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At least 307 records · Page 17
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Effect of Weld Consumable Conditioning on the Diffusible Hydrogen and Subsequent Residual Stress and Flexural Strength of Multipass Welded P91 Steels

P91 steel weld joint was prepared using the shielded metal arc welding process and four different conditions of weld consumable that provide the different levels of diffusible hydrogen in deposited metal. In the present research, the effects of diffusible hydrogen content on the flexural strength, lower critical stress, and tensile strength of P91 steel welds were also determined with respect to different electrode conditions. To investigate the effect of diffusible hydrogen on multipass welding, top and root side flexural tests were performed. The residual stresses (axial stress and transverse stress) were also measured using the blind hole drilling method for different conditions of welding consumable. The peak value of residual stresses was measured at the center of the weld fusion zone. The maximum value of transverse stress was measured to be 355 MPa for case II (6.21 mL/100 g of diffusible hydrogen), while the maximum axial stress was about 218 MPa for case IV (12.43 mL/100 g of diffusible hydrogen). A three-dimensional finite element simulation was also performed to predict the residual stress distribution and thermal profile along the welded joint. The experimentally determined residual stresses correlated well with the numerically estimated residual stresses. The diffusible hydrogen content was not observed to have any significant effect on the residual stresses. The corrected residual stress values were also predicted by considering the plasticity-induced error. However, the flexural performance of the welded joint was affected by the diffusible hydrogen content. The top and root flexural strength was measured to be optimum for the low level of diffusible hydrogen content, and the values decreased with an increase in diffusible hydrogen content.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Study on impact of Cr and Mo on diffusion of H in 2.25Cr1Mo steel using first-principle calculations

Chrome-molybdenum steel (2.25Cr1Mo steel) is one of the main materials of a steam generator (SG) in high-temperature reactor-pebblebed modules (HTR-PM). It is essential to analyze the source term of tritium in this material, because the behavior of tritium in a SG is important for performing source term analysis in normal and accident conditions. In this article, the diffusion behavior of H atom in 2.25Cr1Mo steel was calculated to estimate the diffusivity of tritium using first-principles density functional theory. To develop and simplify the model of hydrogen diffusion in 2.25Cr1Mo steel, the impact of Cr and Mo on the diffusion of hydrogen in bcc-Fe were first calculated, all the possible diffusion paths were considered, and the minimum energy path was obtained. The diffusion activation energy and pre-exponential factor of the diffusion coefficient were obtained from Vienna Ab initio Simulation Package combined with the climbing image-nudged elastic band method. Here the results indicate that the minimum energy path for the impurity H atom is from one tetrahedral interstitial site to an adjacent tetrahedral interstitial site. The function of the diffusion coefficient of H in 2.25Cr1Mo steel with temperature T can be expressed as D = 1.486 X 10 -7 x ($\frac{-16.350kJ/mol}{RT}$) (M2/s). The diffusion coefficient of our calculation and some of the previous experiments have an excellent quantitative agreement, which indicates the reliability of our crystalline model and the practicability of the present theoretical approach. More importantly, the computational results in this work can be treated as a good screening method to collect reasonable experimental data, which will provide a good reference for tritium source term evaluation in the SG of the HTR-PM.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Artificial neural network prediction of self-diffusion in pure compounds over multiple phase regimes

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) were developed to accurately predict the self-diffusion constants for pure components in liquid, gas and super critical phases. The ANNs were tested on an experimental database of 6625 self-diffusion constants for 118 different chemical compounds. The presence of multiple phases results in a heavy skew in the distribution of diffusion constants and multiple approaches were used to address this challenge. First, an ANN was developed with the raw diffusion values to assess what the main drawbacks of this direct method were. The first approach for improving the predictions involved taking the log 10 of diffusion to provide a more uniform distribution and reduce the range of target output values used to develop the ANN. The second approach involved developing individual ANNs for each phase using the raw diffusion values. Results show that the log transformation leads to a model with the best self-diffusion constant predictions and an overall average absolute deviation (AAD) of 6.56%. The resultant ANN is a generalized model that can be used to predict diffusion across all three phases and over a diverse group of compounds. The importance of each input feature was ranked using a feature addition method revealing that the density of the compound has the largest impact on the ANN prediction of self-diffusion constants in pure compounds.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2018

