Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “strain rate”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 361 records · Page 20
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Using the Shallow Strain Tensor to Characterize Deep Geologic Reservoirs

Abstract Storing and recovering water, carbon, and heat from geologic reservoirs is central to managing resources in a changing climate. We tested the hypothesis that the strain tensor caused by injecting or producing fluids can be measured at shallow depths and interpreted to advance understanding of underlying deep aquifers or reservoirs. Geodetic‐grade strainmeters were deployed at 30 m depth overlying the Bartlesville Formation, a 500‐m‐deep sandstone near Tulsa, OK. The strainmeters are 220 m east of injection well 9A completed in a permeable lens at the base of the Bartlesville Formation. Water was injected into well 9A at approximately 1.0 L/s during four tests that ranged in duration from a few hours to a few weeks. The horizontal strain increased (tension) and the circumferential strain was a few times larger than the radial strain. The vertical strain decreased (compression) during injection. Strain rates were approximately 100 nε/day during the first few hours, but the rates decreased and were approximately 10 nε/day during most of the tests. Four independent methods of poroelastic simulation and inversion predict reservoir properties and geometries that are similar to each other and consistent with independent information about the reservoir. All strain interpretations predict that a boundary to the permeable lens occurs beneath the vicinity of the strainmeters, which is consistent with core data from the site. The boundary of the permeable lens is located by matching the vertical, radial and circumferential strains, which demonstrates the value of measuring the strain tensor.

Murdoch, Lawrence C.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Role of tilt grain boundaries on the structural integrity of WSe 2 monolayers

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are potential materials for future optoelectronic devices. Grain boundaries (GBs) can significantly influence the optoelectronic properties of TMDC materials. Here, we have investigated the mechanical characteristics of tungsten diselenide (WSe 2 ) monolayers and failure process with symmetric tilt GBs using ReaxFF molecular dynamics simulations. In particular, the effects of topological defects, loading rates, and temperatures are investigated. We considered nine different grain boundary structures of monolayer WSe 2 , of which six are armchair (AC) tilt structures, and the remaining three are zigzag (ZZ) tilt structures. Our results indicate that both tensile strength and fracture strain of WSe 2 with symmetric tilt GBs decrease as the temperature increases. We revealed an interfacial phase transition for high-angle GBs reduces the elastic strain energy within the interface at finite temperatures. Furthermore, brittle cracking is the dominant failure mode in the WSe 2 monolayer with tilted GBs. WSe 2 GB structures showed more strain rate sensitivity at high temperatures than at low temperatures.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Plane-Strain Tension Testing of ATF FeCrAl Cladding (Progress Report)

Performance of advanced accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) claddings must be assessed under all relevant scenarios, including normal and off-normal operating conditions, as well as during a reactivity-initiated accident (RIA). During RIA, the fuel pellet may expand and cause significant loads on cladding, a condition known as pellet cladding mechanical interaction (PCMI), which may even lead to cladding failure. This report describes the fiscal year (FY) 2020 research activities and results from the development of separate-effects testing for ATF cladding candidate iron-chromium-aluminum (FeCrAl) tube specimens under loading conditions expected during RIA/PCMI events. To assess material performance under PCMI, a high strain rate burst test, often termed the modified burst test (MBT), is commonly employed. However, execution of such a test in a hot cell requires significant research. To overcome the complexities of performing MBTs in a hot-cell environment on irradiated samples, a plane-strain tension (PST) test was proposed by several authors as an alternative approach for PCMI testing. A new fixture was developed so that PST specimens could be tested using a more accommodating design for hot-cell manipulators. This report presents the PST fixture design, evaluates the possibility of modifying the specimen geometry, and discusses experimental results with unirradiated Al 6061 and FeCrAl tubes at various lengths. Furthermore, this report discusses the relevance and compatibility of the PST results to RIA scenarios and compares the PST and MBT results.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Revealing the unusual rate-dependent mechanical behaviors of nematic liquid crystal elastomers

Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) exhibit unique mechanical properties of soft elasticity and enhanced energy dissipation with rate dependency. They are potentially transformative materials for applications in mechanical impact mitigation and vibration isolation. However, previous studies have primarily focused on the mechanics of LCEs under equilibrium and quasistatic loading conditions. Critical knowledge gaps exist in understanding their rate-dependent behaviors, which are a complex mixture of traditional network viscoelasticity and the soft elastic behaviors with changes in the mesogen orientation and order parameter. Together, these inelastic mechanisms lead to unusual rate-dependent energy absorption responses of LCEs. In this work, we developed a viscoelastic constitutive theory for monodomain nematic LCEs to investigate how multiple underlying sources of inelasticity manifest in the rate-dependent and dissipative behaviors of monodomain LCEs. Here, the theoretical modeling framework combines the neo-classical network theory with evolution rules for the mesogen orientation and order parameter with conventional viscoelasticity. The model is calibrated with uniaxial tension and compression data spanning six decades of strain rates. The established 3D constitutive model enables general loading predictions taking the initial mesogen orientation and order parameter as inputs. Additionally, parametric studies were performed to further understand the rate dependence of monodomain LCEs in relation to their energy absorption characteristics. Based on the parametric studies, particularly loading scenarios are identified as conditions where LCEs outperform conventional elastomers regarding energy absorption.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Sensing and Control During Bulk SPP

In this work, we use the thermoelectricity to directly measure the temperature at different radial positions within instrumented Al1100 billets during friction extrusion. Site-specific and uninterrupted temperature measurements were possible by measuring the local voltages at several thermoelectric junctions consisting of aluminum-nickel pairs during extrusion. Measurements were conducted for a constant die rotation speed of 150 RPM and different extrusion feed rates of 2, 8, 32, and 80 mm.min-1. X-ray computed tomography was used to locate the positions of the thermoelectric junctions inside the processed billet, thus allowing for site-specific microstructural characterization at the precise measurement points. Smooth particle hydrodynamic modeling allowed to determine the thermal, strain, and strain rate fields developing during FE. The applicability and limitations of this temperature measurement approach are discussed as a function of the peak extrusion and torsion stresses relative to the matrix of extrusion feed rates.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Experimental Investigation on the Performance Loss of Cross-Linked Polymers During Photo-Oxidative Aging

Abstract Polymeric substances have seen an unprecedented integration in countless applications and fields of life, subjecting them to a broad range of environmental conditions, which can cause a form of damage to the structural and mechanical properties of these components known as aging. In this study we investigate the effects of the degradation of polymeric materials due to the extended exposure to sunlight, which can be simulated through controlled photo-oxidative aging using ultraviolet (UV) radiation as the main catalyst of this phenomenon. The effects on mechanical behavior and chemical properties of four polymeric materials with different mechanical characteristics was accordingly monitored throughout the study. The materials range in hardness with the polyurethane adhesive being the hardest and acting plastically, followed by an acrylic which exhibits greater hardening with time, a polyurethane sealant, which behaves in an elastomeric manner, and a silicon sealant, which is the softest of the set. Samples were prepared and subjected to UV radiation at three different temperatures namely 45, 60 and 80°C, for different aging periods ranging from 1 day for higher temperatures to 150 days for lower ones. The samples were then subjected to the Fourier transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) test to monitor the change in the chemical composition of the materials along the aging durations and conditions. The materials were then subjected to mechanical testing along two modes of mechanical loading, which are a simple tension until failure and a double-cyclic test with progressively increasing strain limits after every two successful cycles until the sample reaches failure. The samples are loaded at constant strain rates throughout both tests. These tests revealed the change of behavior of our materials along the aging periods and conditions. The changes in mechanical behavior vary across each individual material depending on the aging temperature and period, with the changes ranging from hardening to softening, embrittlement or an increase in the maximum strain the material can endure before failure. A general trend would be that most materials become harder after photo-oxidation, however due to the range of temperatures in the aging conditions, thermo-oxidation, which causes softening in some of the polymers, has an increasingly notable effect at higher temperatures. A visible correlation can be noted between the change in mechanical behavior and a change in absorbance of Infrared Radiation (IR) in the FTIR spectrum, as the greater the crosslinking throughout the polymer matrix, the lower the absorbance of IR radiation due to the increased stiffness of the overall macro-molecular structure.

Korayem, Abd-Elrahman↗
DOE OSTI2022

Cantor-derived medium-entropy alloys: bridging the gap between traditional metallic and high-entropy alloys

The year 2004 marked the beginning of a new era in the design of metallic materials, as the concept of multiple principal component alloys, commonly known as High-Entropy Alloys (HEAs), was proposed by Cantor and Yeh. The unexpected single-phase microstructure, instead of the expected brittle intermetallic compounds, was attributed to the large entropy of mixing and immediately caught the attention of the scientific community. Today, HEAs are considered important advanced materials and a broad range of alloys using nominally the same design principle have been investigated. Despite that, the CrMnFeCoNi (Cantor) alloy stands out as the most successful HEA due to its outstanding mechanical properties and microstructure. In this scenario, variants of the Cantor alloy, named medium-entropy alloys (MEAs), are gaining significant interest as they display a better industrial potential than both HEAs and traditional alloys. These variants of the Cantor alloy with only three or four main elements result in 15 possible combinations. The microstructure of these alloys is discussed in terms of advanced characterization as well as thermodynamic parameters and computational simulation. Their phase stability is addressed over a wide range of temperatures and strain rates. The mechanical properties, especially the fracture toughness, of the CrFeCoNi and CrCoNi alloys have been reported to be even superior to those of the Cantor alloy and most modern engineering alloys. This is associated with the formation of a continuous sequence of strengthening mechanisms, including hierarchical twin networks, which serve to prolong the strain hardening. The present article reviews and critically assesses, for the first time, recent advances in these Cantor-derived MEAs.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Accumulation of collagen molecular unfolding is the mechanism of cyclic fatigue damage and failure in collagenous tissues

Overuse injuries to dense collagenous tissues are common, but their etiology is poorly understood. The predominant hypothesis that micro-damage accumulation exceeds the rate of biological repair is missing a mechanistic explanation. Here, we used collagen hybridizing peptides to measure collagen molecular damage during tendon cyclic fatigue loading and computational simulations to identify potential explanations for our findings. Our results revealed that triple-helical collagen denaturation accumulates with increasing cycles of fatigue loading, and damage is correlated with creep strain independent of the cyclic strain rate. Finite-element simulations demonstrated that biphasic fluid flow is a possible fascicle-level mechanism to explain the rate dependence of the number of cycles and time to failure. Molecular dynamics simulations demonstrated that triple-helical unfolding is rate dependent, revealing rate-dependent mechanisms at multiple length scales in the tissue. The accumulation of collagen molecular denaturation during cyclic loading provides a long-sought “micro-damage” mechanism for the development of overuse injuries.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

BISON validation of FeCrAl cladding mechanical failure during simulated reactivity-initiated accident conditions*

Here, a reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) is a postulated design basis accident in light water reactors (LWRs) in which a rapid reactivity insertion induces a fission rate increase and a fuel pellet temperature rise. During RIA, the fuel pellet thermally expands and may cause pellet-cladding mechanical interaction (PCMI). Separate effects PCMI tests were performed on C26M FeCrAl cladding tube samples, introducing biaxial stress via a well understood modified burst test (MBT) system. A high-speed camera in the MBT system captured the projections, covering a 360° view of the cladding deformation and enabling a digital image correlation (DIC) method to quantify the surface strains with high fidelity. Representative hot zero-power RIA mechanical loading conditions were applied to the sample, and the test duration ranged from 20 to 500 ms at an average temperature of 573 K. BISON finite element–based fuel performance code modeling was performed against the high-fidelity DIC data produced from the MBTs. Validation calculations were conducted with 2D models and systematically compared with test data of the burst time, burst pressure, burst hoop strains, and hoop strain rates. Based on the behaviors from the separate effects test, BISON calculations satisfactorily predicted the cladding deformation behaviors. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to identify highly influential mechanical properties responsible for the cladding failure behavior during the MBT experiments. The results highlight the significance of the cladding's mechanical strength in governing cladding strain, followed by the significance of the mechanical interactions between the pellet and the cladding.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2021

New Fracture Diagnostic Tool for Unconventionals: High-Resolution Distributed Strain Sensing via Rayleigh Frequency Shift during Production in Hydraulic Fracture Test 2

Fiber Optic monitoring in unconventional reservoirs has proven to be an invaluable diagnostic tool for assessing both near-wellbore stimulation effectiveness and to help describe the far-field frac geometries created by hydraulic fracture stimulation. Unfortunately, gaining any detailed qualitative and quantitative understanding of the near-wellbore frac geometry or cluster/stage productivity during production via Fiber Optic (FO) has proven to be more difficult, particularly in wells producing liquids. A new FO diagnostic method, Distributed Strain Sensing based on Rayleigh Frequency Shift (DSS-RFS), first demonstrated for oil and gas applications in the Hydraulic Test Site 2 (HFTS2) provides new insights about the characteristics of near-wellbore-region (NWR) during production. DSS-RFS is different from other FO strain measurements because it relies on accurate measurement of frequency shifts of Rayleigh backscattered spectrum obtained by scanning the fiber with a coherent optical time-domain reflectometer with a range of laser frequencies using a tunable-wavelength laser system. Changes in strain are measured with an extremely high spatial resolution of 20 cm and with high signal-to-noise ratios over long distances. In HFTS2, strain changes for the entire wellbore have been measured twice during scheduled shut-in and reopening operations (February 2020 and September 2020). After removing temperature effects, consistent strain changes have been observed at the location of most perforation clusters. These are caused by near wellbore fracture aperture changes due to pressure increases during shut-in within the near-wellbore fracture network. The strain-change patterns from the DSS-RFS during shut-in correlate very well with the location of clusters and allow for the definition of extending intervals with positive strain signals at each cluster and slightly compressing intervals with negative strain signals between the clusters and in the non stimulated intervals. The locations of the measured positive strain peaks also show good correspondence to DAS acoustic intensity measurements acquired during the stimulation. The geometry and magnitude of the strain changes differ significantly between the two tested completion designs in the same well. During shut in and reopening each cluster exhibit its own strain-change / pressure path. In addition, the September 2020 dataset also revealed the existence of small but measurable strain changes as consequence of pressure decline during production. These strain changes also correlate well with the presence of producing clusters, but the strain-rate signals are opposite to that obtained during shut-in and reopening operations. Although Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/URTECONF/proceedings-pdf/21URTC/2-21URTC/D021S031R002/2477551/urtec-2021-5408-ms.pdf/1 by Carol Worster on 28 February 2022 URTeC 5408 2 we are still in the early stages of exploring the potential of this novel FO technique, we believe that the highly detailed information contained in the measurement of strain changes using DSS-RFS during production can significantly improve our understanding of near-wellbore hydraulic fracture characteristics and the relationships between stimulation and production from unconventional oil and gas wells.

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Geodetic Evidence for Distributed Shear Below the Brittle Crust of the Walker Lane, Western United States

Abstract Models of active deformation of the Earth's crust are predominantly represented with dislocations having a downdip continuation into the lower crust, where the fault slips continuously. This model predicts surface strain accumulation concentrated near the fault during the interseismic period. In an alternative model, faults do not extend beneath the elastic portion of the crust and are accompanied by a wide zone of distributed shear underneath, predicting a more constant strain rate lacking concentrations at the faults. We use high‐precision GPS data collected across the northern and central Walker Lane, USA— a region of complex faulting near the western edge of the Basin and Range Province to evaluate which model is appropriate. Despite the existence of dense continuous and semi‐continuous geodetic networks that have been surveyed for ∼20 years, the horizontal velocities reveal no evidence of localized strain accumulation across the fault surface expressions. Instead, deformation within the Walker Lane is uniformly linear, suggesting that the surface deformation reflects distributed shear within the ductile crust rather than focused deformation at faults. This suggests no downdip extension of the faults below the seismogenic layer. The shear zone is 172 ± 6 km wide in the northernmost Walker Lane narrowing to 116 ± 4 km in the central Walker Lane. The total velocity budget across the shear zone is 7.2 ± 0.1 mm/yr in the north, increasing to 10.1 ± 0.1 mm/yr in the central Walker Lane. We conclude that assuming the presence of lower crustal dislocations when estimating geodetic faults slip rates may be inappropriate.

Geochemistry & Geophysics↗
DOE OSTI2020

Modal analysis of the behavior of inertial particles in turbulence subjected to Stokes drag

The clustering of small heavy inertial particles subjected to Stokes drag in turbulence, which is the concern of present study, is known to be minimal at small and large Stokes number and substantial at St = $\textit{O}$(1). This nonmonotonic trend, which has been shown computationally and experimentally, is yet to be explained analytically. In this study, we obtain an analytical expression for the Lyapunov exponents that quantitatively predicts this trend. The sum of the exponents, which is the normalized rate of change of the signed volume of a small cloud of particles, is correctly predicted to be negative and positive at small and large Stokes numbers, respectively, asymptoting to $\textit{τQ}$ as $\textit{τ}$ → 0 and $τ^{–1/2}|Q|^{1/4}$ as $\textit{τ} → ∞$, where $\textit{τ}$ is the particle relaxation time and $\textit{Q(τ)}$ is the difference between the norm of the rotation- and strain-rate tensors computed along the particle trajectory, which remains negative at all $\textit{τ}$ in turbulent flows. Additionally, the trajectory crossing is predicted only in hyperbolic flows where Q < 0 for sufficiently inertial particles with a $\textit{τ}$ that scales with $|Q|^{–1/2}$. Following the onset of crossovers, a transition from clustering to dispersion is predicted correctly. We show these behaviors are not unique to three-dimensional isotropic turbulence and can be reproduced closely by a one-dimensional mono-harmonic flow, which appears as a fundamental canonical problem in the study of particle clustering. Analysis of this one-dimensional canonical flow shows that the rate of clustering, quantified as the product of the Lyapunov exponent and particle relaxation time, is bounded by –1/2, behaving with extreme nonlinearity in the hyperbolic flows and always remaining positive in the elliptic flows. Finally, this model problem also confirms that dispersion in a hyperbolic flow will occur only if particles' trajectory cross. These findings, which stem from our analysis, are corroborated by the direct numerical simulations.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2026

Neural Network‐Based Methods for Ocean Surface Wave Measurement Using Submarine Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS)

Two new data-driven models for estimating ocean surface waves from distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) submarine cable strain rate are developed using supervised machine learning on a 10-day data set collected offshore of Oliktok Point, Alaska. The new models were trained on target data from seafloor pressure moorings at three sites spaced evenly along 27.1 km of cable and were benchmarked against an empirical transfer function method previously used to estimate waves from DAS. A model which uses convolutional neural networks to transform 2-km frequency-wavenumber strain spectra to seafloor pressure spectra outperforms the benchmark in wave height prediction (RMSE of 0.15 vs. 0.41 m) and period prediction (0.29 vs. 0.37 s) when evaluated on a held-out test data set. When applied to a DAS data set collected on the same cable 2 years prior, the CNN-based model maintained similar significant wave height performance (RMSE = 0.23 m) relative to available satellite altimetry data. A two-hidden-layer, fully connected neural network which transforms 1-D strain spectra to seafloor pressure spectra also outperforms the benchmark in wave height prediction (RMSE of 0.19 vs. 0.41 m), but does not generalize as well to the prior data. Regression-based machine learning is useful for estimating waves from DAS data when the pressure-strain relationship varies temporally and spatially across different wave conditions. Models can be applied to DAS data to measure waves with higher spatial resolution and longer temporal coverage than traditional methods, which often measure waves only at a single point.

Davis, Jacob R. [Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA ↗
DOE OSTI2021

Machine Learning Driven Contouring of High-Frequency Four-Dimensional Cardiac Ultrasound Data

Automatic boundary detection of 4D ultrasound (4DUS) cardiac data is a promising yet challenging application at the intersection of machine learning and medicine. Using recently developed murine 4DUS cardiac imaging data, we demonstrate here a set of three machine learning models that predict left ventricular wall kinematics along both the endo- and epi-cardial boundaries. Each model is fundamentally built on three key features: (1) the projection of raw US data to a lower dimensional subspace, (2) a smoothing spline basis across time, and (3) a strategic parameterization of the left ventricular boundaries. Model 1 is constructed such that boundary predictions are based on individual short-axis images, regardless of their relative position in the ventricle. Model 2 simultaneously incorporates parallel short-axis image data into their predictions. Model 3 builds on the multi-slice approach of model 2, but assists predictions with a single ground-truth position at end-diastole. To assess the performance of each model, Monte Carlo cross validation was used to assess the performance of each model on unseen data. For predicting the radial distance of the endocardium, models 1, 2, and 3 yielded average R2 values of 0.41, 0.49, and 0.71, respectively. Monte Carlo simulations of the endocardial wall showed significantly closer predictions when using model 2 versus model 1 at a rate of 48.67%, and using model 3 versus model 2 at a rate of 83.50%. These finding suggest that a machine learning approach where multi-slice data are simultaneously used as input and predictions are aided by a single user input yields the most robust performance. Subsequently, we explore the how metrics of cardiac kinematics compare between ground-truth contours and predicted boundaries. We observed negligible deviations from ground-truth when using predicted boundaries alone, except in the case of early diastolic strain rate, providing confidence for the use of such machine learning models for rapid and reliable assessments of murine cardiac function. To our knowledge, this is the first application of machine learning to murine left ventricular 4DUS data. Future work will be needed to strengthen both model performance and applicability to different cardiac disease models.

