The recrystallization Temp of W is 1300-1500 C. Since it is known to disassociate hydrogen when an arc is passed between tungsten electrodes for atomic welding it might be a great candidate if it can form a nano powder with the proper geometry. Although powdered tungsten properties remain the same as bulk tungsten down to 1um , finer powders become pyrophoric It is suspected the high density of defects is responsible for the pyrophoricity. This makes me suspect the disassociation capability will still be present and could be maximized when oxygen is eliminated. My gut feeling is that oxidation and hydride formations are actually poisons that cause this quiescene as a result of a very clean ZPE reaction that goes too far into runaway.. The latest news regarding the negative TC for resistivity might side step the quiescene issue by allowing a much faster control loop. A PWM scheme that employs multiple resistance sensors and reaction sites might be able to exploit the ZPE without entering into this poison zone. I think the new reactor dimensions that DK mentions is a step in this direction since it distributes the reaction sites and would facilitate multi sensors and heating elements.
Fran http://books.google.com/books?id=foLRISkt9gcC <http://books.google.com/books?id=foLRISkt9gcC&pg=PA86&lpg=PA86&dq=pyrophori c+tungsten&source=bl&ots=-suKEau0D2&sig=VM01tYvs5gF9_EDLIfxy-MvZLY8&hl=en&sa =X&ei=SFgTT4aTCYb20gHT6I2ZAw&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=pyrophoric%20tungst en&f=false> &pg=PA86&lpg=PA86&dq=pyrophoric+tungsten&source=bl&ots=-suKEau0D2&sig=VM01tY vs5gF9_EDLIfxy-MvZLY8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=SFgTT4aTCYb20gHT6I2ZAw&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v =onepage&q=pyrophoric%20tungsten&f=false
