Anything Better Than Beryllium?

[Anonymous]

Hi, are there any possibilities for an anode constructed from a material with superior performance to beryllium?

Could lithium somehow be used as an electrode, in spite of its low melt-point? (ie. if supercooling were used)
It has the smaller nuclear cross-section in its favor.
Or what about lithium hydride?

What about a lithium-beryllium alloy? I’d read it might be possible to make this at high pressures.

Or what about beryllium hydride?

[vansig]

desired properties include:
* high melting point
* high electrical conductivity
* high thermal conductivity
* low neutron absorption cross-section
* low xray absorption cross-section
* good stability in vacuum

lithium melting point is quite low. anything exposed to the plasma is going to get to over 1000° C.
heavy elements would absorb a lot of xray.
wouldn’t hydrides bleed off their hydrogen when you put them in vacuum?

[Author]

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