Better solid rocket fuel developed... Boron power!

[Maxmars]

[It's been a while since I created a thread.... let's see if I remember how...
Brace yourself, this is going to 'sciency' and since I am no scientist, I may convey some concepts incorrectly, showing my inherent layman's ignorance....
I make a simple demand: Please correct me... it's how I learn.]

I ran across this snippet in Science Daily which, for once, wasn't fire-walled behind a data suction demand.

New rocket fuel compound packs 150% more energy

I am hoping this is a good thing all around... I know nothing of the dangers of Boron used this way...

But since we generally rely on an aluminum-based rocket propellant for much of our space program, and this is 20% more energetic by weight and 150% more energetic by volume...

The newly synthesized compound, manganese diboride (MnB[sub]2[/sub]), is over 20% more energetic by weight and about 150% more energetic by volume compared to the aluminum currently used in solid rocket boosters.

This compound makes no huger leap, but a generous nudge towards a tad bit more payload, a tad bit more range for the mission.

Interestingly enough on it's own... it has military implications as well, (but then they always get first teat when it comes to such steps forward... we're a fearful lot.  )

As is the case with all tech... the potential benefits are well-worth pursuing.
 

The underlying boron-based structure is also versatile; related research in the Yeung lab has demonstrated its potential to help build more durable catalytic converters for cars and serve as a catalyst for breaking down plastics.

The process of manufacturing this stuff is neat... and kind of scary... you see Boron is not exactly keen on having every damn corner of it's orbits, occupied... compressed...
 

Synthesizing manganese diboride requires extreme heat generated using a tool called an "arc melter." The first step involves pressing manganese and boron powders together into a pellet, which is placed in a small, reinforced glass chamber. The arc melter trains a narrow electrical current on the pellet, heating it to a scorching 3,000°C (over 5,000°F). The molten material is then rapidly cooled to lock the structure in place. At the atomic level, this process forces a central manganese atom to bond to too many other atoms, making for an overly crowded structure packed tight like a coiled spring.

[formatting is mine]

like most coherent matter, it seeks some of 'balance' (to accommodate it's resonance if you will) so when we can create enough pressure and while its channeling enough plasma-arc energy, we can bend the boron molecule links into stable place ... structure in a tight "Super-ball" of energy... all we need to do then is "release it." (kerosene ignites it.)

Damn, scientists are clever...

The author referred to this in the sub-title... "It takes heat to make heat."

I wonder how much MORE it will cost us to use this stuff? 
(In every way, energy, waste, and since the government will be involved... graft?)

Boron futures.... hmm?

I strongly applaud the author's inclusion of the final few paragraphs... which I encourage reading...

"This study is also a great example of the scientific process, where researchers pursue interesting chemical properties even when they're not certain what specific applications might emerge. Sometimes, present case included, the results are serendipitous."
 
Yeung's interest in boron compounds started when he was a grad student at the University of California, Los Angeles. His project was aiming to discover compounds harder than diamond.
 
"I distinctly remember the first time I made a compound related to manganese diboride," Yeung said.

"There I was, holding this new material that was supposed to be super hard. Instead, it started to get hot and changed into a pretty orange color. I thought, 'Why is it orange? Why is it glowing? It shouldn't be glowing!' That's when I realized how energetic boron compounds can be. I put a pin in it to explore in the future, and that's exactly what we are working on now."

For anyone seeking an example... THAT is science.

[argentus]

[It's been a while since I created a thread.... let's see if I remember how...
Brace yourself, this is going to 'sciency' and since I am no scientist, I may convey some concepts
incorrectly, showing my inherent layman's ignorance....
I make a simple demand: Please correct me... it's how I learn.]

I ran across this snippet in Science Daily which, for once, wasn't fire-walled behind a data suction demand.

New rocket fuel compound packs 150% more energy

I am hoping this is a good thing all around... I know nothing of the dangers of Boron used this way...

But since we generally rely on an aluminum-based rocket propellant for much of our space program, and this is 20% more energetic by weight and 150% more energetic by volume...

This compound makes no huger leap, but a generous nudge towards a tad bit more payload, a tad bit more range for the mission.

Interestingly enough on it's own... it has military implications as well, (but then they always get first teat when it comes to such steps forward... we're a fearful lot.  )

As is the case with all tech... the potential benefits are well-worth pursuing.
 

The process of manufacturing this stuff is neat... and kind of scary... you see Boron is not exactly keen on having every damn corner of it's orbits, occupied... compressed...
 
[formatting is mine]

like most coherent matter, it seeks some of 'balance' (to accommodate it's resonance if you will) so when we can create enough pressure and while its channeling enough plasma-arc energy, we can bend the boron molecule links into stable place ... structure in a tight "Super-ball" of energy... all we need to do then is "release it." (kerosene ignites it.)

Damn, scientists are clever...

