Great Country Academician

Preliminary testing of the first batch of 'crystalline erbium zirconate' material took nearly a week and the results are quite encouraging.

No matter from the shielding rate of various radiation, or from the grain boundary damage rate and grain boundary reconstruction speed, the performance of this new material is quite excellent.

Compared with the nuclear waste storage ceramics used in Huaguo in the past, the performance of the "crystalline erbium zirconate" protective material has been improved by more than 50%.

The improvement in service life is even more exaggerated.

Today's nuclear waste storage ceramics or other materials, even if there is no external environmental interference, in the face of nuclear waste with strong nuclear radiation, most of the service life is hundreds or thousands of years.

After this time, due to the influence of nuclear radiation, the storage container will be damaged, cracked and other problems.

However, the service life of the new "crystalline erbium zirconate" material is conservatively estimated to be more than 10,000 years according to the data obtained after preliminary testing.

This result even alarmed Academician Peng Hongxi, the 'consultant' of the Institute of Nuclear Energy. After hearing the news, the old man rushed over from the capital by high-speed train in person.

Seeing Peng Hongxi, Xu Chuan realized that the importance of this new type of nuclear protection material he produced seemed to be far beyond his previous estimate.

Previously, his attention had been on the follow-up core technology, and he did not pay much attention to the "crystalline erbium zirconate" material.

After all, the protective materials of the solid ceramic series are not very widely used. It can isolate radiation, but it needs a certain thickness, which limits some uses.

Except for limited uses such as nuclear engineering construction and storage of nuclear waste, other fields are basically difficult to apply.

Among the protective materials, there are not many materials that can achieve the same shielding effect as the 'crystalline erbium zirconate' material, but with a shorter service life.

For human beings, there is not much difference between a thousand-year service life and a ten-thousand-year service life.

In addition, in later generations, nuclear waste has been successfully turned into treasure and does not need to be stored for a long time, so the materials for storing nuclear waste are far less important in his eyes.

But he forgot that it is only 2018. In this era, nuclear waste is a pollutant that causes headaches for all countries.

Whether it is preservation or processing, it is difficult.

In the "Modu Nuclear Research Institute of the Academy of Sciences", Peng Hongxi personally carried out radiation detection on a piece of "crystalline erbium zirconate" material.

After getting the test results, the old man looked at the young man in front of him and sighed: "Amazing, this is the atomic cycle theory you mentioned before."

If he remembers correctly, it has been less than three months since the R\u0026D team was assembled.

In more than two months, a new type of material with better performance than traditional resistance materials has been developed, which can be said to be a fantasy.

What surprised him even more was that Xu Chuan had never done any related material experiments before.

This 'atomic cycle' theory was conceived by meditation in his mind.

This is the scariest place.

Material experiments have always been one of the most variable experiments.

There are endless ratios, and the result can be said to be completely different if it is slightly worse.

Sometimes, even if the ratio is only 0.01 off, the new material produced may be waste.

The research and development of a new material is not so easy.

Which one of today's large-scale material R\u0026D companies has decades of accumulation? Which of the databases does not have huge material data piled up?

A new type of anti-radiation material can be produced simply by speculating from the mind.

This simply broke all his previous understanding of material research.

Peng Hongxi couldn't help but want to cut open Xu Chuan's brain to see if there is a super quantum computer installed in it.

This kind of thing that can not be done by human beings, he actually did it.

Perhaps there is some element of luck in it, but material research and development is a matter of chance.

If you're lucky, you'll be able to get everything done once.

Unlucky, I couldn't find the correct synthetic route after thousands of experiments.

On the opposite side, hearing Peng Hongxi's praise, Xu Chuan smiled and said: "This is only the basic application of the atomic cycle theory, and it still has great flaws.

"For example, it will harden after it is finalized, and solid materials cannot meet many nuclear protection requirements. There is also a low shielding rate against neutron radiation and gamma radiation."

Peng Hongxi shook his head and said, "Your requirements are too high. The penetrating power of neutron radiation and gamma radiation is the strongest among all types of radiation, and this is also the biggest problem in radiation protection in the world."

"This new material is already excellent. If it is used for ordinary nuclear waste storage, according to the current test results, it is completely sufficient. The atomic cycle-grain boundary reconstruction can make it save tens of thousands of nuclear waste. years."

