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At least 253 records · Page 14
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1988

Regelation and ice segregation

Macroscopic processes can have an important effect on the state of regolith water. The two primary mechanisms responsible for the formation of segregated ice on Earth, thermally induced regelation and hydraulic fracturing, are reviewed while their potential importance on Mars is examined. While regelation is the dominant terrestrial process, it requires a warmer and wetter environment than currently exists on Mars. In this respect, the conditions required for hydraulic fracturing are less demanding. In assessing its potential importance on Mars, it is noted that hydraulic fracturing can produce a localized zone of high pressure water that could readily disrupt an overburden of frozen ground. Such a process, it is concluded, may have triggered the release of groundwater that led to the formation of the major outflow channels.

Miller, Robert D.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Terrestrial magma ocean and core segregation in the earth

According to the recent theories of formation of the earth, the outer layer of the proto-earth was molten and the terrestrial magma ocean was formed when its radius exceeded 3000 km. Core formation should have started in this magma ocean stage, since segregation of metallic iron occurs effectively by melting of the proto-earth. Therefore, interactions between magma, mantle minerals, and metallic iron in the magma ocean stage controlled the geochemistry of the mantle and core. We have studied the partitioning behaviors of elements into the silicate melt, high pressure minerals, and metallic iron under the deep upper mantle and lower mantle conditions. We employed the multi-anvil apparatus for preparing the equilibrating samples in the ranges from 16 to 27 GPa and 1700-2400 C. Both the electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA) and the Secondary Ion Mass spectrometer (SIMS) were used for analyzing the run products. We obtained the partition coefficients of various trace elements between majorite, Mg-perovskite, and liquid, and magnesiowustite, Mg-perovskite, and metallic iron. The examples of the partition coefficients of some key elements are summarized in figures, together with the previous data. We may be able to assess the origin of the mantle abundances of the elements such as transition metals by using the partitioning data obtained above. The mantle abundances of some transition metals expected by the core-mantle equilibrium under the lower mantle conditions cannot explain the observed abundance of some elements such as Mn and Ge in the mantle. Estimations of the densities of the ultrabasic magma Mg-perovskite at high pressure suggest existence of a density crossover in the deep lower mantle; flotation of Mg-perovskite occurs in the deep magma ocean under the lower mantle conditions. The observed depletion of some transition metals such as V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni in the mantle may be explained by the two stage process, the core-mantle equilibrium under the lower mantle conditions in the first stage, and subsequent downwards separation of the ultrabasic liquid (and magnesiowustite) and flotation of Mg-perovskite in the lower mantle.

Ohtani, Eiji↗
NASA NTRS1992

Oxygen-induced Al surface segregation in Al(x)Ga(1-x)As and the effect of Y overlayers on the oxidation of the Y/Al(x)Ga(1-x)As interface

The oxidation of Al(x)Ga(1-x)As (x = 0.15, AlGaAs) was studied by AES and XPS at 350 C and different oxygen exposures (up to 5 x 10 exp 4 L). Also studied were the effects of yttrium overlayers (theta = 3 ML) on the oxidation of the AlGaAs surface. Substantial oxygen-induced Al surface segregation has been observed for both yttriated and nonyttriated AlGaAs surfaces which increased with increasing oxygen exposure. Also observed is a significant Y-enhanced oxidation of the AlGaAs surface. Oxidation of the yttriated AlGaAs surface was found to be a factor of 4 greater than that of the nonyttriated surface. Also, while oxidation of the nonyttriated AlGaAs yielded mainly Al2O(x) (x less than 3) and only little Ga2O3, the yttriated AlGaAs surface oxide layer was principally Ga2O3 and stoichiometric Al2O3. However, both the yttriated and nonyttriated surfaces were found to contain metallic As within the oxide layer.

Mesarwi, A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Segregation of gas and stars in shell galaxies

Using a code which is capable of evolving composite systems of collisionless matter and gas, we explore mergers like those thought responsible for the shells seen around many elliptical galaxies. If a small companion containing both gas and stars is accreted by a more massive primary, the stellar and gaseous debris are rapidly segregated: while the stars are free to oscillate back and forth in the primary's potential, thereby forming shells, the oppositely directed flows near the center of the primary effectively dissipate the orbital kinetic energy of the gas. Consequently, the gas settles into compact disks or rings in the nucleus of the primary, depending on orbital parameters. We note implications of these findings for the production of polar rings and the onset of nuclear activity in galaxies.

