Chapter 128 Perchloric Acid Electrode

"I have no choice." Xu Qiang explained, "I am just a temporary worker who has just joined the factory. Although I have learned some skills and want to do something for our factory, if I don't do this, the factory will not let me be responsible for this project..."

Since the other party already knew his background, Xu Qiang could only tell the truth.

"You are gambling. If you fail, you will be held responsible." Chen Qingcai shook his head and said, "I can't do your job. If I drag you down, I will feel bad. You should find someone else."

Compared to Huang Baoshan who was in the stamping workshop just now, Chen Qingcai's character is obviously much better, but he is still unwilling to cooperate with Xu Qiang, worried that he will not do well and will implicate Xu Qiang.

"Don't worry, even if the factory holds you responsible, it has nothing to do with you. You just need to help me make something..."

"Old Chen, just help him. Everything will be fine over there in the factory. You just need to cooperate with the team. Besides, the factory agrees to this. Just do your job with confidence. I'll take care of anything that happens." Zhang Qiang next to him also said.

"Okay! But let me be clear, I can only try my best. Don't blame me if I don't do well." Chen Qingcai said.

"No problem!" said Xu Qiang.

"What do you want to electroplate? Are they these lead sheets?" Chen Qingcai asked, pointing at the lead sheets in Xu Qiang's hand.

"Yes, but it's not electroplating." Xu Qiang took out a piece of paper from his pocket, handed it to Chen Qingcai and said, "I need you to coat it according to this method."

"Hmm?" Chen Qingcai was stunned for a moment. After taking the note, he read it carefully and said, "...immerse the lead sheet in a perchlorate solution, and then heat the solution to crystallize the perchloric acid. The temperature is controlled at 50-65 degrees Celsius...What is this? Our workshop has never made this before."

Chen Qingcai has worked in an electroplating workshop for more than ten years, but this is the first time he has seen this kind of coating process.

Chen Qingcai also knew about perchloric acid. It is a very corrosive acid, the first of the six strong inorganic acids, and is also toxic.

The factory used to frequently use sodium perchlorate, which is made from a perchloric acid reaction. Due to its strong oxidizing properties, it can quickly and thoroughly oxidize dirt and oxides on the metal surface, thereby achieving the function of rust removal. The electroplating workshop also uses this thing to remove rust from some metal parts, but it was the first time that Chen Qingcai heard of using perchlorate as an electrode.

"This is the electrode of a new type of battery. Our factory has definitely never produced this before." Xu Qiang smiled and continued, "The fuse batteries our factory used to produce were lead-acid batteries. This type of battery will cause the shells to fail and shut down when exposed to extremely low temperatures. So this time I want to use perchloric acid to develop a new type of fuse battery. First of all, I have to make this electrode..."

Before deciding to submit the project to the factory, Xu Qiang had already come up with the plan to use perchloric acid to make military batteries.

Perchloric acid is an inorganic compound. Compared with other battery compounds, perchloric acid has better stability, which ensures that it will not explode or fail at high temperatures. Moreover, since it is the first of the six major inorganic strong acids and one of the strongest acids in the world, it has high electrochemical activity and still has sufficient chemical activity even under extremely low temperature conditions.

In addition, the perchloric acid electrode has a wider potential window and can operate within a wider potential window, so it can still maintain high activity under extremely high and low temperature conditions.

Therefore, using perchloric acid as a fuse battery is a very good choice, which has become Xu Qiang's technical transformation plan this time. In later generations, perchloric acid electrodes have a wide range of applications and are also a relatively common electrode, but in this era, it has not yet been invented and applied in the military field.

One of the main reasons is that the manufacturing process requirements for perchloric acid electrodes are relatively high, and there are many technical difficulties, including the need to accurately control factors such as temperature and concentration during the preparation process, which requires long-term experiments to successfully develop.

However, Xu Qiang knew the production process of this battery. He only needed to adapt to local conditions and cooperate with the relevant data of the artillery fuse, and the product could be successfully developed.

"Can batteries really be made using the technology you described?" Zhang Qiang was somewhat skeptical after hearing Xu Qiang's introduction.

Zhang Qiang still has limited educational background. Although he is very familiar with the production working principles of the hydrochloric acid batteries and nickel-chromium batteries in the factory, he is not an expert in chemical engineering after all. Therefore, he has some doubts about whether the perchloric acid battery mentioned by Xu Qiang can generate electricity. After all, perchloric acid was used to remove rust in the factory before.

"You just need to do as I say." Xu Qiang said confidently.

"Then I will prepare the raw materials first. I also need to clean out an electroplating pool. I don't think I can do it this afternoon." Chen Qingcai said after thinking for a while.

Since Xu Qiang used a new formula and process that was completely different from the processes of other battery products in the factory, fortunately the electroplating pools in the electroplating workshop were temperature-controlled, but the original pools needed to be cleaned without any residue, so some time was needed to prepare.

"Then Master Chen, you can prepare first this afternoon, and start following his process tomorrow morning." Zhang Qiang assured.

"Okay, let's do this." Chen Qingcai nodded.

"Okay, you two discuss what to do specifically. I still need to look somewhere else." After Zhang Qiang finished speaking, he turned and left.

"I say, you are really a young and inexperienced person. You want to engage in project research and development right after entering the factory. You are the second one I have seen..." Seeing Zhang Qiang leave, Chen Qingcai couldn't help but mutter again.

"The second one? Who is the first one?"

"The first one is Liu Siying, but she is the daughter of the factory director. Even if she gets into trouble, her father can help her bear the consequences..." Chen Qingcai curled his lips and continued, "But you are such a fool. You started such a big project right after you arrived..."

"But didn't Liu Siying succeed?"

"She is she, and you are you. You can tell at first glance that Liu Siying is not an ordinary girl. She is a top student and born smart, but you are just a junior high school student from the countryside. It is not easy for you to come to work in our factory. If you are fired from the factory, you will regret it..." Chen Qingcai obviously did not think highly of Xu Qiang. He continued, "It is true that a good father will have a good daughter. Good girls like Liu Siying are too rare. Last time, she even gave me a bottle of Site Liquor. Do you think the children of any leading cadre can be as sensible as her..."

"Hahaha!" Hearing this, Xu Qiang laughed out loud, and then said to Chen Qingcai: "Master Chen, how about this, do you have time tonight? I'll treat you to dinner, and you can choose whatever wine you want to drink."

(End of this chapter)