Material Empire - v2 Chapter 763

China, Pujiang International Exhibition Center. [[Ǎn] Little [say,

Outside the gate, the huge publicity poster of the “China New Polymer Structure Materials Forum and Business Fair” hangs from the exhibition center’s house dǐng to the ground, and you can clearly see these dozen characters across the distance.

Callum, Chofts, and Lapats were all unremarkable, and walked into the exhibition center with a steady stream of people.

In Lapaz’s view, this exhibition has nothing to do with Vale, and he does not understand why the Chinese side sent him such an invitation. Vale mines iron ore. Polymer materials rely on petrochemical, coal chemical, salt chemical and other industries, and they are not close to iron ore.

However, given that the negotiations with China are currently at an impasse, and the company intends to find an opportunity to engage with the Chinese side, La Paz feels that it is also possible to take a trip to China from the beginning, at least to explore the Chinese side. The bottom is fine.

What he didn’t expect was that after knowing this, President Callum and Director of the Strategy Department, Choft, decided to go to China to participate in this forum at the same time, and La Paz was suddenly reduced to a poor little attendant. .

The reason why Callum decided to come to China to visit this forum is also to take the opportunity to explore the attitude of the Chinese side. In addition, he has a sense of insecurity about such an invitation that was obviously wrong. He felt that There seems to be some inexplicable connection between this forum and the iron ore negotiations.

When he entered the door, Callum concealed his identity, and only let La Paz register as a senior business manager of Vale, and he and Geoffs both acted as La Paz’s assistants, so as not to alarm the Chinese host. Or, the company’s true hole cards were leaked.

The lobby of the exhibition center is divided into several sections, each of which corresponds to a theme. With regard to the application of plastic-steel profiles, there is the application of glass fiber reinforced plastics, and polymer fibers replace steel bars as reinforcing materials. In each area, there are some samples of mature applications, such as plastic doors and windows for residential use, FRP yachts and pressure vessels, and so on.

Guests from all over the world gathered at different booths according to their own interests. Communicating with the staff at the booth, many people have excited smiles on their faces, carrying several paper bags in their hands, which are full of various materials.

“I don’t see how this forum has anything to do with our Vale company. These materials are simply impossible to use in the manufacture of mining machinery. These are ordinary civilian products,” Lapat muttered.

Neither Callum nor Geoffs ignored him. They squeezed in front of each booth, carefully looked at the introductory text on the board, and listened to the explanations from the staff. After walking four or five booths. Both people’s faces were as overcast as it was going to rain.

“Jofts, do you see the intention of the Chinese?” Callum whispered.

“I can see …” Chofts replied, “It’s really spicy.”

“Mr. Callum, Mr. Chofts, I don’t understand what you see. These are polymer materials. They have nothing to do with our iron ore,” Lapatz said.

“Because they have nothing to do with iron ore, they are the most terrible things.” Geoffs said angrily.

“I don’t understand …” Rappaz scratched his head. Can’t think of anything terrible about this.

Geoffs asked with a bit of hatred: “Rapaz, don’t you understand the topic of this forum today?”

“Isn’t this a polymer materials forum?” Rappaz said.

“It’s not just a polymer materials forum. The content on display here has a common theme, that is,” placing steel with plastic “, don’t you understand?”

“Replacing steel with plastic?” Rappaz glanced back at the various booths they had just seen, and could not help but have a chill, didn’t they? All these booths said the same thing. That is plastic instead of steel.

The so-called plastic instead of steel is the use of high-molecular materials, which are commonly known as plastics, to replace steel where it is traditionally required to use steel. For example, iron doors and windows used in residential construction. Can be replaced with high-strength p-materials, which are so-called plastic-steel doors and windows. Containers, pipes, etc. used in chemical production are traditionally made of steel, but in this forum, they are being promoted to use FRP instead.

Replacing steel with plastic is not a new concept. At least 20 years ago, some people have been doing this, and much progress has been made. However, according to Lapadz’s impression, such a large-scale publicity forum for plastics as steel should be the first time. Many of the technologies introduced at various booths are said to be at the forefront of the world and have not been announced to the industry before this forum.

