There were three blocks on what looked to be a cheap paper plate, and at Hanse's arched eyebrow Arthur snorted and shrugged, "Aye, a Pence saved is a Pence earned, as they say. You don't keep healthy margins in the budgets by splurging unnecessarily."
Ardan looked as though he was about to blow a gasket, "Endosteel? You... you have Endosteel!? On a paper plate!? Have you gone daft!?"
Arthur crossed his arms over his chest, his expression challenging, "That is not Endosteel, my dear Champion. If you'd let me speak about it you'd know that-"
Hanse snapped his fingers, "I think I've had enough. Ardan. Arthur. Cut the sass. Explain. Now. If you would be so kind?"
The wind petered out in both of their sails, and the Chief Scientist of Corean Enterprise's shoulders slouched, "Of course, Hanse. This-"
He gestured to the three blocks of foamed metal, "Is not Endosteel. What it is, however, is something much better in my personal opinion. At least for conventional use in most military designs."
Arthur pulled the other drape away to reveal what appeared to be a heavilymodified 3-dimensional printer, with rows of electromagnets surrounding a cradle that had a plate with holes bored strategically around the current foam block that was being printed. Beneath the plate was a large clear armor glass tank, and he knew it wasn't Ferroglass because it would likely be negatively affected by the electromagnets, and inside the tank was a light red, translucent suspension fluid of some kind.
"What you are looking at is the culmination of six years of research," Arthur smiled brilliantly, almost so bright that even with his eyes locked onto the printing head darting around the foam block a lightning speed Hanse felt like he was about to go blind, "I call it the Augusta Process- an entirely new industrial fabrication process, not one lost or even cribbed off of the notes of the Late Star League."
He pointed to a trio of laminated poster boards that had been revealed by one of the many scientists who had been- and still were- running about, the fumply old man with wispy white hair on his head; his bushy white mustache twitched as he smiled proudly. His name tag read: 'Doctor Anderson'.
"Its true name is the 'Partial Print/Free Particle Magnetic Alignment-Plasma Bonding' process, or the PPFPMAPB if you want an acronym, but since that is a mouthful we just call it the Augusta Process," Doctor Anderson adjusted his glasses as he played the part of the assistant, moving to the next board as Arthur spoke, "A micrometer-accurate print head dispenses a steel-aluminum alloy in teeny-tiny powder granules, one at a time, at key points in the structure, where it is held in place via a combination of weak magnetic fields and the viscosity of the suspension fluid after each dip in the tank. Once it is ready, the entire platform lowers into the fluid, which is filled with titanium dust, and that gives it its red color. Now, titanium is paramagnetic, but with the proper application of strength and precision via oscillating magnetic fields... the titanium granules are attracted to the proper points in the structure."
A few colored graphics showed the process in action on the board, and the assistant flipped to the next board.
"When it is ready, an extremely powerful electric current is run through the block, the plasma in the fluid getting as hot as the surface of the sun for a few tenths of a second, and this fuses the freshly grafted particles onto the foam block," Hanse felt his eyes widen as what appeared to be a bolt of lightning streaked from one conductive rod, through the fluid and into the foam block, and out toward the other rod; the suspension liquid bubbled slightly, but otherwise appeared to be just fine.
Arthur smiled smugly as the plate rose out of the fluid and a quartet of nozzles began blowing the fluid off for a few moments until only a slight sheen remained on the top surface. The printer head came down, tapped the corners of the block, made a few circuits around the outside edges, and then tapped a complex grid along the flat plane before it began darting out like mad- likely the next step in the printing process starting all over again.
The Chief scientist picked up one particular block off of the paper plate, which appeared to be cut cleanly in half, and handed both it and the first block over with a pair of magnification spectacles.
The first block in your left hand, Hanse, is the typical result for a standard aluminum foam process. You'll find it looks much the same for steel alloys and even titanium. However, if you look at the results of the Augusta process... you'll see that the entire block is perfectly shaped and uniform. This leads to it having exceptional durability and strength for its weight, and even when bulked up to withstand rigorous abuse... it will take up half as much internal space as Endosteel."
Hanse felt his heart rate spike as he slowly stripped off the magnification spectacles and handed them to Ardan along with the two examples, "You said that this will take up half the amount of space of Star League Endosteel?"
"Yes," Arthur stated matter of factly, but he leaned forward to ensure that he had Hanse's attention, "Make no mistake, My Prince. This is not a replacement for Endosteel. It provides exceptional weight savings and durability, and because of how it is produced we can create open and close cell designs at will, but the alloys used to make this- while similar based on samples you so graciously provided me of Endosteel... there is something about the zero-gravity manufacturing process that gives it the rigidity and strength to resist the unique shearing and torsional forces that a walking Battlemech places upon it."
He regained his height, his hands on his hips- the smile returned, "However, for non-critical structural components in Aerospace fighters and Battlemechs? It can certainly save a great deal of weight over a standard steel construction... and for vehicles? Oh buddy, do I have something special for you."