Xu Chuan smiled and said, "Let's go, I'll take you to see my latest research - lead-free nanocomposite reconstruction protective material, in my opinion, it is more advanced than the 'crystalline erbium zirconate' material." Excellent, it is used to make protective clothing”

Hearing this, Peng Hongxi showed a hint of surprise on his face, and asked with some surprise: "Protective clothing? Lead-free?"

Xu Chuan nodded, and said: "Yes, lead-free, the atomic cycle theory does not rely on the high density of lead metal for shielding."

Peng Hongxi asked interestedly, "Is there a finished product?"

Nuclear radiation protective clothing is an essential nuclear, biological and chemical rescue equipment. It is used for on-the-spot treatment and emergency rescue personnel in dangerous environments such as nuclear radiation risk, nuclear aerosol pollution, and biochemical environmental pollution.

Usually in people's impression, nuclear radiation protection materials are often inseparable from heavy lead.

For example, the protective doors used in hospital X-ray examination rooms are made of lead materials.

Or as far as the current nuclear protection materials are concerned, if they are used for protective clothing worn by scientific researchers or staff, it can be said that they basically contain lead.

Lead can isolate most of the radiation, so it goes without saying that the shielding performance is excellent.

But in fact, the disadvantages are also obvious. First of all, it is heavy. The density of lead is very high, and the protective clothing mixed with lead materials must be quite heavy.

After all, it is used to face nuclear radiation, and too little lead doping will not have any protective effect.

But if there is too much lead mixed in, it is certain to be heavy.

A piece of protective clothing, such as a military-grade radiation protection suit, weighs more than fifteen or sixteen kilograms.

Secondly, lead is poisonous, and the biological toxicity of lead is not friendly to the environment.

Especially in a high-concentration nuclear radiation environment, the working time of a piece of lead protective clothing is not long, and after being contaminated, it cannot be reused and can only be discarded.

Therefore the scope of application of lead protective clothing is greatly limited.

But at present, there is no other protective clothing that is very good except for lead protective clothing.

The protection of nuclear radiation has always been a major problem.

Lead-free nuclear radiation protective clothing, which aroused his great interest.

Taking Peng Hongxi with him, Xu Chuan walked towards his laboratory, responding as he walked.

"The complete protective clothing is not yet available. The latest finished product was only made yesterday. At present, there is only a small piece of fabric, which has not yet been tested. It will take some time for the specific results."

"What material is used? How about the size, thickness and weight?" Peng Hongxi asked quickly.

Xu Chuan: "The size is about 50*50 centimeters, the thickness is 1.3 centimeters, and the weight is 1073 grams."

Peng Hongxi did the math, and said, "0.2 square meters, a little more than two catties, if a piece of protective clothing is sewn with five feet of fabric, and taking into account helmet gloves and some other items, the total weight is about eight to ten. About a catty."

"Compared to the previous lead protective clothing weighing more than 30 kilograms, this is several times lighter. If the radiation shielding effect can meet the standard of lead protective clothing, it will be terrible."

Xu Chuan smiled and said, "You'll know after the test."

For this new type of lead-free nanocomposite reconstituted nuclear protection material, he is very clear about the specific protection performance, which is definitely better than lead-doped protective clothing. Otherwise, how could he use this technology to solve the problem of nuclear waste in his previous life.

Nuclear beta radiation can gather and convert electrical energy technology, but it has won a Nobel Prize.

A Nobel Prize-level achievement is also the most important physics award among natural science awards, and its value and weight are naturally astonishing.

With Peng Hongxi, the two came all the way to the laboratory.

Xu Chuan opened a material storage box, took out a piece of folded cloth-like material from it, and handed it to the old man who was following him.

Peng Hongxi took the material and started with it. He was amazed by the soft feel of this material.

"Unbelievable, this level of softness, if you don't tell me, I would think it's the fabric used to make clothes, it's too soft."

Touching the protective material in his hand, Peng Hongxi couldn't help but marvel.

You must know that nuclear protection materials are generally doped with various materials such as lead, silver, and boron. After all, only these materials can absorb or shield radiation.

But correspondingly, the properties of these materials will also cause the nuclear protective clothing to become bulky, rough and so on.

This is impossible.

