Comments on: A new hard aluminum alloy resistant to space radiation?

By: Col Beausabre

Col Beausabre — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 21:30:16 +0000

“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.

By: MDN

MDN — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 00:16:11 +0000

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.

By: MDN

MDN — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 00:10:40 +0000

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.

By: Roland

Roland — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 00:02:47 +0000

An overview of preliminary research, published Sept. 30, 2020.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/advs.202002397

By: Jay

Jay — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 21:21:05 +0000

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!