Re:Supercritical CO2 is heavy like a liquid, with weird and ...
by gene-h on Friday October 25, 2019 @04:22PM
(#21358878)
Venus' lower atmosphere is actually composed of supercritical CO2 at 90 atm and ~450°C which makes corrosion interesting[0]. sCO2's property of acting like a solvent works against us in this case. Copper grows a hair copper sulphide from the trace amount of sulfur dioxide and other sulfur compounds present. Hydrofluoric acid, even though it's present at part per billion concentrations, cause corrosion problems too. While we now have interesting silicon carbide integrated circuits like image sensors[1] and 555 timers[2] capable of operating at Venusian temperatures, it's challenging to actually use them on Venus because of corrosion of the bonding pads.
[0]https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325521557_Chemical_...
[1]http://kth.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1303493/FULLTEXT0...
[2]http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1317...