Along with his memories, the dwarf Murru recounted the entire process of crafting the steel ball.
While he was talking, Xu Yi kept asking for details. He didn't even let go of how high the temperature of the furnace he used at that time.
"This … temperature?" Murru scratched his messy hair, a little puzzled.
"Chairman Xu, you mean how big the furnace fire was, right?
I can't tell you that, I can only tell you that I burned it as usual, and it wasn't particularly strong. "
Xu Yi was a little helpless. Sines didn't have detailed data records of all processes like on Earth, and this was actually a major flaw in the process of industrialization. It looked like he had to find a way to solve this problem.
Of course, this problem could only be put aside. The most important thing now was the iron ball in his hand.
After asking Murru a few times, Xu Yi couldn't get a satisfactory answer, and finally had to ask Murru to simply repeat the process from that day.
Hearing that Chairman Xu of New Flyer was interested in the iron ball Murru had refined, the other dwarves who were conducting smelting experiments also gathered around.
In front of everyone, Murru thought for a while and lit a bright furnace fire.
The first half was a very normal smelting process, and Xu Yi didn't see anything special. However, when the molten iron in the furnace began to boil, Murru picked up a can of powder that glowed with silver light and poured it in, and the situation in the furnace changed instantly.
As soon as the silver leaf powder was poured in, it immediately merged with the molten iron in the furnace. A moment later, the molten iron that was already boiling due to the high temperature began to boil even more violently, and the originally red molten iron also began to have traces of silver light mixed in.
The process of smelting iron was actually quite boring. Siluka was worried that Xu Yi would be bored at first, but he found that Xu Yi was staring at the molten iron in the furnace from beginning to end. His eyes almost didn't blink, and his expression was active and focused. He couldn't help but feel puzzled.
Why was this Chairman Xu so concerned about this strange so-called alloy?
When Xu Yi arrived at the dwarf tribe, it was already afternoon. When the furnace of molten iron was successfully refined, it was already night.
During this time, Xu Yi stayed by the boiler. Other than going to the toilet once, he didn't move at all.
In addition, he also took out a notebook and recorded the entire process, as well as the order and quantity of materials used by Muru.
After the molten iron cooled down and gradually formed a round ball in the mold, Xu Yi carefully compared this iron ball with the one he had discovered before. After confirming that there wasn't much difference between the two iron balls, he confirmed that Muru had really restored the smelting process from last time.
Seeing that it was getting late, Siluka wanted to invite Xu Yi back to the tribe for dinner, but he was rejected by Xu Yi.
Having finally discovered a new alloy, Xu Yi was in a state of excitement. As a mechanical engineer, his enthusiasm for his work was bursting, so he naturally couldn't bear to leave at this time.
So Siluka simply asked his tribesmen to bring dinner here. The dwarves ate dinner with Xu Yi while carrying out various tests on the iron ball according to Xu Yi's request.
After a series of tests, Xu Yi finally determined that this alloy, which had undergone a strange change due to the addition of silver leaf powder, might be slightly inferior in terms of hardness, but in terms of ductility and plasticity, it was very close to the ordinary aluminum alloys on Earth. It was much stronger than the pig iron commonly refined in Sines.
More importantly, the alloy that had been mixed with silver leaf powder had been piled up in the corner for nearly two months, but there wasn't even a trace of rust.
It didn't even have to be treated with any rust prevention, and it automatically had the properties of stainless steel!
Xu Yi held the iron ball that was a bit deformed from the various tests and his heart was filled with excitement.
The reason why he came to the dwarven tribe this time was because chief Siluka had contacted the dwarves of the other tribes. He wanted to bring some dwarves back to the magic machine workshop, but he never thought that he wouldn't meet the dwarves he expected. Instead, he unexpectedly found this new alloy.
Even if it hadn't been appraised yet, Xu Yi was certain that this new alloy that he had named the Silver Leaf Alloy for now was hard to use in large scale magic machines because of its hardness, but it would definitely have many uses in light household magic machines.
For example, the Magic Rice Cooker that New Flyer had been promoting recently. If they used this alloy, it would greatly reduce the weight of the Magic Rice Cooker.
Just based on this, it would definitely make the Magic Rice Cooker even more popular.
After the various tests of the Silver Leaf Alloy were completed, Xu Yi immediately gave chief Siluka a request. He hoped that he and the dwarves of the tribe would do more tests on the Silver Leaf Alloy.
