superconducting energy gap. expired."

Xu Chuan smiled and said: "You can only deal with one side and keep the integrity of the other side."

Zhang Pingxiang thought for a while and said: "It is indeed possible, but the effect of single-sided processing may not be that good. But for high-temperature copper-carbon-silver composite superconducting materials, as long as it can increase a certain coefficient, it is enough."

"This method may indeed be feasible, but the choice of material as the whisker (fiber) toughening material needs to be carefully considered."

Touching the stubble on his chin, Academician Zhang fell into deep thought. After a while, he suddenly came back to his senses and looked at Xu Chuan: "Since you proposed this method, you must have thought about which material to use as an additive." Tough material, right?”

Xu Chuan smiled and nodded, saying: "I have indeed considered it."

"What material?" Zhang Pingxiang asked quickly.

"Graphene!"

PS: The computer hasn’t been repaired yet, so typing on my mobile phone is too slow, so I’ll do that for today.

Another question: Is there anyone who knows laptops? Can you recommend a gaming laptop priced between 6,000 and 8,000 yuan? In addition to coding, I can occasionally play lol, speed racing, and play World of Tanks and Monster Hunter.