Chapter 305 Hydrazine is good, but I want unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine more

In a chemical research institute, Mr. Cai and a middle-aged man with slightly gray hair were outside the house, watching through the glass a researcher in full body protection carefully dropping a drop of liquid into the reaction dish in accordance with relevant test procedures.

There was a low hum, and a cloud of smoke rose from the reaction vessel, followed by a flash of fire.

The two of them showed joy on their faces. The middle-aged man smiled and said, "Mr. Cai, it seems that your source of information is very reliable. At least there is no problem with the fact that hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide will ignite when they meet."

When he got the papers from Mr. Cai and his team, he knew what this thing was: hydrazine, or a hydrazine-like substance.

Although the substance inferred above, called 1-dimethylhydrazine, also known as unidimensional dimethylhydrazine, is still unclear and even the synthesis method is unknown, we can still get some information about hydrazine itself.

They quickly organized their team and started the experiment.

Hydrazine was synthesized very quickly. The specific parameters related to the engine are still being tested. People who were bored of waiting decided to try the ignition performance first. The results seemed good.

Mr. Cai thought more than he did. Combined with this result and looking at Director Gao’s past deeds, this is almost certain proof that everything he said is true. If it has not been realized, then there must be something wrong with the implementation process.

This statement almost made him hum a song.

Soon, a researcher hurried over with some papers.

"Researcher Yue, President Cai, some of the results are already out."

Researcher Yue took the result, looked through it, and handed it to President Cai: "It looks like there is no problem. It seems that the situation is getting more and more optimistic."

Mr. Cai took it and looked at it. It mainly contained some physical property measurements, which were relatively quick to measure.

"Boiling point 113.5°C, melting point 1.4°C, density 1.01."

Ugh~~~~~~, this makes Mr. Cai a little upset. No wonder Director Gao does not recommend the use of hydrazine, but prefers the derivative he mentioned, unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine.

Researcher Yue saw his expression and asked, "What's wrong? You don't look very satisfied?"

Mr. Cai nodded. "Well, the melting point is 1.4℃, which is a bit high. The fuel will solidify easily in the north, and it will be difficult to keep it in liquid form. No wonder people say that unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine is better."

The structures of solid fuel and liquid fuel are completely different. If a fuel solidifies easily, it will cause great trouble. You can't burn the liquid as water and the solid as coal. The engine doesn't have that capability.

Researcher Yue smiled and said, "As long as we can confirm that most of your sources are accurate, then I think we can put the synthesis of UDMH on the agenda. You don't have to worry about that. Now we just need to see if the part that can be confirmed is correct."

I don’t know how long it took, but Mr. Cai’s people and Researcher Yue’s colleagues came back from the laboratory with red faces, and I don’t know if it was because of the fire or the excitement.

"Mr. Cai, Mr. Cai, there's hope. The theoretical specific impulse of this hydrazine-nitrogen tetroxide combination is over 340 seconds. We just measured a specific impulse of 280 seconds, which is lower than liquid oxygen and kerosene, but not much lower. It can be used."

Apparently, it’s because of excitement!

In fact, the specific impulse of hydrazine fuel is not advantageous compared with liquid oxygen and kerosene. The theoretical specific impulse of liquid oxygen and kerosene is more than 360 seconds.

The calorific value of hydrazine is about 19000 kj/kg, which is less than half of the typical calorific value of kerosene, 45000 kj/kg. Taking into account the oxidant, density, reaction process and products, its specific impulse is only slightly less than that of kerosene, which is enough to illustrate the benefits of hydrazine fuels.

This slight disadvantage of 20 seconds in theoretical specific impulse is exchanged for a huge improvement in the on-board storage performance, which is well worth it.

Not to mention being on the missile, even if it is not stored on the missile, the supporting base will be easier to design and build because there is no need to maintain sufficient liquid oxygen.

However, in terms of specific impulse, the most practical liquid-engine engine now is the hydrogen-oxygen engine, which has a power of more than 460 seconds. Just from its nickname "Ice Arrow", we can tell that it is obviously an overstatement to use it in missiles.

If we have to talk about specific impulse, there is another combination that can be described as crazy - liquid fluorine/liquid hydrogen, 490 seconds. However, this thing is so explosive that the word "poisonous" is not enough to describe it. No one dares to use it. The reason is very simple. Guess what the combustion product of this weird thing is?
So when Mr. Cai heard that the specific impulse of the hydrazine-nitrogen tetroxide combination reached 340 seconds, he was completely relieved, thinking it could be done!

Even if UDMH cannot be produced, it would be much easier to build a system on the missile to maintain the hydrazine fuel at room temperature than to maintain liquid oxygen at -183°C.

He turned to Researcher Yue and said, "Researcher Yue, I'll leave this matter to you. There are two things to do. One is to synthesize a certain amount of hydrazine for us to study and test. The second is to try to synthesize unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine, which is of great significance to us."

