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Chuan, R. L.

Publications and source records attributed to Chuan, R. L..

At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1992

Field-Domain Ion Spectrometry

Field-domain ion spectrometry (FDIS) is variant of established technique known as ion-mobility spectrometry. Operates at atmospheric pressure and only requires small pump to draw air sample into instrument. Strength of retarding electric field varied to distinguish among ions of different mobilities. New concept offers potential for development of small, (hand-held), low-power, portable devices detecting airborne chemical substances in real-time at concentrations at parts-per-billion level.

Bowers, W. D.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A high sensitivity real-time NVR monitor

The use of a temperature-controlled 200-MHz SAW resonator piezoelectric mass microbalance to monitor the mass of nonvolatile residue (NVR) deposited on its surface in real time is reported. The fundamental frequency of this device is mainly dependent on the configuration of the transducers and not on the thickness of the substrate. Therefore, higher operating frequencies can be achieved without reducing the thickness of the crystal. The real-time instrument was integrated onto a conventional stainless steel NVR plate and operated flawlessly over a 14-d period at Kennedy Space Center and successfully measured less than 1 ng/sq cm d NVR contamination. Contamination episodes detected by the instrument were correlated with scheduled activities on the test stand. Under the assumption of a baseline noise level of +/- 2 Hz, the absolute mass lower limit of detection would be 0.065 ng/sq cm. This would enable the detection of a daily NVR deposition rate of less than 0.1 ng/sq cm d.

Bowers, William D.↗
NASA NTRS1991

A 200 MHz surface acoustic wave resonator mass microbalance

The development of a 200 MHz SAW instrument based on an SAW resonator instead of a conventional delay line is reported. The instrument is small, compact, and uses two separate 200 MHz resonataor crystals which operate in the dual difference mode. The difference frequency stability is better than 5 x 10 to the -9th (+ or - 1 Hz) which is comparable to a 10 MHz bulk crystal and at least an order of magnitude better than other commercially available SAW delay lines that operate at comparable frequencies. The mass sensitivity is about 9 x 10 to the 10th Hz sq cm/g. Response to temperature change is found to be about 20 Hz/C from -30 C to 30 C. Response to pressure is found to be linear from 760 to 415 Torr at 3 Hz/Torr. Detection limits for HCl vapors were determined to be in the low ppb range using an SAW resonator coated with triethanolamine.

Bowers, W. D.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Surface acoustic-wave piezoelectric crystal aerosol mass microbalance

The development of a particulate mass-sensing instrument based on a quartz-crystal microbalance and enhanced with the new surface acoustic-wave (SAW) technology is reported. Mass sensitivity comparisons of a 158-MHz SAW piezoelectric microbalance and a conventional 10-MHz quartz-crystal microbalance show that the SAW crystal is 266 times more sensitive, in good agreement with the theoretical value of 250. The frequency stability of a single SAW resonator is 6 parts in 10 to the 8th over 1 min. The response to temperature changes is found to be very linear over the range +30 to -30 C. A strong response to 15 ppm SO2 has been demonstrated on a chemically coated SAW crystal.

Bowers, W. D.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Halite particles injected into the stratosphere by the 1982 El Chichon eruption

A cascade impactor was flown on board a U-2 aircraft to gather particulate samples in the stratosphere at 18-21 km altitude after the El Chichon eruptions of 1982. Halite particles were observed, which posed a hazard for the catalytic destruction of ozone. No halite particles were observed a month after the eruptions, while a 40 percent increase in HCl was detected at 12 km, an increase which could have been augmented by halite transformations. The halite proportion of the volcanic clouds was of the same proportion of NaCl as in the volcanic ash around El Chichon. The results indicate that halite forms in eruption clouds of volcanos with alkalic magmas.

