A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

Chapter 330 A First Attempt at Rationalization

Crackling and clattering, the modified five-wheeled motorcycle panted as it climbed the small hill.

Some of the leaders who were initially all smiles now frowned.

"I remember the engine of the five-wheel drive should have 520 horsepower, so why is it so difficult to climb a small hill?"

"Spear and shield, look at it now, doesn't it resemble the heavy cavalry of the old days? With maximum protection, its speed naturally slows down..."

"Alas, you can't have your cake and eat it too. But being too slow isn't good either; it would make us fall behind our current equipment in large-scale relocations..."

"It's alright, just treat it like our own Tiger King. That kid's factory is working on a 105mm smoothbore gun right now, equipped with armor-piercing rounds with built-in stabilizing fins. That should give those T-34s a run for their money..."

Comrade Fanzhou squeezed the heating pack in his hand, his gaze towards the modified five wheels somewhat eager.

At this moment, the modified five-wheeled vehicle was crossing the hillside, its massive body crashing heavily into the small ditch below.

Bang~~

Dust flying everywhere~~

That's some serious momentum!

Hey, what happened? There were two "bangs"?

As the dust settled, the leaders looked at a piece of armor plate that had fallen off the back of the tank and couldn't help but twitch their lips.

"This~~"

Comrade Fanzhou watched as the futuristic wedge-shaped turret armor plates of the five pairs of wheels fell off, revealing the flat, round gun emplacements that had been hidden underneath.

Two hands gripped the heating pack tightly.

That wasn't the end of it. As the first armor plate fell, it seemed to trigger a chain reaction. The remaining armor plates fell off one by one like dominoes as the tank moved forward.

Okay, to put it more elegantly, the modified five-wheeled vehicle at this moment is like a general returning to camp after a battle, shedding its heavy armor.

To put it bluntly...

It's fallen apart.

Although it was only the armor plates that were scattered...

……

"Hey, Adachi, you actually used a few rivets to hang the armor plate on?"

Approaching this imposing five-wheeled tank, Jiang Xia didn't even need to turn on the scanner; he could draw a conclusion simply by looking at the grayish-white, broken rivets protruding from the tank's body.

Wait, that shouldn't be the case. It's possible for vibration to cause rivets to break, but that should happen the instant the shell hits the armor plate. How come they only started falling off piece by piece after the shell was fired?

The frustrated prairie eagle looked at the armor plates scattered all over the ground without thinking too much. He just felt that he had worked so hard for so long and thought of everything, but he didn't expect that a small rivet would cause a problem.

Well, that's great. I was just hoping to make a little bit of a splash, but all the limelight was stolen by that external armor plate.

Listen to the leader's comments:

"This grade of alloy steel is truly excellent! We recommend increasing production!"

and then?

That was the end of it...

The leaders didn't completely ignore the modified five-wheel system. One of them patted Abagan on the shoulder: "The formal review is in two months; things won't be this childish stuff then..."

What does this mean?

The boss simply didn't like it!

"Oh, Adachi, your wisdom is like an iceberg that never melts. Please help me! This NP-550 is just too difficult to solder!"

"Oh? You were originally planning on welding?"

"Yeah! Look, this is where they welded, but it took a lot of effort! These few plates almost broke one of my factory's veteran workers!"

Jiang Xia climbed onto the vehicle and examined the only remaining armor plate on the turret. Hmm! The welding is really good. This fish-scale welding is not much worse than that of the eighth-level master craftsman at the steel mill.

"Right there, our craftsman was welding when he stepped into thin air and tumbled down from there, injuring his leg..."

"Later, when there was no other way, we put a bunch of rivets on it and then used the rivets to hang the armor plates."

Hey……

Jiang Xia examined the rivet carefully with a scanner.

"Anda, did you manufacture this rivet yourself?"

"Yes! It's still using your factory's punch press, made using the cold heading method..."

"Did you rivet pierce straight through the tank's original armor plate?"

