Fuel Passivation

Suiren Company was busy with work, and Huang Xiuyuan, Lu Xuedong, and the others were just as swamped.

The Nitrogen-20 rocket fuel project jointly established by Harbin Institute of Technology and Suiren Company involved more than just the two of them.

After Passivated Nitrogen-20 performed exceptionally well in testing, the higher-ups had already recognized its enormous potential. As a rocket engine fuel, Nitrogen-20 had advantages that surpassed those of many fuels currently in use.

It could be stored stably for long periods, its storage conditions were not particularly demanding, and it burned on its own without producing toxic byproducts. It also had a high energy density per unit.

Perhaps its only drawback was that Nitrogen-20 was a solid fuel.

In aerospace, liquid fuels were more commonly used in launch vehicles, while solid fuels were generally used for ejection systems.

This was mainly due to the different characteristics of the two types of fuel. Liquid fuels were inexpensive, had a high specific impulse, and allowed precise control of thrust, but their engines were relatively complex. Solid fuels, on the other hand, were easy to store and could produce enormous thrust. They allowed rockets to be stored for long periods before launch and transported covertly, while their engines were simple in structure.

The strengths of one were the weaknesses of the other.

But the emergence of Nitrogen-20 blurred some of the lines between them. Its theoretical specific impulse reached 850.

Even liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, currently the strongest contenders among high-specific-impulse liquid fuels, had a specific impulse of only around 457. The Dinitrogen Tetroxide and Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine commonly used in the Long March Series reached only around 348.

[Note: Specific impulse represents a rocket's propulsion efficiency. It is defined as the number of seconds for which one kilogram of fuel can produce one kilogram of thrust.]

Nitrogen-20 had a higher specific impulse than even liquid fuels, while also providing the high thrust of solid fuel. And its production cost was not high. It was practically the ideal rocket fuel.

Rockets that used solid fuel could switch directly to Nitrogen-20. But launch vehicles in the space program could not make the change so quickly.

After all, they had previously followed the liquid-fuel rocket route. Switching to solid fuel now meant they would have to reconsider many things.

Yet whenever the aerospace leaders thought of Nitrogen-20's high specific impulse and enormous thrust, they gritted their teeth and persisted with developing solid-fuel launch vehicles. Otherwise, Nitrogen-20's emergence would have been for nothing.

As a result, five more official research institutes joined the joint project in succession. CASIC was among those that actively participated.

Huang Xiuyuan and Lu Xuedong had been busy with these matters in recent days.

The Passivated Nitrogen-20 formula was suitable only for high-energy explosives. To use it as rocket fuel, they had to adjust it, changing its explosive properties into combustible ones.

The 41st and 46th Research Institutes of the CASIC Sixth Academy, as well as the 41st and 42nd Research Institutes of the CASC Fourth Academy, had all sent over a number of researchers.

All four institutes specialized in solid fuel and solid-fuel engines.

In fact, many people in the aerospace sector had some connection to Harbin Institute of Technology, and quite a few were Huang Xiuyuan's senior schoolmates.

Inside the secondary experimental area adjoining the Materials Laboratory.

Huang Xiuyuan readjusted the passivation formula and placed it in a specially designed testing chamber. An igniter set off the test sample, which weighed only 0.5 grams.

Boom!

The test sample exploded violently in an instant. Various sensors inside the chamber sent real-time data to the computer.

"Failed."

"No, it didn't fail completely." Li Feng, a Harbin Institute of Technology researcher standing nearby, pointed to some of the data. The time before the explosion was longer than before, delayed by about 0.84 seconds.

The fuel-improvement team from the 42nd Research Institute of the CASC Fourth Academy had also presented a formula. Zhang Kezhe's team obtained roughly similar test results.

Passivating Nitrogen-20 for use as fuel had to preserve its energy density per unit while ensuring that its burning speed remained controllable. Otherwise, it would be a high-energy explosive, not a fuel.

After watching Zhang Kezhe's team test their improved formula, Huang Xiuyuan kept his thoughts to himself. He already had a mature fuel-passivation formula, but to avoid drawing too much attention, he had deliberately held back its release.

On the other hand, he also wanted to give Suiren Company's Scientific Research Department a chance to improve.

They worked through the entire day.

The moon hung high in the night sky. In the headquarters' employee cafeteria, a number of aerospace researchers who had come to participate in the fuel-passivation project sat in groups around the tables.

They and Suiren Company's researchers seemed to belong to two entirely different worlds.

He Wen, who had previously worked at an official research institute, got along quite well with the aerospace researchers. From time to time, he even sounded them out to see if they might be interested in joining Suiren Company.

The assignment to poach talent had come from Huang Xiuyuan, of course.

Even some of the team leaders, such as Zhang Kezhe, were tempted. After all, Suiren Company's compensation was clearly better than that of official research institutes.

There was another reason, too: Zhang Kezhe and the others couldn't help envying the work environment.

Within Suiren Company's organizational structure, the Scientific Research Department was on an equal footing with the Industrial Department and Security Department, and answered only to the board of directors.

The current general manager of the Scientific Research Department was Lu Xuedong, a typical engineering graduate. In all its subordinate divisions, management was handled by deputies—a far cry from the way those aerospace research institutes were run.

More importantly, when it came to qualifying for the board of directors, there were more researchers than administrative staff.

Researchers could acquire shares more easily. It was an invisible benefit that came with technological innovation, and a way to encourage it.

If they could be their own bosses, who would want to depend on someone else's favor?

Some young researchers in the state system were already starting to have second thoughts. People only lived once, and sometimes money wasn't the most important thing. This was especially true of researchers, who already belonged to a high-income group. They cared more about respect and recognition.

The various research institutes knew full well that Suiren Company was trying to poach their people, but there was nothing they could do to stop it.

Some of those devoted purely to academic work even welcomed it, quietly helping to fan the flames.

They had their own motives, too: they wanted to create a sense of urgency and make the outsiders at their institutes realize that if they weren't valued here, there were other places where they would be.

Suiren Company's catfish effect had yet to become all that noticeable, but who could say what would happen as time went on?

In a private room on the cafeteria's second floor.

Huang Xiuyuan and Lu Xuedong ate as they discussed some recent matters. Huang set down his chopsticks.

"Xuedong, how far have you gotten with your research into other forms of polygonal silicon oxide?"

Lu Xuedong wiped his mouth and replied, "We've made a discovery related to pentagonal silicon oxide. The third team working on the material synthesized a form of elemental silicon a couple of days ago."

"Elemental silicon?" Huang Xiuyuan perked up with interest.

Lu Xuedong explained, "It's a special form of elemental silicon. Unlike the monocrystalline silicon and polycrystalline silicon discovered before, it's a molecule made up of nine silicon atoms."

A molecule made up of nine silicon atoms?

Could it be... Huang Xiuyuan pondered. If nothing unexpected had happened, it should be the silicon molecule he remembered.

The appearance of this silicon molecule had marked the first new material made using polygonal silicon oxide.

At first, this material attracted little attention from either academia or industry, and its applications were nothing particularly impressive.

It wasn't until five years later that the special properties of pentagonal silicon oxide were discovered.

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