Chapter 194 Dilemma
"My request is very simple. I just need the cooperation of all the workshops in the factory." Xu Qiang pondered for a moment, then continued, "Don't underestimate this bulletproof vest. The process of developing this kind of bulletproof vest is very complicated. Some of the steps require special equipment to produce it. Most of the equipment is not available in China at present, so we can only make it ourselves, and the manpower and financial costs will be very high..."

"How tall is it?"

"It's no less than the cost of my chemical laboratory." Xu Qiang said.

"So high!?" Liu Biao looked shocked.

Xu Qiang’s previous chemical laboratory cost the factory a full 100,000 yuan. According to Xu Qiang’s current intention, if he wants to make this bulletproof vest, he will have to spend another 100,000 yuan!

“It may not be enough.”

"..."

"I'm just making a rough estimate. It mainly requires the cooperation of several workshops, workers with strong machining skills, and a lot of spare parts. I can't calculate the exact cost." Xu Qiang paused, then continued: "It may end up overspending, or it may not cost that much, and it may only cost tens of thousands of yuan at most..."

"If I spend so much money, can you develop the product for me?" Liu Biao said to Xu Qiang after trying to calm himself down.

"There is no absolute success in research and development... I can only say that there is a great chance of success." Xu Qiang said, spreading his hands.

"Does it mean that if it doesn't work, the money will be wasted?"

"Isn't this how the factory developed its products before? If it fails, all the previous efforts will be wasted. There is nothing we can do about it."

"You kid..."

Liu Biao shook his head when he heard this.

If Xu Qiang had not made great contributions to the factory before, completed the renovation plan of the chemical workshop, and successfully developed military batteries, Liu Biao would have fired him long ago and would not have wasted time listening to his nonsense.

But the current situation is that Liu Biao has been "kidnapped" by this kid Xu Qiang without knowing it.

If Liu Biao did not agree with Xu Qiang's project, the new chemical laboratory built at a cost of 100,000 yuan would be wasted, and no one in the factory would use those sophisticated instruments except him.

Also, Xu Qiang and Li Cunzhu made a bet in front of Luo Tao, director of the Provincial Defense Science and Technology Office, promising to produce new military products for export before March next year. But now Xu Qiang already has a new product development plan. If Liu Biao does not support his development plan, he will have to take the blame for Xu Qiang's failure in the bet. After all, Luo Tao himself is very optimistic about Xu Qiang.

But if we agree to Xu Qiang's plan, it will obviously be a bottomless pit. The factory has already had a lot of expenses this year, and now it is a bit stretched to spend a lot of money on this project.

Even though Liu Biao was extremely smart, he could not cook without the right ingredients.

"Director Liu, as long as the people in the factory work with me, I believe this project can be successful." Xu Qiang saw Liu Biao's hesitation, and he continued: "The market prospects of this newly developed product will be very good. Not only can it be used for foreign trade export, but it will also bring a significant improvement to many military products in our country..."

"What kind of improvement can a bulletproof vest have?" Liu Biao was a little unconvinced. After a moment, he said, "Do you have any other new product development projects? You can change one."

"No, this is the only one I can think of for now."

"Okay, you go back first. I'll think about this matter again." After Liu Biao said this, he signaled Xu Qiang that he could leave.

"Then I'll go first."

Seeing that Liu Biao's face looked a little strange, Xu Qiang immediately got up and left.

Seeing Xu Qiang leave, Liu Biao took another look at the project application, shook his head after a moment and said:

"Another 100,000 yuan is needed. This guy really treats the factory as a bank..."

……

After leaving the office building, Xu Qiang went directly to the chemical laboratory at the waste storage.

In fact, regardless of whether the factory agreed to his R&D application, Xu Qiang would develop aramid 1414 on his own.

Moreover, he will not only develop para-aramid 1414, but also meta-aramid 1313.

Because once these two aramid products are successfully developed, they can directly fill the domestic technological gap and thus get rid of the dependence on imports from developed countries.

Aramid paper, in particular, is of great significance to cutting-edge industries such as military aviation. In addition to the famous Kevlar bulletproof vests, in later generations, both the Tiangong-1313 spacecraft and the Fuxing high-speed rail used a large amount of aramid paper materials, which shows how important the application of this material in high-tech products is. Even the meta-aramid , which has a relatively simpler process, also has an indispensable position in later generations. It perfectly replaces asbestos tiles and is mainly used for anti-atomic radiation, high-altitude and high-speed flight materials, etc. It can also be used to make radiation-proof clothing, aerospace clothing, high-temperature resistant clothing, honeycomb parts, high-temperature wire pipes, aircraft fuel tanks, firewalls, reverse osmosis membranes or hollow fibers, etc.

So this time Xu Qiang proposed to develop aramid bulletproof vests. On the one hand, it was to do his job well, and on the other hand, it was actually for himself.

Although Xu Qiang knew the composition and production process of aramid fiber, that required ready-made professional equipment.

