129 : A lump in my arms
Originally, I was going to negotiate the purchase of the launcher with General Van Fleet, but I had an unexpectedly precious time to take care of the work myself.
‘Shopping…’
While I was in New York, I was going to look at Nike, but first of all, the international students were in a hurry.
International students who could return home early had to be brought to Korea.
Let’s postpone Nike for later.
There is still time until the Mexico Olympics.
When I made up my mind and left the Korea Society, Van Flint’s assistant had a limousine waiting.
“The chairman asked me to serve as a knight so that I could shop comfortably. I will see you.”
“okay? Then please go to MIT first.”
“The place to shop is MIT.”
“I will leave it up to you.”
“We have drinks and refreshments for the long haul. Then we will depart.”
Leaning on the top-of-the-line limousine-like leather seats, the car started with a gentle vibration.
***
MIT,
Because it was a limousine, I was able to travel more than 300 kilometers comfortably.
I was very grateful for Van Fleet’s kindness.
The MIT campus is not very large, so I soon found a place where materials science and labs are gathered.
Professor Joo Young-gil, no, the students will be fine.
“High-temperature and heat-resistant materials laboratory”
The laboratory where Professor Joo Young-gil is located stood out.
I thought I should have contacted you beforehand and knocked on the lab room.
smart.
“Excuse me.”
“Oh, boss!”
“Young-gil, it just happened.”
“How is the boss here…”
“I didn’t know I could find it so quickly. I look good today.”
“I eat and sleep here. Anyway, what are you doing?”
Professor Joo Young-gil was really glad to see me and hugged me. He is indeed a good nobleman.
“What is it? While on a business trip, I look back on how everyone is living. To be honest, I wanted to ask if they would return early because there is not enough manpower.”
“You are short of workers. I heard that a large shipyard is under construction.”
“Right. You know the head office news well. Anyway, how was your research so far?”
I was curious about Professor Joo’s research performance.
As in history, if NASA had succeeded in manufacturing superheat-resistant alloys, I wanted to take them to Korea right away.
“My research? You will be surprised. Oh, do you still like Coke?”
Professor Joo brought a Coke from somewhere and offered it to me.
“thanks.”
“I’m sorry I have nothing else to offer. Now let me explain the subject of my research. This way.”
Professor Zhu led me back into the lab.
I saw other graduate students, but they just ignored each other and passed by. Everyone would say that this is a characteristic of graduate students who are busy with their own research.
“This is the equipment I made. It is called Ball Mill equipment.”
“Ball mill? Could you please explain?”
“It is literally an equipment that rubs alloys with metal balls. If you put metal powder like this, add an appropriate amount of water and some soap powder, pour nickel beads and turn it…”
Weiying.
The equipment tub went round and round like a washing machine.
When I saw it, it made sense intuitively. In this way, the marbles in the barrel crush and mix the metal powder.
“Does it become an alloy just by mixing it like this?”
“It looks like they are simply mixing, but at the microscopic level, they are evenly cohesive and become an alloy. Powder metallurgy was a method used to manufacture gold coins in the old days, but I rediscovered it as a heat-resistant alloy method.”
“It’s an older technology than I thought.”
I didn’t know. I thought it was a public method invented by Professor Joo Young-gil. You played a bit of a gurah during the lecture.
“In terms of being applied to heat-resistant alloys that require metals to be mixed in precise proportions, I have invented it. And it is my own secret that the ball mill works well only when soap is mixed here.”
Professor Joo Young-gil seems to have accumulated some know-how.
Anyway, seeing it with my own eyes, I started to remember the contents of the old lecture that was blurry.
Powder metallurgy is a method of producing an alloy by mixing metal powder well, forming it in a mold, and then sintering it.
It has a very high melting point and is very useful when making heat-resistant alloys where materials must be mixed in precise proportions.
However, compared to the casting method, it requires expensive equipment such as a press, sintering furnace, mixer, etc., so the production cost is very high.
