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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 181 records · Page 10
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

PINS Variance study

The INL’s Portable Isotopic Neutron Spectroscopy System (PINS) non-intrusively identifies the chemical fill of munitions and sealed containers. PINS is used routinely by the U.S. Army, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and foreign military units to determine the contents of munitions and other containers suspected to contain explosives, smoke-generating chemicals, and chemical warfare agents such as mustard and nerve gas. The objects assayed with PINS range from softball-sized M139 chemical bomblets to 200 gallon DOT 500X ton containers. INL had previously examined the feasibility of using a similar system for the identification of explosives, and based on this proof-of-principle test, the development of a dedicated system for the identification of explosives in the presence of special nuclear material for emergency responders was started in 2011. INL tested prototype PINS on explosives and mock explosives with kilogram quantities of highly-enriched uranium and weapons-grade plutonium in 2011. In 2012 INL concentrated on making the system more sensitive to identifying explosives, particularly in the detection of the nitrogen content of explosives. This past year INL has been concentrating its efforts in studying the variance in the spectra, in particular the variance in the elemental ratios that are used to identify individual explosives.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2016

CFD Verification and Validation of Wire-Wrapped Pin Assemblies

TerraPower is participating in a cooperative project among industry, the national lab system, and academia to perform Verification and Validation (V and V) of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods for predicting the flow and heat transfer within liquid-metal-cooled nuclear fuel assemblies with wire-wrapped fuel pins. This project, consisting of both experimental and numerical components, uses surrogate fluids and electrically heated fuel pins to substitute for the liquid metal coolant and the nuclear heat source. The experiments include both unheated assemblies to measure the flow velocities with Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), as well as heated assemblies to measure the temperatures of the fluid and the simulated fuel pins with thermocouples. Both sets of experiments also measure the pressure at multiple locations in the system. The numerical component of this work involves high-fidelity Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) modeling and industry-standard Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) modeling of the experiments. Furthermore, the experiments and simulations will be conducted on two duct geometries: the first is a non-deformed hexagonal duct that has flat internal duct faces that represents a beginning of life geometry. The other is a deformed duct where the internal hexagonal flow area enlarges then decreases along the axial height to represent the changes that occur to the duct geometry from pressure and irradiation effects in the core. This paper describes the methods and results of the industrial, RANS-based CFD code verification, solution verification, and solution validation. The V and V simulations are being performed for the following experiment test geometries: - Isothermal non-deformed bundle; - Heated non-deformed bundle; - Isothermal deformed bundle; - Heated deformed bundle. These flows have been computed at first with the pre-test design specifications, without the aid of any experimental results. Later, post-test calculations will be performed incorporating the actual test conditions and input from some of the experimental results. These RANS simulations of helically wire-wrapped fuel assemblies employ meshes of bare pins without the wire-wrap in the bundle. The effect of wire-wrap on the flow is accounted for by introducing a momentum source into the governing fluid equations. The momentum source is only applied to cells corresponding to the location of the wire-wrap, and its components in each cell are based on the local flow field. This methodology simplifies the geometry and mesh generation and reduces the cell count, while still capturing the effects of the wire-wrap. The momentum source approach is used for all of the assembly simulations performed in this study. (authors)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Time-Resolved PIV/PTV Measurements on Interior Subchannels of a Wire-Wrapped 61-pin Hexagonal Fuel Bundle

Liquid metal fast reactor fuel bundles using sodium as a coolant typically utilize a tightly packed triangular lattice of fuel pins enclosed in a hexagonal duct. Often, the fuel pins are helically wrapped with a wire spacer. The primary function of the wire spacers is to maintain a gap between adjacent fuel pins. They also enhance sub-channel mixing to increase convective heat transfer and mitigate vortex-induced vibration. Texas A and M University has conducted isothermal flow experiments in a wire-wrapped 61-pin hexagonal fuel bundle to support the research on advanced nuclear fuel development sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE). These tests produced high spatial and temporal resolution measurements of the velocity field and pressure at different locations in the fuel bundle. The experimental facility employs matched-index-of-refraction (MIR) techniques and laser diagnostic velocity measurement techniques such as particle image velocimetry (PIV), particle tracking velocimetry (PTV), and laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV). The result of this experimental activity will be an experimental database of pressure and velocity field measurements that will be suitable for validating computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods, such as Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and highly resolved large eddy simulation (LES). PIV results on the set of edge subchannels near the hexagonal duct have been presented in another paper. This paper presents PIV results on two sets of interior subchannels, defined as Interior- 1 and Center-2, at a Reynolds number (Re) of 19,000 in the turbulent regime.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2018