Anisotropic Diffusion of a Charged Tritium Interstitial in Li 2 Ti O 3 from First-Principles Calculations

Tritium diffusion in the nuclear fusion reactor breeder material Li 2 TiO 3 is a fundamentally important process for the tritium release kinetics. The energy barrier of tritium diffusion in Li 2 TiO 3 was reported with a considerable uncertainty in previous experiments. Here, we perform the systematic density-functional-theory (DFT) studies for the diffusion processes of a positively-charged tritium, which is the most preferable charge state of the tritium interstitial in a single Li 2 TiO 3 crystal. By calculating various local-diffusion minimum-energy paths, we find that the diffusion of the tritium is strongly anisotropic along different crystalline directions. The most favorable diffusion paths appear within a Li 6 atomic single layer of Li 2 TiO 3 and the corresponding DFT diffusion barrier is 0.281 eV, while the diffusion barrier for most favorable diffusion paths crossing a Li 2 Ti 4 atomic layer is 0.868 eV.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Impact of Alloy-Disorder-Induced Localization on Hole Diffusion in Highly Excited c -Plane and m -Plane (In, Ga) N Quantum Wells

The diffusion coefficient of holes can provide knowledge about carrier localization in (In, Ga)N, where the carrier dynamics are altered by randomly fluctuating potential landscape. In group-III nitrides, the diffusivity of holes is difficult to measure by electrical methods but it can be studied using optical techniques. Here, we investigate the dependence of the hole diffusion coefficient on direction and carrier density in c-plane and m-plane (In, Ga)N structures by employing the light-induced transient-grating technique. We show that the hole diffusion coefficient is anisotropic in the m-plane structure, where it is several times larger along the a crystallographic direction than along the c direction. Such anisotropy is observed within the broad range of carrier densities from 10 18 to 10 20 cm –3 . The diffusivity changes nonmonotonously with increasing photoexcitation, this dependence being different in thick and thin layers. We argue that an unexpectedly high diffusion coefficient at low carrier densities in thick quantum wells can be a signature of efficient hole transport via percolative paths occurring due to compositional disorder. In turn, a decrease of diffusivity with the excitation can reflect the effect of Coulomb blockade of these paths. Lastly, we demonstrate that disorder impacts carrier diffusivity even at carrier densities above 10 19 cm –3 , where the overflow of localized states must be included to explain the observed increase of the diffusion coefficient with the carrier density.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Characterization of Grain‐Size Distribution, Thermal Conductivity, and Gas Diffusivity in Variably Saturated Binary Sand Mixtures

Core Ideas Parameterized models are relevant to applications where different porous media mixtures are used. Models include a grain‐size distribution function to describe bimodal behavior for binary mixtures. Improved model describes observed thermal conductivity–saturation relations for binary mixtures. Combined Buckingham–Penman model used to describe observed gas diffusivity–air content relations. This work is relevant for proper simulation of mixed porous media. Characterization of differently textured porous materials, as well as different volumetric porous media mixtures, in relation to mass and heat transport is vital for many engineering and research applications. Functional relations describing physical (e.g., grain‐size distribution, total porosity), thermal, and gas diffusion properties of porous media and mixtures are necessary to optimize the design of porous systems that involve heat and gas transport processes. However, only a limited number of studies provide characterization of soil physical, thermal, and gas diffusion properties and the functional relationships of these properties under varying soil water contents, especially for soil mixtures, complicating optimization efforts. To better understand how mixing controls the physical, thermal, and gas diffusion properties of porous media, a set of laboratory experiments was performed using five volumetric mixtures of coarse‐ and fine‐grained sand particles. For each mixture, the grain‐size distribution (GSD), thermal conductivity, and gas diffusivity were obtained and parameterized using existing and suggested parametric models. Results show that the extended, two‐region Rosin–Rammler particle‐size distribution model proposed in this study could successfully describe the bimodal behavior of the GSD of binary mixtures. Further, the modified Côté and Konrad thermal conductivity model adequately described the thermal conductivity–water saturation relations observed in different mixtures. The proposed simple soil‐gas diffusivity descriptive model parameterized the upper limit, average, and lower limit behavior in gas diffusivity–air content relations in apparently texture‐invariant gas diffusivity data. Results further show a close analogy between gas diffusivity and thermal conductivity and their variation with saturation across different binary mixtures. Overall, the results of the study provide useful numerical insight into the physical, thermal, and gas transport characteristics of binary mixtures, with wide implications for future engineering and research applications that involve multicomponent porous systems.

