Compared with the uneasiness of others, Xu Chuan was basically not nervous.
All he has is expectations, looking forward to what the 'crystalline erbium zirconate' anti-material material produced with the 'atomic circulation' theory as the core and using special nanotechnology can achieve.
He actually knew very well about the anti-radiation effect of 'crystalline erbium zirconate'. But what he knew about it was from his previous life.
In previous reproduction experiments, he used mathematical methods to recalculate and adjust some things in this technology, and optimized the material to a certain extent.
Theoretically, the optimized 'crystalline erbium zirconate' has better radiation resistance or radiation stability.
But he didn't know how much it could be improved compared to the previous 'crystalline erbium zirconate' material.
Radiation resistance, or radiation stability, refers to the ability of a material to maintain its inherent physical and chemical properties after receiving a certain dose of radiation.
The radiation resistance of a material is related to its molecular structure, relative molecular mass and aggregation state.
For example, isotactic polypropylene with tertiary carbon atoms will undergo perceptible changes when exposed to 1.2x10?gy radiation energy, while 8x10?gy will undergo serious changes, such as becoming brittle and breaking when broken by hand.
The dosage required for polystyrene with aromatic rings to undergo similar changes as mentioned above is 8x10?gy and 3x10?gy respectively.
For example, the radiation-resistant rubber specially used in nuclear power projects has higher radiation resistance.
As for lead metal, radiation-resistant steel plate materials, etc., they have almost reached the peak of radiation resistance in the current material industry.
As for the radiation resistance of 'crystalline erbium zirconate', judging from the materials developed in the previous life, strictly speaking, it is not comparable to ultra-high-density materials such as lead metal.
There is a little difference between the two, and it is at a critical node.
But compared with lead metal, it has its own unique advantages.
One is the weight, it is lighter than lead.
Under the same volume, the weight of protective materials made of 'crystalline erbium zirconate' is only about one-fifth that of lead.
The second is durability.
Because of atomic circulation, under the same radiation intensity, protective materials made of crystalline erbium zirconate can definitely last longer than protective materials doped with lead metal.
The use of radiation energy to complete the self-healing of grain boundaries can promote the crystalline erbium zirconate to maintain long-term atomic circulation.
Although lead metal can rely on its own density to resist nuclear radiation, once the internal lead grain boundaries are destroyed, it will cause a chain reaction and cause the grain boundaries to collapse.
.......
The time required for radiation resistance testing can be said to be very long or very short.
A long-term countermeasure test requires at least ten or fifteen days to complete the drawing of the radiation curve and material change curve, so that the limit of this countermeasure material can be judged relatively accurately.
Radiation intensity resistance testing is not required.
Through instruments and equipment, strong radiation sources of different intensities are created, and the intensity of radiation energy is gradually increased to determine the limits of this material.
This kind of test can be completed in one morning.
For Xu Chuan, he clearly knows the limits of the materials he created.
For the radiation intensity confrontation test, he started directly from the intensity of 2 gy·h-1. This standard is the bottom line for high-level nuclear waste.
Below this number, nuclear waste will be classified as intermediate-level nuclear waste, and above this standard, it will be classified as high-level nuclear waste, which is the most difficult to process.
The larger the value, the higher the radiation intensity.
If it cannot even meet this standard, how can it be used for nuclear waste processing?
Of course, the radiation intensity confrontation test is not simply judged from the radiation intensity index.
In addition, there are various aspects such as the thickness of the material and the resistance time.
After all, any material, even water or air, has certain radiation resistance properties.
Ordinary concrete, if the thickness can reach more than 1.5 meters, can also isolate most of the nuclear radiation.
After the explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Hongsu used thick concrete and cement to build a cement sarcophagus outside the No. 4 reactor as an isolation and protective cover.
But the shortcomings are also huge. Under the strong irradiation of nuclear waste, ordinary concrete cement only has a lifespan of 20 to 30 years, even if it can reach a thickness of two to three meters.
The current sealed sarcophagus outside Chenoli Bell was actually rebuilt in 2011.
The sarcophagus built by Hongsu had been corroded by nearly two hundred tons of high-strength nuclear waste for twenty years.
