Short video spoiler history: The beginning of modern warfare

Chapter 89 Cement Manufacturing Method
Zhu Yuanzhang thought to himself that today's steam locomotives have introduced blowers and use washed coal as fuel, and their speed has exceeded the speed of human running. It is time to lay tracks.

Nowadays, the place that needs steam locomotives the most is undoubtedly the borders of the northern provinces. Although there is a salt permit for merchants to transport grain and fodder through Sino-French trade, in essence it is nothing more than the court hiring people to do the job.

Although this method is clever, it is obviously not a long-term solution, especially when the fighting on the front is tense.

This is still an auxiliary transportation method. Official transportation of grain and fodder still accounts for the majority of the transportation, and train transportation is more efficient than human and animal power transportation, does not require rest, has less loss, and can even achieve no loss.

More importantly, this method does not burden the people, nor does it require the court to give up the profits from salt permits. It is simply killing two birds with one stone.

So the first stop of the train must be the border of the northern province.

This first railway track requires careful consideration by the court.

[Cement is an extremely great invention in human history. As one of the basic raw materials in the construction industry, it generally acts as a universal adhesive. With it, whether it is a civilian or military building or castle, its strength will soar to an unimaginable level]

[Today I will teach you how to make cement. I guarantee that after you travel through time, you will either be rich and prosperous, or win the Nine Clans Elimination Game.]

[First look at the ingredient list. It is generally made from a mixture of various raw materials such as limestone, clay and iron ore]

[Limestone is also called limestone. Its main chemical component is calcium carbonate, and its chemical symbol is CaCO3. It looks like this, and its color is generally bluish-black. The bluish-black rocks you find in nature are generally this type of rock.]

[Take 72% of limestone, 13% of clay, 6% of iron ore, and 9% of coal, crush them and burn them. ]

[It is important to mention limestone. The main component of limestone is calcium carbonate CaCO3. After being fired at a high temperature of about 950 degrees, it becomes quicklime. The main component of quicklime is CaO. Because limestone decomposes when calcined at high temperature and releases CO2, the remaining component is CaO. ]

[Quicklime can play a certain role in sterilizing and disinfecting. It can be used in pig pens, sewers, land and other places. It can also improve acidic soil to a certain extent. The soil that has been sterilized and disinfected with quicklime needs to wait for more than one month before sowing.]

[When quicklime is combined with water, a chemical reaction will occur and a large amount of heat will be released to generate calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2. Calcium hydroxide also has the function of sterilizing and disinfecting. In fact, the quicklime has the function of sterilizing and disinfecting because it reacts with water to generate calcium hydroxide. ]

[Calcium hydroxide is also called slaked lime, and can also be used to build walls. When I was a child, people in rural areas used slaked lime to plaster walls, and the plastered walls would be whiter and more delicate.]

[From the "Lime Chant" by Yu Qian and Yu Shaobao in the Ming Dynasty, we can know that the ancients at that time had already mastered the technology of using limestone to burn lime.]

Tang Dynasty, Chang'an City.

Li Shimin felt relieved. He and Fang Xuanling looked at each other and laughed heartily: "So the material used to build houses in later generations is called cement."

He had no choice but to worry, as Guanzhong was surrounded by mountains on all sides, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack, and was as solid as a rock.

After Chang'an was established as the capital, it was bound to attract a large influx of population into Guanzhong. However, due to its closed nature surrounded by mountains, it was impossible to expand.

Too much population will not only lead to over-exploitation of Guanzhong’s water resources, arable land, vegetation environment, etc., but it is also an irreversible trend.

At the same time, due to the occupation of arable land, it became difficult to sustain food supply in the Guanzhong region, and it was necessary to transport food and fodder from all over the country, which led to the later system of "eating in Luoyang".

Although he could issue an order prohibiting the occupation of arable land, it was obvious that this ban would be difficult to sustain as the population in Guanzhong exploded.

Today, steam locomotives have solved the problem of grain transportation, and cement will solve the problem of arable land occupation.

With this material, we can build all kinds of high-rise buildings like in later generations, which can greatly delay the problem of occupying arable land.

Moreover, if the cement wall is really as strong as Tianmu said, then its value is far more than that.

During the Hongwu period, Jinling City.

Zhu Yuanzhang had heard that various buildings made of cement could only defend against the so-called "cold weapon era". They would be useless against gunpowder cannons, etc. This had been proven on the battlefield a long time ago.

Unfortunately, the Ming Dynasty had gunpowder.

However, it should be able to play a big role in civilian use, especially if the population grows explosively in the future as it did in later generations, its value will be immeasurable.

The Minister of Works An Ran murmured inwardly, this is somewhat similar to mortar, but the preparation process sounds more complicated, and mortar does not have such an exaggerated effect.

Let’s see the effect first.

People in the Science Department wrote down various chemical symbols such as limestone, quicklime, slaked lime, etc. This is the first mention of chemistry since the periodic table of elements.

This subject is also the most confusing.

We must know the first twenty chemical elements, but the chemical symbols of various common objects in life are still unknown to the scientific community.

Moreover, Tianmu briefly explained the reaction and products of limestone and quicklime, but Sun Chuanshi knew that there should be a chemical reaction formula, but Tianmu just skipped it.

Take the process of high-temperature decomposition of limestone as an example. Sun Chuanshi can probably guess the chemical reaction formula, because CO3 in calcium carbonate decomposes CO2, and 3 O decomposes into 2 O, and the remaining is CaO.

This is relatively easy to understand, but the subsequent reaction of quicklime and water to produce calcium hydroxide is a bit confusing.