Deepagoda, T. K. K. Chamindu↗
DOE OSTI2017

An efficient approach for treating composition-dependent diffusion within organic particles

Mounting evidence demonstrates that under certain conditions the rate of component partitioning between the gas and particle phase in atmospheric organic aerosol is limited by particle-phase diffusion. To date, however, particle-phase diffusion has not been incorporated into regional atmospheric models. An analytical rather than numerical solution to diffusion through organic particulate matter is desirable because of its comparatively small computational expense in regional models. Current analytical models assume diffusion to be independent of composition and therefore use a constant diffusion coefficient. To realistically model diffusion, however, it should be composition-dependent (e.g. due to the partitioning of components that plasticise, vitrify or solidify). This study assesses the modelling capability of an analytical solution to diffusion corrected to account for composition dependence against a numerical solution. Results show reasonable agreement when the gas-phase saturation ratio of a partitioning component is constant and particle-phase diffusion limits partitioning rate (<10% discrepancy in estimated radius change). However, when the saturation ratio of the partitioning component varies, a generally applicable correction cannot be found, indicating that existing methodologies are incapable of deriving a general solution. Until such time as a general solution is found, caution should be given to sensitivity studies that assume constant diffusivity. Furthermore, the correction was implemented in the polydisperse, multi-process Model for Simulating Aerosol Interactions and Chemistry (MOSAIC) and is used to illustrate how the evolution of number size distribution may be accelerated by condensation of a plasticising component onto viscous organic particles.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

Viscosities, diffusion coefficients, and mixing times of intrinsic fluorescent organic molecules in brown limonene secondary organic aerosol and tests of the Stokes–Einstein equation

Viscosities and diffusion rates of organics within secondary organic aerosol (SOA) remain uncertain. Using the bead-mobility technique, we measured viscosities as a function of water activity ( a w ) of SOA generated by the ozonolysis of limonene followed by browning by exposure to NH 3 (referred to as brown limonene SOA or brown LSOA). These measurements together with viscosity measurements reported in the literature show that the viscosity of brown LSOA increases by 3–5 orders of magnitude as the a w decreases from 0.9 to approximately 0.05. In addition, we measured diffusion coefficients of intrinsic fluorescent organic molecules within brown LSOA matrices using rectangular area fluorescence recovery after photobleaching. Based on the diffusion measurements, as the a w decreases from 0.9 to 0.33, the average diffusion coefficient of the intrinsic fluorescent organic molecules decreases from 5.5 × 10 - 9 to 7.1 × 10 - 13 cm 2 s -1 and the mixing times of intrinsic fluorescent organic molecules within 200 nm brown LSOA particles increases from 0.002 to 14 s. These results suggest that the mixing times of large organics in the brown LSOA studied here are short ( < 1 h) for a w and temperatures often found in the planetary boundary layer (PBL). Since the diffusion coefficients and mixing times reported here correspond to SOA generated using a high mass loading ( ~1000 µ g m -3 ), biogenic SOA particles found in the atmosphere with mass loadings ≤10 µ g m -3 are likely to have higher viscosities and longer mixing times (possibly 3 orders of magnitude longer). These new measurements of viscosity and diffusion were used to test the accuracy of the Stokes–Einstein relation for predicting diffusion rates of organics within brown LSOA matrices. The results show that the Stokes–Einstein equation gives accurate predictions of diffusion coefficients of large organics within brown LSOA matrices when the viscosity of the matrix is as high as 10 2 to 10 4 Pa s. These results have important implications for predicting diffusion and mixing within SOA particles in the atmosphere.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Diffusion kinetics of 3 He in pyroxene and plagioclase and applications to cosmogenic exposure dating and paleothermometry in mafic rocks

