What is lithium deuteride used for?

Answer 1

Lithium deuteride was an experimental fuel used for hydrogen bombs. The H-bomb runs on deuterium, the second isotope of hydrogen. When the fission bomb in the core of the hydrogen bomb activates, the lithium is partially converted into deuterium, so there's a bunch of fusion fuel present. The deuterium then (hopefully) fuses into helium, releasing a bunch of energy.

I believe it is no longer used, but it was tested in the 1960s.

Answer 2

I guess I never considered that it might have uses other than a fuel in thermonuclear warheads...

In the collapsed secondary...the lithium undergoes a neutronic reaction to form helium and tritium...the deuterium and tritium then fuse

The stuff is also used in civilian inertial confinment fusion experiments...same idea, only on a much smaller scale...

...that, and it doesn't use energy from a fission explosive for compression

Check out Sandia National Labs Z-machine (http://zpinch.sandia.gov/)

Answer 3

Ask wiki:

Lithium deuteride, formula LiD, is the fusion fuel in thermonuclear weapons. In warheads of the Teller-Ulam design, LiD is compressed and heated by the explosion of the fission primary to the point where fusion occurs. Lithium deuteride, unlike tritium, is non-radioactive.

Answer 4

Aside from ending the world with (Li-6)D...

4 LiD + AlCl3 --> LiAlD4 + 3 LiCl

for reductive isotopic labeling in organic chemistry, biochemistry, and pharma. Good yield, too, 97% w/w LAD. 99% of the LiCl is removed by filtration from the ethereal solution.

Answer 5

Nuclear fusion rocket engine.

Just kidding.