If he were to count the number of times he failed, Hou Jinli would not be able to count how many times he had failed.
At first, when he was preparing the SG-1 material in the laboratory, he was interested in the waste that was accidentally produced during the experiment.
Compared to ordinary graphite materials, the feeling of that waste was a little special.
These were the conclusions he reached from his accumulated experience in experiments. Finally, after systematic research, he discovered that the reason why the waste was special was that there was a layer of porous reticular aerogel on the surface.
Honestly speaking, this result was somewhat disappointing for him. After all, the preparation of porous reticular aerogels from graphene wasn't a new research result. It could even be said that similar materials were already used in some electrode materials.
However, this was the first time in his life that he independently applied for a research project. It was also the first research project he applied for after coming to this research institute. He didn't want to give up so easily.
Therefore, he discovered that the porous reticular aerogel itself didn't have any special value. He continued to conduct in-depth research on its performance in other dispersion media and dispersed phases, as well as its various properties when compounded with other materials.
This process was hopeless.
It was so hopeless that it made him question his life.
Fortunately, he didn't give up the last time.
Using the porous reticular aerogel prepared from graphene as a toughening agent combined with silicon carbide ceramics produced an unexpected effect!
As a toughening agent, the performance of the porous reticular aerogel wasn't superior, at least compared to other materials of the same kind.
However, its thermal performance made him so excited that he couldn't help but shout in the laboratory.
Hou Jinli couldn't wait to write the experimental results into a report. He then submitted it to the institute.
Without too many twists and turns, this experimental report was placed on Lu Zhou's desk the day after he submitted it …
…
Although many interesting inventions were born by chance, this one was way too coincidental.
Lu Zhou looked at the experimental report in his hand and had a look of interest on his face.
"This is interesting."
The report was divided into two parts.
The first part was about the preparation of the porous reticular aerogel.
Choose graphene oxide as the basic raw material, prepare a graphene oxide solution of 1 to 2 mg/ml, add a reducing agent, and stir for 5 to 10 minutes. It was reduced at 160 degrees Celsius for 30-45 minutes. Then, it was immediately taken out and placed in the freezer to freeze for 4 hours. After thawing, it was then reduced at high temperature for another 5 hours. Finally, it was washed a few times and dried … This was how the porous mesh aerogel was obtained.
As for the second part, it was the key to the entire experiment.
In the experiment, through the process of atomic layer deposition, Hou Jinli's research team chemically bonded the porous mesh aerogel prepared from graphene material to the SIC ceramic layer, thereby obtaining a special graphene-ceramic composite material with a special structure.
In terms of microstructure, this material could be abstracted as a honeycomb-like graphene layer connected in the middle of the ceramic layer. These honeycomb-like graphene molecules were tightly bonded to the SiC molecules.
According to the experimental results of the high-temperature resistance test, in an oxygen-free environment, this special graphene-ceramic composite material could withstand a high temperature of 3,200 degrees!
Not only did it have excellent resistance to high temperatures, but it also had a small coefficient of thermal expansion and a significant anisotropy in thermal conductivity.
That is, heat is easily transmitted along the cross-sectional direction, and not along the vertical direction of the cross-sectional direction!
In addition, it also included tensile strength, compressive strength, resistance to thermal stress, and so on.
Judging from these data, this material could be said to be quite outstanding.
Yang Xu looked at Lu Zhou's interested face and asked, "Is this the material you need?"
"It's hard to say." Lu Zhou put down the experiment report in his hand and leaned back in his office chair. He said, "But this report gives me an idea."
Yang Xu: "Idea?"
"That's right." Lu Zhou nodded and thought for a second. He then said, "At first, I thought that ceramic materials were not suitable for the first wall because of their poor heat dissipation performance. But from another perspective, this kind of perpendicular heat transfer performance is better."
Yang Xu: "Why do you say that?"
"Because of the liquid lithium neutron recovery system." Lu Zhou smiled and said, "With the thermal conductivity of the carbon fiber composite material, we have to consider adding a thermal insulation layer between the carbon fiber composite material and the liquid lithium. Otherwise, at a temperature of more than 3,000 degrees, the liquid lithium layer we use to recover neutrons will be vaporized."
The difference in operating temperature between the two materials was one of the core difficulties in the reactor project.
The thermal conductivity was too weak, and it wasn't good either. From this point of view, carbon fiber was a bit excessive.
In contrast, the thermal anisotropy of this new material was quite outstanding. Appropriately weakening the heat transfer in the vertical direction could leave enough buffer time for the external cooling device.
As for the heat dissipation of the structural material, it could be solved by "inserting a heat conduction tube into the structure and directing the heat transfer along the cross-section direction".
Even though Yang Xu didn't know much about fusion engineering, Lu Zhou's explanation was quite simple, so he immediately understood what he meant.
However, even though the thermodynamic problem was basically solved, there was still a more important problem …
"What about the neutron radiation resistance? That's the most important thing. "
When Lu Zhou heard this, he sighed and said, "You're right, that's the key problem. Even though this material is quite suitable in all aspects, the neutron radiation resistance … We'll have to try it to find out. "
Whether it was silicon carbide or graphene, the nuclei of the carbon and silicon elements were very stable, and the C-Si covalent bond was far more stable than the metal bond. At the same time, the neutron beam penetration of these two materials was also quite impressive.
However, this was theoretically the case.
But in reality, the damage caused by neutron radiation wasn't only limited to the atomic transmutation and the destruction of the internal chemical bonds, but also the destruction of the physical structure.
As for the latter, theoretical analysis was basically useless. The only way to reach a conclusion was through an experiment.
The only problem was …
This thing couldn't be tested at all.
Yang Xu had a bitter smile on his face as he said, "I'm afraid this experiment isn't easy to do."
Neutron radiation resistance testing was one of the most difficult tests in materials science.
Normal radiation resistance experiments were easy. Using alpha particles to bombard the beryllium nucleus could release neutrons.
It could even be said that the main reason why the research on the first wall material of a controllable fusion reactor was difficult was because they couldn't find a device that could conduct radiation resistance tests on the material.
Where could they find an experimental device that continuously bombarded the sample with 14MeV neutrons?
A normal neutron source couldn't reach this magnitude.
Even if they went to Daya Bay, the radiation level of a nuclear fission nuclear power plant was two orders of magnitude lower than the radiation level of a fusion reactor!
As for an accelerator …
That was even more ridiculous. No one had ever heard of anyone directly accelerating neutrons. If someone really did it, the entire theoretical physics community would be calling that person "daddy."
As for indirect acceleration (deuterium nucleus method), there was one, but in fact, it would be better to directly use alpha particles to shoot beryllium foil than to obtain neutron energy. The only advantage of the former was that the direction of the neutron beam was slightly more stable.
Lu Zhou was a little troubled. He gently tapped his finger on the table and began to weigh the pros and cons in his mind.
Should I "force" the STAR machine again?
In theory, it's not impossible.
But if I have to go on strike for a month for one experiment, wouldn't that be too much?
After all, there was only one stellarator in the country.
The experts at the China National Nuclear Corporation were still researching how to replicate it. If they destroyed the only stellarator, then they would be screwed.
Suddenly, a light bulb went off in Lu Zhou's head, and he slapped his forehead.
MMP！
I was so focused on how to destroy my stellarator that I forgot about the tokamak.
Even though pulse ignition doesn't have a long confinement time, it can still ignite!
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