In this study, we investigate the diffusivity of cosmogenic 3 He in a variety of plagioclase and pyroxene compositions, and its application to paleothermometry and exposure dating in these minerals, through stepwise degassing experiments. While cosmogenic 3 He has been utilized for exposure dating in pyroxene for decades due to its retentivity, plagioclase, often found along with pyroxene in mafic rocks, is generally less retentive of cosmogenic noble gas. However, the diffusivity of 3 He in either plagioclase or pyroxene has not yet been measured quantitatively. A challenge in measuring diffusion kinetics by step-degassing experiments in poorly retentive minerals is the fact that significant amounts of He can be lost prior to the experiment. To address this issue, we apply a forward “multiple diffusion domain” (MDD) inversion model that includes model predictions of initial gas loss during irradiation and storage of the samples to account for this observation and add constraints to the diffusion parameters. We find that 3 He diffusivity in plagioclase appears to be highly variable. This variability can be explained by the MDD inversion models' inability to constrain the diffusion parameters when significant gas has been lost during irradiation and/or prolonged storage prior to experiment analysis, resulting in an overestimation of 3 He retentivity. Plagioclase samples that were kept frozen after irradiation, to limit this initial gas loss, yielded the most reliable estimate of diffusion kinetics. We find that 3 He in plagioclase is diffusively lost at Earth's surface temperatures on a timescale of 100 years and is therefore unsuitable for surface temperature paleothermometry. On the contrary, we find cosmogenic 3 He in pyroxene to be retentive at Earth's surface temperatures on a 1-million-year timescale.

Bergelin, Marie [Berkeley Geochronology Center (BG↗
NASA NTRS1972

Diffusion of chromium and aluminum in Ni-20Cr and TDNiCr /Ni-20Cr-2ThO2/.

Diffusion coefficients have been measured for Cr51 in fine- and coarse-grained TDNiCr (Ni-20Cr-2ThO2) and in fine-grained Ni-20Cr in the temperature range from 1038 to 1200 C. Selective diffusivities have also been determined for specimens of these alloys which were aluminized to give an initial surface concentration of 5.8 wt % Al. Finally, diffusion coefficients for interdiffusion of aluminum in TDNiCr and Ni-20Cr have been obtained from electron probe microanalysis of the aluminized specimens. For a given grain size and temperature there is no difference in diffusivities for chromium diffusion in TDNiCr or Ni-20Cr. Diffusion coefficients increase with decreasing grain size for both alloys. Comparison of aluminum diffusion data obtained from electron microprobe profiles with radiotracer chromium diffusivities suggests that aluminum diffuses approximately three times faster than chromium in TDNiCr and Ni-20Cr.

Seltzer, M. S.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Directional diffusion coefficients of solar protons inside and outside the bow shock.

The directional diffusion coefficients of low-energy (greater than or equal to 0.3 MeV) solar protons inside and outside the bow shock are examined during the solar flare event of Jan. 24, 1969. The data are derived from simultaneous observations obtained by Explorer 33 inside the magnetosheath and by Explorer 35 in the interplanetary medium. Although the gross properties of the spin-averaged intensities on a diffusion-type plot appear to be the same in both media, the directional intensities show significant variations. It is shown that directional intensities of low-energy protons can be described reasonably well by anisotropic diffusion with an associated diffusion coefficient. Directional diffusion coefficients are found to differ by a factor of as much as three among different directions in space, and from the spin-averaged diffusion coefficient. This suggests that anisotropic diffusion does indeed take place and that so called 'isotropic' diffusion coefficients derived in the past from spin-averaged intensities may actually be directional diffusion coefficients in cases where substantial anisotropies (greater than 50%) exist.