The Influence of Pinning Centers in the Magnetization of the Mesoscopic Superconductors

In this work, we study the mesoscopic superconducting samples with pinning centers using the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory (TDGL). The pinning centers are introduced via the phenomenological function f(r) Sorensen et al. (Physica C 533, 40–43 2017). We calculated the magnetization curves M(H) for some distances d from the boundary of the sample to the position of the pinning center. From this investigation arises the relation between the first magnetic field H{sub p} and the distance d. It shows that the pinning centers located close to the boundary of the sample decrease H{sub p}, and also the existence of two regimes of the penetration of the vortices. The magnetization curves revel the existence of ruddle of jumps for low magnetic fields for small distances d, indicating a complex vortex penetration.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2018

Pinning-Induced Vortex-System Disordering at the Origin of the Second Magnetization Peak in Superconducting Single Crystals

The nature of the second magnetization peak (SMP) appearing on the dc magnetic hysteresis curves of superconducting single crystals with random pinning is still under debate. Many interesting SMP models and mechanisms were proposed and considered so far, and it is believed at present that this effect is system dependent. We analyzed the dc magnetization curves and the magnetic relaxation in the SMP domain for various single-crystal specimens (superconducting cuprates and iron-based superconductors), of different pinning strengths, with the external magnetic field H oriented along the crystallographic c axis or perpendicular to it. The sample independent aspects revealed by the relaxation results are the absence of single-vortex collective pinning around the SMP onset field and the sign changing of the vortex creep exponent between the onset field and the peak field. This general behavior supports strongly the pinning-induced disordering of the low-H quasi-ordered vortex solid as the actual scenario for the SMP.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

The Impact of High Pressure, Doping and the Size of Crystalline Boron Grains on Creation of High-Field Pinning Centers in In Situ MgB{sub 2} Wires

In this work, we investigated the influence of isostatic pressure (of 0.1 MPa and 1.1 GPa) during heat treatment, doping, size and shape of crystalline boron grains, and annealing time at low annealing temperature (570 °C) on the formation of high-field pinning centers in MgB{sub 2} wires. The results indicate that high isostatic pressure (1.1 GPa) at low annealing temperature (570 ° C) and annealing time of 120 min significantly increases the density of high-field pinning centers in MgB{sub 2} wires with small and large boron grains. Transport measurements show that an increase of annealing time from 120 to 210 min at 1.1 GPa slightly decreases the critical current density (J{sub c}) and irreversibility field (B{sub irr}) in MgB{sub 2} wires with large boron grains, suggesting that longer annealing time weakly affects the density of high-field pinning centers. On the other hand, for MgB{sub 2} wires with small boron grains, the annealing time of 210 min significantly reduces J{sub c} and B{sub irr}. This indicates that the longer annealing time at 1.1 GPa significantly reduces the density of high-field pinning centers. Our studies indicate that dislocations created by the hot isostatic pressure process significantly increase B{sub irr} in the temperature range from 5 to 12 K. On the other hand, strains due to the shrinkage of MgB{sub 2} material increase B{sub irr} in the temperature range from 12 to 34 K. The results show that small grains of crystalline boron and high isostatic pressure lead to a high density of dislocations and strains during transformation to the MgB{sub 2} phase.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

Flux Pinning Characteristics and Irreversibility Field of Cu{sub 0.5}Tl{sub 0.5}Ba{sub 2}Ca{sub 3}Cu{sub 4}O{sub 12−δ} thin films

