Chapter 210 Aramid Fiber
Raw materials, equipment and technology are the three elements of chemical production.

After solving the most difficult problem of raw material procurement, Xu Qiang's production and R&D entered the fast lane.

That night, Xu Qiang made a shopping list, which included raw materials for making essence and various dyes. There were a total of thirteen kinds of raw materials. After repeated calculations, he found the weight of the raw materials that needed to be purchased.

Ample cash flow allows Xu Qiang to purchase raw materials in large quantities. However, considering the issues of transportation and shelf life, Xu Qiang plans to purchase raw materials once every half a month in the future to avoid waste and backlogs.

After the list was made, Xu Qiang handed it directly to He Yong the next day at work. The latter quickly held a small meeting in the department and eventually arranged for two salesmen to go on business trips to Shanghai and other places.

Relatively speaking, the areas around Shanghai are where most chemical companies are found in the south, while the cities of Jilin and Changchun are where most chemical plants are found in the north. If the chemical products are not in short supply, considering issues such as transportation costs, there is basically no overlap in the number of companies in the south and north that purchase chemical raw materials.

Being able to go on a business trip to Shanghai is a dream job for people in the Supply and Marketing Department, because they can smuggle some private goods every time they come back. In particular, many employees at the Shengli Machinery Factory used to be from Shanghai, so they have a special feeling for the products there, and they are also very popular.

Xu Qiang himself also yearns for a big city like Shanghai. In his previous life, as a well-known chemical expert in the country, he had gone to Shanghai for meetings many times and also provided guidance on technical issues for some Shanghai chemical companies. The prosperity there was amazing, and Xu Qiang still remembers it vividly until now.

As Xu Qiang was admitted to the TV University, the countdown to going to Shanghai to study has begun, but the current priority is the research and development project of military products for foreign trade.

In the following week, Xu Qiang was still working overtime on the research and development of aramid cloth production equipment.

By this time, the daily work of Xu Qiang's project team had become stable, and everyone was working very hard. Even He Wei, the kid, began to be motivated. In addition to serving meals to everyone at work, he also began to learn to draw equipment drawings in his free time.

But in Xu Qiang's eyes, He Wei is still just a waste.

As far as the current project team is concerned, the only person who can be of great use is He Yonghong, and the other four people can only be used half-time. Every time a drawing is drawn, He Yonghong needs to modify it before it can be used. It can be said that without him, Xu Qiang's project is destined to not be completed in a short time.

Near the end of the month, after the joint efforts of the entire project team, Xu Qiang and others finally completed the production of one of the key equipment in aramid cloth production: the synthetic stirring filter barrel.

In the past, the technology used to produce aramid cloth in developed countries was the two-step spinning technology of synthetic aramid. However, this technical process is quite complicated and the cost is also very high. Since the residual sulfuric acid in the synthetic aramid process is extremely corrosive, the requirements for equipment are also quite high, which will cause the polymer to degrade during the spinning process, which limits the strength and modulus of the fiber.

However, there is no relevant alternative equipment in China at present.

Because of this, Xu Qiang used the new process he participated in developing in his previous life to synthesize aramid this time. The principle is to directly spin the polymer concentrate into fibers. This new process not only can greatly reduce costs, but also has very little difference in quality with foreign products. It is a very ideal production process with a very high cost-effectiveness.

The working principle of this stirring and filtering barrel is to condense the solution at low temperature, then precipitate it into fibers, and then stir, wash, and dry it to finally become short fibers. These short fibers are the main raw materials for making aramid cloth.

A very critical point here is that the process is greatly affected by the stirring speed. The increase in stirring speed will cause the aspect ratio of the short fibers to increase. The fiber length obtained is 1~50mm and the diameter is 2~100um, which is a relatively ideal fiber size.

In order to ensure the stirring speed, Xu Qiang installed two 1.5KW variable frequency speed-regulating three-phase asynchronous motors on the machine. The cost of these two motors alone exceeded yuan!
In addition, this equipment is also equipped with a small air compressor, which is also very valuable. The purchase price from Shanghai was as high as 16,000 yuan. Electrical equipment these days is extremely expensive.

After the machine was assembled, Xu Qiang asked the factory workers to transport the equipment directly to the backyard of the chemical laboratory and prepare to start testing.

Today is a very critical day for Xu Qiang. If this machine can run successfully, then Xu Qiang's project will be half completed.

"I've always wanted to know what you use this machine for. This is the first time I've seen such a strange design. It's a mixing barrel, but you also installed two motors and an air compressor. Do you want to use it for refrigeration?"

