Liquid metal cooled reactor Clementine was the first liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor and used mercury coolant, thought to be the obvious choice since it is liquid at room temperature. However, because of disadvantages including high toxicity, high vapor pressure even at room temperature, low boiling point, producing noxious fumes when heated, relatively low thermal conductivity, and a high neutron cross-section, it has fallen out of favor. Sodium and NaK (a eutectic sodium-potassium alloy) do not corrode steel to any significant degree and are compatible with many nuclear fuels, allowing for a wide choice of structural materials. They do, however, ignite spontaneously on contact
Liquid metal can move in free space and in various structural channels; surprisingly, it can also make its own deformation adjustment according to the width of the path along the path. The dynamic mechanism comes from two aspects. According to Rebinder's effect , liquid metal alloy EGaIn or Galinstan would penetrate into aluminum, destroying the oxide skin on Al surface and leading to the activation of Al. In NaOH solution, Al is the cathode and liquid metal works as the anode. the dissolution of Al on the cathode renders Al to lose electrons, Under the equilibrium state, gallium reacts with the alkali