Flux pinning characteristics of Cu{sub 0.5}Tl{sub 0.5}Ba{sub 2}Ca{sub 3}Cu{sub 4}O{sub 12−δ} samples synthesized by two-step solid-state reaction method have been studied by physical properties measurement system (PPMS). These thin films are oriented along c-axis and have shown the tetragonal crystal structure. In the resistivity measurements, these samples have shown T{sub c} (R = 0) around 106 K. Asymmetric M vs. H loop of the samples at various temperature shows the interaction bulk and surface pinning. The energy of activation derived from the slope of Log(J{sub c}) vs. reduced temperature enhances with the increase strength of applied field. The irreversibility field suppress with the increase in the measurement temperature. The pinning energy per unit length of flux votex ε and the de-pinning force also suppress with increase of measurement temperature. The H{sub c1}, H{sub c}, and H{sub c2} (hence the H{sub irr}) are suppress with the increase of measurement temperature, since the H{sub c} determines the free energy difference between the normal and superconducting state. The increase in the H{sub c} at lower temperature shows that the density of superconducting electrons increases with the suppression of temperatures. The enhancement in the density of superconducting carriers at low temperatures would increase the coherence length and suppress the population of flux vortices. It can be seen in the form of decreased values of Ginzburg Landau parameter κ and the penetration depth λ{sub D}.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

Vortex Dynamic Phases in Type II Superconducting Strips with Regular and Flattened Triangular Pinning Arrays

The dynamic behavior of vortices in type II superconducting infinite strips is simulated with two types of triangular pinning lattices: the regular one and a flattened triangular array that mimics the vortex lattice in a superconducting strip in the absence of a pinning array. The calculations were made at zero temperature and perpendicular magnetic field. The size effects are investigated for several strip widths maintaining the density and size of pinning centers unchanged. A driving force is applied in the infinite direction to analyze the depinning process and the different dynamic regimes. For the regular triangular pinning lattice, we found that there is a great richness of vortex dynamical phases because depending on strip width, part of the vortices may stabilize in different interstitial positions and the depinning process depends on the commensurability of each vortex chain. For the flattened triangular lattice, the system exhibits one ordered moving phase for narrower strips and two moving phases for the larger strip. As the transport force increases, vortices in the larger strip go from a disordered to an ordered phase. Moreover, the flattened lattice shows a much higher critical depinning force than the regular one due to commensurability effects.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2018

Mobility of pinned twin boundaries during mechanical loading of extruded binary Mg-1Zn alloy

Highlights: • Intermediate heat treatment results in element segregation along twin boundaries. • Effect of pinned twin boundaries on their mobility was investigated. • Detwinning is realized by migration of twin boundaries or nucleation of new twins. • Pinning of twin boundaries does not completely disrupt their mobility. • Thermo-mechanical treatment compensates yield strength asymmetry. - Abstract: The influence of isothermal aging, i.e. solute segregation and precipitation, on the mobility of {10−12} twin boundaries during mechanical loading of a binary Mg-1wt.%Zn alloy was investigated. Segregation along twin boundaries leads to a pinning effect and therefore, twin growth and shrinkage based on twin boundary migration are restricted. The development of microstructure changes, especially the twinning activity, is tracked by using scanning electron microscopy. During reverse loading, a reduction of the twinned volume fraction (detwinning) is realized either by (i) nucleation of new twins inside already existing twin lamellae or by (ii) migration of pinned twin boundaries, similarly to the case, when no heat treatment is applied. No effect of the orientation of the grain with respect to the loading direction during detwinning was observed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Experimental studies on metallic fuel relocation in a pin bundle core structure of a sodium-cooled fast reactor

Understanding the relocation behavior of metallic fuel in severe accident scenarios is one of the most important factors in the safety assessment of sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs). In the present study, the relocation behavior of uranium metallic fuel was investigated by conducting metallic fuel relocation experiments using 19-pin bundle test sections in the Argonne's Metallic Uranium Safety Experiment (MUSE) facility. Post-test radiographic images were taken to characterize the uranium fuel relocation within the pin bundle test section. In addition, the pressure drop in the test sections was measured after the relocation experiments to evaluate the blockage of the sodium coolant channel. The pressure drop in the pin bundle test sections was also analytically calculated by varying the porosity and the pore size of the relocated fuel. The porosity and pore size of the relocated fuel in the pin bundle test sections were estimated by comparing those calculated pressure drop values with the measured pressure drop values from the pressure drop tests. In this work, the experimental results showed that the more formation of the eutectics could lead to more fuel dispersion and less blockage due to the lower freezing point of the eutectics.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Nanoscale Manipulation of Wrinkle-Pinned Vortices in Iron-Based Superconductors