Weil, Melinda L.↗
NASA NTRS1993

The ilmenite liquidus and depths of segregation for high-Ti picrite glasses

Lunar picrite glasses represent primitive and perhaps near primary liquids which have suffered only minor degrees of crystallization or near crustal modification. These glasses are multisaturated with olivine and orthopyroxene at pressures from 20-25 kb. I argue below that high TiO2 mare glasses were indeed equilibrated with orthopyroxene and were segregated from the lunar mantle at mean depths of 400-500 km. The glasses are typically modelled as products of relatively low degrees of melting of an hybridized source resulting from the overturn and mixing of the gravitationally unstable cumulate pile. But the models are neither unique nor, in some cases, correct.

Hess, P. C.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Convection effects on radial segregation and crystal melt interface in vertical Bridgman growth

We analytically study the influence of convection caused by horizontal heat transfer through the sides of a vertical Bridgman apparatus. We consider the case when the heat transfer across the side walls is small so that the resulting interfacial deformation and fluid velocities are also small. This allows us to linearize the Navier-Stokes equations and express the interfacial conditions about a planar interface through a Taylor expansion. Using a no tangential stress conditions on the side walls, asymptotic expressions for both the interfacial slope, and radial segregation at the crystal-melt interface are obtained in closed form in the limit of large thermal Rayleigh number. It is suggested that these can be reduced by appropriately controlling a specific heat transfer property at the edge of the insulation zone in the solid side.

Tanveer, S.↗
NASA NTRS1995

White dwarfs and mass segregation in the core of 47 Tucanae

The core of the galactic globular cluster (GC) 47 Tucanae was observed by the Faint Object Camera (FOC) on the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope (HST) for the first time through medium-band F253M and F346M filters centered at 255 and 348 nm. A total of 442 stars down to the detection limit at m(sub 346) approximately equal to 24 in the 7 sec x 7 sec field were accurately placed on a m(sub 346) versus m(sub 253) - M(sub 346) magnitude diagram to characterize the stellar populations in the core. Approximately 100 objects above and to the right of the main-sequence (MS) turnoff (TO) are the same as those classified earlier with the aberrated HST, but the rest below it are new objects seen now for the first time thanks to the substantial improvement in sensitivity. The new objects form a well-defined main sequence whose luminosity function (LF) turns over dramatically at m(sub 346) approximately equal to 19 well before the completeness limit and well before the end of the slowly increasing luminosity function for the outer fields measured from the ground by Hesser et al. We interpret this premature drop in the number of stars below approximately 0.8 solar masses in the core as the effect of mass segregation due to two-body relaxation. The position of nine objects in the range 20 less than m(sub 346) less than 24 and -1.5 less than m(sub 253) - m(sub 346) less than 0 is consistent with the expected location of a approx. a half solar mass white dwarf cooling sequence and luminosity function.

Paresce, Francesco↗
NASA NTRS1996

Analysis of Residual Acceleration Effects on Transport and Segregation During Directional Solidification of Tin-Bismuth in the MEPHISTO Furnace Facility

The objective of this work is to approach the problem of determining the transport conditions (and effects of residual acceleration) during the plane-front directional solidification of a tin-bismuth alloy under low gravity conditions. The work involves using a combination of 2- and 3-D numerical models, scaling analyses, ID models and the results of ground-based and low-gravity experiments. The latter are to be conducted during the MEPHISTO experiment scheduled for USMP-3 in early 1996. The models will be used to predict the response of the transport conditions and consequent solute segregation in directionally solidifying tin-bismuth melt. Real-time Seebeck voltage variations across a Sn-Bi melt during directional solidification in MEPHISTO on USMP-1 show a distinct variation which can be correlated with thruster firings. The Seebeck voltage measurement is related to the response of the instantaneous average melt composition at the melt-solid interface. This allows a direct comparison of numerical simulations with the Seebeck signals obtained on USMP-1. The effects of such accelerations on composition for a directionally solidifying Sn-Bi alloy have been simulated numerically. USMP-1 acceleration data was used to assist in our choice of acceleration magnitude and orientation. The results show good agreement with experimental observations. The USMP-3 experiments took place earlier this year (February 22 through March 6). There were several differences between the USMP-3 experiments as compared to USMP-1. Firstly a more concentrated alloy was solidified and, secondly, Primary Reaction Control System thruster burns were requested at particular times during four separate growth runs. This allowed us to monitor the response Seebeck response under well-characterized growth conditions. In addition, we carried out simulations during the experiment in order to interpret the Seebeck signal. Preliminary results are described here.

