CHAPTER 498: CHAPTER 159: STAY TRUE TO YOUR ORIGINAL ASPIRATION TO MAINTAIN YOUR MISSION

Everyone has become quite adept at collaborating, and this project has entered the optimization phase, making it easier to understand.

Simply put, Liu Hao and the team chose to use poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) as the temperature-responsive polymer, modifying polyethylene glycol to achieve temperature sensitivity.

Then, using molecular monomers containing Diels-Alder reactions, dynamic covalent bond monomers are formed to realize memory functions.

The synthesis method involves mixing responsive monomers with a cross-linking agent to form a gel through free radical polymerization.

The cross-linking reaction is carried out in solution, forming a uniform gel network. Finally, the gel’s network structure is achieved through hydrogen bonds and π-π stacking.

Currently, the best result in the laboratory is achieving more than 70% fracture strength recovery, with self-healing efficiency reaching over 75%.

However, the client requires at least 90% fracture strength recovery and over 95% self-healing efficiency to meet their parameters.

It’s said that over at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, they’ve achieved over 95% self-healing efficiency by introducing dual-network dynamic bonds, with material fracture strength recovery reaching 92%.

The University of California, Los Angeles, has also used thermally responsive polymers to achieve materials with fracture strength recovery exceeding 90%.

The current issue is that those solutions have low applicability and high costs, especially the design costs of dynamic chemical bonds, which are too expensive for large-scale industrialization.

That’s why Liu Hao’s mentor is taking on this project, aiming to make some breakthroughs, particularly in the aerospace sector, which has high demand for such materials.

They are used for outer coatings, capable of detecting and repairing microcracks, with self-healing ability extending the material’s lifespan in harsh space environments.

Additionally, temperature responsiveness can protect equipment operating under extreme temperature conditions.

Moreover, for manufacturing energy storage battery electrode materials, they can not only adjust or repair structures based on temperature changes during charging and discharging but also extend battery life and prevent safety incidents caused by thermal runaway.

Of course, such smart materials have many other applications, but according to Senior Brother Zhang’s guidance, if they can successfully develop them, the primary focus for the client will surely be designing products specifically for these two directions.

Moreover, many research institutes in the country are working on breakthroughs in this field, but this research group and the Huairou Institute are currently leading in this area domestically.

Of course, there are differences. For example, this project is quite large, and it involves more than just today’s team members; there are two other laboratories also doing some auxiliary work.

However, just like that day, after understanding the specific laboratory methods, Qiao Yu checked the literature and laboratory data in the office and found that the problem this time was indeed quite tricky.

The main issue is that the entire laboratory environment is a dynamic reaction network, and the parameter dimensions are indeed too numerous.

Time, solution concentration, molecular interactions... there are too many factors that can affect the outcome.

What is most perplexing is the vast and chaotic data they collected. Although there are relatively mature methods, even slight changes can significantly alter parameters or severely degrade the performance of the self-healing materials, among other issues...

Looking at the messy laboratory data, Qiao Yu was both awed and understood that currently, new material development is essentially a large-scale trial and error experiment.

Generally, they know roughly what is needed and have some direction on how to achieve it, but many details can only be worked out through continuous trial and error, such as the concentration of the fusion agent, gel cross-linking reaction time, and the ratio of regulating monomers to cross-linking agents...

And so on, requiring repeated trial and error at each step until a relatively satisfactory result is obtained.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with this method. After all, everyone employs this approach.

It wouldn’t be an issue if the results were linear each time; as long as they could gradually approach the ideal outcome, everyone would see hope and work with full motivation.

But the problem is that the results from each experiment appear non-linear. Simply put, sometimes the results initially look quite good, and then a slight adjustment makes them worse.

Another slight adjustment makes it even worse, until occasionally, a better result emerges from the laboratory samples...

After reviewing the laboratory records, Qiao Yu roughly understood why Professor Lu said they should conduct more experiments. The pattern is too elusive.

Running simulations with these results would exhaust the supercomputer, likely without much effect.

Ultimately, supercomputer simulations require collecting enough data to obtain some reliable possibilities without actual experiments.

Without sufficient data support, it’s impossible to effectively control various parameters, making the supercomputer run blindly is purely a waste of computing power.

After reading the laboratory records and some literature, Qiao Yu turned to look at Brother Liu, who had been by his side, looking at him expectantly.

He seriously asked, "Brother Liu, I’m not doubting your professionalism, just wondering, if by some fluke you got a good result in the lab, and then there was a mistake in the lab records, would you go crazy?"

Liu Hao was stunned for a moment, then showed a complex expression, and pointed firmly at the window next to him, saying resolutely, "Go crazy? Let me tell you, in such a case, wherever the mistake came from, I’d immediately throw the person responsible right out of that window!"