The controlled manipulation of Abrikosov vortices is essential for both fundamental science and logical applications. However, achieving nanoscale manipulation of vortices while simultaneously measuring the local density of states within them remain challenging. Here, we demonstrate the manipulation of Abrikosov vortices by moving the pinning center, namely one-dimensional wrinkles, on the terminal layers of Fe(Te,Se) and LiFeAs, by utilizing low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/S). The wrinkles trap the Abrikosov vortices induced by the external magnetic field. In some of the wrinkle-pinned vortices, robust zero-bias conductance peaks are observed. We tailor the wrinkle into short pieces and manipulate the wrinkles by using an STM tip. Strikingly, we demonstrate that the pinned vortices move together with these wrinkles even at high magnetic field up to 6 T. Our results provide a universal and effective routine for manipulating wrinkle-pinned vortices and simultaneously measuring the local density of states on the iron-based superconductor surfaces.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2013

Tomographic investigation of fermi level pinning at focused ion beam milled semiconductor surfaces

Electron holography in the transmission electron microscope (TEM) offers the spatial and signal resolution for studying effects like Fermi level pinning or dopant concentration variations important for the design of modern electronic devices. To overcome the loss of information along the projection direction, surface effects, and surface damage due to TEM specimen preparation, we apply electron holographic tomography to analyze the 3D potential distribution of semiconductor samples prepared by focused-ion-beam. We observe mid-band gap pinning of the Fermi level at Si surfaces but valence band pinning at Ge surfaces. The pinning extends over tens of nanometers into the bulk.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Strong vortex core pinning and Barkhausen-free magnetization response in thin Permalloy disks induced by implantation of 1 × 10{sup 4} Ga{sup +} ions

Artificial vortex core pinning sites are induced in thin Permalloy disks by point exposure to as few as 10 000 ions from a focused Ga{sup +} beam. These pinning sites yield a first-order change in the magnetization response of the disk. A single site can keep the vortex core pinned over an applied field range comparable to the vortex annihilation field of the unaltered disk. Several widely separated sites can work together to keep the core pinned in one place, while the Barkhausen effect is eliminated from the magnetization curve over a range approaching the saturation moment of the disk.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Control of domain wall pinning by localised focused Ga {sup +} ion irradiation on Au capped NiFe nanowires

Understanding domain wall pinning and propagation in nanowires are important for future spintronics and nanoparticle manipulation technologies. Here, the effects of microscopic local modification of the magnetic properties, induced by focused-ion-beam intermixing, in NiFe/Au bilayer nanowires on the pinning behavior of domain walls was investigated. The effects of irradiation dose and the length of the irradiated features were investigated experimentally. The results are considered in the context of detailed quasi-static micromagnetic simulations, where the ion-induced modification was represented as a local reduction of the saturation magnetization. Simulations show that domain wall pinning behavior depends on the magnitude of the magnetization change, the length of the modified region, and the domain wall structure. Comparative analysis indicates that reduced saturation magnetisation is not solely responsible for the experimentally observed pinning behavior.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Mechanism of charge transfer and its impacts on Fermi-level pinning for gas molecules adsorbed on monolayer WS{sub 2}

