The military-industrial scientific research system of the academic master.

In fact, while the British felt threatened, Snecma on the other side of the English Channel was not as jubilant as the British had imagined.

For Dassault and Aero Engines, once Vesta signs, the testing of the turbine components of the M88-3 engine will be completed, and the next step is to proceed to the next stage of work step by step.

However, for Snecma itself, this is far from the case.

Don’t forget, in order not to delay the critical time nodes, the samples used in this round of testing are all provided directly by China.

Therefore, the best we can confirm now is that "there is no problem with the turbine components designed and produced by China."

But what do the French make themselves...

Don't know yet.

Therefore, after sending the test report to its two upstream and downstream partners, Vesta had almost no time to rest and immediately shifted its attention to the trial production workshop.

The materials, coatings and production processes used in the M88-3 turbine itself have not changed compared to the M88-2, with only slight differences in the outer contour parameters.

But it is not difficult to solve for old industrial countries.

In fact, from the beginning to the end, the semi-finished blanks used by China were all provided by Snecma.

Therefore, the only technical difficulty that needs to be overcome is the final air film hole manufacturing.

Since the end of November last year, when Vesta brought the relevant technical data back to France, Snecma's production department began to verify the process parameters of the drilling process in accordance with the production requirements provided by China.

However, we encountered enormous resistance right at the start, resulting in almost zero progress in the first few weeks.

Not to mention good products, not even a complete piece of junk was produced.

Later, with the arrival of samples provided by the Chinese, Vesta focused its main energy on the most urgent testing tasks.

Only now that all other work has come to an end, have we started to focus on production issues again.

"Doctor, these are the blade samples we made in the past month using different processing methods and techniques."

Gene Dufroy, the person in charge of the trial production, led Vesta to a workbench and pointed to the dozens of turbine blade samples densely arranged on the table and introduced:

"We checked the design documents. Although the specific hole patterns involved in different parts are different, the basic characteristics and properties are the same. So in order to speed up efficiency, we all used blades with smaller area and thickness for trial production."

Vesta did not reply immediately, but simply nodded, approving the other party's choice.

As long as you understand the holes on the blades, the combustion chamber and the turbine disc are basically the same.

"Is that all?"

After looking down for a while, he raised his head again and asked Dufroy.

"That's not it."

The latter shook his head:

"Some samples couldn't even be successfully pierced, so they are not here."

"In general, if we don't consider production efficiency, we can produce products that meet the requirements. Of course, at present, we can only say that the specifications meet the requirements, after all, it has not been systematically tested."

As he spoke, Dufroy took out one of the leaves from a pile and handed it to Vesta.

Of course, it is impossible to tell with the naked eye whether the inner wall of the air film hole meets the requirements, so Vesta did not do anything unnecessary and just took a rough look at the condition of the outer surface.

He noticed that at the base of the blade, the words "EHB-29" were written.

"Ehh..."

Vesta's movements paused slightly:

"You changed the process?"

In the past, Snecma's common process for machining air film holes was tube electrode electrochemical machining, and the sample abbreviation was generally TEE-xx.

And more importantly, he could not see the circular etch marks left by the tube electrode processing around the air film hole.

This trace only remains on the surface of the thermal insulation coating and will not affect the base material. The area around the air film holes is a relatively low temperature location and has relatively low requirements for thermal insulation.

Therefore, unless there is a special requirement, an additional coating is generally not required after processing.

"Yes."

Duflo nodded helplessly:

"We have tested it many times using tube electrode electrolysis, but the internal shape of their channel is too complex and the hole depth is relatively large, so there is no way to avoid secondary corrosion caused by the gap surface on the opposite side of the electrode."

"Also, insoluble salts will precipitate from the sodium nitrate solution during the electrolysis process. In the past, when we processed fan-shaped through holes, even if salt crystals precipitated, it was easy to remove. However, because the internal structure of the hole is too complex, there is a 90% probability that the processing channel will be blocked during processing. If the blockage is not handled in time, it will cause discharge and breakdown. Not only will the workpiece be scrapped, but the electrode may also have to be replaced..."

"So later, we simply switched to electro-hydraulic beam machining. Because during the machining process, an electro-hydraulic flow will rush toward the workpiece at high speed, so no matter how complicated the inside of the hole is, there will be no clogging problem. After debugging the parameters for about half a month, we finally got the first sample that fully met the standards."

