Liu Lu spoke with certainty. Although she wasn't as experienced or skilled as the veteran craftsmen, she understood basic business sense.
In essence, all the parameters and requirements written on Wang Yu's paper could be summarized into one sentence: the custom-made steel needed to be both strong and lightweight.
What a joke! Anyone with a brain knew that you got what you paid for.
Only by using sufficient materials could something be sturdier, with adequate tensile strength and load-bearing capacity. No amount of cost-cutting in the manufacturing process would ever yield good materials.
And if sufficient materials were used, the weight naturally couldn't be light. This was common sense.
Ordinary steel weighed nearly 8 tons per cubic meter. However, based on Wang Yu's current parameters, Liu Lu estimated that the final smelted material would weigh no less than 15 tons, and potentially even 16 tons or more, if all losses were factored in!
Now, Wang Yu's requirement was to reduce the weight to under 7 tons!
How was this possible? Even ordinary steel weighed more than that!
Was Wang Yu an amateur who didn't know what he was doing, or had he completely lost his mind to make such a demand?
If it weren't for the fact that he had just helped her, Liu Lu felt like she could have started yelling at him at any moment.
"What, is it impossible to complete? You told me before that your steel mill's technology was absolutely fine," Wang Yu said with a smile, unfazed by their looks of him as if he were a lunatic.
"It's definitely impossible to complete. I... I mean, in all my years of working, I've never seen such a requirement."
Liu Lu said bluntly, and the veteran craftsman beside her nodded repeatedly.
"Yes, I've been smelting steel for decades. Such a requirement is simply impossible to fulfill."
Old Master Chen stroked his goatee, his expression troubled.
"I guarantee with my decades of experience that this kind of steel absolutely cannot be smelted. If it can, then I'm no master."
Old Master Chen's words were firm, earning nods from the others. Yes, that was right.
At the same time, a hint of dejection appeared on their faces. They had finally had a glimmer of hope with a potential order, only for it to be an impossible task. This feeling of hope being dashed so quickly was even more painful than pure despair.
"Sigh, regardless, thank you for helping me out today and dealing with those debt collectors," Liu Lu sighed, looking at Wang Yu.
"However, we still have a lot of things to attend to at the factory. I think I need to go handle them..."
Her words already carried a hint of asking him to leave.
"Don't rush, don't rush," Wang Yu said, smiling and holding up his hand to stop them.
"Just let me finish speaking. This steel order is very important for my product design."
"Finish speaking? What else can you possibly say? I admit, you might be good at car design, but when it comes to metal smelting, you're a complete novice," Old Master Chen chuckled.
"Young man, it's understandable to have some flights of fancy. No matter how important your design is, this material is fundamentally impossible to create. Do you understand what I mean?
Fundamentally! Fundamentally! Impossible to create! Impossible to create, understand?
If anyone can do it, I'll call them master."
Old Master Chen sighed slightly and stood up, preparing to leave.
"Don't rush, master, please let me finish," Wang Yu said, stopping him. "Ordinary steel naturally cannot meet this standard, but we can use alloys, for instance, a metal like manganese."
"Heh, I thought you had some brilliant insights or ideas."
Another worker in the crowd chuckled disdainfully.
"We know about high-manganese alloys. Their parameters can indeed meet your requirements. But setting aside the high cost of manganese, the final alloy material won't be significantly lighter either. It's simply not worth it.
You, young man, understand nothing. You've just heard a few terms somewhere and are now giving orders blindly.
The combined experience of all of us here is enough to suppress the Monkey King for eternity. Do we need you to teach us?"
The worker's blunt words seemed reasonable and drew nods from everyone around, including Liu Lu.
This was a known principle in the metallurgy industry. Often, insiders saw the intricacies, while outsiders just saw the spectacle. Wang Yu was clearly an outsider.
Wang Yu didn't get angry at their disdain and contemptuous looks. He just smiled faintly.
"But what if I said we add nickel?"
"Nickel?" Everyone present was taken aback.
"Nickel alloys can meet the weight requirements, but they can't achieve your load-bearing capacity..."
Old Master Chen reacted instinctively.
"No, you want to mix manganese and nickel, these two rare metallic elements, with ordinary steel for smelting!"
Liu Lu suddenly spoke up. She finally understood Wang Yu's meaning.
"Exactly. Not only that, but I also want to add several other metals to enhance the effect."
Wang Yu nodded with a smile, looking approvingly at Liu Lu. Her reaction and thought process were very quick; she had grasped it before others had.
"What a joke! Do you think this is like children playing house and making mud pies?"
However, Wang Yu's words did not earn him any praise. Besides Liu Lu, who was lost in thought, the other workers shook their heads. Old Master Chen, in particular, pointed directly at Wang Yu's nose.
"This kind of multi-metal smelting is extremely difficult even by international standards. The process requirements and production costs are very high, not to mention the precise metal ratio, which requires countless trials and adjustments to finalize. Without a substantial amount of capital, it's impossible to undertake.
If a factory could master such a formula, it's no exaggeration to say it could be a family heirloom, providing benefits for generations!"
"Yes, exactly."
"Indeed, indeed!"
"I say, young man, having goals and ambitions is good, but you can't be too idealistic. It's most important to be down-to-earth."
A group of workers nodded in agreement, and some even kindly advised Wang Yu.
"Heh, but I have this formula."
Wang Yu's words struck everyone like a thunderclap.