Greece to roman road

Seeing that Constantine finally reacted, Scaloy said: "Because the cost of using direct current to produce aluminum is too high, the price of aluminum remains high. Aluminum tableware and jewelry are still popular among some wealthier families. sought after”

Having said this, Skarloy lowered his head next to Constantine and lowered his voice: "Now Greece has taken the lead in promoting alternating current. Your Highness, this is a good opportunity for Greece to develop the electrolytic aluminum industry."

"Let's not talk about the future prospects of electrolytic aluminum. It was the first to build and put into production. During the period when Greece was leading, before other countries entered this industry, AC systems were used. Among all factories engaged in electrolytic production of aluminum metal, His Highness , I can guarantee that the production cost in Greece will definitely be the lowest. Before other companies react, the construction cost of the electrolytic aluminum plant can definitely be earned back."

Due to Constantine's heavy investment in the alternating current system, Greece became the first to try out the alternating current system. Before that, no other company or country had built an alternating current power station.

Therefore, even Germany's Siemens, which provided a considerable amount of technical support and power generation equipment during the construction of the AC power station, is in a wait-and-see mode for the application of AC out of risk avoidance, and plans to wait until the operating status of the power station in Greece is clear. , decide whether to enter the AC industry depending on the situation.

"Not to mention the benefits brought by this leading period, Your Highness, the production capacity of the steel plant is only about 30,000 tons, and Greece itself has no iron ore or coal mines."

"That alone determines that you have to find a replacement for Greece's steel."

"Aluminum is very suitable for this role. For example, the Greek army now uses a large number of steel lunch boxes and kettles. If Greece produces aluminum, what's wrong with promoting aluminum lunch boxes and kettles in the army?"

"Aluminum can be made lighter."

Seeing Constantine's thoughtful look, Scaloy knew that Constantine was moved, so he decided to strike while the iron was hot: "Although simple aluminum is not as strong as steel, for every kilogram of iron ore in Greece, For countries that all need to import, aluminum is really a suitable choice.”

"Moreover, we can also study aluminum alloys to try to overcome the problem of insufficient strength of pure aluminum."

Skaloy's words really touched Constantine. Greece lacked coal (high-quality coal) and iron ore. This was a fatal weakness for Greece and a natural weakness in the development of the steel industry.

But Greece is still rich in aluminum ores.

Speaking of which, aluminum is actually an element that is more abundant in nature than iron. Greece also has billions of tons of reserves, and there is exploitable bauxite in the Peloponnese Peninsula.

Now Greece is vigorously promoting alternating current. Greece has everything in place to develop electrolytic aluminum. The only thing missing is the electrolytic aluminum factory.

Although aluminum's hardness and lightness pale in comparison to steel, aluminum alloys later became very popular.

Moreover, the strength and hardness of duralumin alloy are greatly enhanced.

Looking at the persuasive Skarloi, Constantine understood what he was thinking. The output of the Greek steel plant was only 30,000 tons. Although this management expert from Germany did not say it on the surface, he was actually unwilling to do so.

And Greece happens to have the conditions to develop electrolytic aluminum. As a manager with a background in metallurgy, Skarloi is naturally no stranger to aluminum.

After seeing the booming AC power in Greece and its extremely efficient use in industrial production, the idea of ​​building an electrolytic aluminum plant naturally came up.

Intuition told him that aluminum is a metal with broad application prospects. Compared with steel, aluminum has its own advantages, that is, its density is low, and the mass of the same volume of aluminum is one-fifth that of steel.

If he could convince Constantine to build an electrolytic aluminum factory, no one would be better suited to manage it than he, given his advantages.

If he continues to be the manager of a steel plant, compared with those steel plants in Western Europe or the United States that produce hundreds of thousands of tons or even millions of tons per year, the small steel plant he manages with an annual output of only 30,000 tons will be simply useless. It's not worth mentioning.

However, if it is an electrolytic aluminum production plant with an annual output of 30,000 tons, the situation is very different.

Hescaloy will be a pioneer in the electrolytic aluminum industry!

If he bets on the prospect of electrolytic aluminum, he is very likely to have the experience of managing the world's first industrial large-scale aluminum production using alternating current to produce electrolytic aluminum, and his life will be very different from now on.

At least in the emerging industry of electrolytic aluminum, he will be unique and important.

If he wants to change jobs at that time, those industrial tycoons who are eager to enter this industry will inevitably pay a lot of money to hire him as an experienced expert.

He was keenly aware that this was an opportunity for him, so he tried his best to persuade Constantine, a wealthy man, to invest in this emerging industry.

And for Greece, this is also a beneficial and harmless thing.

"In this case, Mr. Skarloy, after your reminder, I also think that Greece's development of the electrolytic aluminum industry is a good choice," Constantine said to Skarloy.

"Since you are familiar with the research of metal aluminum, I think you have met many professional scholars or technicians in metal materials research."

"You can recruit more scholars in this field from Europe and cooperate with the laboratory of the University of Athens to study aluminum alloy materials."

"Of course, as for the electrolytic aluminum plant, it can enter the construction phase first," Constantine said.

Since Skaloy wants to rely on electrolytic aluminum to seek a career advancement, Constantine, who knows it well, is also happy to see it happen.

This is truly a metallurgist.

"Tesla, I'm afraid this matter cannot be done without your help," Constantine said to Tesla, who had been listening to the two discussing matters related to electrolytic aluminum.

"I am happy to oblige, Your Highness. I am also curious about the performance of alternating current in the electrolytic aluminum industry."

"It's just that your highness, the research of new metal materials is actually very boring work. If my former boss Edison came here, he would probably like this kind of work very much!" Tesla said with a mocking tone.

Looking at Constantine who was puzzled, Scaloy explained: "The research on alloy materials is very tedious. There are a lot of repetitive experiments, which are repeated endlessly. An alloy with a specific composition cannot be made by oneself. An experiment verified that its physical and chemical properties are impossible to guess.”

"This kind of research requires a lot of manpower, which requires you to recruit more scholars from Western Europe. Otherwise, in the short term, the aluminum alloy you are looking forward to may take a long time," Skarloy said.

Since the promotion of compulsory education in Greece is still short-lived, and the first batch of college students (majoring in science and engineering) will take several years to graduate, the shortage of high-end talents in Greece will continue in the short term.

Thinking of this, Constantine felt that he should be grateful that Greece was a country with a predominantly Christian culture.

It is precisely because of this that although Greece itself is short of talents, it can easily go to other European countries to hire people. Although it requires high salaries, it can at least solve the urgent need.

Christianity can be divided into Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, and Protestantism, but after all, they are three fruits grown on one tree, and the cultures are generally similar.

This allows Greece to hire European talents as long as it can afford the price, regardless of cultural differences.