If we speculate based on the fact that the total amount of elements before and after the chemical reaction remains unchanged, then water should contain H and O elements, of which there should be 1 O and 2 H?

When Sun Chuanshi thought of this, he hesitated for a moment, but still spoke out his guess.

Since there is not much knowledge about chemistry at present, no one is specially assigned to study this subject. Everyone in the Science Department teaches this subject part-time.

Tianmu had mentioned before in the comments section that it is extremely difficult to rebuild the chemical system after time travel. Everyone realized this "extremely difficult" only later. It can be said that if Tianmu had not mentioned it at all, it would probably take a very long time to study this thing.

Zhu Yuanzhang and others felt that his story made sense after listening to it, so they ordered people to record it.

"What does the 2 in the lower right corner of calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)2 represent?" Zhu Biao asked in confusion. "In my humble opinion, it should mean that there are two elements at the end, such as CO2."

"Then what does this symbol mean?"

Sun Chuanshi patiently said: "In my humble opinion, it should mean that the middle part of this symbol has two meanings."

Zhu Biao nodded. This made sense. In other words, water was a substance composed of H and O elements.

To be more specific, it is 2 H and 1 O. As for how the chemical symbol is written, it is probably OH2 or H2O or HOH?

[Back to the production of cement, after preparing enough raw materials, the next step is the three-grinding and one-burning process]

[First, use a crusher to crush the various raw materials into smaller particles, and then mix these raw materials together according to the proportions mentioned above to form a premix]

The mixture is then sent to a grinder and ground into fine powder. The mixture at this time is called raw material.

The next step is to burn the raw material. First, it is heated to 850 degrees Celsius in the preheating tower, and then enters the rotary kiln and is further heated in the kiln at up to 1450 degrees Celsius.

[Small particles of clinker are produced in this process, which is called sintering. The sintered clinker will quickly enter the cooler and be cooled to about 100 degrees Celsius]

[Then it is transported to the storage silo, and then the clinker is sent to the cement membrane machine and converted into powder after fine grinding]

[In order to ensure that the setting time and hardening performance of cement reach the ideal state, we will also add an appropriate amount of gypsum and mix it during this process]

[After the powdered clinker and gypsum are mixed, the large particles are filtered out using a separator to finally produce cement]

[In ancient times, it might be difficult to reach a temperature of 1450 degrees. Coal could be mined, washed and selected, and then distilled at a high temperature of about 1000 degrees to make coke. The temperature could then be raised with the help of blowers, blast furnaces, etc.]

As for the craftsmanship, someone has already recorded it, and the Ministry of Industry will arrange people to manufacture it later.

From the information mentioned by Tianmu, it is probably that the temperature is difficult to reach, so he also thoughtfully provided a solution, which is coke.

Coke is one of the main fuels for steelmaking, and with today's technology, it can naturally be made.

Zhu Yuanzhang knew this, but what he didn't expect was that, except for civilian coal, which did not require water washing, all other coal needed for steelmaking and cement burning must be clean coal because its combustion temperature is higher.

In other words, cement could be produced today in the fourth year of Hongwu.

But its cost is really high.
"Cement has such a high cost and must be very expensive. Why is it still so widely used in later generations?" Some people raised this question. Influenced by the sky curtain, people now generally look at the cost first when considering whether something can be used.

"Not necessarily. Have you forgotten the chemical system that Tianmu mentioned?" Liu Ji smiled and said, "But do you still remember the rebar that Tianmu mentioned that the threads didn't wear off even after several years of grinding?"

"Steel of this quality can only be used as a building material!"

“This shows the strength of what later generations called the chemical industry system, or the foundation of an industrial country.”

After saying this, everyone finally remembered that there is indeed no comparison.

Would you dare to let people take the steel that is produced today and grind it for a few years?
If you could make steel this strong, you could be knighted.

Zhu Yuanzhang was actually quite skeptical at first, but now it seems that considering the technological level of later generations, it is most likely true.

After all, this is a product of the chemical system that even those proud young people find difficult to rebuild. It is widely used in important projects such as bridges, viaducts, and hydropower stations, so its performance can be imagined.

What a waste of natural resources!
[Cement is generally not used alone, it is the main raw material of concrete]

[In the process of making concrete, first prepare a mixture of aggregate, crushed stone and sand, then add cement, and finally add water]

[When you add water, the cement powder begins to dissolve in the water. The main component of the mixture is tricalcium silicate, which slowly reacts with the water to form a crystal structure. As the crystals become more and more densely intertwined, the concrete eventually hardens.]

[If steel bars are added to key parts of various buildings, the strength of the buildings will increase exponentially, such as load-bearing walls, foundations, and roofs of each floor.]

【.】

Ming, Jinling City.

"When will the rebar process be popularized? Waiting online, pretty urgent." Zhu Biao leisurely looked at the comment section where circles were still being changed, and made a joke in his mind.

What would happen if this thing was used to reinforce the Great Wall?

In the Science Department, Du Ping had a mischievous idea in his mind. If the Great Wall was not reinforced, the northern Tartars would almost cry.

After reinforcement, it is simply unimaginable.

However, this matter is a waste of money and time, and at most it can only strengthen the cities. If we want civilian use, we have to wait for the cost to come down and the production capacity to increase.

Judging from the current situation in the Ming Dynasty, it is quite dangerous.

"Why do those who traveled through time and space in ancient times make cement, glass, perfume, soap, distilled liquor, and pistols!"

《What a punishment!》

"When I didn't know much about it before, I thought this thing cost fifty or sixty yuan per pack, but I didn't expect it to be only twenty yuan [covering face]"

(End of this chapter)