The man spun on his heel and began advancing toward one of the larger cloth-draped objects further away, and Hanse and Yuri followed swiftly while Ardan fumbled with the foam blocks and spectacles, "The beauty of this technology is that is mechanically simple and robust. Once the printer and electromagnetic cradle are properly calibrated, they are self-correcting to a certain extent if they 'lose' zero. This means that you don't need someone in a white lab coat to service them. It also means that it is, theoretically, if you really, really, really want to, highly scaleable in size!"
Arthur grasped the drape and grinned like a loon at them, "I would have said 'infinitely scalable' but that would have been overly dramatic."
He yanked, the black fabric falling away to reveal another Augusta Process machine, but this one was much, much larger. To put it into perspective, the armor glass tank was large enough to fit what looked to be a mono-bodied frame of a light scout tank inside it!
A light blinked overhead, "Ah, everyone shut your eyes for a moment."
Hanse immediately did so, and even with his eyes closed he had to blink away the bright line of lightning from his vision.
The gentle whirr of hydraulics was heard, and when the Prince peeled back his eyelids he saw the scout tank chassis being lifted up into the air while pressurized nozzles blew the excess suspension fluid off the frame.
"Bloody hell!" Ardan hissed under his breath, and Arthur gave the man, who was furiously rubbing at his eyes, an unimpressed stare.
The Chief Scientist shrugged as if to say 'I told him to close his eyes', and Hanse shook his head before returning his attention to the Augusta Process machine, "I don't recognize the chassis of this particular armored vehicle."
"That's because it's something new we're developing. We haven't quite figured out what we're going to do with it yet other than making it a very fast Scout Tank. It's a twenty-tonner, and with the maths, we should be able to eke out a 0.75-ton frame... but to give us some breathing room, and to make it nice and even for building, we're going to likely beef it up to 1 standard metric ton," Arthur crossed his arms over his chest, his smirk deepening, "Which is just as good as Endosteel... but we can manufacture it on worlds with .8 to 1.2 gravities, don't require zero-g, and with the precision in the process there is little to no waste."
The scientist looked back up at the chassis being constructed and made a noise before pointing, "Ah! Look! Top left side, quick, quick! You see that waldo there? It detected a flaw. You can see that it has a precision laser head on the end, and it will cut away the misconstructed section. That way the machine can simply retry with that portion."
A small cubic chunk, a few millimeters by a few millimeters, but cut away before being lifted away by another arm with a small magnet on the end, "That will add another thirty minutes to the build time, at the very least."
There was a frown that Hanse heard, and the Prince looked to see that Arthur was indeed frowning.
"Just like a Battlemech has 'The Triangle' of Speed, Durability, and Firepower... every manufacturing process has its own. Those are Cost, Accuracy, and Speed," The CEO of Corean shook his head, "The system compared to even standard tank chassis construction equipment is affordable, and the materials even more so since there is very little waste- even that chunk will be ground back down into a powder with the aluminum, steel, and titanium to be separated. It is also exceptionally accurate and precise, with only a small handful of errors detected and in need of correction with each construction. Its primary drawback, however, is that it is not a speedy process... but it more than makes up for it in that it's low maintenance and requires very little oversight."
Hanse looked away from the mesmerizing sight and toward the rest of the beauties that were still hidden from his prying eyes.
"Good God above," The First Prince muttered, "With this alone? Armored vehicles with a foamed structure?"
Endosteel for vehicles was never attempted simply because the material ate up too much internal space for there to fit anything approaching reasonable in, but with this being halfthe size? That opened the door for possibilities that had never been thought of before simply because, before now, it couldn't be done.
Hanse's head snapped to Arthur, "How long does it take someone like Quikscell to manufacture a Scorpion Tank?"
The Scientist arched an eyebrow, "They can churn out a Scorpion from raw materials to a completed tank from their Layover facility in roughly 30 days, but their quality control is utter shit. You're liable to blow your A/C-5 through the back of the turret because they didn't secure the damn thing properly."
"And what about just the frame itself?"
"A week, maybe two," He shrugged, "I'm just spit-balling the numbers here, but that's my rough guess. We'll split it down the middle and call it ten days."
"And how quickly could one of these Augusta Process machines print this particular 20-ton frame?"
"Twenty-one days, give or take a day. It depends on how many defects it has to remove from the frame, but you can be 99.999% certain that what is pulled off of the plate is pristine Andian Foam alloy," He reached out and slapped the side of the glass tank, a rakish grin on his lips, "I dare anyone to try and find a shoddy weld on one of these bad boys."
"Can it go any faster?" Ardan chose that moment to interject, "And can the frame be repaired?"
"It could go faster, but we'd have to research more precise sensors, create a new raw material flow head and capture system since we're almost at the ragged edge of what we have now is capable of, and all of that good stuff. It's not impossible, mind you, if I devote significant time to the project I could likely speed up the final product by 15% within three years. The good news is that due to how the whole system is set up, when the new system comes out it should be plug-and-play; pull the old Printing System and Sensor Suites out of their housings and slot the new ones in."
