Chapter 536: Good News From Daya Bay
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Lu Zhou was prepared for Hou Jinli to not be able to complete this mission. However, Hou Jinli lived up to his expectations.
Five sets of samples, four samples in each set.
Due to the difficulties of preparing for the ceramic-based graphene composite, completing this mission within a week really wasn’t easy.
In short, these samples could be sent to Daya Bay for testing.
Before testing the high-energy neutron radiation resistance, Lu Zhou had to first diagnose the performance of these five samples in a relatively low energy neutron radiation environment.
He’d only consider testing it on the experimental reactor if the results were good.
After all, both the tokamak and the stellarator were billion-dollar machines; they didn’t come for free. Lu Zhou didn’t know how long this project would take, so he had to conserve resources.
Unless it was necessary to collect experimental data, or it was a reliable attempt, it would be better to test it on a fission reactor first.
Hou Jinli looked at Lu Zhou, who was reading the report. He then took a deep breath and said, “In the experiment, we made some changes to the original experiment process and was able to find a more concise and easy synthesis method!”
When Lu Zhou heard this unexpected news, he raised his eyebrows with interest and said, “Oh, really? Write a report and hand it to me in two days.”
Hou Jinli immediately nodded and said, “Okay!”
After Lu Zhou finished reading the XRD inspection reports, he put down the documents.
As far as the test results, these sample properties were basically consistent with his calculations.
Next up was to wait for the results from Daya Bay.
“If there’s nothing else for you to do, you should go home early. You look like you can barely walk.”
“Okay…”
Hou Jinli looked at Lu Zhou gratefully and didn’t decline his suggestion.
After all, he was nearly thirty years old. His body wasn’t as good as when he was still doing his PhD.
After a week of constant grinding, his body couldn’t handle it anymore…
…
Just like they planned, Lu Zhou sent these five samples to Daya Bay through some special logistics channels.
They patiently waited for a while.
The test results were soon sent over.
“The test results from Daya Bay are here.”
Yang Xu placed a document on Lu Zhou’s table and said with excitement, “The results are perfect!”
Even though the test result was obvious from Yang Xu’s facial expression alone, Lu Zhou still reached for the document and immediately began reading.
The five groups of materials were tested for different DPA interval rates and in different energy zones. They were also tested in different radiation conditions such as the pressurized water-cooled reactor (PWR) and the boiling water reactor (BWR).
The control group was austenitic steel, which was normally used as a structural material inside the fusion machine.
Just like Yang Xu had said, the results were near perfect.
Even though there were many values that weren’t consistent with his computational materials calculations, the errors were within acceptable ranges.
After all, the Linhard Robinson model he used wasn’t a perfect phenomenological model. Rather, if the data were to fit perfectly, then it would mean something had gone wrong.
The five groups were compared to one another. As the neutron scattering rate increased, the fourth set of samples exhibited the best neutron permeability and repairability against the Frenkel defect.
Especially when it was in the PWR environment, the radiation temperature was 680K, and when the neutron scattering reached 4.2×1020/cm^2, the DPA production rate was less than 10% that of the control group’s austenitic steel.
In the field of radioactive detection, the DPA index was used to indicate the number of outliers per atom.
Undoubtedly, they had succeeded!
At least, in a low-energy environment…
Compared to how excited Yang Xu was, Lu Zhou remained unusually calm.
After he read the entire document from the beginning to the end, he contemplated for a bit and said, “The radiation temperature is only 680K, obviously the neutron scattering is not enough. The energy of a single neutron is only at 1MeV, so don’t be happy just yet. Our goal is to create a material for the structural material of the fusion reactor. This is only an in-progress result.”
However, this in-progress research result was quite amazing.
At least in a low-energy environment, this ceramic-based graphene composite had already surpassed the common experimental reactor materials such as Al, Mg, and Zr.
Also, its anisotropy heat-transfer properties were unrivaled.
Judging from these excellent properties, even if this material wasn’t used on the fusion reactor, it would still be highly applicable for fission reactors.
Yang Xu smiled and said, “You’re too critical. Even though this is an in-progress result, this is quite a big achievement. I think there’s nothing wrong with feeling happy about this.”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Maybe, but I prefer to wait until the dust settles, then taste the victory champagne.”
Yang Xu: “So… Does this mean we still have to experiment with the fusion machine?”
Lu Zhou nodded and said, “From the looks of it, yeah.”
The only thing that could simulate a fusion reactor environment was the fusion reactor itself.
Yang Xu: “Let’s not talk about the fusion reactor first. What do you plan on calling this material? The fourth sample set produced the best results. It’s not like you can keep calling it by its number.”
When Lu Zhou heard that he had to name something again, he was suddenly overwhelmed.
“Don’t ask me to come up with a name. Go consult Hou Jinli and his research team. You guys can name the thing.”
“Surely we can’t do that?” Yang Xu smiled and said, “Normally, important things like naming the research results are done by the manager of the project. If you really can’t come up with an idea, we can put your name on it.”
Lu Zhou suddenly choked on his saliva and said, “Don’t use my name, I’ll think about it.”
He knew that he would produce a lot of research results in the future.
If he used his name for everything, he was afraid that he wouldn’t even remember which invention was which.
Lu Zhou contemplated on this serious problem for a second. His eyes suddenly lit up.
“Just call it PGC-1.”
Yang Xu: “…”
Seeing that Yang Xu was speechless, Lu Zhou paused for a second.
“What?”
Yang Xu coughed and said awkwardly, “Nothing, it’s a good name. I just think… this name matches your style very well.”
PGC was an abbreviation for porous graphene carbon material. Since this was the first generation of this type of material, there was a number “1” at the end. This was basically the least confusing but also the most unimaginative nomenclature.
Naming such an important research result like this felt a little careless.
Lu Zhou guessed what Yang Xu was thinking, so he smiled and said, “The material name doesn’t matter, what matters is its capabilities.”
Yang Xu: “Okay, whatever you say… Oh yeah, if you plan on testing it on an experimental reactor, then are you going to Southwest?”
Lu Zhou shook his head and said, “The HL-2A has been pushed to its limit. Looking at the situation after the last experiment, they’ll probably take until the end of the year to repair it. I won’t trouble them this time.”
Even though Lu Zhou didn’t mind torturing Old Zhou a couple more times, he had to think about this logically.
Injecting nuclear fuel into an experimental reactor was no joke. Even though the experimental reactor had safety protocols, if the hundreds of millions of degrees plasma were to leak out, it would cause a very serious accident.
Lu Zhou paused for a second and began to joke, “Not to mention, this is a historic moment. It’ll probably be in future textbooks.
“It would be a shame if we were to use someone else’s equipment for this important experiment.”