He remembered very clearly that Gao Zhendong had said that the specific impulse of UDMH was basically the same as that of hydrazine, but it had better thermal stability and a lower melting point, which meant it was not easy to solidify.

The hydrazine synthesized now will not be wasted. It can be used as the basis for the design of hydrazine liquid reactors. After all, the specific impulse of hydrazine and UDMH is basically the same, and many designs are common. Moreover, hydrazine can be used as a backup option in case the synthesis of UDMH fails or is delayed, so it will not be wasted.

For him, now is just the right time to do this, because both the imitation liquid oxygen-alcohol and the improved liquid oxygen-kerosene engine have been basically completed because the two have a very high commonality, and he is just lacking projects.

Researcher Yue smiled and said, "Don't worry about that. If we want to produce UDMH, then the synthesis of hydrazine is indispensable. Although we don't necessarily have to use hydrazine as an intermediate or raw material for UDMH, we also need to synthesize a considerable amount of hydrazine for research."

The two were very excited. Now there was basically a clear path to storable liquid rocket engines. As a supporting research institute for liquid rocket engines, Researcher Yue also saw the dawn of success.

The structures of hydrazine and UDMH are relatively simple, and there is only one type of atom that replaces the hydrogen atom on the nitrogen-hydrogen bond: methyl. It is relatively simple, and he is quite confident in synthesizing UDMH.

The successful synthesis of unidimensional dimethylhydrazine in China was about ten years later, which is a huge improvement.

Mr. Cai and Researcher Yue, with their respective tasks, quickly got down to work.
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On Wednesday afternoon, Gao Zhendong attended the meeting on the DJS-60D situation jointly held by the th and th Ministries of Machine Building and the Defense Work Committee on time.

However, what was a bit unexpected to him was that the person who introduced him at the beginning was not him, but Chief Engineer Chi from the Operation Institute.

The reason is needless to say. There were many people at the meeting, and although the requirements for personnel and relevant levels were clearly put forward, in the eyes of these three companies, it was still not suitable for Gao Zhendong to come forward directly.

So Gao Zhendong quietly served as a minion in the back, but when the leader of the Postal and Communications Commission who was attending the meeting in person walked past him, he couldn't help but smiled.

As a rising star with great fame, it is not often that you see Director Gao squatting in the back row of a meeting. So I took a few more glances at him while I could, haha.

Chief Engineer Chi introduced the general situation of DJS-60D, its computing speed, peripheral driving capabilities, current supporting software, etc., and then talked about the most important point.

"Due to raw material reasons, the production capacity of this product is not high and it is only maintained by imported components. The domestic process is still under research. Although the progress is good, it will take some time overall."

Someone half-jokingly asked, "So what are we here for today? Are you here to draw pictures?"

The meeting had certain level requirements, so the people who came were at least at the same level as Chief Engineer Chi, and there were even some who were half a level or one level higher than him, so Chief Engineer Chi was not sure how to respond to this question for a while.

The leader of the 12th Ministry of Machinery smiled and took over the conversation: "Well, you are right. I will draw the cake for you first, and you can also imagine it. This cake looks like this. If you really get it, how will you eat it? Since you can't eat the cake for the time being, can't you learn and think about how to eat it first?"

Chief Engineer Chi then continued: "First, we will introduce the situation of this achievement. After the meeting, relevant materials will be distributed. After each unit receives the materials, they can also use them in combination with their own professional fields to see how to use this thing."

Many comrades nodded, thinking that this made sense, as we have always been the ones waiting for equipment.

"Well, this is fine. At least it can save a lot of time in application development."

"You know what? In just this short time, I have already thought of 800 possible applications. The good thing about this thing is that it is small. Once the head is smaller, it can be used in many ways."

"It's a pity that we can't get it now, but it's good too. It can give us some time to think about it, and we won't be caught off guard when the equipment arrives."

"How many do you think they have available now?"

"Looking at this situation, it is estimated to be in the single digits."

"Look, the Defense Work Committee is not in a hurry at all. Logically speaking, this thing is what they need most right now."

"Tsk, you don't even need to tell me that. They are definitely not in a hurry, and you can't expect to snatch it from them. You should just think about your own business first."

"."

The other two ministries that are firmly in control are the Postal and Communications Commission, which has special treatment, and the other one which is more special, the Ministry of Foreign Trade.

Their demands and ideas are different from those of all ministries, so there is no need to discuss them here. In fact, there is one thing that has not been made public today, that is, after this conference, there will be another small meeting, and that is what they need to consider.

After discussing for a while, someone raised a question that everyone was concerned about: "Since the output of this achievement is so limited now, how do we decide its distribution?"

Hearing this, everyone was excited. Since it couldn't be opened for the time being, how could we get it as soon as possible? Although they belonged to different ministries, some applications were actually common and there was a certain degree of competition.

(End of this chapter)