Joseph was somewhat puzzled. "Brass shouldn't be that soft, should it?"
Sane hurriedly said, "Your Highness, increasing the zinc content can indeed improve hardness, but at the same time it produces 'porosity,' so..."
Joseph thought, So they were using low-zinc brass. You people really don't care about the budget.
Copper was several times more expensive than zinc.
He let out a breath and said, "What you're talking about is 'dezincification,' meaning the zinc in the alloy is oxidized as the anode. In fact, adding a small amount of tin can prevent dezincification."
Sane immediately drew an inference from it. "Is that sacrificing tin to protect the zinc?"
Joseph rubbed his forehead. "No. It's that tin 'holds on' to zinc through the bonds between atoms, making it less likely to separate..."
Sane only kept nodding, wearing the expression of someone who had already "given up treatment."
As the two spoke, the carriage had already driven past the busy slipways.
Joseph turned his head and saw, in the distance, a Third-rate Battleship propped high above the ground. Over a hundred craftsmen were "stuck" to the bottom of the ship like tiny spiders, constantly hammering Rivets to fasten large sheets of copper sheathing.
When the "ding-ding-clang-clang" of hammering gradually faded, the carriage stopped in front of the shipyard's main design office.
It was called a "design office," but in truth it was a three-story building with well over a hundred rooms, where the shipyard's designers and craftsmen discussed and refined blueprints every day.
The newly appointed Minister of the Navy, Marquis Walder de Leissard, had long since been waiting at the entrance with Borda, the navy's chief shipbuilding inspector, and other officials. Seeing the Crown Prince get out of the carriage, they immediately came forward to salute.
There was no band nearby. Joseph