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Discovery of a multicomponent alloy forged by the Hiroshima atomic blast

science.org

21–30 of 76 posts

Re: Discovery of a multicomponent alloy forged by the Hiroshima atomic blast

#21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What, you mean, like American Machine and Foundry building nuclear reactors? https://www.ans.org/news/article-1858/elk-river-rural-americ...

No, I mean using atomic bombs to manufacture these alloys at scale. In the 50s a-bombs were proposed for all sorts of workaday uses. Imagine using a small a-bomb for mining just as we use ANFO today. I am sure that somebody will take up the task of reproducing these alloys using intense heat from a non-atomic source. New alloys can be quite lucrative but developing them requires just as much experimentation as making…

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Re: Discovery of a multicomponent alloy forged by the Hiroshima atomic blast

#22
post #7

Not the most economical manufacturing process, it has to be said.

The paper explains it more as an experimental process than a manufacturing process. Each granule of hiroshimaite captures a "unique" micro-environment. One could imagine an ethical version of this involving conventional explosives in a controlled environment containing a variety of metallic samples of different compositions.

Using conventional explosives is a real thing that exists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explosion_welding

Re: Discovery of a multicomponent alloy forged by the Hiroshima atomic blast

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, I'm probably just being contrarian and I too would appreciate it if people stopped suffering, but like, people are suffering worse than that right now as we type this.

Sure. 70,000 dying in a flash certainly puts an end to their suffering.

They did not get vaporized in the fireball. We have survivors at the hypocenter. Intense burns and radiation poisoning killed most plus conventional blast damage mechanisms. Half the acute deaths happened after the first day.

Re: Discovery of a multicomponent alloy forged by the Hiroshima atomic blast

#26
post #9

Not the most economical manufacturing process, it has to be said.

There were some nuclear fracking experiments where the nukes cost in the range of a few hundred thousand dollars. It's probably cheaper than you think.

The real expense is in rebuilding the city every cycle

Re: Discovery of a multicomponent alloy forged by the Hiroshima atomic blast

#27
post #23

Not the most economical manufacturing process, it has to be said.

It might be a bit tough getting the permits from the EPA.

Call it the Cheeto in Charge Manufacturing Center and you'll get a fastpass

Re: Discovery of a multicomponent alloy forged by the Hiroshima atomic blast

#29
'natural experiment' doing a lot of heavy lifting here. I don't know enough about chemistry to tell if this alloy has potentially interesting properties, or it's just interesting because it's something we weren't previously aware of as being possible.
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