A new hard aluminum alloy resistant to space radiation?
According to this press release, engineers have developed a new hard aluminum alloy that is also resistant to the high radiation seen in space, which in turn could make this lighter-than-steel metal practical for spacecraft.
Making spacecraft from aluminium is one solution, as aluminium is a light yet strong material. Alloys help aluminium become harder via precipitation strengthening, but the radiation encountered in space can dissolve the hardening precipitates with potentially disastrous and fatal consequences for astronauts.
But the research carried out at MIAMI-2 in partnership with Montanuniversitaet Leoben (MUL) in Austria has discovered that a particular hardening precipitate of a new aluminium alloy – developed by a group of metallurgists led by Professor Stefan Pogatscher (MUL) – does not dissolve when bombarded with particle radiation when compared with existing data on irradiation of conventional aluminium alloys.
If I understand this, traditional aluminum alloys have not been useful for building spacecraft because they cannot withstand the radiation of space. This alloy appears to solve this problem.
I would be interested in hearing what the space engineers in my readership think.
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According to this press release, engineers have developed a new hard aluminum alloy that is also resistant to the high radiation seen in space, which in turn could make this lighter-than-steel metal practical for spacecraft.
Making spacecraft from aluminium is one solution, as aluminium is a light yet strong material. Alloys help aluminium become harder via precipitation strengthening, but the radiation encountered in space can dissolve the hardening precipitates with potentially disastrous and fatal consequences for astronauts.
But the research carried out at MIAMI-2 in partnership with Montanuniversitaet Leoben (MUL) in Austria has discovered that a particular hardening precipitate of a new aluminium alloy – developed by a group of metallurgists led by Professor Stefan Pogatscher (MUL) – does not dissolve when bombarded with particle radiation when compared with existing data on irradiation of conventional aluminium alloys.
If I understand this, traditional aluminum alloys have not been useful for building spacecraft because they cannot withstand the radiation of space. This alloy appears to solve this problem.
I would be interested in hearing what the space engineers in my readership think.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
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Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Interesting. I work a few miles away from a reactor and during a visit we discussed the fuel assembly. I asked if it was aluminum and they told me ‘no’ because aluminum is transparent to neutrons. So I have to read this article.
So looking at the article, the stuff is Mg32(Zn,Al)49. Magnesium can be used as a neutron moderator. The zinc is pretty ductile, used as a anti-corrosive, and the aluminum is the light weight metal. You have a light, easy to shape alloy that is a good radiation shield.
I hope it works!
An overview of preliminary research, published Sept. 30, 2020.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/advs.202002397
I’m not a space engineer but have a degree in manufacturing engineering that included a fair amount of mechanical engineering and materials science as well. To start I believes Jay is mistaken in interpreting this as a radiation “shield. “ This development is a new aluminum alloy engineered to RETAIN its mechanical properties (mostly structural strength related as I read it) when exposed to radiation, whereas legacy alloys would deteriorate and lose strength in such environments. For instance if the Russian module on ISS is skinned in aluminum, this could explain why it is now cracking after 20 years where before it was fine.
In my opinion this is interesting for sure, and will certainly have merit for some structures.
However for the primary spacecraft I think SpaceX is making the better bet using stainless steel. The reason is because the vast majority of spacecraft structure involves the fuel tanks, and the SpaceX approach is to use a heavier (and inherently stronger and more radiation resistant) material as both Tank AND Support Structure (i.e. the tank holds the fuel but also IS the chassis if you will of the entire ship to use a unibody car analogy).
This combined use offsets the weight penalty as it eliminates the need for a separate support structure, with the added bonus of being far easier and cheaper to manufacture. Spacecraft are a complex systems problem, and Elon Musk has an excellent knack for evaluating how all of the variables interplay and selecting solutions that balance the trade-offs out extremely well.
PS. Stainless steel is very radiation tolerant as well, which is among the reasons it is used for most reactor vessels too. Like I said, Musk thinks way ahead and is very smart.
“Hard” aluminum alloys are nothing new. FMC’s M113 armored personnel introduced them in 1960. 100,000 vehicles later, it’s still going strong. And they’re used on the M2M3 fighting vehicles.