Verzariu, P.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Horizontal eddy diffusivities in the northern hemispheric stratosphere and lower mesosphere

Meteorological rocket soundings, representative of low, middle, and high altitudes, are employed with the use of the statistical theory of diffusion, to determine the zonal and meridional component of eddy diffusivity between 30 and 55 km as a function of season, latitude, and altitude. A comparison is also made between annualry-averaged eddy diffusivities above and below 30 km. It is shown that the zonal component of eddy diffusivity is approximately three to five times as large as the meridional component, in most cases. Both components of eddy diffusivity varied greatly with season, latitude, and altitude. Highest eddy diffusivities occurred in the vicinity of the winter westerly jet located near the tropopause and in the stratosphere at 35 km, 40 deg N. Annually, a minimum of eddy diffusivity occurred near 20 km. In most cases, the zonal component of the eddy diffusivity was approximately three to five times as large as the meridional component. The meridional cross-sections of the zonal and meridional components of the eddy diffusivity in the northern hemisphere are presented.

Kao, S. K.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Effect of concentration dependence of the diffusion coefficient on homogenization kinetics in multiphase binary alloy systems

Diffusion calculations were performed to establish the conditions under which concentration dependence of the diffusion coefficient was important in single, two, and three phase binary alloy systems. Finite-difference solutions were obtained for each type of system using diffusion coefficient variations typical of those observed in real alloy systems. Solutions were also obtained using average diffusion coefficients determined by taking a logarithmic average of each diffusion coefficient variation considered. The constant diffusion coefficient solutions were used as reference in assessing diffusion coefficient variation effects. Calculations were performed for planar, cylindrical, and spherical geometries in order to compare the effect of diffusion coefficient variations with the effect of interface geometries. In most of the cases considered, the diffusion coefficient of the major-alloy phase was the key parameter that controlled the kinetics of interdiffusion.

Tenney, D. R.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Experiments on tandem diffusers with boundary-layer suction applied in between

Experiments were performed on conical diffusers of various configurations with the same, but rather unusually large, 16:1 area ratio. Because available performance data on diffusers fall short of very large area ratio configurations, an unconventional design, consisting of two diffusers following each other in tandem, was proposed. Both diffusers had the same area ratio of 4:1, but had different taper angles. While for the first diffuser (called leading) the angle remained constant, for the second (called follower), the taper angle was stepped up to higher values. Boundary layer control, by way of suction, was applied between the diffusers, and a single slot suction ring was inserted between them. The leading diffuser had an enclosed nominal divergence angle 2 theta = 5 degrees, while the follower diffusers had either 10, 20, 30, or 40 degrees, respectively, giving 4 combinations. The experiments were performed at four different Reynolds numbers with various suction rates. The rates indicate a general improvement in the performance of all diffusers with boundary layer suction. It appears that the improvement of the pressure recovery depends on both the Reynolds number and the suction rate, and the largest increase, 0.075, was found at the lowest R sub e when the follower divergence was 2 theta = 40 degrees.

Barna, P. S.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Characteristics of acoustic-gravity waves in a diffusively separated atmosphere

The effects of wave-induced diffusion on the characteristics of plane acoustic gravity waves in the earth's thermosphere are investigated by means of a two fluid model atmosphere in diffusive equilibrium. At wave periods greater than the shortest characteristic diffusion time for the minor gas, diffusion induced by the wave is considered to act to eliminate amplitude and phase differences between the wave-induced density fluctuations of individual gases and restore the perturbed fluid to diffusive equilibrium. Vertical diffusion is most important at large scale sizes, but horizontal diffusion dominates for horizontal wavelengths of less than several hundred kilometers. As a result of wave-induced diffusion, AE-C satellite measurements of neutral density fluctuations of thermospheric constituents are only compatible with relatively small scale internal gravity waves. Velocity and temperature differences for acoustic-gravity waves are greatest at periods near the mean collision time and diffusion time and lead to the dissipation of wave energy. The predictions of the theory are consistent with a high latitude, low altitude source for the medium scale waves and a more localized random source for the waves observed by AE-C.