Therefore, regardless of material thickness and time, it is a very unreliable thing to compare against performance.
This is like talking about toxicity regardless of dose.
For example, bananas contain the radioactive element "potassium-40", which can release ionizing radiation, but it would take almost 50 million bananas to get the amount of radiation that can kill a person.
Before that, you would have probably been strangled to death, or died from a potassium imbalance.
However, on this basis, the thinner the material thickness and the higher the radiation intensity it resists, the better it can explain the performance of this material.
For the protective material made of 'crystalline erbium zirconate', Xu Chuan's requirement is that it has the performance to resist high-level nuclear waste within a thickness of two centimeters.
Only when it reaches this standard can it be widely used in various nuclear and aerospace projects and have corresponding value.
...
Under the auspices of Han Jin, the first round of radiation intensity confrontation test with an intensity of 2 gy·h-1 took nearly an hour, and a total of five sets of confrontations were conducted.
Xu Chuan looked through the confrontation data in his hands, and the confrontation structure above brought a smile to his lips.
Judging from the current inspection structure, the radiation intensity resistance test is quite satisfactory.
'Crystalline erbium zirconate' protective materials of different shapes and thicknesses all show high-strength stability and resistance to a-rays, β-rays, γ-rays, and x-rays when faced with simulated nuclear irradiation of the same intensity.
The shielding rate of rays and neutron radiation.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Under different irradiation environments, the 'crystalline erbium zirconate' protective material has a shielding rate of 100% for a-rays and beta-rays when the thickness is one centimeter.
The average shielding rate of gamma rays and x-rays reaches 90.4%; the frequency of neutron radiation reaches 84.5%; and the gamma shielding rate reaches 60.3%.
This kind of shielding rate, if replaced by ordinary concrete cement, would probably need to be close to half a meter thick to achieve this.
Fifty centimeters to one centimeter is enough to reflect its shielding performance.
What's more critical is its grain boundary loss rate.
In the thirty-minute radiation intensity resistance test, even if the protective material is one centimeter thick, when faced with a radiation intensity of 2 gy·h-1 for more than thirty minutes, the internal grain boundaries are still not affected.
Too much damage.
If the grain boundary integrity of a piece of material is compared to 100, after the first round of testing, the grain boundary integrity of the first batch of 'crystalline erbium zirconate' protective materials in the five groups of experiments only dropped by 0.00032
,0.00019,0.00028,0.00018......
The average grain boundary damage rate remains at about two ten thousandths. Compared with the protective materials manufactured in the United States in the previous generation, the grain boundary damage rate is reduced by about 0.5 ten thousandths.
The improvement is not huge, but some not-so-complex modifications can bring about a certain degree of performance improvement, which is a great thing.
In fact, the value of two ten thousandths of the grain boundary loss integrity is already quite low.
You know, it faces ionizing radiation exposure at the level of high-level nuclear waste.
If a person is exposed to simulated radiation of this intensity, he will bleed to death within an hour. This shows the horror of nuclear radiation of this intensity.
However, when the 'crystalline erbium zirconate' protective material faced this intensity of simulated nuclear radiation exposure, the grain boundary damage was only 0.02%.
Although this number will continue to increase as time goes by, the self-healing properties of the 'crystalline erbium zirconate' protective material will eventually maintain it in a dynamic equilibrium.
.......
"Incredible, when faced with simulated nuclear radiation at an intensity of 2 gy·h-1 for half an hour, the degree of destruction of the grain boundaries of the crystalline erbium zirconate material was less than two ten thousandths. This number is already far lower than the amount used for preservation.
Ceramic materials from nuclear waste.”
In the laboratory, Xi Xuebo stared at the results of the confrontation in his hand.
The data recorded in the experimental results and the performance showed made him unbelievable.
Not to mention the radiation shielding rate, although the performance is excellent, it is still somewhat different from top materials such as lead metal.
What is important is the grain boundary damage rate, which is the key to how long the material can maintain its stability when facing high-intensity nuclear radiation.
The strong ionizing properties carried by nuclear radiation can ionize all materials that come into contact with it, which can cause various problems in the material itself.
