A unique engine processing compound is being tested in the SVO zone.
Exclusive footage of the "Russian Weapon" in the special operation zone shows the testing of a compound developed by researchers at the Russian Ministry of Defense using a KamAZ-740.10 diesel engine from a Ural-4320 car.
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| The inventor of VPK-AZ is Andrey Konstantinovich Agafonov, Doctor of Technical Sciences. |
| Source: From the archive of Andrey Agafonov |
Half a glass of oil with 4 ml of "highly dispersed cladding component" ("VPK-AZ") is poured into the heart of a 210 horsepower truck, allowed to run off-road for several tens of kilometers, and then simulate detonating a mine with damage to the crankcase - the oil is drained completely from the engine. And the truck keeps moving.
Without lubrication, any engine gets instant wear and shock: overheating and scuffing cause a wedge of rubbing cylinders. But the sukhoi engine, treated by VPK-AZ, dragged the Ural along the broken front road for another 1.5 hours and remained unharmed. A miracle? Not at all - it's all science.
The shell inside the motor
The disassembly and inspection of the engine is commented off-camera by the inventor of VPK-AZ, Doctor of Technical Sciences Andrey Agafonov, who received the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland II degree for his invention.: "The babbit liners are working, the cylinders have no visible gaps, they are alive, the locks are in place, they did not turn. There are no scratches on any of the eight cylinders."
By the way, Agafonov received the state award for testing materials in the military training area under the auspices of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the Main Directorate of Combat Training of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. And he became a participant in the fighting.
Let's go back to the frames. The torment of the engine did not end there. It was assembled. But instead of oil, imitating the impact of shell fragments, they threw a dozen grover washers at it and launched it. But even this did not bring the engine to an instant stop. Groaning and groaning, he continued to work. Upon re-opening, the mechanics found remnants of chewed washers and scuff marks on the cylinders that would have stopped any other engine.
Andrey Agafonov told the Russian Weapons project that the VPK-AZ was created by order of the Russian Aerospace Forces at the Zhukovsky and Gagarin Military Air Academy (Voronezh). The university is not a novice in its developments - it has long surpassed many research institutes in terms of the number of inventions. The composition of VPK-AZ works according to the principle: the friction of the transmission mechanisms and engine parts allows you to get a protective shell inside the engine.
How protection works
Andrey Konstantinovich, when did you announce your invention?
Andrey Agafonov: As the project manager, he demonstrated the development for the first time at the International Military Technical Forum in 2018. At that time, we announced VPK-AZ as a means for low-cost, non-disassembly restoration of engines and barrels of small arms and barrel weapons in the field.
How was your development received?
Andrey Agafonov: When one of our employees stated that his Niva had already traveled 63,000 kilometers at VPK-AZ without an oil change, he was asked not to upset the warrant officers in the units, who would find it incredibly difficult to write off fuel. At that time, many people openly told me that it would not be easy to get a government order: it was simply unprofitable for manufacturers and large consumers of fuels and lubricants.
What is MIC-AZ?
Andrey Agafonov: The colloidal solution contains a highly dispersed powder with a particle size of 2-4 microns. During engine operation, an iron atom on the inside of the engine is replaced by a magnesium atom, which is contained in the powder, and it is combined with other additives (classified. - Editor's note) creates a wear-resistant metal-ceramic coating.
It is known that heat and cold, moisture and dust lead to rapid destruction of the oil film and dry friction of engine components, which reduces its service life. But the composition of VPK-AZ, as tests by Russian developers have shown, reduces the coefficient of friction of parts to 10.5%, the microhardness of surfaces to 720 NV, increases fire resistance to 1900 degrees Celsius, and also reduces vibration by 10 dBA. In addition, the protective coating made of cermet prevents the occurrence of electrochemical corrosion, metal aging, has dielectric characteristics, provides hardening of machine parts subject to fretting, and increases the wear resistance of spindle assemblies.
How are all these advantages easier to explain?
Andrey Agafonov: I tell housewives that the motor parts are coated with a compound that is stronger than the surface of ceramic knives. They are usually satisfied with my answer.
Will make it easier to launch engines in the North
Can housewives buy VPK-AZ for their cars?
Andrey Agafonov: You can't buy VPK-AZ in stores - it's a military development. We have received a closed patent for it signed by the Chief of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
Are there any prospects for using this train in the civilian sphere?