He said, pointing to the EHB29 in Vesta's hand.

"You just said...if we don't consider production efficiency..."

Vesta looked at the leaf in his hand and said slowly:

"You mean the electrohydraulic beam machining process is very cumbersome?"

"Yes……"

Duflo sighed, then replied:

"In theory, electro-hydraulic jet machining is good at machining tiny holes with special angles, but the diameter of the air film holes is calculated in millimeters, which requires repeated hole expansion in multiple stages. There are many air film holes on each blade, and the machining time is doubled."

"For the sample in your hand, not counting the process preparation stage, it took about a day and a half to produce it... So, it will take us about 45 days to complete the processing of all the components required for an engine..."

Hearing this answer, Vesta couldn't help but curl her lips.

Although the demand for military engines is not high, producing nine engines a year is really too abstract.

Even taking the proficiency issue into consideration, the mass production speed can be doubled.

18 units a year is still totally insufficient.

Not to mention the civilian models that were derived from it.

You know, when they first approached China, they just wanted help to solve the reliability problem of M88-2.

As a result, it later degenerated into helping with performance upgrades throughout the entire life cycle.

Later, when it came to the SeA series of products, even the other party took away half of the development initiative.

If we have to rely on others to complete key processes for mass production in the future...

"hiss……"

Vesta couldn't help but gasp.

He hadn't had time to think about it before.

Now that I think about it.

It seems... not completely unacceptable?

Thinking of this, Vesta quickly shook his head, trying to drive away the random thoughts in his mind, and at the same time reminded himself that this must have been affected by the salami slicing tactics.

In order to divert attention, he quickly asked a new question:

"Have you studied the samples provided by Huaxia? Can you refer to their hole-making method?"

In the past, Vesta would never have said such a thing.

But now, even he himself has begun to refer to the Chinese technology to upgrade the M53-P2, so it doesn’t matter.

"Of course. After we heard the test results came out a few days ago, we asked for a few brand new blades from there as backup."

As he spoke, Duflo turned to a computer and opened a Word document on the desktop.

Vesta also moved closer to the screen.

"From the situation of the inner hole, we can indeed find some obvious processing features, but when combined together...it is difficult to determine what process it is."

Duflo said in a distressed tone as he scrolled the page down:

"Through a high-performance microscope, we can vaguely distinguish the remelted layer from the inner wall of the air film hole. Although the thickness is very small and will not have any impact on the performance, it is definitely a trace left by thermal processing. In addition, Huaxia's technicians have previously published an influential paper in Nature, and the content is indeed related to laser processing."

"However, the entire blade has neither thermal stress nor microcracks, not even those that exist only on the coating surface. It does not look like the product of simple laser processing..."

"I've read the paper you mentioned."

Vesta suddenly interrupted:

"Not only China, but the British are also actually researching the technology of using high-energy lasers to process turbine components, but as far as I know... the situation is not optimistic."

"Rolls-Royce's Trent900 engine is stuck in processing efficiency. It is said that the yield rate is too low, resulting in high costs. This is also the biggest advantage of its rival GP7200..."

In the field of civil aviation engines, except for the core technology level, people are generally relatively open.

Therefore, although Snecma cannot participate in the competition for this ultra-large thrust level aircraft engine, it can still obtain relevant information in a timely manner as long as it is willing.

However, Duflo was only a mid-level technician and was not very interested in things he could not participate in, so he continued the original topic:

"So... our current consideration is whether the Chinese used composite processing technology, such as using electrolyte jet to assist laser processing. This can at least explain why they can control thermal stress and remelting layers."

"Of course, this is a relatively new technology for us, and we may need some additional funds to purchase new equipment and experimental consumables."

Tu Qiong dagger saw it belongs to yes.

It is impossible to develop new technology without money.

Vesta certainly understands this, but the group’s funds are indeed a bit tight at the moment.

“How feasible do you think it is?”

After hesitating for a moment, he opened his mouth to confirm.

“If even the simple electro-hydraulic beam process can be successful, then the efficiency of the composite processing will at least not be lower.”

Duflo's first words were very crisp, but then he changed the subject:

"As for whether I can achieve the same level as the Chinese... I can't draw a conclusion yet..."