68: Chapter 68 Super Materials (Part Two)

"Since the structure is so tight, what should the electron mobility be?"

Professor Zhou took a deep breath, his hand shaking slightly.

He had a premonition that the upcoming test might once again overturn the foundations of the physics edifice.

"Bring up the micro-ohmmeter."

"Connect both ends and test the resistivity."

The assistant tremblingly pressed the two gold-plated probes against both ends of the black blade body.

Everyone's gaze was fixed dead on the instrument panel.

Beep.

A green number popped up on the screen.

[0.000000 Ω]

"Poor contact?"

The assistant subconsciously pressed the probes, but the number remained unchanged.

"Switch to a high-precision multimeter!" Professor Zhou roared.

After changing the instrument, the result was still zero.

"This..."

Professor Zhou's Adam's apple rolled violently as he abruptly rushed to the front of the console:

"Power it on directly! Apply a high current!"

"Voltage 12V, current... pull it straight to 1,000 amperes!"

This was a crazy decision.

Under a 1,000-ampere current, ordinary copper wires would instantly turn into red-hot molten iron or even directly vaporize and explode.

"But Professor, there is no cooling System..."

"Execute!"

The gate closed, and a terrifying current instantly poured into this slender battle saber.

One second. Two seconds. Ten seconds.

The thick copper cables connecting both ends of the battle saber had already begun to heat up and smoke, their outer skins softening and emitting a pungent, burnt smell.

But that black battle saber lay quietly there.

It neither turned red nor heated up.

Professor Zhou grabbed an infrared thermometer and scanned it.

[24.5 °C] (Room temperature).

"Room temperature... superconductor."

Professor Zhou's legs went soft, and he actually knelt directly in front of the experimental workbench.

He grabbed his own hair, his voice sounding like he was crying yet also laughing:

"Zero resistance."

"True zero resistance!"

"And at room temperature! It doesn't even need liquid nitrogen cooling!"

He suddenly turned his head to look at Tao Zhe, his eyes manic:

"Tao Zhe! Do you know what this means?"

"Our electromagnetic railgun no longer needs that multi-ton cooling System!"

"As long as we have this thing as a coil, we can mount the railgun onto tanks, or even... onto rifles!"

"Infinite bursts! The initial velocity can easily break through 10 Mach! A single shot can shoot down an intercontinental ballistic missile re-entering from the atmosphere!"

"And Controlled Nuclear Fusion!"

"That kind of confining magnetic field requires astronomical currents; we couldn't do it before, but now..."

Professor Zhou stroked the blade body tremblingly, "Now, the door to energy freedom is opening for us."

Before everyone could recover from the shock of the superconductor, Professor Li had already initiated the next test. This was currently the most headache-inducing Domain for Daxia's military industry—heat-resistant Materials.

"Start the high-frequency plasma spray gun."

Professor Li's voice was a bit calmer, but still tense: "We start from conventional temperatures. Target: 3,000 degrees Celsius."

Hiss——!!

A dazzling blue-white column of fire instantly gushed out, directly engulfing the front half of the blade body.

3,000 degrees, this was the temperature at which tungsten steel began to soften.

If it were ordinary aviation engine blades, they would have turned into molten iron long ago.

One minute passed, the blade body showed no change at all, not even its color changed.

"Continue heating! 4,500 degrees!"

The color of the flame became even more dazzling. This had already exceeded the melting point of tungsten (3,422 °C); on Earth, almost no metal could maintain a solid state at this temperature.

Finally, after thirty seconds of spraying.

That pitch-black knife tip began to slightly turn red, presenting a dark red luster.

"Surface temperature reading: 4,200 °C."

The assistant reported loudly: "It has turned red! But there are no signs of softening! The crystal structure remains stable!"

"Incredible..."

Professor Li looked at the data and drew a cold breath: "Its melting point is at least above 5,500 degrees. This is twice as strong as our best hafnium alloy!"

But what truly shocked Professor Li was the next action.

He operated the robotic arm to clamp the other end of the battle saber (at the hilt).

"Read the tail temperature."

A number popped up on the screen: [45 °C].

The entire room erupted in an uproar.

"What?!"

Professor Zhou rushed straight in front of the thermal imager: "The front end has already burned to over 4,000 degrees, while the tail... is only 45 degrees? You can even hold it directly with your bare hands?"

"Extremely low thermal conductivity."

Professor Li's voice was trembling: "More than five times stronger than the space shuttle's ceramic thermal protection tiles!"

"On one side is the fire of Hell, on the other side is spring blossoms."

"Tao Zhe..."

Professor Li turned around, took off his glasses, and looked at him with burning eyes: "If we use this thing to make the engine blades and fuselage skin of the sixth-generation fighter jet, do you know what that means?"

"It means the thermal barrier no longer exists."

Professor Li waved his arms like a madman caught in frenzy:

"Current fighter jets cannot fly past 3 Mach because the heat generated by air friction will burn the fuselage away. But with this thing..."

"Even if we keep the afterburners on the whole way and roar through the atmosphere at a hypersonic speed of 10 Mach, the inside of the fuselage will still be cool!"

"Before the enemy's radar even turns on, our fighter jets will have already stuffed missiles into their cockpits!"

"This is a super Materials that all aerospace engineers wouldn't even dare to dream of!"

"The final item."

The staff pushed over a sealed anti-corrosion glass tank.

It was filled with a yellowish-brown fuming liquid—aqua regia.

This was "water that dissolves gold" mixed from concentrated nitric acid and concentrated hydrochloric acid in a 1:3 ratio.

"Put it in."

The battle saber was slowly immersed into the aqua regia, and everyone held their breath, waiting for a violent chemical reaction.

However.

Ten minutes passed, twenty minutes passed.

That knife soaked quietly in the yellowish-brown liquid, just like it was soaking in tap water.

There were no bubbles, no discoloration, and not even the slightest ripple on the liquid surface.

"Extremely high chemical inertia."

Professor Li slumped into his chair and gave the final conclusion: "Throw it into the sea for ten thousand years, and it will not rust. Throw it into strong acid and poisonous gas, and it is still the best anti-corrosion layer."

"If our nuclear submarines use this Materials to make their hulls..."

Tao Zhe couldn't help chiming in.

"Then it will be a true 'Deep Sea Ghost'."

Professor Li looked at that knife, his tone complex: "No need to worry about seawater corrosion, no need to worry about water pressure. It can dive to the very bottom of the Mariana Trench, and no sonar in the world can find it."

At this time, the time had already reached four in the morning.

The laboratory's lights were still pale white, but everyone's faces flushed with an abnormal flush.

A heavy report summary with distinct Daxia cultural characteristics was placed in front of Tao Zhe.

Light as a feather (extremely low density, only 0.3 times that of water).

Firm as a rock (strong interaction force locked, hardness crushing diamond).

Room temperature superconductivity (the cornerstone of energy and electromagnetic weapons).

Extreme high temperature resistance (melting point 5500 °C+, super insulation).

Impervious to all spells (absolute corrosion resistance).

"This is not Materials."

Professor Zhou looked at Tao Zhe, his tone unprecedentedly serious:

"This is the cheat code for the Fifth Industrial Revolution."

"These few knives represent Daxia's national fortune for the next one hundred years."

Tao Zhe looked at those black battle sabers on the table.

At this moment, they were no longer cold weapons, but tickets to the sea of stars.