Why does the Chinese want to hold such a forum, Lapaz thought about it a little bit as soon as he turned his head. Since steel is replaced by plastic, it means that the demand for steel has dropped significantly. The decrease in steel demand directly affects the supply of iron ore. Vale’s original calculation of global iron ore demand will shrink significantly under the impact of plastic.

Of course, replacing steel with plastic can not be achieved overnight. Whether it is a change in customer’s usage habits or an increase in the capacity of new plastic materials, it will take a long time. However, the Chinese put on such a gesture, and at the same time sent the invitation card to La Paz, the purpose is very obvious, and that is to raise a warning: If the price of iron ore in Vale is too high for China to accept, then China will consider increasing the use of plastics to reduce dependence on steel.

This hand is called the bottom-up payroll, which directly changes the global iron ore supply from oversupply to oversupply. Once this happens, then it is no longer China’s need to ask international mining giants to provide iron ore, and these mining giants in turn begged China Imported.

At this time, with a round of applause, a young man stepped onto the stage in the center of the exhibition hall. Lapaz recognized that this young man was exactly Qin Hai who had issued a strong warning to him.

“Good morning ladies and gentlemen!”

Qin Hai held a wireless microphone in his hand and spoke loudly to the guests in the exhibition hall.

The guests stopped the hustle and bustle and turned to Qin Hai on the stage.

“Today, we are holding such a polymer structural material forum, with the purpose of sharing our new progress in the research of polymer structural materials, and the application of polymer structural materials to replace steel. We all know that due to the cost of mining Since the previous year, international iron ore prices have continued to rise. This year, several major iron ore suppliers have even raised the demand for iron ore delivery prices to increase by 70%.

Entrusted by my colleagues in the Chinese steel industry, I went to Brazil to negotiate with Vale, and Vale said that they have great cost pressure and it is impossible to reduce the price of iron ore. They also told me that iron ore will continue to grow in the next few years, and the possibility of a further increase of 100% or even 200% at the current price level is not ruled out. “

Qin Hai talked to everyone.

La Paz’s face was a little pale, and what Qin Hai said was indeed what he had said before. The purpose of these remarks was naturally to exert pressure on the Chinese side, but it was unexpectedly thrown out by Qin Hai as an argument here.

“So, how should we cope with the irresistible growth of iron ore prices?” Qin Hai asked mysteriously.

“Certainly reduce the use of steel and replace it with other materials!” Someone answered loudly.

“Well said, this gentleman’s observation is really insightful!” Qin Hai gave a thumbs-up to the man under the stage, Callum and others in the crowd did not scream out loud, Nima, who doesn’t Know this is the trust you arranged, please don’t you act in such a professional way, okay?

Qin Hai didn’t care about his performance. He knew that everyone was not concerned about his acting skills, but what he would say next.

“In light of the increasing cost of steel, we have decided to carry out the practice of replacing steel with plastic on a large scale. As you have just seen, in many cases where traditional steel is traditionally used, plastic can be perfectly replaced, and sometimes it can even be used. It has a better effect than steel. For example, the use of high-strength glass fiber reinforced plastic to represent the main shaft and propeller of ship engines can completely solve the problem of seawater corrosion of steel materials and extend the maintenance period of propellers by at least three times. “

“Mr. Qin, are you sure that FRP can be used as a substitute for propellers?” A bearded European in the crowd could not help asking ~ www.mtlnovel.com ~ Yes, we have already done the corresponding practice, of course The FRP we use is also specially treated, and its strength is no less than that of ordinary alloy steel. Qin Hai replied.

“Are you willing to transfer this technology?” The Europeans directly asked the most critical question.

Qin Hai smiled and said, “No problem. We will authorize all patented technologies exhibited in the forum today to all manufacturers interested in using these technologies. In order to promote the development of plastic-replaced steel, all our patents are authorized The cost is only equivalent to 20% of the ordinary patent license fee! “

“20%!”

The crowd suddenly became restless. Everyone has seen the exhibition just now, knowing that many of the technologies on display have great economic value. What people are most worried about is that the Chinese have set the technology licensing fee too high, resulting in the inability to work for the Chinese after the introduction of technology. Now Qin Hai claims that the licensing fee is only equivalent to 20% of the ordinary patent. This is almost like a free gift. If you miss such a good thing, you will regret it for a lifetime.

Callum and Geoffs’ faces suddenly turned pale. (To be continued …)