Chapter 1027 Alloy Steel
You must know that Japan’s steel output at this time was only about 100,000 tons, while the Far Eastern Empire may only have two or thirty thousand tons. This can see the horror of Belgium’s steel output. , and there is no doubt that a large part of Belgium's steel is exported to France.
Belgium is rich in local coal resources and iron ore can basically meet the demand. The Belgian Congo also has relatively rich iron ore resources. The combination of the two and the demand from France is the main factor in the current development of the Belgian steel industry. power.
Of course, the iron ore in the Belgian colonies is also one of the important sources of imported iron ore in East Africa. The Cabinda steel industry relies heavily on the iron ore in the Belgian Congo.
"The current development direction of my country's steel industry, in addition to meeting basic industrial and civil needs, has also made great progress in special steels. During the First Five-Year Plan, steel smelting technology continued to make progress, and a variety of alloy steels Achieving large-scale mass production has provided a solid foundation for my country's defense industry, shipbuilding industry and other industries, and has quickly caught up with other countries in terms of quality. ”
At the beginning of the 20th century, the steel industry was undergoing major changes. In addition to iron ore surpassing coal in the steel industry, mass production of alloy steel was also an important feature.
Alloy steel is steel with added elements such as chromium, nickel, and tungsten. Adding chromium can increase the hardness and elasticity of the steel. Adding nickel can increase corrosion resistance and increase yield strength. After adding tungsten, the steel not only increases in strength, but also increases in strength. It is also corrosion-resistant, heat-resistant and wear-resistant. Adding a variety of raw materials to steel can greatly improve the performance of steel.
Cannons made of alloy steel can withstand higher barrel temperatures, greater barrel pressures, more propellants, and further strengthened barrel calibers. As a result, steel artillery has accelerated its entry into giant cannons. era.
The leader in this field is Germany. Although the German steel industry is difficult to surpass the United States in scale, due to technological breakthroughs and talent advantages, the quality of German steel has developed rapidly and has begun to surpass the United Kingdom, France and other countries. This It is also an important guarantee for the performance of German artillery and rifles in World War I.
For example, Rheinmetall took the lead in manufacturing tungsten steel artillery, leaving the Allies behind in World War I.
East Africa has also developed relatively rapidly in alloy steel. East Africa began to deploy materials research and development fields as early as the 1980s and 1990s. The results of these layouts were widely used during the First Five-Year Plan, and the steel industry was the beneficiary.
And East Africa already has resource advantages in this field. In the 1990s, East Africa was already the world's largest producer of manganese and chromium, with rich reserves of manganese and chromium, nickel, zinc , tungsten, copper, aluminum, rare earth resources, etc. are also not lacking.
This has created a good foundation for alloy research in East Africa. In addition to being used in the steel industry to produce special steels, East Africa has also made huge breakthroughs in copper alloys, aluminum alloys and other fields. Even Ernst himself cannot guarantee Now, who is the strongest country in the world's alloy field, East Africa or Germany?
East Africa’s emphasis on the research and development of new materials was naturally influenced by Ernst. Coupled with East Africa’s resource and talent advantages, this also made the material field in East Africa enter an explosive period in the 20th century.
Many achievements have long been realized in various laboratories in East Africa, and the First Five-Year Plan and Industrial Development are to accelerate the successful application of these advanced technologies in industrial production.
"The development of the steel industry has also promoted the development of railways, shipbuilding, electric power, automobile manufacturing and other industries, and is especially important for the national defense industry."
"The guns used by the army and the ships of the navy are very important for special forces. The strong demand for steel has greatly improved the competitiveness of our country's weapons and equipment in the international market. Many countries, including Germany and Austria-Hungary, have also imported large quantities of our country's special steel. Now our country's steel industry is not inferior to the United States in terms of quantity and quality. Most countries. "
"This enabled my country's steel industry to not only meet the needs of domestic industrial development during the First Five-Year Plan, but also began to go beyond the country and move towards the international market."
