my scientific age

Chapter 394 It’s done!

The wheel of history rolls forward. The Battle of Shanghai has lasted for more than a month, and the National Revolutionary Army is showing signs of collapse, without any change.

Time quietly came to October 5th.

Yancheng, Liushugou Industrial Zone, Machinery Manufacturing Plant.

In the finishing workshop, the air was filled with a depressing and tense atmosphere. Zhuang Qianding stood in front of a special horizontal heavy-duty hydraulic broaching machine, staring at the original gun barrel being fixed in front of him.

Noble and elegant temperament, mirror-smooth and clean silver surface, extremely smooth 105mm inner diameter tube wall after boring and grinding, 23 times the diameter and a total length of 2415mm, electroslag steel material, chrome-plated inner chamber, all elements create this artillery barrel with the highest technological content in the world.

Over the past few days, the original gun barrel blank has undergone a series of complex and tedious finishing processes and has been split into two, becoming two barrel originals. Now, the first barrel original has entered the most critical stage in its life - processing the rifling.

Rifling is the soul of the barrel and also the soul of the gun barrel. It is the last step in all processing procedures of the original gun barrel.

The accuracy of the rifling processing fundamentally determines the life or death of the original barrel. If a rifling has a deviation of more than three threads, the original barrel will be immediately declared scrapped.

There are only two chances.

If all fails, we can only wait for the second barrel blank in a few days.

In order to successfully complete the rifling processing of the 105mm barrel original, Zhuang Qianding and Yu Hua specially developed this five-ton high-precision horizontal heavy-duty hydraulic broaching machine. It adopts a hydraulic transmission structure and a multi-blade broach design. It can process 12 barrel riflings at one time with extremely high broaching accuracy.

At this moment, under the operation of two apprentices from the heavy-duty broaching machine group, the No. 1 barrel original part has been fixed and is ready for processing at any time. Afterwards, the two apprentices retreated to a safe place and waited, cheering up to learn the detailed operation of the barrel rifling.

They were originally affiliated with the barrel lathing group of the Zhongzheng rifle production line. Due to their outstanding performance, they were selected to be transferred to the heavy lathing group to perform the rifling processing of 105mm artillery barrels. Of course, they were not responsible for this processing task, but Professor Zhuang personally took charge of it.

"Professor, are you nervous?" Yu Hua asked.

"Kind of."

Zhuang Qianding pushed his newly-worn glasses, nodded slightly, and responded, not hiding his emotions: "I'll adjust them."

To say I'm not nervous would be a lie.

The 105mm howitzer, which had consumed countless energy and efforts, had finally reached the most important moment. The other parts of the Red Peony howitzer had already been manufactured, and only the rifling of the barrel had been processed before the artillery could be assembled immediately.

"Okay." Yu Hua nodded without revealing any other emotions. He expressed his understanding of Professor Zhuang's reaction. From the first time the two met in the Mechanical Hall of Tsinghua University, to reaching a plan to develop heavy artillery, and finally going to Yancheng together, they established the base industry almost from scratch. They worked intensively every day and never had a moment of rest. The whole process was no easier than the journey to the West.

Along the way, today, the red peony, which has condensed countless efforts of the two, is time to bloom.

Not long after, Zhuang Qianding adjusted his condition.

"here we go."

"Buzz!" As soon as the words fell, the main motor was powered on and started. The sound of high-speed operation followed and echoed throughout the surrounding space.

The main motor of the heavy-duty broaching machine outputs high power, driving the hydraulic piston pump to generate flow. The high-speed flowing hydraulic oil moves forward along the pipeline, generating a high hydraulic pressure of about ten tons, which directly acts on the main hydraulic cylinder of the broaching machine.

The main hydraulic cylinder is connected to the main rod of the broach. As the hydraulic pressure is transmitted, this extremely huge force acts on the main rod of the broach, pulling the twelve-blade extra-long broach made of tungsten alloy.

Pull the knife backward and make contact with the original barrel.

At the same time, the first barrel component began to rotate slowly to the right at an angular velocity corresponding to the twist pitch, and the oil nozzle at the top of the muzzle sprayed a stream of cutting fluid for cooling.

Broach with rotation, free food from the state.

"Hiss..." A slight sound of metal friction was heard, and the blade of the broach touched the mirror-like inner wall of the barrel, cutting out hard metal wire. In front of the tungsten alloy tool, the mechanical properties that the electroslag steel is proud of are still no match.

The original barrel rotates slowly, the twelve-blade broach moves steadily backward, and the rifling on the inner wall of the barrel gradually appears, with clear lines and distinct number.

Zhuang Qianding looked solemn and meticulous. He held the control lever tightly with both hands, carefully controlling the rotation rate of the broach and the barrel original part while maintaining a constant forward speed.

During the entire rifling broaching process, the speed cannot be too fast or too slow, the coordination between the broach and the barrel must be optimal, and the broaching forward speed and rotation speed need to be maintained at just the right level.

A little more will be scrapped, a little less will also be scrapped.

However, thanks to this dedicated horizontal heavy-duty hydraulic broaching machine, the control accuracy of its hydraulic transmission structure far exceeds that of traditional broaching machines with mechanical structures.

Yu Hua stood by and watched, waiting patiently, and as always, he believed in Professor Zhuang. In terms of actual machining capabilities, no one in the base could compare to this Tsinghua professor, including himself.

The two apprentices were a little nervous. They carefully observed Zhuang Qianding's operating techniques, kept each step in mind, and tried their best to learn from his experience and improve their skills.

For them, processing the rifling of a cannon barrel and processing the rifling of a gun barrel are two completely different concepts. If the latter destroys one, at most they will be criticized and punished one by one, but if the former destroys one, the loss is almost incalculable.

Time passes minute by minute.

In the finishing workshop, the only sound left was the running sound of the main motor of the heavy hydraulic broaching machine.

Two hours passed slowly. At this time, inside the heavy-duty broaching machine, the twelve-blade broach that was moving forward at a constant speed finally revealed its blade. High-speed clear cutting fluid flowed out from the end of the barrel, cooling the broaching part while carrying many thin metal wires out of the barrel to avoid damage.

Seeing the unique shape of the broach blade, Yu Hua and two apprentices who were watching immediately perked up. This scene meant that the entire rifling broaching process was coming to an end and would be completed soon.

More and more blades appeared on the twelve-blade broach, and thin metal wires kept emerging. Not long after, as the last set of cutting edges of the multi-blade broach left the slowly rotating inner wall of the barrel, the huge sound of the main motor disappeared.

The finishing workshop suddenly became quiet.

"call……"

Zhuang Qianding let out a light breath, stopped what he was doing, adjusted the lathe to its initial state, then came to the front end of the barrel and cast his eyes towards the inner wall of the barrel. He saw twelve rifling lines rotating at the designed pitch. He observed the rifling lines carefully, then after a while, turned to look at Yu Hua and made an OK gesture.

"The rifling is perfect, it meets the design requirements, it's done."

The short words contained strong emotions: three parts joy, three parts satisfaction, three parts confidence, and one part relief.

It became.

The 4000-caliber 23mm gun barrel with a design life of up to 105 rounds has completed all the fine processing, the rifling is perfect, and it meets the design requirements. This means that the last difficulty of the "Red Peony" 105mm howitzer has been overcome.

From now on, the base declared that it had the ability to independently develop and manufacture 105mm howitzers.

(End of this chapter)