Hiroshima Atomic Blast Forged a Novel Multicomponent Alloy
Discovery of a multicomponent alloy forged by the Hiroshima atomic blast
A previously unknown alloy, formed in the fireball of the 1945 Hiroshima atomic bomb, has been discovered in fallout debris. The micrometer-sized grain, found in a glassy spherule from Hiroshima Bay, has a complex Fe-Cr-Ni-Mn-Mo-Si-Al composition and an ordered AlAu4-type crystal structure. Its formation likely involved condensation from a mixed metallic vapor followed by ultrafast quenching, demonstrating that nuclear plasma events can stabilize complex metallic phases and offering a natural laboratory for studying nonequilibrium alloy formation.
Such fireball conditions—rapid vaporization of multicomponent metallic and silicate materials followed by high supersaturation and ultrafast quenching—are theoretically favorable not only to silicate condensation but also to the formation of chemically complex metallic phases.
- tastyfreeze
Interesting. Bring on the A-bomb foundries! Had this been discovered during the exploration phase of atomic bomb use we probably would have seen A-bomb foundry proposals.
There is a hypothesized process in this paper that sounds like a graduate thesis on its own.
- anigbrowl
'natural experiment' doing a lot of heavy lifting here. I don't know enough about chemistry to tell if this alloy has potentially interesting properties, or it's just interesting because it's something we weren't previously aware of as being possible.
- HelloUsername
Related: "Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test" may 2026 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48155450 87 comments
- HPsquared
Not the most economical manufacturing process, it has to be said.
- MeteorMarc
This is really worth a read. Although the origin is an airblast, ground structures and soil is evaporated too into an inhomogeneous plasma. The relative fast cooling adds to the crystal formation.