Del Genio, A. D.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Ambipolar diffusion in the middle atmosphere

In the middle atmosphere above 60 km, the electron concentration increases with altitude, reaching values of 10 to the 10th per cu m in the daytime ionospheric E region near 100 km. The electrons are more mobile than the ions and diffuse more rapidly through the neutral atmosphere. The electron diffusion polarizes the medium, causing an electric field to develop that acts to retard the electron diffusion and enhance the conduction current of ions. A global zonally averaged numerical model of atmosheric electricity from the ground to 100 km is used to examine the effect of ambipolar diffusion and the earth's geomagnetic field on the currents and fields in the middle atmosphere. The results show that above about 65 km, ambipolar diffusion generates local electric fields and conduction currents that balance electron diffusion currents. The electric fields and conduction currents are a few orders of magnitude larger than the vertical fields and currents calculated from the downward mapping of the ionospheric potential without taking electron diffusion into account. Ambipolar diffusion does not alter the total current flowing in the global circuit. It is a local effect where enhanced conduction currens flow to balance the electron diffusion current.

Tzur, I.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Diffusion of a multi-species component and its role in oxygen and water transport in silicates

The diffusion of a multispecies component is complicated by the different diffusion coefficient of each species and the interconversion reactions among the species. A diffusion equation is derived that incorporates the diffusive fluxes of all species contributing to the component's concentration. The effect of speciation on diffusion is investigated experimentally by measuring concentration profiles of all species developed during diffusion experiments. Data on water diffusion in rhyolitic glasses indicate that H2O molecules predominate over OH groups as the diffusing species at very low to high water concentrations. A simple theoretical relationship is drawn between the effective total oxygen diffusion coefficient and the total water concentration of silicates at low water content.

Zhang, Youxue↗
NASA NTRS1999

Investigation of Diffusion Flame Tip Thermodiffusive and Hydrodynamic Instability under Microgravity Conditions

We employ the opposed flow flame-spread configuration in order to examine flame-front instability of diffusion flames near cold, solid boundaries. The thermo-diffusive and hydrodynamic instabilities can transform an initially planar flame front into an irregularly curved, corrugated, possibly fragmented front. Under ordinary 1-g conditions, the buoyancy-induced flow masks the thermo-diffusive and hydrodynamic instabilities and produces planar flames. Such stable spreading flames have been observed for decades in laboratory experiments. Experiments in zero gravity are necessary to produce unstable flame fronts. The thermo-diffusive/hydrodynamic microgravity instability appears in diffusion flames such as, for example: the candle flame oscillations observed by Dietrich et al.; smolder instabilities on a recent Space Shuttle flight. Drs. T. Kashiwagi and S. Olson have attributed the latter to a lowered oxygen transport rate to the hot, reactive surface. Consider a burning surface near the flame extinction limit. The flow, or stretch, induced by the diffusion flame is weak, hence buoyancy plays a small role, thereby enabling previously secondary mechanisms, such as differential thermo-diffusion, to become the most important mechanisms. The flame leading edge becomes unstable; and diffusion flame breakup, oscillation, and rejoining all occur at a measurable frequency of approximately O(1 Hz). This project has only begun in January of this year, 1999. To date, there have been no flight experiments on flame spread instabilities. However, we have made numerous experiments in the NASA 2.2 and 5 second drop towers on flame spread over very thin cellulosic fuels. We have been very fortunate through a combination of factors, to be explained, to obtain some interesting, perhaps even compelling, results on diffusion flame instability in the presence of heat losses to cold surfaces.

Wichman, I. S.↗