If its own stability is not strong enough, even if the radiation shielding rate of this material is excellent, it cannot be applied to industry.
According to calculations based on the data above the test results, the crystalline erbium zirconate material can withstand simulated nuclear radiation exposure at an intensity of 2 gy·h-1 for more than one hundred days.
This simply refreshed his understanding of confrontation materials.
Even though one hundred days is a short period of time, it also depends on the intensity of radiation you are facing.
As a researcher in nuclear energy, he has a clear understanding of nuclear radiation protection materials.
Whether it is shielding materials made of lead metal, nuclear radiation protection cement, or rubber, they will show different damage when faced with high-level nuclear waste.
According to his calculations, when a lead plate with a thickness of half a centimeter is exposed to simulated nuclear radiation with an intensity of 2gy·h-1, the grain boundary loss rate is about one ten thousandth.
In other words, after about two hundred days, the lead plate will lose its protective effect.
Considering that the thinner the lead plate, the weaker the protective shielding effect, and the protection time will be further shortened.
This crystalline erbium zirconate material will not, although judging from the current data, it can only last for a hundred days. But the most critical atomic cycle theory will allow the grain boundaries to be reconstructed. In a hundred days, far away
Not its limit.
In other words, if the speed of grain boundary reconstruction can keep up with the speed of destruction, then it can be maintained forever and keep nuclear waste sealed.
Of course, this is only theoretical.
In fact, due to various external environmental interferences, grain boundary reconstruction cannot cycle indefinitely, but its current value has far exceeded that of traditional nuclear radiation protection materials.
Looking at Xu Chuan, who was standing aside with great indifference, Xi Xuebo's eyes were full of admiration.
Is this the strength of a Nobel Prize winner? Even if he crosses over into the materials industry, he can easily break the boundaries.
If he had developed this material by himself, he would have jumped up with excitement, but Xu Chuan remained calm, as if it was just a trivial matter.
.......
After getting the first round of radiation intensity confrontation test results, Xu Chuan held the results in his hand with a smile on his face.
As he expected, the modified and optimized ‘crystalline erbium zirconate’ material showed stronger performance in terms of radiation resistance or radiation stability.
The grain boundary loss rate of 2/10,000 in the first round of testing is the best proof.
Nuclear radiation, the sharp ion scalpel, has received a shield that can restrain it.
Using optimized ‘crystalline erbium zirconate’ materials to make storage containers, if there is no other interference, nuclear waste can be stored for at least 100,000 years.
When this time passes, nuclear waste will no longer be highly polluting.
After all, it takes time for atomic decay to release harmful radiation.
Although some nuclear waste will take 200,000 or 300,000 years, or even longer, to completely complete decay, most of the spent fuel rods in nuclear power plants only need a few thousand years.
In other words, within thousands of years, its harm can be reduced to a minimum.
If this project is just to develop a new type of nuclear waste preservation material, it can be said to be a success at this point.
As long as the optimized 'crystalline erbium zirconate' material passes other tests, it can be applied to the preservation of nuclear waste.
However, Xu Chuan’s purpose is not to develop a new type of nuclear waste preservation material. It is to reuse nuclear waste and turn it from an extremely difficult to treat pollutant into a new energy source!
For this goal, the successful development of ‘crystalline erbium zirconate’ materials is only the first step.
.......
After leaving the subsequent testing of the 'crystalline erbium zirconate' material to Han Jin, Xu Chuan returned to his laboratory with three scientific researchers.
For others, the successful development of the 'crystalline erbium zirconate' material is great news, but for him this is just the first step.
There are still many difficulties waiting for him in the future.
"Xi Xuebo, your job is to oxidize the gadolinium material in a pure oxygen environment, and then grind it into a powder with a diameter of less than ten nanometers."
"Lu Shun, your job is to purify boron carbide materials. The purity requirement is above 99.99..."
"Zhou Baht, your job is..."
In the laboratory, Xu Chuan assigned the preliminary preparation work for each project.
The success of the 'crystalline erbium zirconate' material proves that atomic recycling technology is feasible in the face of high-intensity nuclear radiation. The next step will naturally be to follow this idea to develop a material that can be used for nuclear waste.