The author referred to this in the sub-title... "It takes heat to make heat."

I wonder how much MORE it will cost us to use this stuff? 
(In every way, energy, waste, and since the government will be involved... graft?)

Boron futures.... hmm?

I strongly applaud the author's inclusion of the final few paragraphs... which I encourage reading...

For anyone seeking an example... THAT is science.

You say, "Brace yourself, this is going to 'sciency' and since I am no scientist, I may convey some concepts incorrectly, showing my inherent layman's ignorance...."  You are a humble man, but I think you sometimes argue for a limitation.   I think you are mostly creatively intelligent, and just occasionally brilliant.  

Onward.   I think this is fascinating!   What (I think) they are talking about is compressing the orbitals and their energies and 'forcing' a new compound that certainly isn't naturally occurring, but perhaps not really all that stable either.   I don't know, but I would guess that it doesn't take much heat or pressure to release this fuel's potential and liberate the energy of the pellets.  Of course, we'll have to blow up a few (unmanned) spacecraft before we get it dialed in, but that's the process.  

Both boron and magnesium are used in mitigating radiation in space suits, and spacecraft.  What next?  Tap into the stellar nucleosynthesis of stars?   Well, we'd better have a pretty big "trailer" full of fuel.   Thank you so much!  I love this stuff.  We will someday discover (or be shown?) the ultimate answer and all this will seem like children playing with matches.

[RandomLurker]

The process of manufacturing this stuff is neat... and kind of scary...

 

Now it is clear that anyone working with rocket fuels is outstandingly mad. I don’t mean garden-variety crazy or a merely raving lunatic. I mean a record-shattering exponent of far-out insanity.

― John Drury Clark, "Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants"

(Love his quotes and really need to get that book!)

[Maxmars]

...

Both boron and magnesium are used in mitigating radiation in space suits, and spacecraft.  What next?  Tap into the stellar nucleosynthesis of stars?   Well, we'd better have a pretty big "trailer" full of fuel.   Thank you so much!  I love this stuff.  We will someday discover (or be shown?) the ultimate answer and all this will seem like children playing with matches.

Thank you sincerely for the response.

I didn't know about those other uses for the boron-manganese materials...

Were I a chemist... I would be cautious about looking to theoretical models for insight...
it seems actual observation leads to discovery more than virtual simulation.

Well... maybe not... like I said.. not a scientist...

[Maxmars]

 

(Love his quotes and really need to get that book!)

Back in the days when liquids fuel and raw hydrogen were everyone's answer to 
"explosive energy we can use" I think you had to have the heart of a daredevil to
be an engineer working in rocketry...

... that, and a disregard for burns and scars.

[rickymouse]

Interesting.  I would never have considered manganese diboride would accomplish that.  Must increase a reaction in the mix somehow.

I would have guessed a molybdenum compound with magnesium might have been the compounds.  Although those might be a little too aggressive and it might go boom.

Learn something new every day, now I will have to research how it works in increasing the power.  I wonder it if will work where there is less oxygen near space?  Although, I am guessing those scientists already know what is needed in space, because it is their specialty....and the combo may be patent protected.

[argentus]

Thank you sincerely for the response.

I didn't know about those other uses for the boron-manganese materials...

Were I a chemist... I would be cautious about looking to theoretical models for insight...
it seems actual observation leads to discovery more than virtual simulation.

Well... maybe not... like I said.. not a scientist...

The thing is, this is outside of conventional chemistry, wading into the quagmire of Quantum Physics and orbital energies there is no textbook.   There is only theory.   Much of it is supported.   Actual observation, as you say, trumps everything that is representative.    It's like computer models which do a somewhat incrementally better job of predicting weather than mere humans.   Just every so often there is that shine, that person who really feels it and knows it.   For the rest of us, the computer models can teach us how to measure weather variables and their interactions.  So it is -- I suppose -- for quantum interactions.  

I believe human insight and creativity will always rise above virtual/computer/AI/AI+ models.   It's what makes us human.

[Kurokage]

Wasn't there a thread in the Aircraft Forum on ATS called the "Green Lady" about a classified aircraft that used a Boron type fuel??

Someone light up the 'Zaph' signal so we can ask him??  

[Encia22]

Wasn't there a thread in the Aircraft Forum on ATS called the "Green Lady" about a classified aircraft that used a Boron type fuel??

Someone light up the 'Zaph' signal so we can ask him??  

Was this it?

https://web.archive.org/web/202401201709...027905/pg1

ETA: ... and this page is even more interesting...

https://web.archive.org/web/202401201709...027905/pg9

[Kurokage]

Was this it?

https://web.archive.org/web/202401201709...027905/pg1

ETA: ... and this page is even more interesting...

https://web.archive.org/web/202401201709...027905/pg9

Now I see why you're a 'Super' Moderator!!