But the piece of protective material in front of him completely overturned his previous cognition.

If you put aside the thickness, it is like a piece of cloth, and it can even be folded like clothes, which is incredible.

Xu Chuan smiled and said, "What you said is a bit too exaggerated. Compared with traditional nuclear protective clothing materials, it is indeed much softer, but if it is the same as cloth, it is still incomparable."

Peng Hongxi sighed and shook his head, and said, "How did you achieve such a subversive result? What are its raw materials?"

"The raw materials are mainly gadolinium oxide, boron carbide, high-density polyethylene, and fluorozirconium salt. The basic principle is to use the high heat absorption and high neutron absorption cross section of gadolinium oxide, combined with boron and zirconium to shield various radiations."

"Using a coupling agent to modify the surface of gadolinium oxide improves its interfacial compatibility and dispersibility inside the matrix, so that the radiation particles can more fully interact with the functional components inside the material and rapidly decay."

"In theory, it has the ability to shield most of the rays, and has good neutron radiation shielding and gamma ray shielding performance."

Xu Chuan did not hide anything about the principle and manufacturing process of this new type of protective material.

The old man in front of him is completely trustworthy.

After listening to Xu Chuan's explanation, Peng Hongxi's slightly cloudy eyes moved, and after thinking for a while, he said, "It's really a wonderful idea."

"Use the gadolinium·hydrogen·boron system to moderate and absorb neutrons, utilize the interaction characteristics between light and heavy nuclei and neutrons, and the high thermal neutron absorption cross-section characteristics of gadolinium and boron, so that high-energy incident neutrons and gadolinium produce non-toxic Elastic collisions, elastic collisions with hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen until they become thermal neutrons, and finally absorbed by gadolinium and boron."

"The atomic cycle technology can use radiation energy to repair the damaged particles produced after the collision to a certain extent, so that they can be recycled, which greatly improves its lifespan and protection performance."

"This idea is simply perfect."

Xu Chuan nodded with a smile. This line of thinking is not only the core of nuclear protection materials.

It is also the core of nuclear energy beta radiation energy gathering and converting electric energy technology.

The special semiconductor material produced by this technology can collect the scattered radiation in nuclear waste, and then convert it into electrical energy, realizing the real transformation of waste into treasure.

"By the way, I heard that you are still working on lithium batteries recently?"

After groping for the new protective material in his hand, Peng Hongxi solemnly handed it back to Xu Chuan and asked curiously.

Xu Chuan nodded and said with a smile, "It's just a small fight."

It is not a secret that he acquired the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute, and it is normal for Peng Hongxi to know the news.

"What aspect of research?" Peng Hongxi asked.

After a pause, he then added: "Don't get me wrong, I didn't want to pry into your secrets, and it's okay if I don't have the convenience to say."

Xu Chuan waved his hand and said with a smile, "Is there anything confidential or not, mainly about the electrolyte and the artificial SEI membrane?"

"Electrolyte and artificial SEI film, you are going to the problem of lithium dendrites. Are you busy at both ends?"

Peng Hongxi muttered something and looked at Xu Chuan. This young man's ambition is really not small.

The lithium dendrite problem has plagued the industry for decades.

There are countless research institutes, laboratories, and universities in countries around the world studying this issue, but so far there has been little progress.

Does mathematics really have such a magical power?

First the calculation of a nuclear radiation shielding material, and then the lithium dendrite conundrum.

Although he is not sure whether the lithium dendrite problem can be solved, but after seeing some results in this nuclear energy laboratory today, he has inexplicable confidence in the young man in front of him.

It seems that the field where he intervenes, the problem will not be a problem.

Xu Chuan smiled and said, "Actually, it's okay over there. I asked my supervisor for someone. My senior brother is in charge of managing the research institute."

"I just provided some theoretical methods."

"It's good to be young! It's full of energy."

Peng Hongxi didn't ask any more questions, but sighed.

Xu Chuan smiled and said, "Academician Peng, you are still young."

Peng Hongxi shook his head with a smile, and said with concern: "If you encounter any problems, you can come to me, don't support it alone."

"I heard that some time ago you stayed in the laboratory for several days and missed the Nobel Prize call."

"You are still young, you have to pay attention to your body, you don't need to work so hard, there is still a long way to go."