At such a dose, most or all plastics will depolymerise and desintegrate rapidly, inorganic dielectrics will be full of accumulated charge, etc. Nothing electronic will work, so this thing is a useless academic achievement.
As a general bit of advice, if you are not a researcher in a particular field, you probably don't have the knowledge or authority to meaningfully comment on that research. Just because you don't understand the point doesn't mean it is pointless.
then why did you think plastic mattered? btw, the products this would be used for would be very likely to be single use in this environment. But there's other use cases also, like outside earth.
Doesn’t it? Aren’t computer chips and motherboards heavily reliant on plastics and polymer-based materials? Was there a computer materials revolution I’m not aware of?
No plastics except the cases/buttons which can be made out of anything, and the leds (which can be glass, or just not used).
The pcb material (the motherboard) are normally made out of fibreglass (they can be made from plastic or other materials but its rare).
There are polymer glues used in the PCBs that could breakdown, but ones the glue is set it keeps its form, just would become brittle, but since the mobi should be in a tension free environment and there are other non-polymers providing stability materials it would be fine for a fairly long time.
If you look at something like a typical computer motherboard, you'll have a hard time finding a single square inch that doesn't contain something plastic mounted on it: almost all connectors, most low-power ICs, some passives like inductors.
All of those uses of plastics can in theory be replaced by other materials, and if you look at stuff like mainframes from 50+ years ago you'll see how to do boards without polymer resins, connectors with just metal and ceramics, etc. But the engineering effort to build a useful modern electronic gadget with zero plastics (and building the supply chain for all those custom non-plastic components) would very likely be much harder than merely designing a rad-hardened WiFi chip. It's not a matter of just picking a different component from the catalog. Doing electronics without plastics is truly a significant challenge.
And as OP pointed out, plastics aren't the only problematic materials in such a high-radiation environment.
I dont think plastics are that untegral or hard to remove. Polymers are much more of a challenge, but giver their usage tends to be less of an issue. But the current robots already use polymers without issue (for example wire insulation and wheels). Really though thats just part of a solution, none of this needs to last for ever, or even a normal amount of time. Its likely to be completely acceptable that after and non-negligable amount of radiation that they would just replace the electronics.
Nothing electronic will work, so this thing is a useless academic achievement.
Something said largely by people who have never had an academic achievement and feel inadequate about others' work. Just because you don't understand the applications or the point of the research doesn't mean its pointless.
x7_omega@reddit
At such a dose, most or all plastics will depolymerise and desintegrate rapidly, inorganic dielectrics will be full of accumulated charge, etc. Nothing electronic will work, so this thing is a useless academic achievement.
Zarmazarma@reddit
As a general bit of advice, if you are not a researcher in a particular field, you probably don't have the knowledge or authority to meaningfully comment on that research. Just because you don't understand the point doesn't mean it is pointless.
x7_omega@reddit
It just so happens that I am a researcher and I can very much comment on this particular subject with authority. Talk down to others here.
hollow_bridge@reddit
then why did you think plastic mattered? btw, the products this would be used for would be very likely to be single use in this environment. But there's other use cases also, like outside earth.
Green-Salmon@reddit
Doesn’t it? Aren’t computer chips and motherboards heavily reliant on plastics and polymer-based materials? Was there a computer materials revolution I’m not aware of?
dystopianartlover@reddit
No plastics except the cases/buttons which can be made out of anything, and the leds (which can be glass, or just not used).
The pcb material (the motherboard) are normally made out of fibreglass (they can be made from plastic or other materials but its rare). There are polymer glues used in the PCBs that could breakdown, but ones the glue is set it keeps its form, just would become brittle, but since the mobi should be in a tension free environment and there are other non-polymers providing stability materials it would be fine for a fairly long time.
wtallis@reddit
If you look at something like a typical computer motherboard, you'll have a hard time finding a single square inch that doesn't contain something plastic mounted on it: almost all connectors, most low-power ICs, some passives like inductors.
All of those uses of plastics can in theory be replaced by other materials, and if you look at stuff like mainframes from 50+ years ago you'll see how to do boards without polymer resins, connectors with just metal and ceramics, etc. But the engineering effort to build a useful modern electronic gadget with zero plastics (and building the supply chain for all those custom non-plastic components) would very likely be much harder than merely designing a rad-hardened WiFi chip. It's not a matter of just picking a different component from the catalog. Doing electronics without plastics is truly a significant challenge.
And as OP pointed out, plastics aren't the only problematic materials in such a high-radiation environment.
dystopianartlover@reddit
I dont think plastics are that untegral or hard to remove. Polymers are much more of a challenge, but giver their usage tends to be less of an issue. But the current robots already use polymers without issue (for example wire insulation and wheels). Really though thats just part of a solution, none of this needs to last for ever, or even a normal amount of time. Its likely to be completely acceptable that after and non-negligable amount of radiation that they would just replace the electronics.
x7_omega@reddit
Everyone is welcome to spend their budget on trying this out in the specified radiation environment and see what happens. Knowledge is not free.
NFCE_best@reddit
This guy is so full of shit lol
ILikeJogurt@reddit
lol u arent
hollow_bridge@reddit
Electronics don't need plastics though, so what's your point?
Green-Salmon@reddit
But aren’t computer chips and motherboards heavily reliant on plastics and polymer-based materials?
Zarmazarma@reddit
Something said largely by people who have never had an academic achievement and feel inadequate about others' work. Just because you don't understand the applications or the point of the research doesn't mean its pointless.
Bderken@reddit
Useless academic achievement huh,
Sounding like a moon denier