Chapter Eleven: Found Treasure

  "On the left is Miao Ke's father, and on the right is Director Xiang, Xiang Ji Yong." Ning Mo quietly introduced the two people walking over to Qin Hai.

  Qin Hai nodded and walked forward to meet Miao Funan, saying: "Director Miao, I'm a technical school student assigned here this year. I majored in foundry engineering. The Labor Capital Department arranged for me to work as a sanding worker in the foundry workshop. Here's my introduction letter."

  As he spoke, Qin Hai handed the introduction letter from the Labor and Capital Department to Miao Funan. Miao Funan took the introduction letter, exchanged a glance with Xiang Jiyong without changing his expression, and then said: "Oh, you're Qin Hai, I'll ask you, what did you learn in technical school?"

  "My major is casting, and I also learned some heat treatment. In addition, I usually like to read books, so I have a certain understanding of things related to material properties."

  Qin Hai said this to leave himself an excuse. Yesterday, in front of Xiao Dongping, he showed off his skills, and was able to judge the quality of steel solely by visual inspection and listening to its sound, a skill that cannot be explained by vocational school education. He said that he usually likes to read books, so he learned some extra things, which can serve as an excuse for the various knowledge he possesses.

  "Oh? Young man, not big in age, but not small in tone." Xiang Jiyong inserted a sentence at the right time. He came to the casting workshop today just to find an opportunity to test Qin Hai's skills. Now that Qin Hai himself spoke wildly, Xiang Jiyong took this opportunity to quietly examine Qin Hai without revealing his intentions.

  "Uncle Xiang, Dad, Qin Hai is really capable," Miao Lei said to Xiang Ji Yong and Miao Fu Nan, "He can do quenching fire, and he does it very well."

  Miao Ke hurriedly recommended Qin Hai to his father and Xiang Ji Yong, but unexpectedly fell into Xiang Ji Yong's trap. He followed Miao Ke's words and asked Qin Hai: "Is that so? Do you understand quenching fire?"

  Qin Hai felt like he had gotten on the wrong boat, and Miao Lei's chatter had put him in a difficult spot. He didn't know what the expressionless production director was thinking, so he could only respond vaguely: "Director Xiang's words have stumped me, heat treatment technology is vast and profound, how dare I say I fully understand it? However, for common steel materials' routine heat treatment, I've studied a bit, but I don't know which specific item Director Xiang is asking about."

  Xiang Ji Yong looked around and then pointed to a device beside him with his hand, asking Qin Hai: "Do you know what this device is used for?"

  Qin Hai took a glance and immediately replied, "I've seen this in school. This is a high-frequency induction quenching furnace, used for surface hardening of parts."

  "Hmm, what does surface hardening mean?" Xiang Ji Yong asked again.

  Such a question is certainly not difficult for Qin Hai, he didn't even hesitate for a moment and answered fluently: "Surface quenching refers to the process of only quenching the surface layer of the workpiece without affecting its core. Generally, the depth of surface quenching ranges from 0.5 to 2 millimeters, and the processing objects are medium carbon steel and medium carbon alloy steel."

  "So why do surface hardening? Isn't overall quenching better?" Xiang Jiyong continued to ask.

  "The depth of quenching is determined by the purpose of the workpiece. Surface hardening is mainly used for parts that work under dynamic loads and friction conditions, such as gears and crankshafts used in agricultural machinery. The performance requirements of these parts are that the surface has a higher hardness and wear resistance, while the core maintains sufficient plasticity and toughness. Therefore, quenching must be limited to the surface only and cannot be fully quenched."

  "Not bad!" Xiang Ji Yong's face showed a smile, as the head of the production department, he naturally had some understanding of conventional production technology. However, he only knew it but didn't know why. For example, surface hardening, he knew it was a necessary process for gear processing, but if you asked him to explain it accurately, he wouldn't be able to do so. His job was just to let the workshop operate according to the design of the technical department's process engineer, as for the underlying principles, he wouldn't delve deeper into that.

  "How about it, Director Miao, Section Chief Xiang? Qin Hai's skills are not bad, right?" Ning Mo chuckled and smiled, Qin Hai showed his face in front of Xiang Jiayong, making him feel that he also had a good reputation. Anyway, he was the earliest person to know Qin Hai in the whole factory, and could be considered as one of Qin Hai's good brothers.

  Xiang Ji Yong heard Ning Mo speaking, turned his head towards him and sternly said: "Fatty, Xiao Hui, you know Qin Hai, you should learn from him, do you understand? Don't just spend your days playing cards and video games. He's the same age as you guys, but he knows so much more than you, take a look at yourselves."

  "Uh... we actually just met Qin Hai yesterday, and we were planning to ask him to be our mentor...” Ning Mo was somewhat intimidated by Xiang Ji Yong, as this production director had a rather iron-fisted approach to labor discipline. Although Ning Mo was the son of Ning Zhong Ying, he had also been docked pay several times by Xiang Ji Yong.