Since there is no related equipment in the country at this time, Xu Qiang can now use the factory's personnel and equipment to design and produce equipment for manufacturing aramid, and then continue to debug and optimize it.

In the early stage, you can make a small, low-cost, simple version of aramid production equipment. You only need to successfully make a batch of samples. If the product needs to be mass-produced in the future, you can enlarge the equipment according to the drawings. Of course, this also requires the cooperation of the factory's technical staff.

This process may be difficult because the production of aramid cloth has very high requirements on process technology. Any slight mistake in any link or inaccurate temperature control will lead to failure.

Fortunately, Xu Qiang's memory is strong enough. When he participated in the research of aramid paper technology in his previous life, he not only mastered the whole set of production processes, but also mastered the manufacturing principles of related equipment. There may be deviations in reproducing the whole set of equipment, but with the mastery of the principles, later debugging and improvements will be much easier.

If this set of aramid paper production equipment is successful and Xu Qiang has sufficient funds in the future, after the country relaxes its policies on private enterprises, Xu Qiang can also use the technological achievements developed in the factory to build his own chemical plant. This can also be said to be a possible development direction for Xu Qiang in the future.

Xu Qiang spent an afternoon writing a raw material purchasing list, including two important raw materials needed to synthesize aramid: terephthalamide and paraphenylenediamine.

Among them, p-phenylenediamine is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H8N2. It is one of the simplest aromatic diamines and a widely used intermediate that can be used to prepare azo dyes, high molecular polymers, etc. Currently, there are many manufacturers producing it in China.

However, the production process of raw materials such as terephthaloyl has relatively high requirements, and Xu Qiang does not know whether there are any domestic manufacturers producing it.

However, even if there is no manufacturer producing in bulk, it is not a big problem for Xu Qiang. After all, the product he develops is used in small quantities, and he can prepare some using the phosphorus pentachloride method, which will be enough for use.

In addition to these two main raw materials, Xu Qiang also listed more than a dozen chemical raw materials in the list, which are the neutralizers, adhesives, and other synthetic raw materials needed to produce aramid paper.

After making the list, Xu Qiang rode his motorcycle back to his new home in the factory area.

After nearly a week of renovation, Xu Qiang's home now looks brand new.

Wang Yongsheng's father, Wang Shuanzhu, led several apprentices from the carpentry class. They worked during the day and came directly to Xu Qiang's new home to make furniture after get off work. They were busy until ten o'clock in the evening almost every day.

In fact, Wang Shuanzhu wanted to work a little longer, but he was afraid of disturbing his neighbors while they were sleeping, so he could only finish work at ten o'clock.

Fortunately, there were a lot of people helping, so by last night, the furniture was almost finished, with only some finishing work left.

Xu Qiang was quite satisfied when he saw the brand new furniture, especially the bookshelves on both sides of the study wall and the recliners in the living room. They were all made very exquisitely and coated with a layer of varnish, which made the furniture shiny while retaining the texture of the wood grain. In the future, they will be considered green and environmentally friendly products.

"Uncle Wang, this is the final payment of 400 yuan for you, and a bonus of yuan. Please treat my brothers to a good meal." At this time, Xu Qiang took out a stack of banknotes that he had prepared long ago from his pocket and handed it to Wang Shuanzhu.

"I don't need so much. You gave me 600 yuan before, and now I still have dozens of yuan left for buying materials. This is too much..." Seeing the money Xu Qiang handed over, Wang Shuanzhu was stunned at first, and then quickly declined.

"Just take it. You've done a great job. Besides, there are so many people working on it. This is what you deserve." Xu Qiang said with a smile.

"Those are all my disciples. I can just treat them to a meal..."

"Whether you invite me to dinner or not is up to you, but I will never treat you unfairly when you work for me." Xu Qiang paused, then said, "If you don't want to, I will be embarrassed to ask you out next time if I have something to do."

In Xu Qiang's opinion, the decoration costs these days are simply too cheap.

In his previous life, he had just moved to BJ and the research institute allocated him a house. After completely decorating it, it felt just slightly better than a rough house. After doing the math, he found that he had spent more than 100,000 yuan.

Now Xu Qiang's new house, which includes painting the floor and a full set of furniture, cost him only more than 1,000 yuan in total. This is just the daily profit of his peat field. He feels it is well worth it.

"Okay, then I'll accept it." Upon hearing this, Wang Shuanzhu took the money handed to him by Xu Qiang, and a smile spread across his face.

Afterwards, the two exchanged a few more pleasantries, and Wang Shuanzhu left with his apprentice.

The smell of house decoration these days is not so pungent, at most there is a smell of glue, and at most you just need to open the windows for ventilation for two days before you can live in it.
At this time, Xu Qiang opened the window of the living room and sat down on the recliner by the window. The cool breeze blew on his face, making him feel extremely comfortable...

(End of this chapter)