
Proton irradiation decelerates intergranular corrosion of Ni-Cr alloys - animal_spirits
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17244-y
======
ISL
It takes a special kind of scientist to want to create a simultaneous
irradiation/corrosion facility. Especially with fluorine salts.

I'd love to see all the paperwork and planning that preceded the work :).

~~~
the8472
Looks like "facility" here means another experiment that can be plugged into
the end of an existing accelerator beamline, not some purpose-built industrial
complex as one might associate with the word.

[https://sci-hub.tw/10.1016/j.nimb.2018.11.024](https://sci-
hub.tw/10.1016/j.nimb.2018.11.024)

------
Solstinox
If you want to work in "the world of atoms" that Peter Thiel likes to refer
to, there is a lot of money to be made in dealing with corrosion. In the US,
it eats away 200-300 billion every year.

~~~
rsfern
Totally — there’s a NACE report [0] that estimates the cost of corrosion
damage and mitigation at 3+% of the global GDP (in 2013 anyway), which is nuts
to me.

[0] [http://impact.nace.org/economic-
impact.aspx](http://impact.nace.org/economic-impact.aspx)

~~~
benzofuran
Keep in mind the IMPACT report is the cost, not the amount spent on fixes.
It's still pretty significant though. There's some internal discussion on
updating the report but the arguments over spend vs cost are raging.

------
PaulHoule
Note that materials and salts like this could be used for Thorium based
nuclear energy and of course you get the irradiation for free.

~~~
tlb
Thorium reactors generate beta particles, gamma rays, and neutrons, not the
protons used in the study. They conjecture that neutrons will have a similar
effect, but haven't tested it.

~~~
jojobas
It's guaranteed to have a different effect, neutron capture will manifest in
different isotopes with different products.

------
opwieurposiu
Radiation can turn boring old HDPE (milk jug plastic) into amazingly strong
PEX. A case where ionizing radiation actually provides super powers.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-
linked_polyethylene](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-linked_polyethylene)