“If you sinter this, the heat-resistant material you want is made.”
“As expected, you are the boss. You know right away. It’s amazing.”
“I am really surprised. To make such equipment by hand.”
“It wasn’t too difficult. As the president said, this was the only way to make an alloy without melting the metal.”
It seems that my advice has been helpful.
In the meantime, I was very fortunate to have listened to this nobleman’s lecture.
“You must have had a lot of trouble making the equipment?”
“After thinking about the president’s words for six months, the answer came out. Thanks to this equipment, I was able to pass my master’s course in a single step. My supervisor signed it right away.”
“I see.”
Even if it was a rediscovery, it was clear that the powder metallurgy method marked a milestone in the development of heat-resistant alloys.
Without doing so, can MIT professors directly promote students from underdeveloped countries to the doctoral course?
“And don’t be surprised. I made a nickel-based heat-resistant alloy that can withstand temperatures up to 950 degrees. They even submitted a patent under the model name of Daese Metal, DSM950.”
“I beg your pardon? Do you even submit a patent?”
I was startled.
The material that can withstand up to 950 degrees was a top-notch material even by the standards of the 21st century.
Of course, the top-notch material withstands up to 1100 degrees, but it is not used well except in special cases because of its weakness in impact.
In other words, heat-resistant materials that can withstand up to 950 degrees are much more useful.
“Yes, the boss is also listed as an inventor.”
“Co-patent with me?”
I didn’t know how to react.
Objectively, I was very happy, but it was because I wondered if this nobleman really knew the ripple effect of this alloy material.
In the original history, it was clear that the license was taken from NASA.
“Young-Gil, personally, I am very happy, but the patent will receive a lot of attention in the future. You don’t have to co-patent with me, so I’ll revise it now. Of course, licenses must be sold in the mainstream.”
“In that case, I need to register the president even more. Honestly, this patent started with the president’s idea. I would never have thought of powder metallurgy alone. ha ha ha.”
Professor Joo Young-gil laughed out loud with a proud expression.
“You may regret it later. This patent license will cost more than you think.”
“Isn’t the boss going to take care of that much? I’m going to get a job with that trend.”
Professor Joo shrugged as if it were natural.
“I have no regrets.”
“In fact, I have already heard enough from my advisor about the value of this patent. He said that if he would give him a 10% stake in this patent, he would make sure it would be widely recognized throughout the academic world, so he agreed. Did I do well?”
“Good job. You did really well.”
To pull an MIT professor with a patent shield with 10% was very, very good.
When I was sent to the United States to study, it seemed that I had a lot of social skills as well as technology.
If you filed a patent and made a bond with a professor at MIT, you can return home early.
It’s not a super heat-resistant alloy, but an alloy like this can be used well enough.
Piston heads, crankshafts, engine main shafts, turbine blades, etc., had numerous uses.
‘It’s mass production, so I can secure it within the company.’
I thought so.
Rather, it would be much better than leaking information while researching at school.
“My supervisor told me that using this material in an engine would increase fuel efficiency by about 4%. If you use this in the mainstream, it will probably be more than enough to pay for my meal for the rest of my life.”
“Yes. But, come and apply it yourself. Joo Young-gil, assistant manager.”
That’s right.
If this heat-resistant material is applied to the engine, the efficiency naturally increases. The higher the operating temperature of the engine, the higher the efficiency.
To be honest, an efficiency improvement of about 4% is not a big deal in a normal vehicle, but a ship is a completely different story.
Super tankers use close to 100 tons of fuel per day. If you increase the operating speed to near 20 knots, even more is consumed.
Reducing that by just 4% would save about 1,200 tonnes of fuel per year.
Even if the price of heavy fuel oil is only $ 1 per barrel, it can save about $ 84 million in annual fuel costs.
Awesome. Ship owners will line up.