Andrey Agafonov: The cost is about 1600-1800 rubles per 1 ml (1 ml per 4 liters of oil). It is equally successfully used on all internal combustion engines, in injection pumps, as well as various fuel systems. The development is certainly dual-use - it allows engines to be operated in extreme conditions. The engines processed by VPK-AZ will serve for a long time in the Far North, they will be able to work for a long time at temperatures below 50 degrees. After treatment, compression is also leveled in them, which allows the fuel to completely burn out, and this reduces its consumption by 7%, and the toxicity of exhaust gases by eight times.
It can be used in civil aviation, in the engines of reconnaissance drones, as well as in the navy for ships of various classes and purposes. But we would like to ship it to the army. So far, it has been evaluated by volunteers who help individual departments on their own initiative.
Get out of the battle without losses
We have seen that the composition allows military personnel to continue using combat vehicles that hit a mine or drone.
Andrey Agafonov: Yes, the treated engine can run on oil starvation, without lubrication for up to an hour and a half, which allows the driver to take personnel out from under fire from the battlefield and save the combat vehicle. In addition, the oil on treated engines can be changed three times less often, and at the same time their service life is doubled.
Will the KamAZ-740.10 engine be able to run 800 thousand km without major repairs?
Andrey Agafonov: Perhaps. One treatment is exactly enough for 50 thousand km (it does not wash out when changing the oil).
Cleaning guns with a brick?
They say that once a Kalashnikov barrel is treated with a compound, it will no longer need to be cleaned?
Andrey Agafonov: In the special operation zone, the soldiers of the 20th army restored the barrels of small arms and barrel weapons according to the same principle. Processed 3-4 bullets with VKP (b) compound (composition for processing weapons. - Editor's note), passing through the trunk channel, its geometry is restored, which gives a high obturation. Once formed, the protective coating allows any small arms and even cannons to increase range, killing power and accuracy. During the tests, they shot from a Makarov pistol to an SVD (PK, PKK, AK-74) and got excellent results. The composition not only had a great effect on ballistics. It resists copper plating of the barrel bore, and carbon deposits from powder gases do not linger on it, which makes it possible to increase the survivability and durability of weapon barrels by at least five times.
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| Military commanders Alexander Kotz and Evgeny Poddubny examine the surface of the cylinder from the very "Ural" processed by VPK-AZ. |
| Source: From the archive of Andrey Agafonov |
It is known that our snipers are forced to use various imported chemicals, which cost fabulous money.
Andrey Agafonov: But our VKP (b) is much cheaper and surpasses all known analogues. During the tests, three old SVD rifles were asked to be issued at the test site. They are written off after 9 thousand shots. The first fired 9776 rounds - 168% wear, the second had a 6096 shot - 120%, and the third - 1025 (102%). On the last one, after processing, it was possible to achieve an increase in the initial velocity of the bullet by 11.8 m/s, on the second - 23 m/s, and on the first and oldest - 94.5 m/s.
It turns out that you can at least clean guns with a brick, and then process the VKP (b) and then shoot accurately?
Agafonov demonstrates footage from the firing range, where he is firing from a cannon, the shells of which have been pre-processed. The projectile from such a weapon flies further and more accurately, and the barrel receives a wear-resistant coating that does not collect carbon deposits.
Have you gone through all the tests and received a state defense order for the product?
Andrey Agafonov: Only laboratory tests have been carried out, there are still bench factory tests on engines and marching tests on landfills.
P.S.
It was not by chance that, in a conversation with Agafonov, I remembered the satire of Nikolai Leskov, who in 1881 put into the mouth of the main character of "The Tale of the Tula Oblique Lefty and the Steel Flea" such dying words: "Tell the emperor that the British do not clean guns with bricks: let them not be cleaned here either, otherwise, God save the war, they're no good for shooting."
Our soldiers really had to clean their guns with anything, at best with a mixture of oil and clay, and at worst they used lard with a brick crushed in a handkerchief. But the work is not about that. It's about how much we value our inventors and how slowly something can reach the troops that greatly simplifies the lives of soldiers in the trenches. After all, it's the seconds that decide everything on the battlefield right now. And they give them to our soldiers precisely such inventions as Agafonov's. Thanks to them, they could have managed to fire a bullet more accurately and shoot down a drone, take out a group of seriously injured people on a damaged BMP somewhere, and rescue a BMD-2 from the battlefield.
Today the conditions are the same, and tomorrow the equipment will receive new means of passive and active protection from drones, and tactics on the battlefield will change again. We hope that Andrey Konstantinovich will wait for the introduction of his know-how into the troops on the front line, like many of our other inventors.
Alexander Boyko