Density functional theory calculations were performed to assess changes in the geometric and electronic structures of monolayer WS{sub 2} upon adsorption of various gas molecules (H{sub 2}, O{sub 2}, H{sub 2}O, NH{sub 3}, NO, NO{sub 2}, and CO). The most stable configuration of the adsorbed molecules, the adsorption energy, and the degree of charge transfer between adsorbate and substrate were determined. All evaluated molecules were physisorbed on monolayer WS{sub 2} with a low degree of charge transfer and accept charge from the monolayer, except for NH{sub 3}, which is a charge donor. Band structure calculations showed that the valence and conduction bands of monolayer WS{sub 2} are not significantly altered upon adsorption of H{sub 2}, H{sub 2}O, NH{sub 3}, and CO, whereas the lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals of O{sub 2}, NO, and NO{sub 2} are pinned around the Fermi-level when these molecules are adsorbed on monolayer WS{sub 2}. The phenomenon of Fermi-level pinning was discussed in light of the traditional and orbital mixing charge transfer theories. The impacts of the charge transfer mechanism on Fermi-level pinning were confirmed for the gas molecules adsorbed on monolayer WS{sub 2}. The proposed mechanism governing Fermi-level pinning is applicable to the systems of adsorbates on recently developed two-dimensional materials, such as graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

Experimental analysis of a novel and low-cost pin photodiode dosimetry system for diagnostic radiology

Silicon PIN photodiode has recently found broad and exciting applications in the ionizing radiation dosimetry. In this study a compact and novel dosimetry system using a commercially available PIN photodiode (BPW34) has been experimentally tested for diagnostic radiology. The system was evaluated with clinical beams routinely used for diagnostic radiology and calibrated using a secondary reference standard. Measured dose with PIN photodiode (Air Kerma) varied from 10 to 430 μGy for tube voltages from 40 to 100 kVp and tube current from 0.4 to 40 mAs. The minimum detectable organ dose was estimated to be 10 μGy with 20% uncertainty. Results showed a linear correlation between the PIN photodiode readout and dose measured with standard dosimeters spanning doses received. The present dosimetry system having advantages of suitable sensitivity with immediate readout of dose values, low cost, and portability could be used as an alternative to passive dosimetry system such as thermoluminescent dosimeter for dose measurements in diagnostic radiology.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2017

Vortex pinning and irreversibility fields in FeS 1– x Se x ( x = 0, 0.06)

In this paper, we report strong vortex pinning and large irreversibility fields in single crystals of tetragonal FeS 1–x Se x (x = 0, 0.06). Vortex dynamics is characterized by crossover in field dependence of the depinning energy U 0 , indicative of single flux surface pinning to the region of collective flux pinning on point-like defects. Finally, the close proximity of the irreversibility lines to the upper critical field (H c2 ) is consistent with strong pinning in FeS and FeS 0.94 Se 0.06 , pointing that new materials with building-blocks of FeS 4 tetrahedra are likely to host high critical currents.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Charge density waves and pinning by lattice anisotropy in 214 cuprates

The detection of static charge density waves (CDWs) in La 2-x ⁢Sr x ⁢CuO 4 (LSCO) with x ~ 0.12 at relatively high temperatures has raised the question of what lattice feature pins the CDWs. Some recent structural studies have concluded that some form of monoclinic distortion, indicated by the appearance of certain weak Bragg peaks (type M peaks) at otherwise forbidden positions, are responsible for CDW pinning. Here, as a test of this idea, we present neutron diffraction results for a single crystal of La 2-x ⁢Ba x CuO 4 (LBCO) with x = 1/8, which is known to undergo two structural transitions on cooling, from high-temperature tetragonal (HTT) to low-temperature orthorhombic (LTO) near 240 K, involving a collective tilt pattern of the corner-sharing CuO 6 octahedra, and from LTO to low-temperature tetragonal (LTT) near 56 K, involving a new tilt pattern and the appearance of intensity at peaks of type T. We observe both type M and type T peaks in the LTT phase, while the type M peaks (but not type T) are still present in the LTO phase. Given that CDW order is observed only in the LTT phase of LBCO, it is apparent that the in-plane Cu-O bond anisotropy associated with the octahedral tilt pattern is responsible for charge pinning. We point out that evidence for a similar, but weaker, bond anisotropy has been observed previously in LSCO and should be responsible for CDW pinning there. In the case of LBCO, the monoclinic distortion may help to explain previously reported magneto-optical evidence for gyrotropic order.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