"Of course. my country's steel industry is also facing new challenges. Although the steel industry has accelerated its development, there is still a large gap compared with the United States and Germany, especially in terms of production capacity. "This is actually a normal phenomenon. The United States and Germany are both highly industrialized. The magnitude is ahead of East Africa, and the demand for steel is naturally greater than that of East Africa. Therefore, the fundamental factor that determines East Africa's steel output is the country's industrialization level.
Of course, in terms of the population of East Africa, the United States may still be comparable. Germany's population did not reach 50 million in 1900. The population of East Africa was almost twice that of Germany. However, the opposite result was shown in terms of steel production.
“Germany’s steel production is close to 10 million tons, and the United States is close to 19 million tons. You must know that our last census data in East Africa shows that our country’s population is nearly 10 million tons more than that of the United States. Ten million is nearly 40 million more than Germany, so theoretically , East Africa’s steel output should be higher than that of the United States and Germany, but the opposite is true. Therefore, our country’s steel output has developed rapidly during the First Five-Year Plan, but this is not a reason for us to be complacent. Instead, we should take this as a warning and strive to surpass it first. Germany, on target to surpass the United States ”
"Of course, although our steel output was infinitely close to that of the United Kingdom before, the United Kingdom still ranked ahead of our country. Therefore, before the end of the First Five-Year Plan, our country's steel industry should continue to make efforts and achieve a formal overtaking of the United Kingdom before 1905. ."
"And the second five-year plan During this period, our country’s steel industry should focus on Germany and strive to surpass Germany during the next five-year plan.”
Ernst did not say much about the ambitions of the industrial sector, but in Ernst’s view. Come on, it is still difficult to surpass Germany during the Second Five-Year Plan period.
Because the German steel industry is also developing rapidly, the growth rate may not be as fast as that of East Africa, but it is very difficult to achieve overtake in five years. This requires East Africa’s steel production to almost double again during the Second Five-Year Plan, even if it exceeds 10 million tons I'm afraid it will be difficult to catch up with the big pass.
Of course, although Ernst had high hopes for East Africa's first two five-year plans, he was not too enthusiastic. To achieve the amazing results of the Soviet Union in the first two five-year plans was very important for East Africa. Unrealistic.
First of all, the timing is wrong. The Soviet Union’s first two five-year plans encountered the most serious crisis rarely seen in capitalism. This period of opportunity is very important, but during the first two five-year plans in East Africa, it obviously did not This kind of opportunity.
Of course, East Africa is not without opportunities. In the past life, apart from the great crisis of the capitalist world, were there opportunities of this scale? The answer is yes, that is World War I and World War II, so the luck of the Americans is far away. Much better than the Soviet Union.
Although the Soviet Union made a lot of profits in the first two five-year plans, World War II directly dealt a devastating blow to the Soviet Union. When the war ended, the Soviet Union's light industry, which was not rich in the first place, could be said to be basically finished. , the city was bombed into ruins, and a large number of young and middle-aged people died on the battlefield. It can be said that many of the achievements of the Soviet Union's two five-year plans were offset by World War II. On the other hand, the United States made a lot of money through the two world wars.
Therefore, if East Africa led by Ernst wants to take advantage of the major development opportunities of the world war, East Africa itself must not be involved in the vortex of the war.
According to the calculation of the time when the First World War occurred in the previous life, it was almost during the "Fourth Five-Year Plan" or "Fifth Five-Year Plan" in East Africa. The previous industrial plan, without major historical opportunities, was absolutely impossible. Specified too aggressively.
So it is unrealistic to expect steel production to surpass Germany during the Second Five-Year Plan. East Africa still needs to set reasonable industrial development goals based on its own situation. However, the First Five-Year Plan has not yet ended, and Ernst naturally does not want to Disincentivize government personnel.
The overall progress made in the First Five-Year Plan is still very huge for East Africa. This is mainly due to the low industrial level in East Africa before, so there is a lot of room for improvement, but we must not be too optimistic because of this.
(End of this chapter)