At this time, He Yonghong saw the machine installed in the backyard and said with interest.

"Different fields are like different mountains. There are some things that I tell you that you may not understand." Xu Qiang smiled slightly and continued, "If our project can succeed, it will definitely become a milestone in our country's chemical industry. By then, you will be considered one of the heroes."

"Just brag!" He Yonghong said disapprovingly, "I thought you were a real guy, but I didn't expect you to be so unreliable. This thing is nothing. Compared to the engine of an airplane, it's just a toy that's not worth mentioning!"

"You also know about aircraft engine technology?" Xu Qiang's eyes widened when he heard this. "That's the past... let's not talk about it!" He Yonghong frowned and changed the subject, "What kind of products does this thing produce?"

"It can produce a product called aramid, but this machine is only a part of it. A set of untwisted fabric production equipment will be needed later. It is estimated that there are related alternative equipment in China, so there is no need to redesign the entire thing." Xu Qiang said.

"The cost of your project is not small..." He Yonghong was a little surprised when he heard this. He continued, "According to what you said, you basically developed a production line."

"You're right. We are developing a production line, but it's a smaller version. If it were normal size, it would cost at least several million." Xu Qiang said after a moment of hesitation.

"You are really daring. When I was your age, I had just arrived at the army's maintenance station, and the squad leader didn't even let me touch the machines. You started working on the production line right away, and the factory actually supports you so much. You really can't compare to other people..." He Yonghong said with some emotion.

"There's no comparison. You can drink at work every day, but I dare not even touch a bottle of wine. Comparing yourself with others can really make you angry!" Xu Qiang said with a sneer.

"Hahaha!" He Yonghong laughed out loud when he heard that.

Afterwards, Xu Qiang briefly tried the machine and started today's test.

The day before yesterday, the raw materials purchased by the Supply and Marketing Department had arrived, including the main raw materials for making aramid 1414: terephthalamide and paraphenylenediamine.

Among them, p-phenylenediamine is one of the simplest aromatic diamines and a widely used intermediate. It can be used to prepare azo dyes, high molecular polymers, fur dyes, rubber antioxidants and photo developers. In addition, p-phenylenediamine is also a commonly used sensitive reagent for testing iron and copper.

In addition, this product is easy to buy, produced by many domestic manufacturers, and is not expensive. It is a relatively common chemical dye.

However, terephthaloyl is relatively difficult to buy. He Yong spent a lot of effort to buy a small amount of finished product at the First Experimental Factory of Shanghai Institute of Chemical Technology, and the price was very expensive. Currently, the domestic output of this product is very low, probably less than 50 tons per year, and it is mainly used to make resin dyes and some pesticides.

With these two main raw materials, Xu Qiang can start to make aramid fiber.

First, Xu Qiang weighed the raw materials in strict accordance with the recipe and process he remembered from his previous life, and then synthesized them in the reactor.

During this process, Xu Qiang also added a small amount of other chemical compounds. These compounds were prepared by Xu Qiang in advance. Although they account for a small proportion, they play a vital role in the fiberization of aramid. They are also the core formula that Xu Qiang needs to keep strictly confidential.

After heating the raw materials in the reactor, Xu Qiang poured the synthesized solution into the newly installed homemade machine.

As the air compressor at the bottom of the machine runs, the solution begins to condense at low temperature.

When the solution condenses to a certain extent, the process of precipitation into fibers begins.

During this period, Xu Qiang had been observing the changes in the solution in the drum. Waiting for the reaction process to end, Xu Qiang turned on the mixer again.

Stirring is very important for the production of aramid fiber. If the stirring speed is too slow, the fiber texture will become very coarse and the texture of the aramid cloth will be very poor. If the stirring speed is too fast, the solution will heat up, causing the fiber to begin to decompose in large quantities and the physical structure to change. Therefore, how to accurately control the stirring speed is also the core process in the production process of aramid fiber.

In response to this, Xu Qiang constantly observed the changes in the solution in the mixing barrel, and then used voltage regulation to adjust the speed of the motor, ultimately controlling it within a suitable stirring speed range.

Time passed by minute by minute, and several hours went by in a flash.

As it was almost time to get off work, Xu Qiang took a look at the condition of the solution in the bucket and finally a look of satisfaction appeared on his face.

After washing and drying in a dryer, when Xu Qiang finally took out the light yellow aramid fiber from the dryer, he could not suppress his excitement and his eyes instantly became moist...

(End of this chapter)