The person who discovered the problem with the AL-31FN engine was naturally Chen Nian, and he used this as a bargaining chip to persuade Lin Yongming to temporarily postpone the introduction of this engine.
Of course, simply pointing out the flaws of the AL-31FN cannot actually fundamentally reverse the future development of this matter. To truly achieve the best results, the key is to create a truly usable and powerful own engine. .
And to do this, you have to make good use of the limited source points in your hand.
It's not enough to just analyze according to the system's preset modules. It also requires detailed operations.
Thinking of this, Chen Nian spread out a piece of white paper and began to sort out all the key technologies required to build an engine one by one.
The first thing to bear the brunt is materials, including fan blade materials, combustion chamber materials, thermal insulation coating materials, bearing materials, etc.
Subsequently, there is the casting process, the most difficult of which is powder alloy extrusion forming technology, followed by electron beam welding and linear friction welding technology.
At the next level, we reach the realm of real internal structure design.
The most important part of this part is the design of the combustion chamber and compressor, which involves many new configurations and designs that have never been seen before. Even until 20 years later, this part of the design has not been really made public.
But of course, as long as you have the drawings, it is not difficult to copy, so this should be the easiest part of all the key technologies.
You only need to invest a source point to analyze the engine structure.
After clarifying the main technical difficulties, Chen Nian began to plan his own use of source points.
He currently has 1.15 source points in his hand, and the power system structure diagram requires 1 source point, which cannot be saved.
What about the others?
He thought for a moment and began to check the source points required for each technology one by one.
For single crystal nickel-iron alloy, this problem has been solved and is no longer considered.
However, when single-crystal nickel-iron alloys are now manufactured, the materials used are hot isostatic pressing + cladding forging processes, which has a large loss in performance.
Therefore, I still need to analyze the hot isostatic pressing + extrusion + superplastic forging process, the core of which is the superplastic forming machine.
A small amount of this stuff has been introduced in China, and there is a GLEEBLE1500 in the Beijing Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering.
But the performance is relatively unsatisfactory, so what I have to do is to analyze and optimize the performance of the superplastic forming machine in a targeted manner.
The main factors that affect the performance of the superplastic forming machine are the hydraulic electronic control system and the high-pressure heating system.
Then just focus on these two things.
Thinking of this, Chen Nian immediately wrote two names on the paper.
GLEEBLE3500 high pressure module, GLEEBLE3500 hydraulic module.
Then, he woke up the system and obtained the parsing source points required by these two modules.
Each actually requires 0.2 source points!
Come on, it's almost as expensive as the manufacturing process of a single crystal nickel-iron alloy... After all, that thing only cost 0.25 source points.
But there is nothing we can do. Who makes this technical field almost blank in China?
Chen Nian shook his head, marked the number 0.2 after these two words, and then continued to the next step of deduction.
Alloy C flame retardant material, 0.08 point source point.
Ceramic based TBC, 0.05 points.
Outer duct coating, 0.01----We can also make this thing ourselves, so don’t waste the source points.
The latter three materials are mainly formula issues and do not involve supporting equipment. Overall, the source point consumption is not large.
At this point, the material problems are basically solved, and then there are the process problems.
The extrusion of powder alloy has been solved on the material side, so only the welding problem remains.
Chen Nian had never heard of these two processes, electron beam welding and friction welding. It could even be said that he didn’t even have the slightest understanding of them. He didn’t know what the technical difficulties were, so he could only search the Internet for representative ones. The equipment was written on paper and the source requirements were roughly looked at.
Then he was dumbfounded.
Each device requires 0.5 source points.
Isn't this just bullshit? How can you afford this?
You still have to find someone to understand it first, and start analyzing it from the core technology...
Chen Nian breathed a sigh of relief. He glanced at the densely packed nouns and numbers on the white paper. When he added them all up, he found that a total of 3.4 source points were needed to build an engine.
This result made his head pound.
How much do you have to learn in order to get so many source points?
The potential of introductory aerodynamics courses has been basically squeezed out, leaving only those more complex research topics.
It seems that we still have to start with materials science.
This is a relatively unfamiliar field. In theory, the accumulation of source points will be faster.
Thinking of this, Chen Nian looked at the class schedule he had compiled and posted on the wall according to Chen Guo's arrangement.
There happens to be a material science class the next day, so let’s see the results then.
Project No. 22 has been officially launched, and the engine project is also on the line. The time left for me is getting less and less...
Chen Nian shook his head to get rid of the chaotic thoughts. Then, he opened the system, selected the F-22's power module, and chose the "Start Analysis" option without hesitation.
In an instant, a large amount of information rushed into his mind.
Severe pain came as expected, and along with it came a new understanding of this engine.
Three-stage fan, six-stage high-pressure compressor.
Intermediate bearings, high-pressure rotor bearings.
Double-layer floating wall combustion chamber, tile sheet heat dissipation, and even vector nozzles...
One detail after another appeared in his mind. At this moment, all the problems that had troubled aviation people for more than ten years or even decades were answered.
He still remembered that in his previous life, after the rough structural diagram of the F119 engine was allowed to be made public, a large number of experts had a heated argument over the question "Why does the F119 engine have high and low pressure guides?"
Some people believe that under the premise of using CT counter-rotating turbine technology, the high and low pressure guides for rectification are not necessary at all, and may just be designed to be redundant.
Some people think that since the guide exists, it must have a role, but we just don't know it.
This dispute came to nothing in the end. Some people suggested that they consult American scholars directly. After all, this is not a core technical issue and it has been made public. If it is for the purpose of academic exchange, there may be an opportunity.
However, academic-based consultation was rejected with one word - no, one word.
"Why?"
Why?
yes.
Even if it’s not a core technology, don’t you still not know it?
Since you don't know, why should I tell you?
No one can accuse the US of doing something wrong. Everyone just feels aggrieved.
Later, this problem ended without any problem. For safety reasons, guides under the CT were used in the designs of WS-10 and WS-10A.
But what is its use? !
No one really knew it at the time.
Now, Chen Nian has the answer to this question.
Its function has nothing to do with rectification.
It is actually just a structural fulcrum!
It is retained simply to increase the rigidity of the fan frame.
However, WS-10 and WS-15 do not use the F119's fan blade integrated molding technology. The process is different, and retaining the guide is completely useless.
So, in fact, this is basically a hole dug for us by the Americans!
Chen Nian sighed helplessly.
I don’t know how many more pits there are like this.
But at least, with myself here, the Chinese will not fall into such a trap again.
