Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
In metallurgy it is common to have a "balance" component, which is roughly "whatever is left over". For instance iron is the balance component in all steels. Or for example, U-238 is the balance of most uranium enrichments. It is annoying to have to manually calculate the balance component as 1.0 - sum(fractions) (though most users would probably do 1.0 - (0.03 + 0.07...)).
Describe the solution you'd like
I am going back on forth on how to do this. We could do this at the Nuclide or Material level. Nuclide level might look like:
mat.add_nuclide("U-238", balance=True)This probably needs to rise a ValueError if the current components sum to >=1.0. This use case would be helpful only when the balance is a single isotope.
At the Material level I would imagine something like:
oxygen = montepy.Material...
chrome = montepy.Material...
iron = montepy.Material...
steel = problem.Materials.mix([oxygen, chrome], [0.005, 0.05], balance=iron)
This latter case is more helpful for mixing elemental materials (e.g., alloys).
Describe alternatives you've considered
Status quo.
Additional context
This was partially inspired by discussing how to make Zircaloy-4 in the MCNP forum.
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
In metallurgy it is common to have a "balance" component, which is roughly "whatever is left over". For instance iron is the balance component in all steels. Or for example, U-238 is the balance of most uranium enrichments. It is annoying to have to manually calculate the balance component as
1.0 - sum(fractions)(though most users would probably do1.0 - (0.03 + 0.07...)).Describe the solution you'd like
I am going back on forth on how to do this. We could do this at the
NuclideorMateriallevel.Nuclidelevel might look like:This probably needs to rise a
ValueErrorif the current components sum to>=1.0. This use case would be helpful only when the balance is a single isotope.At the
Materiallevel I would imagine something like:This latter case is more helpful for mixing elemental materials (e.g., alloys).
Describe alternatives you've considered
Status quo.
Additional context
This was partially inspired by discussing how to make Zircaloy-4 in the MCNP forum.