No, most shipowners would be hesitant at first, but if one crazy person orders an engine from me, the next thing is a breeze.
“Yes? Are you saying I’m an exaggerate?”
“I just put on an exaggeration. When you return to Korea and succeed in mass-producing the DSM950, you will be immediately given a manager. In the current trend, material experts are desperately needed.”
It will be possible to join the research institute in Changwon.
Even if you don’t know the engine of this oil tanker, you will be able to make enough from the engine parts of future ships.
Whether it’s diesel engine parts or turbine blades.
“You’re telling me to stop the doctoral program and return home early.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll treat you like that. Of course, if you value your degree more, there is no problem staying here. Whatever you choose, I will respect you.”
I wanted to give Professor Joo Young-gil a choice.
It’s good to join right now, and it’s not bad to join later in a more seasoned state.
Professor Joo Young-gil pondered over my words for a while before continuing.
“It is not that I am greedy for a degree, but if I do a little more research, I think I will be able to create a super alloy that can withstand temperatures of up to 1000 degrees, not even 1100 degrees. What could be more helpful to the company?”
Professor Joo Young-gil asked me seriously.
This time, I had no choice but to worry.
“Well, if you think so, join the research institute in Changwon. Buy the equipment here, move it, and study it together with your colleagues. I’ll make sure you don’t regret not getting your degree.”
“Take all your gear? Then I was just thinking about it. Can I buy everything here and go?”
“sure. I buy everything I need.”
At best, a few million dollars will buy them all.
You have to invest that much in R&D to become a first-class company. In the 1960s, there was no original plan to grow the company into a company that did not invest in technology development and earned labor costs.
“Yeah, it was the most stressful to use while rotating the equipment among students, but thank you very much.”
You really don’t seem to care much about your degree.
In fact, if you see a degree as a means to succeed, it would be a much better choice to join the mainstream as soon as possible.
Even if you go up to the rank of vice president of a world-class company, honorary doctorates from leading universities will be given to you.
“I’ll give you some time, so talk to your classmates studying abroad. If I recommend returning home early, you won’t be able to make an honest choice, so Young-gil asks for a doctor.”
“Yes, I will. But, more than that… I have really good equipment that is extremely expensive. Can I buy it?”
I just let go of the words to talk to my classmates and still focused on my equipment.
“What kind of equipment is it that you spend so much time on?”
“It is the latest equipment called CNC, and it is very amazing. Would you like to take a look?”
“CNC? You mean computer numerical control?”
Was there a word called CNC in the 60’s?
I guess they just called it NC.
Well, MIT and CNC could be the first places in the world to develop NC machines with the support of the US Air Force.
“You know the CNC too! I have it here in the Precision Machinery Lab, and even turbine blades that are difficult to machine by hand can be made without effort if you put in the numbers.”
“okay? It must be expensive. How much does it cost per unit?”
Automatically pull out the turbine blades?
Were machine tools in the 60s so good?
Turbine blades are so tricky that most manufacturers mass-produce them by casting method rather than machining until the 1990s.
“That’s… They said it was $3.5 million per unit.”
It was a price that would have surprised the average person.
A single Goliath crane column costs about $2.5 million.
“Three and a half million dollars? Where the hell did it come from, so it’s so expensive?”
fanak? Hitachi? Toshiba? ABB?
Who was the best at CNC machines in the 60’s?
“It’s from a company called Sundstrands. The machine itself is a luxury, but the microprocessor (MPU) that went into the parts is more luxury. They said it was made by a venture called Intel, but it looked like it was very expensive to do with fingernails.”
“I beg your pardon? Intel?”
I was unfamiliar with the company Sundstrand, but I was surprised by the word Intel.
Did Intel already start business at this time?
Is this the time to pop out of Fairchild with a venture title?
I still thought it was premature to enter the mechanical industry, but I fell into my arms when I felt a good fortune.
I can’t throw away the blessings I’ve been given, so what can I do…