Jiang Xia casually picked up a piece of dry twig from the tank, which he didn't know where it came from, and poked the rivet. With a snap, the rivet fell into the tank body, revealing a small hole about the size of a pencil.

Wow, you guys are really wild!

Jiang Xia looked at the rivet holes on the vehicle and felt a chill run down his spine. The entire structure was damaged like this, yet it could still withstand artillery fire?

Grandpa with five wheels, you're really still going strong for your age!

Jiang Xia patted the five-wheeled vehicle, which was still covered in gunpowder smoke, and plopped down on it, resting his chin on his hand as he began to think.

Try not to turn on the scanner or anything like that; analyze the situation yourself first.

Rationalization, initiation!

First of all, the riveting process itself is correct. Haven't you seen that this process is used on the J-6? Although the grassland factory still uses convex head rivets, the J-6, with the support of the processing center provided by Jiangxia, has already started using flat head rivets.

In particular, the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, a jewel of the bridge industry that began construction last year, used more than 150 million rivets. Decades later, during upgrades and maintenance, it was discovered that most of these rivets were intact, with only 4 out of every 1000 needing to be replaced!

This is enough to show that, given qualified materials, the quality of this process is guaranteed.

Why did it break?

As analyzed earlier, the fracture caused by strong vibration is relatively immediate, and the direction of the crack should be complex and irregular.

Moreover, if something falls, it should fall in whole pieces, not like before when it fell as you walked along.

But the rivet in my hand seems much smoother...

Hey, the curved lines and crack marks look a lot like growth lines...

Upon seeing this, Jiang Xia's heart stirred.

"Old Wang! Anda! Come on up and help me take a look at these rivets. Do the broken edges have any shell-like or beach-like patterns?"

Hearing Jiang Xia's shout, the two of them climbed onto the vehicle and began to carefully examine the broken ends of the rivets.

"I have two of these like this!"

"Hey, what I'm seeing isn't shell-shaped, it looks a bit like lightning..."

"Oh, more or less, but that shape is usually called a radial line. Don't ask me what 'radial' means, I don't want to explain it right now..."

Old Wang curled his lip upon hearing this, "Do you need to explain? Back then, when we delivered that lead box, there was a professional teacher who gave us a lesson!"

"It's just radiating lines! Looking outwards from the center point, it's like the spokes of a wheel extending outwards from the hub, hence the name 'radiating'!"

Old Wang casually uttered a string of technical terms, while stealing glances at Little Dai Mao's expression from the corner of his eye.

Tsk, why didn't the expected shock come?

This little guy with the tuft of hair still had a serious face.

The stern-faced boy nodded: "Alright, we've found the cause. By observing the macroscopic characteristics of the rivet, it should be metal fracture caused by resonance. But what causes resonance is complex, but the biggest factor should be the low-frequency vibration of the engine..."

"The solution is simple: replace the engine or replace a batch of rivets."

"However, I still disagree with using riveting for the external armor of tanks. I have two options here that you can consider!"

Jiangxia pointed somewhat impolitely at the men on the grassland.

"Yes, please speak!"

Abaganal didn't care about Jiangxia's straightforward tone at all. On the contrary, he felt that his daimyo was different from those Han people. When it came to getting things done, he could just get to the point in a few words. He was so straightforward!

"First, we replaced riveting with bolts. We pre-set mounting holes on the main armor of the tank, and then fastened the external armor to the main armor using bolts and other connectors. Luckily, someone in the factory invented a self-tightening bolt, which can ensure the strength and reliability of the connection!"

"Second, a slightly more complicated method is to install special brackets or slots on the main armor of the tank, and then design the external armor to match its shape and structure, and fix the external armor to the tank by means of mounting."

"okay!"

"Hmm! But before that, could I ride in a tank?"

Eh?

The men on the grassland were stunned when they saw Jiang Xia, who had regained his cheerful expression.

He immediately replied, "Okay! Let's go! But let me tell you, this tank isn't actually that comfortable to ride in. How about we go to our grasslands another day, and I'll take you horseback riding!"