"We've examined the damaged grid, and there's a section of the thermoelement missing.

The thermoelement was rushed off for an autopsy, and I spent the rest of the evening hiding from Joe.

This is observed in all base-metal thermoelement materials and is mainly due to compositional changes caused by oxidation, carburization or neutron irradiation that can produce transmutation in nuclear reactor environments.

Designed at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO), Australia, by Noel A Burley, type N thermocouples overcome the three principal characteristic types and causes of thermoelectric instability in the standard base-metal thermoelement materials: