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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 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2017

Fabrication of First 4-m Coils for the LARP MQXFA Quadrupole and Assembly in Mirror Structure

The US LHC Accelerator Research Program is constructing prototype interaction region quadrupoles as part of the US in-kind contribution to the Hi-Lumi LHC project. The low-beta MQXFA Q1/Q3 coils have a 4-m length and a 150 mm bore. The design is first validated on short, one meter models (MQXFS) developed as part of the longstanding Nb3Sn quadrupole R&D by LARP in collaboration with CERN. In parallel, facilities and tooling are being developed and refined at BNL, LBNL, and FNAL to enable long coil production, assembly, and cold testing. Long length scale-up is based on the experience from the LARP 90 mm aperture (TQ-LQ) and 120 mm aperture (HQ and Long HQ) programs. A 4-m long MQXF practice coil was fabricated, water jet cut and analyzed to verify procedures, parts, and tooling. In parallel, the first complete prototype coil (QXFP01a) was fabricated and assembled in a long magnetic mirror, MQXFPM1, to provide early feedback on coil design and fabrication following the successful experience of previous LARP mirror tests.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Information integrated glass module fabricated by integrated additive and subtractive manufacturing

In this Letter, we report a novel integrated additive and subtractive manufacturing (IASM) method to fabricate an information integrated glass module. After a certain number of glass layers are 3D printed and sintered by direct C O 2 laser irradiation, a microchannel will be fabricated on top of the printed glass by integrated picosecond laser, for intrinsic Fabry–Perot interferometer (IFPI) optical fiber sensor embedment. Then, the glass 3D printing process continues for the realization of bonding between optical fiber and printed glass. Temperature sensing up to 1000°C was demonstrated using the fabricated information integrated module. In addition, the long-term stability of the glass module at 1000°C was conducted. Enhanced sensor structure robustness and harsh temperature sensing capability make this glass module attractive for harsh environment structural health monitoring.

Zhang, Qi (ORCID:0000000268655981)↗
DOE OSTI2017

Printing Fabrication of Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells and In Situ Morphology Characterization

Polymer-based materials hold promise as low-cost, flexible efficient photovoltaic devices. Most laboratory efforts to achieve high performance devices have used devices prepared by spin coating, a process that is not amenable to large-scale fabrication. This mismatch in device fabrication makes it difficult to translate quantitative results obtained in the laboratory to the commercial level, making optimization difficult. Using a mini-slot die coater, this mismatch can be resolved by translating the commercial process to the laboratory and characterizing the structure formation in the active layer of the device in real time and in situ as films are coated onto a substrate. The evolution of the morphology was characterized under different conditions, allowing us to propose a mechanism by which the structures form and grow. This mini-slot die coater offers a simple, convenient, material efficient route by which the morphology in the active layer can be optimized under industrially relevant conditions. The goal of this protocol is to show experimental details of how a solar cell device is fabricated using a mini-slot die coater and technical details of running in situ structure characterization using the mini-slot die coater.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Focused Ion Beam Fabrication of LiPON-based Solid-state Lithium-ion Nanobatteries for In Situ Testing

Solid-state electrolytes are a promising replacement for current organic liquid electrolytes, enabling higher energy densities and improved safety of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. However, a number of setbacks prevent their integration into commercial devices. The main limiting factor is due to nanoscale phenomena occurring at the electrode/electrolyte interfaces, ultimately leading to degradation of battery operation. These key problems are highly challenging to observe and characterize as these batteries contain multiple buried interfaces. One approach for direct observation of interfacial phenomena in thin film batteries is through the fabrication of electrochemically active nanobatteries by a focused ion beam (FIB). As such, a reliable technique to fabricate nanobatteries was developed and demonstrated in recent work. Herein, a detailed protocol with a step-by-step process is presented to enable the reproduction of this nanobattery fabrication process. In particular, this technique was applied to a thin film battery consisting of LiCoO 2 /LiPON/a-Si, and has further been previously demonstrated by in situ cycling within a transmission electron microscope.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
NASA NTRS1982

Space fabrication demonstration system composite beam cap fabricator

A detailed design for a prototype, composite beam cap fabricator was established. Inputs to this design included functional tests and system operating requirements. All required materials were procured, detail parts were fabricated, and one composite beam cap forming machine was assembled. The machine was demonstrated as a stand-alone system. Two 12-foot-long beam cap members were fabricated from laminates graphite/polysulfane or an equivalent material. One of these members, which as structurally tested in axial compression, failed at 490 pounds.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2019

Fast-timing microchannel plate photodetectors: design, fabrication and characterization

We report a detailed design, fabrication, and characterization of 6 x 6 cm(2) fast timing photodetectors based on next-generation microchannel plates (MCPs). The whole assembly is made of low-cost borosilicate glass materials and hermetically sealed with a bialkali photocathode in a vacuum. The flexible photodetector design provides the potential of modifying individual components as well as the entire configuration to fit for different applications. A series of prototype MCP-photodetectors were fabricated following a step-by-step process including functionalization of glass capillary array through atomic layer deposition, MCP baking and scrubbing, photocathode deposition, and hermetic thermo-compression sealing. The prototype MCP-photodetectors exhibit electron gains well beyond 107 level with good relative uniformity. An excellent rise time of 439 ps, timing distribution root-mean-square at a single photoelectron mode of 105 ps, a timing resolution of 20 ps, and magnetic field tolerance up to 1.3 T were achieved for a photodetector with 10 mu m pore size MCPs, comparing to that of 536 ps, 205 ps, 63 ps, and 0.7 T for the one with 20 mu m pore size MCPs. Published under license by AIP Publishing.

fast timing↗
DOE OSTI2016

Fabrication, characterization, and modeling of comixed films for NXS calibration targets [Fabrication and metrology of the NXS calibration targets]

In 2014/2015 at the Omega laser facility, several experiments took place to calibrate the National Ignition Facility (NIF) X-ray spectrometer (NXS), which is used for high-resolution time-resolved spectroscopic experiments at NIF. The spectrometer allows experimentalists to measure the X-ray energy emitted from high-energy targets, which is used to understand key data such as mixing of materials in highly compressed fuel. The purpose of the experiments at Omega was to obtain information on the instrument performance and to deliver an absolute photometric calibration of the NXS before it was deployed at NIF. The X-ray emission sources fabricated for instrument calibration were 1-mm fused silica spheres with precisely known alloy composition coatings of Si/Ag/Mo, Ti/Cr/Ag, Cr/Ni/Zn, and Zn/Zr, which have emission in the 2- to 18-keV range. Critical to the spectrometer calibration is a known atomic composition of elements with low uncertainty for each calibration sphere. This study discusses the setup, fabrication, and precision metrology of these spheres as well as some interesting findings on the ternary magnetron-sputtered alloy structure.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Fabrication of Low-Tortuosity Ultrahigh-Area-Capacity Battery Electrodes through Magnetic Alignment of Emulsion-Based Slurries

High energy–density, low–cost batteries are critically important to a variety of applications ranging from portable electronics to electric vehicles (EVs) and grid–scale storage. While tremendous research effort has been focused on new materials or chemistries with high energy–density potential, design innovations such as low–tortuosity thick electrodes are another promising path toward higher energy density and lower cost. Growing demand for fast–charging batteries has also highlighted the need for negative electrodes that can accept high rate charging without metal deposition; low tortuosity can be a benefit in this regard. However, a general and scalable fabrication method for low–tortuosity electrodes is currently lacking. Here an emulsion–based, magnetic–alignment approach to producing thick electrodes (>400 µm thickness) with ultrahigh areal capacity (up to ≈14 mAh cm –2 vs 2–4 mAh cm –2 for conventional lithium ion) is reported. The process is demonstrated for LiCoO 2 and meso–carbon microbead graphite. The LiCoO 2 cathodes are confirmed to have low tortuosity via DC–depolarization experiments and deliver high areal capacity (>10 mAh cm –2 ) in galvanostatic discharge tests at practical C–rates and model EV drive–cycle tests. Lastly, this simple fabrication method can potentially be applied to many other active materials to enable thick, low–tortuosity electrodes.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Fabrication of Detector Arrays for the SPT-3G Receiver

The South Pole Telescope third-generation (SPT-3G) receiver was installed during the austral summer of 2016–2017. It is designed to measure the cosmic microwave background across three frequency bands centered at 95, 150, and 220 GHz. The SPT-3G receiver has ten focal plane modules, each with 269 pixels. Each pixel features a broadband sinuous antenna coupled to a niobium microstrip transmission line. In-line filters define the desired band-passes before the signal is coupled to six bolometers with Ti/Au/Ti/Au transition edge sensors (three bands × two polarizations). In total, the SPT-3G receiver is composed of 16,000 detectors, which are read out using a 68 × frequency-domain multiplexing scheme. In this paper, we present the process employed in fabricating the detector arrays.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2017

Fabrication of a single sub-micron pore spanning a single crystal (100) diamond membrane and impact on particle translocation [Particle translocation through a single crystal diamond pore fabricated by electron beam induced chemical etching]

The fabrication of sub-micron pores in single crystal diamond membranes, which span the entirety of the membrane, is described for the first time, and the translocation properties of polymeric particles through the pore investigated. The pores are produced using a combination of laser micromachining to form the membrane and electron beam induced etching to form the pore. Single crystal diamond as the membrane material, has the advantages of chemical stability and durability, does not hydrate and swell, has outstanding electrical properties that facilitate fast, low noise current-time measurements and is optically transparent for combined optical-conductance sensing. The resulting pores are characterized individually using both conductance measurements, employing a microcapillary electrochemical setup, and electron microscopy. Proof-of-concept experiments to sense charged polystyrene particles as they are electrophoretically driven through a single diamond pore are performed, and the impact of this new pore material on particle translocation is explored. As a result, these findings reveal the potential of diamond as a platform for pore-based sensing technologies and pave the way for the fabrication of single nanopores which span the entirety of a diamond membrane.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Fabrication, microstructure, and wear performance of WC-Fe composite/metal coating fabricated by resistance seam welding

Highlights: • WC-Fe/metal coating consisted of WC-Fe layer and metal interlayer was fabricated by resistance seam welding. • The microstructure, hardness and wear performance of coatings with different WC particles size were analyzed. • The wear mechanism of coatings showed huge difference following various sliding distance. - Abstract: WC-Fe composite/metal coatings consisting of a WC-Fe composite layer and a metal interlayer were successfully fabricated on an Al 6061 substrate by resistance seam welding. The microstructures and phase compositions of the WC-Fe composite/metal coatings with different WC particle sizes (nano, fine, and coarse) were investigated. The WC-Fe composite layer consisted of WC particles and a Fe-C-Si super hard alloy (SHA) component, whereas the metal interlayer was composed of SHA, FeAl{sub 3}, Fe{sub 2}Al{sub 5}, and Al 6061. The surface microhardness of the WC-Fe composite/metal coating increased with increasing WC particle size. The wear performance of the coatings tested with different sliding distances is discussed in detail. Coating-C (coarse) showed the best wear resistance. The wear rates of both coating-N (nano) and coating-C decreased as the sliding distance increased, while coating-F (fine) demonstrated the opposite behavior. The wear mechanisms of the coatings were drastically different owing to the significantly different WC particle behavior at various sliding distances.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

A method for site-specific and cryogenic specimen fabrication of liquid/solid interfaces for atom probe tomography

A site-specific, cryogenic, focused ion beam (FIB) method is presented for the preparation of atom probe tomography (APT) specimens from a frozen liquid/solid interface. As a practical example, the interface between water and a corroded boroaluminosilicate glass has been characterized by APT for the first time. The water/glass interface is preserved throughout specimen preparation by plunge freezing the corroding glass particles with the corrosion solution into slush nitrogen. Site-specific specimen preparation is enabled through a new approach to extract and mount a small volume of material using a cryogenically cooled FIB stage and micromanipulator. The prepared APT specimens are subsequently transferred from the FIB to APT under cryogenic and high-vacuum conditions using a novel FIB/APT transfer shuttle and home-built environmental transfer hub attached to the APT system. Particular focus is given to the technical methods for specimen fabrication under cryogenic conditions. Persistent challenges are discussed in addition to future opportunities for this new specimen preparation method.

cryogenic FIB, atom probe tomography (APT), corros↗
DOE OSTI2019

EcoFAB: Advancing microbiome science through standardized fabricated ecosystems

The vital role microbiomes play in ecosystems and for human health is now apparent. Great progress has been made by using model systems to gain insight into host-microbe interactions, yet lack of standardized reproducible experimental systems and methods greatly limits microbiome science. Recent successes highlight the importance of developing these types of systems to deconstruct mechanisms mediating host-microbe interactions. Standardization of ‘fabricated ecosystems’ would enable detailed mechanistic interrogation and more effective knowledge transfer between researchers – analogous to the significant impact model organisms and cell systems have had in molecular and cell biology. To advance these efforts we advocate for strategies and overarching themes to enable communities of scientists to work together to develop standardized laboratory microbial consortia for studying host-associated microbiomes.

Zengler, Karsten↗
DOE OSTI2020

Fabrication of UN-Mo CERMET Nuclear Fuel Using Advanced Manufacturing Techniques

Ceramic-metallic nuclear fuels are a candidate fuel for nuclear thermal propulsion systems due to their high heat transport properties, which are necessary in very high-temperature environments. The conventional fabrication of uranium nitride–molybdenum fuel has been thoroughly studied in the past, but modern manufacturing techniques have presented a unique opportunity for further development within this field. This work demonstrates the use of advanced manufacturing techniques to produce nuclear fuel pellets composed of uranium nitride microspheres encased in a molybdenum matrix. Binder jetting is used to print molybdenum disks that are filled with uranium nitride microspheres and afterward sintered using spark plasma sintering. Two fuel pellets were fabricated to demonstrate the methodology and to provide a baseline analysis of the effects of temperature and pressure processing conditions. Characterization of the sintered fuel pellets includes detailed microstructural analysis and thermal conductivity measurements.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Fabrication and testing of a newly designed slit system for depth-resolved X-ray diffraction measurements

A new system of slits called `spiderweb slits' have been developed for depth-resolved powder or polycrystalline X-ray diffraction measurements. The slits act on diffracted X-rays to select a particular gauge volume of sample, while absorbing diffracted X-rays from outside of this volume. Although the slit geometry is to some extent similar to that of previously developed conical slits or spiral slits, this new design has advantages over the previous ones in use for complex heterogeneous materials and in situ and operando diffraction measurements. For example, the slits can measure a majority of any diffraction cone for any polycrystalline material, over a continuous range of diffraction angles, and work for X-ray energies of tens to hundreds of kiloelectronvolts. The design is generated and optimized using ray-tracing simulations, and fabricated through laser micromachining. The first prototype was successfully tested at the X17A beamline at the National Synchrotron Light Source, and shows similar performance to simulations, demonstrating gauge volume selection for standard powders, for all diffraction peaks over angles of 2–10°. A similar, but improved, design will be implemented at the X-ray Powder Diffraction beamline at the National Synchrotron Light Source II.

depth-resolved↗