Woods, D. C.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Sulfur dioxide and particles in quiescent volcanic plumes from Poas, Arenal, and Colima volcanos, Costa Rica and Mexico

Measurements of SO2 emission rates and concentrations and of particle distribution, size, shape, and composition were made in quiescent volcanic plumes emitted into the troposphere from Poas and Arenal volcanos, Costa Rica, and Colima volcano, Mexico. SO2 emission rates were 700 + or - 180 metric tons per day (t/d) for Poas, 210 + or - 30 t/d for Arenal, and 320 + or - 50 t/d for Colima. The concentrations of SO2 calculated from the COSPEC/lidar data were 5-380 ppb. Concentrations of SO2 measured directly by flame photometry were 10-250 ppb. Particles collected in the plumes with a quartz crystal microbalance impactor were mostly less than 3 microns in diameter and consisted of droplets of dilute sulfur-bearing solutions and minor amounts of layer silicate particles coated with a sulfur-bearing film or crust. Total particle concentrations were 4.7 micrograms per cu.m for Poas and 18.8 micrograms per cu.m for Colima. Comparison of concentrations of SO2 in the plumes with gas samples collected at fumaroles on the ground suggests that the plumes are diluted by the atmosphere by factors of up to 100,000.

Casadevall, T. J.↗
NASA NTRS1984

The appearance of carbon aerosol particles in the lower stratosphere

Very small carbonaceous particles, thought to be meteoritic, have been found in small quantities in the lower stratosphere during aircraft sampling flights. The sampling was accomplished using a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) cascade impactor operating on a U-2 aircraft as it flew stratospheric sampling missions. Post flight analyses of the samples using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray energy spectroscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy have identified carbon particles 0.1 micron aerodynamic diameter and smaller in 16 of 28 sets of samples obtained between 1979 and 1983. The presence of such carbon particles in the stratosphere has implications relating to global climate, to the conversion of SO2 to sulfuric acid, and to the phenomenon of the Arctic haze.

Chuan, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Size-specific composition of aerosols in the El Chichon volcanic cloud

A NASA U-2 research aircraft flew sampling missions in April, May, July, November, and December 1982 aimed at obtaining in situ data in the stratospheric cloud produced from the March-April 1982 El Chichon eruptions. Post flight analyses provided information on the aerosol composition and morphology. The particles ranged in size from smaller than 0.05 m to larger than 20 m diameter and were quite complex in composition. In the April, May, and July samples the aerosol mass was dominated by magmatic and lithic particles larger than about 3 m. The submicron particles consisted largely of sulfuric acid. Halite particles, believed to be related to a salt dome beneath El Chichon, were collected in the stratosphere in April and May. On the July 23 flight, copper-zinc oxide particles were collected. In July, November, and December, in addition to the volcanic ash and acid particles, carbon-rich particles smaller than about 0.1 m aerodynamic diameter were abundant.

Woods, D. C.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Physical and chemical characteristics of Mount St. Helens airborne debris

Tephra and aerosols from the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, Washington were sampled in the lower stratosphere with a WB-57F aircraft. The main body of the plume was intercepted over western Kansas on May 20, 48 hours after the eruption, at an altitude of 15.2 km. Concentrations on filter samples were 26 ng of SO4(-2) of air and 579 ng of ash/g of air. Angular glass pyroclasts ranged in size from 0.5 to 10 microns, with a mean grain of 2 microns. Samples collected at altitudes of 16.7 and 12.5 km had only traces of SO4(-2) and ash. A second flight was flown, 72 hours after the eruption, on May 21. From north Texas to central Wyoming, at an altitude of 15.2 km less than 0.5 to 38 ng of ash/g of air and 1.0 to 2.2 ng of SO4(-2)/g of air were sampled. At an altitude of 18.3 km, from central Wyoming to NW New Mexico, the plume density and character were variable.