4D ultrasound↗
DOE OSTI2021

Characteristics of Premature Creep Failure in Over-tempered Base Metal of Grade 91 Steel Weldment

Characteristics of premature creep failure in the over-tempered base metal (OT-BM) of a Grade 91 steel weldment are investigated with specially designed creep experiments and advanced microstructure characterization. In situ digital image correlation (DIC) strain measurements reveal that local creep strain as high as 100% accumulated in the OT-BM, compared with only 10% nominal strain over the gauge length. The creep strain rate in the OT-BM is identical to that in the intercritical heat-affected zone and fine-grained heat-affected zone at the secondary creep stage and early tertiary stage, but faster at the late tertiary stage. Microstructural analysis shows that highly recovered microstructure in the OT-BM leads to the lowest hardness, the largest grain size, the lowest fraction of coincidence site lattice boundaries, and the lowest localized strain energy. Dislocation creep and transgranular creep fracture are the dominant deformation and fracture mechanisms in the OT-BM under the current creep testing condition of a low temperature (550 °C) and a high stress (215 MPa).

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Probing the Damage Zone at Parkfield

Rocks are heterogeneous materials that exhibit nonlinear elastic (anelastic) behavior at scales ranging from the laboratory to Earth. In the laboratory, typical, complex relationships exist between stress and strain that include hysteresis, finite relaxation times, strain rate, and history dependence. These behaviors are linked to important characteristics such as stress, porosity, permeability, material integrity, and material failure. In this work, we adopted a “pump-probe” type experiment common in laboratory studies, using solid earth tides as the low-frequency pump and empirical Green's function as the high-frequency probe. By probing the velocity at different points in the pump cycle, we constrained important information about the strain-modulus relationship. Near the San Andreas Fault, we observed strongly nonlinear elastic behavior that characterizes the damage zone. We also constrained important aspects of hysteretic behavior that are related to damage properties and possibly pore pressure. Away from the fault, the nonlinear behavior is diminished.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Part-scale evolution of fine-scale microstructural heterogeneity in solid-state additive manufacturing

Current solid-state additive manufacturing methods, refined through costly and time-consuming trial and error, have spurred interest in computational models that replicate material behavior under typical thermomechanical conditions (e.g., strain-rate ~ 102 s−1). These models, however, struggle to capture time-dependent microstructural evolution. In this work, Additive Friction-Stir Deposition (AFSD) is used as a representative case study for part-scale quantification of microstructure evolution at a fine spatial resolution (200 μm) by examining a liquid-nitrogen-cooled stop-action build via energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction coupled with a multi-channel detector. These results inform modeling efforts by linking process asymmetry to stored plastic strain, residual elastic strain, and texture development, and unlike current state-of-the-art characterization methods (e.g., EBSD or neutron diffraction), this approach provides both the spatial resolution and collection efficiency necessary to quantify fine-scale microstructural heterogeneity over large component volumes. As such, this technique provides essential validation data for computational models, e.g., crystal plasticity, enabling future prediction of heterogeneous behavior in AFSD and other additive manufacturing processes.

Franz, Cole [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000213465881)↗
DOE OSTI2021

Gas Bubble Evolution in Polycrystalline UMo Fuels Under Elastic-Plastic Deformation: A Phase-Field Model With Crystal-Plasticity

In monolithic UMo fuels, the interaction between the Al cladding and large gas bubble volumetric swelling causes both elastic-plastic and creep deformation. In this work, a phase-field model of gas bubble evolution in polycrystalline UMo under elastic-plastic deformation was developed for studying the dynamic interaction between evolving gas bubble/voids and deformation. A crystal plasticity model, which assumes that the plastic strain rate is proportional to resolved shear stresses of dislocation slip systems on their slip planes, was used to describe plastic deformation in polycrystalline UMo. Xe diffusion and gas bubble evolution are driven by the minimization of chemical and deformation energies in the phase-field model, while evolving gas bubble structure was used to update the mechanical properties in the crystal plasticity model. With the developed model, we simulated the effect of gas bubble structures (different volume fractions and internal gas pressures) on stress-strain curves and the effect of local stresses on gas bubble evolution. The results show that 1) the effective Young’s modulus and yield stress decrease with the increase of gas bubble volume fraction; 2) the hardening coefficient increases with the increase of gas bubble volume fraction, especially for gas bubbles with higher internal pressure; and 3) the pressure dependence of Xe thermodynamic and kinetic properties in addition to the local stress state determine gas bubble growth or shrinkage. The simulated results can serve as a guide to improve material property models for macroscale fuel performance modeling.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