Alexander J. Iwan D.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Segregation Coefficients of Impurities in Selenium by Zone Refining

The purification of Se by zone refining process was studied. The impurity solute levels along the length of a zone-refined Se sample were measured by spark source mass spectrographic analysis. By comparing the experimental concentration levels with theoretical curves the segregation coefficient, defined as the ratio of equilibrium concentration of a given solute in the solid to that in the liquid, k = x(sub s)/x(sub l) for most of the impurities in Se are found to be close to unity, i.e., between 0.85 and 1.15, with the k value for Si, Zn, Fe, Na and Al greater than 1 and that for S, Cl, Ca, P, As, Mn and Cr less than 1. This implies that a large number of passes is needed for the successful implementation of zone refining in the purification of Se.

Su, Ching-Hua↗
NASA NTRS1993

Surface Segregation in Cu-Ni Alloys

Monte Carlo simulation is used to calculate the composition profiles of surface segregation of Cu-Ni alloys. The method of Bozzolo, Ferrante, and Smith is used to compute the energetics of these systems as a function of temperature, crystal face, and bulk concentration. The predictions are compared with other theoretical and experimental results.

Good, Brian↗
NASA NTRS1999

Effect of Marangoni Convection Generated by Voids on Segregation During Low-G and 1-G Solidification

Solidification experiments, especially microgravity solidification experiments are often hampered by the evolution of unwanted voids or bubbles in the melt. Although these voids and/or bubbles are highly undesirable, there are currently no effective means of preventing their formation or eliminating their adverse effects, particularly, during low-g experiments. Marangoni Convection caused by these voids can drastically change the transport processes in the melt and, therefore, introduce enormous difficulties in interpreting the results of the space investigations. Recent microgravity experiments by Matthiesen, Andrews, and Fripp are all good examples of how the presence of voids and bubbles affect the outcome of costly space experiments and significantly increase the level of difficulty in interpreting their results. In this work we examine mixing caused by Marangoni convection generated by voids and bubbles in the melt during both 1-g and low-g solidification experiments. The objective of the research is to perform a detailed and comprehensive combined numerical-experimental study of Marangoni convection caused by voids during the solidification process and to show how it can affect segregation and growth conditions by modifying the flow, temperature, and species concentration fields in the melt. While Marangoni convection generated by bubbles and voids in the melt can lead to rapid mixing that would negate the benefits of microgravity processing, it could be exploited in some terrestrial processing to ensure effective communication between a melt/solid interface and a gas phase stoichiometry control zone. Thus we hope that this study will not only aid us in interpreting the results of microgravity solidification experiments hampered by voids and bubbles but to guide us in devising possible means of minimizing the adverse effects of Marangoni convection in future space experiments or of exploiting its beneficial mixing features in ground-based solidification.

Kassemi, M.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Mineralogy, Petrology, Chemistry, and Ar-39 - Ar-40 and Ages of the Caddo County IAB Iron: Evidence for Early Partial Melt Segregation of a Gabbro Area Rich in Plagioclase-Diopside

We found coarse-grained gabbroic material rich in plagioclase and diopside in the Caddo County IAB iron meteorite. The polished thin sections studied were made from areas rich in Al and Ca detected by a micro-focus X-ray fluorescence (XRF) mapping technique. The gabbro is not a clast within a breccia, but rather this area is located mainly at silicate-metal boundaries only a few cm away from an area with fine-grained, ultramafic silicate similar to winonaites. Medium-grained orthopyroxene and olivine are found in transitional areas showing no disturbance of their crystalline textures. A vein-like region, starting at the area rich in fine-grained mafic silicate, extends towards the gabbroic area with a gradual increase in abundance of plagioclase and diopside. This texture and our accumulated knowledge of the formation mechanism of IAB/winonaltes meteorites, suggest that the gabbroic materials were formed by inhomogeneous segregation of partial melts of chondritic source materials. Compositional data on two mineralogically distinct samples of the gabbro-rich portion of the inclusion were obtained by INAA. Compared to an average of LAB silicate inclusions or winonaites, the Caddo County gabbro is enriched in the incompatible lithophile elements Na, Ca, Sc, REE and Hf, which is consistent with a melt origin for the gabbro. The cosmogenic space exposure age of Caddo County (511 Ma) is significantly younger than exposure ages of some other IAB meteorites, An 39Ar-40Ar age determination of the gabbroic material indicates a series of upward steps in age from 4.516 Ga to 4.523 Ga, with a few high temperature ages up to 4.54 Ga. The older age could approximate the primary recrystallization age of silicates. The stepped Ar age spectrum may indicate differences in Ar closure temperatures during slow cooling of -2-20'C/Myr in the parent body. Alternatively, the younger Ar-Ar ages may date a shock event which occurred while Caddo County was hot and which also created textures such as a linear metal vein with rounded zigzag walls in a diopside crystal and slightly miss-oriented rounded plagioclase domain.