Sedlacek, W. A.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Small particles in plumes of Mount St. Helens

Particles in the size range 0.1-25 microns were sampled by aircraft carrying a quartz crystal microcascade in the Mount St. Helens plume on three dates in August and September 1980. Two of the sampling dates represented 'typical' emissions of the volcano between plinian eruptions. One sampling flight was made 1-4 hours before the small plinian eruption of August 7, 1980 when the plume had become discontinuous and visibly darker. The plume sampled on August 7, before the eruption, contained mainly approximately 2-micron diameter silicic glass particles, fragments of the Mount St. Helens magma. The typical plumes sampled on September 22 and August 6 had much smaller concentrations of particles, trimodal size distributions with peaks at 10, 0.4, and 0.1 microns. The particles were largely nonsilicate and apparently represented Cu-Zn oxide (10 micron peak), Al sulfate, chloride, and oxide, and sulfuric acid (smallest size peak).

Rose, W. I.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Fine particles in the Soufriere eruption plume

The size distributions of fine particles measured at tropospheric altitudes in the periphery of the eruption plume formed during the April 17, 1979 eruption of Soufriere Volcano and in the low-level effluents on May 15, 1979 were found to be bimodal, having peak concentrations at geometric mean diameters of 1.1 and 0.23 micrometers. Scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis of the samples revealed an abundance of aluminum and silicon and traces of sodium, magnesium, chlorine, potassium, calcium, and iron in the large-particle mode. The submicrometer-sized particles were covered with liquid containing sulfur, assumed to be in the form of liquid sulfuric acid.

Woods, D. C.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Characterization of aerosols from eruptions of Mount St. Helens

Measurements of mass concentration and size distribution of aerosols from eruptions of Mount St. Helens as well as morphological and elemental analyses were obtained between 7 April and 7 August 1980. In situ measurements were made in early phreatic and later, minor phreatomagmatic eruption clouds near the vent of the volcano and in plumes injected into the stratosphere from the major eruptions of 18 and 25 May. The phreatic aerosol was characterized by an essentially monomodal size distribution dominated by silicate particles larger than 10 micrometers in diameter. The phreatomagmatic eruption cloud was multimodal; the large size mode consisted of silicate particles and the small size modes were made up of mixtures of sulfuric acid and silicate particles. The stratospheric aerosol from the main eruption exhibited a characteristic narrow single mode with particles less than 1 micrometer in diameter and nearly all of the mass made up of sulfuric acid droplets.

Chuan, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Morphology and elemental composition analysis by size of rocket particulate effluent

Particulate samples collected on six stages of a quartz crystal microbalance cascade impactor mounted in an aircraft traversing the plume of a large solid-fueled rocket are analyzed, postflight, by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersed X-ray (EDXRA). The results indicate the morphology and elemental composition of the particles fall into several distinct groups. Those larger than about 0.5 micron in diameter and nearly spherical in shape contain, among elements with atomic numbers of 11 and higher, only aluminum, suggesting they are aluminum oxide formed in the solid rocket fuel combustion. Still larger but less symmetrical particles contain only sodium and chlorine. Particles much smaller than 0.5 micron seem to end up as agglomerates after impaction (or during the impaction process), and show a complex elemental make-up of Na, Al, S, Cl, K, Ca, Fe and Zn. The unagglomerated single particles smaller than 0.2 micron, on the other hand, show no evidence of elements above atomic number 11 at all, suggesting they may be carbon or hydrocarbon particles.

Chuan, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Particulate size distribution cascade analyzer for spacecraft contamination monitoring

A cascade particulate analyzer was developed for nearly real time measurement of the contaminating particulate size distribution in the spacecraft interior ambient environment and as a real time total impacting particulate mass monitor under vacuum conditions. The analyzer has four stages, the first stage is a basic 10 MHz quartz crystal microbalance used widely on spacecraft (such as Skylab) for contamination monitoring purposes. In this application the front sensing crystal is coated with a low vapor pressure adhesive grease which captures impacting particles. This first stage has a wide viewing angle and measures total particulate mass impacting the crystal while the unit is exposed to the vacuum environment. The remaining three states form an aerodynamic impaction cascade with individual quartz crystal microbalances at each stage acting as accumulated mass sensing elements. These three stages thus give relative mass distribution of particulates in three ranges, particles having effective diameter greater than 5 micron, particles between 1 and 5 micron diameter and particles 0.3 to 1 micron diameter.

Wallace, D. A.↗