For example, changing the amount of silver leaf powder added, changing the temperature of the flames, adding in some other materials … …
At the same time, he gave Muru twenty gold coins in the name of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce as a reward for inventing a new alloy.
With Xu Yi's understanding of material experiments from earth, he believed that any small change could change the final properties of the alloy.
This Silver Leaf Alloy had appeared because of an accident, so if there were more accidents like this, he would definitely support it.
Other than this Silver Leaf Alloy, Xu Yi looked through the pile of iron balls again and found another iron ball that was a bit special.
Although this iron ball wasn't as conspicuous as the Silver Leaf Alloy and its properties weren't that outstanding, after testing it, Xu Yi was surprised to find that this iron ball's hardness and wear resistance far surpassed normal iron.
For heavy machines, especially large scale lathes, this kind of alloy was very important.
Xu Yi gave chief Siluka another request, letting the dwarves of the tribe conduct further research on this alloy.
This time, chief Siluka didn't agree as easily as before, rather he revealed a difficult look.
"Chairman Xu, we don't have enough tribesmen in the tribe right now.
If you didn't pull away Camby's group, there wouldn't be a problem in conducting these two kinds of research at the same time. But as you can see, the tribesmen who can do these things are all here and there are only a few of them. I'm afraid we can't complete your request. "
Xu Yi looked around and found that chief Siluka wasn't exaggerating.
Ever since he had dragged Canbi and his hundred dwarves away from the tribe, the remaining dwarves in the tribe were mostly the elderly, the weak, the women and the children. Only a dozen dwarves were still capable of high-intensity smelting.
"How about this, chief Siluka. Isn't the Angola tribe coming to negotiate with me tomorrow? When the time comes, I'll discuss this matter with them. It'll be best if I can convince them to accept one of the alloy research projects.
Of course, it'll be best if chief Siluka can contact more of our dwarven brothers.
Right now, I'm in urgent need of manpower, mainly qualified dwarven craftsmen. I'll take as many as you can. "Xu Yi said after some thought.
Siluka didn't immediately agree. Instead, he frowned and looked at Xu Yi.
"Chairman Xu, do you intend to fill your factory with dwarves?"
Xu Yi was startled, "Of course not. Right now, there are more humans in my factory."
Siluka shook his head, "Chairman Xu, I think I have to remind you that if there are too many of us dwarves in your factory, I'm afraid there will be problems."
Xu Yi was somewhat puzzled, "Problems?
What problems can there be?
I'm just letting my dwarven brothers work in my factory. What problems can there be? "
Siluka sighed, "Chairman Xu, I know you have good intentions. But not all of you humans are like you.
More importantly, your human leaders might not think the same way.
It's fine if a few of us dwarves appear in your human society. But if a large number of dwarves appear together, I'm afraid it'll bring trouble to you and us dwarves. "
Xu Yi couldn't help but frown, "The war between races happened thousands of years ago. Are you still worried about this, chief Siluka?"
Chief Siluka waved his hand, "Another war between races is impossible. I'm only worried it'll arouse the vigilance of your human leaders. When that time comes, my dwarven brothers won't be able to bring you any benefits. Instead, they'll bring you trouble."
Xu Yi muttered to himself for a moment. In the end, he had to admit that chief Siluka was right.
Although the Sines were currently led by humans and the other races didn't have the capital to contend with them, the racial divide still existed.
Xu Yi recruiting a hundred or a few hundred dwarves to work for him wasn't a problem, but if he recruited a thousand or even a few thousand dwarves, it was very likely to arouse the vigilance of the big shots in the Lampari Kingdom.
With so many people of other races under his command, would he want to rebel?
"Sigh, it seems that no matter which world it is, business can't be completely free from political factors."
Xu Yi sighed inwardly. After thinking for a bit, he nodded to chief Siluka, "Many thanks for your reminder, chief. I'll pay attention to this problem.
But I don't think there'll be any problems in this area at this stage. Also, my company really does lack manpower, so I'll have to ask you to pay more attention to this.
If it really doesn't work, I can't say that I'm completely unprepared. "
Chief Siluka lightly nodded his head, "Good. Chairman Xu, you're a smart human. I believe you'll have a solution.
As for the dwarven brothers of the other tribes, there's no need to worry … "At this point, chief Siluka revealed a bitter smile and a helpless expression.
"Their current lives aren't much better than our tribe's before."