Arthur looked at the tank, "As to if it can be repaired? No. It can be recycled, however. What we are looking at is possibly segmenting the frames in the future in as few pieces as necessary, so if a section of the frame is damaged you can pop it off and slot a new one in place. Standard steel frames can be welded as long as the damage is not too egregious, however, tanks that find themselves on the wrong end of a Battlemech rarely are in such good shape that a patch job can get it back up and running."
"And you said this can be scaled?" Hanse pulled Arthur's attention back to him.
"Yes. It can print 20 tons of materials in 21 days, give or take, so if you wanted something bigger? A bigger armor glass tank, more suspension fluid, and a bigger build plate. A 40-ton machine frame could be constructed in 42 days, a 60-ton machine frame in 63 days, an 80-ton machine frame in 84 days, and a 100-ton machine frame in 105 days," He held up a hand, "And I know that sounds like a lot. Very slow. It is, but think about how small this footprint is- you could cram 150 of these things inside of a standard 100-meter by 100-meter warehouse and power it all with a single Fusion engine! Have 150 frames printing at the same time, where most of the manpower will be just... filling up the raw material hoppers every month and conducting the required maintenance."
Arthur Corean strode back and forth, his white coat swishing behind him, "Frame construction with virtually zero defects. Essentially Endosteel frames, for vehicles, being printed by the hundreds or even thousands! This is only one critical step in the manufacturing process to be sure, but I've spent my entire life studying the Star League-era automated factory for the Valkyries, Hanse, and I think that I've almost got it all figured out!"
The floor squeaked under his heel as he turned to fix the Prince with a fierce, excited gaze, "This Sunchaser Light Scout Tank will be the test bed, My Prince. We will build the new factory here on New Avalon, within the safety of Corean Enterprises, and I will use everything I've learned to try and make the construction process of these relatively simple tanks automated from start to finish, with people only handling the small fiddly bits. Even the automated waldos aren't articulate enough to connect the communications, targeting, and computer systems together."
"And if it proves to be a success then you can try to do it with other things," Hanse felt his jaw drop a touch, "My, my, my. Arthur, you are just full of surprises. I mean, I knew you were destined for great things but this?"
The First Prince of the Federated Suns swept his arm toward the Augusta Process Machine, "This is beyond my wildest expectations."
Arthur Corean smiled warmly, though it was sort of ruined by the way he awkwardly rubbed at this neck, "Oh. Uh. Wow. I mean, shit, I like being recognized for my hard work but... I guess, when it comes from you it actually feels like it means something. So thanks for that."
"So, does it have a name? I know there is usually a nickname as well as a scientific one," Hanse interlaced his fingers in front of him.
"We're calling it Andian Foam Steel, Recipe 4DBG," That was when Yuri interjected, the young man smiling softly with no small hint of melancholy as he watched the printer head move about to start the next layer in the process, "Arthur asked me to help him, and... I wanted to honor my brother in a more widespread fashion; Andrew deserved that at least, but this? This isn't just a Corean achievement. It's a Federated Suns achievement, so I decided to give it a name that should be honored properly- it's the 'Andrew Corean/Ian Davion Foam Steel, Recipe: 4th Davion Brigade of Guards', or Andian Foam, 4DGB. I reckon that everyone will start calling it 'Andosteel' or something like that, but the science and engineering types? They'll still call it 'Andian Foam Steel, Recipe: 4DGB'."
Arthur nodded, his expression thoughtful, "So even when it eventuallygets reverse-engineered by our foes, they'll still unwittingly be honoring our First Prince and our brother, as well as the 4th Davion Guards."
However, the Chief Scientist of Corean's expression melted away into something particularly nasty, "Our low-level literature obscures the true manufacturing process, hinting that it still requires specific pressures and gravities. It's a printed structure, but because of its nature as a foam anyone who attempts to make it for themselves? Occam's Razor will work in our favor here because the most likely and reasonable assertion would be that the product is manufactured similarly to Endosteel... and that it is manufactured like any other metallic foam by injecting inert gasses into a metalized foam substance."
"Yet- yet they'll be clawing their eyes out trying to figure out how we're getting such purity and uniformity in the structures of each cell! Kuukuukuu~!" Arthur's laugh was as unsettling as it was villainous, his eyes narrowed with a sick, twisted sense of joy, "Oh to be a fly on the wall in those reverse-engineering meetings! Their tears will be something that will sustain me for centuries to come!"
"You are a very deranged individual, Arthur Corean," Ardan began, and Hanse fixed him with a look, causing his Champion to quickly change tracks, "But I am happy to say that I am glad that you're on our side, Arthur."
Arthur blinked a few times before he replied with a cat-like smile, "Oh, Ardan. That is probably the nicest thing you've ever said to me. I will cherish this moment forever! But! But we're wasting too much time here, so let's be on about this little tour, shall we?"
The Chief Scientist of Corean once more began walking away, and like good little ducklings the trio followed on behind him, and they stopped at a trio of large blocky, items covered in drapes. As they approached a pair of scientists quickly flitted about, pulling them away to reveal two boxes that had a hexagonal, cellular structure, and the third was much larger, looking like a simple rectangular box but big enough that it could fill up a side torso of a Battlemech.