  "You two go to work first. Qin Hai, you come with me." Xiang Ji Yong said after training Ning Mo and Miao Lei, sending them away, then spoke to Qin Hai.

  "What instructions does Director Xiang have?" Qin Hai asked.

  "Just follow me, Leng Ke is waiting for you in Director Miao's office," said Xiang Jiyong.

  Three people came to the director's office in a corner of the workshop, and Leng Yuming was indeed sitting inside. After chatting with Xiao Dongping yesterday, Leng Yuming had been thinking about improving the quality of the rotary tiller blade all night, and as soon as he went to work today, he pulled Xiang Jiyong to the foundry workshop to discuss with Miao Funan. Unexpectedly, Qin Hai was also assigned to the foundry workshop, which led to Miao Funan and Xiang Jiyong going to test Qin Hai.

  "This is our factory's technical department head, Leng Yuming. He graduated from Harbin Institute of Technology in the 1960s and is a genuine university graduate." Xiang Jiyong first introduced him to Qin Hai, hoping to use Leng Yuming's prestige to intimidate Qin Hai.

  Qin Hai had always had a certain degree of respect for university students from the 1960s, let alone someone from a prestigious school like Harbin Institute of Technology. He nodded to Leng Yuming and said, "Director Leng is my senior, I'm just a junior student."

  Leng Yueming waved his hand, filtering out Qin Hai's flattering words, picked up a rotary tiller blade from Miao Funan's office desk and said: "I heard Old Xiao say that you mentioned yesterday evening when drinking with him that there is a way to improve the quality of our factory's rotary tiller blades?"

  Qin Hai also guessed that Xiang Ji Yong and Leng Yu Ming's intentions must be related to what he said to Xiao Dong Ping, so he nodded: "Yes, but last night I just said there was such a possibility."

  "What about now?" Xiang Jiyong heard the subtlety in Qin Hai's words and couldn't help but press him for an answer.

  Qin Hai smiled and said: "Now I'm basically sure, it can be done completely."

  "Why?" Several leaders were shocked by Qin Hai's crazy words, and Leng Yueming was at a loss for what to do, but this young man actually dared to say that he could do it completely.

  "From the information I've read, currently for wear parts like cultivator blades, foreign countries usually use high-frequency induction welding process on the blade edge. Yesterday I wasn't sure if our factory had such equipment, but just now Director Xiang tested me and I found out that we have a high-frequency induction furnace. With this furnace, after some minor modifications, we can do high-frequency induction welding, so I said it's completely feasible."

  "Do you understand high-frequency induction welding?" Leng Yuming's gaze at Qin Hai became somewhat dazed, he had struck gold, this young man was truly a treasure.

  High-frequency induction quenching, Leng Yueming had seen it in a magazine before and had some understanding of its general principle. But as for how to do it specifically, especially what the equipment looked like, he knew nothing about it. In an era without the internet, finding any technical information was more difficult than climbing to heaven. When Qin Hai mentioned this term, Leng Yueming knew that his thinking was correct, and if they could use high-frequency induction quenching technology to treat the blade's edge, increasing its service life by half was entirely possible.

  The only question now is how much Qin Hai actually understands about this technology.

  Qin Hai noticed Leng Yuming's doubts, so he casually pulled over a stack of letter paper from the table, grabbed a sketching pencil and started drawing a diagram on the paper to illustrate his point, explaining as he drew:

  "Leng Kechang, come and see, the principle of high-frequency induction welding is... This method requires mainly a high-frequency induction device, which is also the core component of the high-frequency induction hardening furnace. In addition, an additional fixture needs to be installed, and the current needs to be adjusted, it's not a costly thing."

  "Ah! That's great!" Leng Yuming excitedly slapped the table, "I've been thinking about this for several months and couldn't figure out the technical details. Now that you've said it, I completely understand. By the way, Xiao Qin, where did you learn this from? Does vocational school even teach this?"

  "This... is mainly self-taught." Qin Hai replied, he didn't dare say it was taught at the technical school, otherwise Leng Yuming would go to the technical school and ask around, and he would be exposed.

  "I was interested in this knowledge when I was in technical school, and sometimes I would run to the provincial library and the university library to read some miscellaneous books. That's what I saw at that time." Qin Hai said with a cover-up.

  "What book is it? Can I borrow it again and take a look?" asked Leng Yuming.

  Qin Hai shook his head: "I'm a person who reads books quite randomly, I only remembered the principles and didn't remember the book titles. However, I dare to guarantee that these principles should be correct."

  "Of course, it's absolutely right! I knew the principle was no problem as soon as I heard it!" Leng Yuming said affirmatively. "I just hadn't been in contact with this technology before, and although I saw the name in a magazine, it wasn't explained clearly. Little Qin, your explanation made everything clear to me. Old Miao, this Little Qin is a treasure, it's a waste to put him in your workshop, I'll transfer him to our technical department instead."