Takeda, Hiroshi↗
NASA NTRS2003

Analysis of Radial Segregation in Directionally Solidified Hg(0.89)Mn(0.11)Te

Bridgman growth experiments were performed on Hg(0.89)Mn(0.11)Te (MMT) to determine the extent of radial Manganese segregation during directional solidification. MMT crystals were directionally solidified at rates of 0.09 and 0.18 p d s and in axial thermal gradients of 83 and 68"C/cm. Wavelength Dispersive Spectroscopy (WDS) and Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) analytical techniques were used to determine the radial homogeneity in all boules and the deflection of the solid-liquid interface (SLI) in two boules that were rapidly quenched after 5 to 6 cm of directional solidification. For all growth runs, the measured radial coinpositional variations were on the order of 0.01 molar percent MnTe in the steady state region of growth. Comparison of the measured radial compositional results of the crystals to predicted values in the diffusion-limited regime indicate a strong influence of convection near the solid-liquid interface. This conclusion is supported by the weak influence of the translation rates and axial thermal gradients utilized in this study upon radial compositional homogeneity.

Price, M. W.↗
NASA NTRS2003

An ancient role for nuclear beta-catenin in the evolution of axial polarity and germ layer segregation

The human oncogene beta-catenin is a bifunctional protein with critical roles in both cell adhesion and transcriptional regulation in the Wnt pathway. Wnt/beta-catenin signalling has been implicated in developmental processes as diverse as elaboration of embryonic polarity, formation of germ layers, neural patterning, spindle orientation and gap junction communication, but the ancestral function of beta-catenin remains unclear. In many animal embryos, activation of beta-catenin signalling occurs in blastomeres that mark the site of gastrulation and endomesoderm formation, raising the possibility that asymmetric activation of beta-catenin signalling specified embryonic polarity and segregated germ layers in the common ancestor of bilaterally symmetrical animals. To test whether nuclear translocation of beta-catenin is involved in axial identity and/or germ layer formation in 'pre-bilaterians', we examined the in vivo distribution, stability and function of beta-catenin protein in embryos of the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis (Cnidaria, Anthozoa). Here we show that N. vectensis beta-catenin is differentially stabilized along the oral-aboral axis, translocated into nuclei in cells at the site of gastrulation and used to specify entoderm, indicating an evolutionarily ancient role for this protein in early pattern formation.

NASA Discipline Evolutionary Biology↗
NASA NTRS1999

Incomplete segregation of endorgan-specific vestibular ganglion cells in mice and rats

The endorgan-specific distribution of vestibular ganglion cells was studied in neonatal and postnatal rats and mice using indocarbocyanine dye (DiI) and dextran amines for retrograde and anterograde labeling. Retrograde DiI tracing from the anterior vertical canal labeled neurons scattered throughout the whole superior vestibular ganglion, with denser labeling at the dorsal and central regions. Horizontal canal neurons were scattered along the dorsoventral axis with more clustering toward the dorsal and ventral poles of this axis. Utricular ganglion cells occupied predominantly the central region of the superior vestibular ganglion. This utricular population overlapped with both the anterior vertical and horizontal canals' ganglion cells. Posterior vertical canal neurons were clustered in the posterior part of the inferior vestibular ganglion. The saccular neurons were distributed in the two parts of the vestibular ganglion, the superior and inferior ganglia. Within the inferior ganglion, the saccular neurons were clustered in the anterior part. In the superior ganglion, the saccular neurons were widely scattered throughout the whole ganglion with more numerous neurons at the posterior half. Small and large neurons were labeled from all endorgans. Examination of the fiber trajectory within the superior division of the vestibular nerve showed no clear lamination of the fibers innervating the different endorgans. These results demonstrate an overlapping pattern between the different populations within the superior ganglion, while in the inferior ganglion, the posterior canal and saccular neurons show tighter clustering but incomplete segregation. This distribution implies that the ganglion cells are assigned for their target during development in a stochastic rather than topographical fashion.

NASA Discipline Developmental Biology↗