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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 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

A novel peridynamics-based approach to predict pharmaceutical tablet robustness

The pharmaceutical drug product development process can be greatly accelerated through the use of modeling and simulation techniques to predict the manufacturability and performance of a given formulation. The anticipation and possible mitigation of tablet damage due to manufacturing stresses represents a specific area of interest in the pharmaceutical industry for predicting formulation and tableting performance. While the finite element method (FEM) has been extensively used for predicting the mechanical behavior of powder material in the compaction processes, a shortcoming of the approach is the inherent difficulty to predict discontinuities (e.g., damage or cracking) within a tablet as FEM is a continuum-based approach. In this work, we propose a novel method utilizing peridynamics (PD), a numerical method that can capture discontinuities such as tablet fracture, to predict the evolution of damage and breakage in pharmaceutical tablets. The approach links (1) the finite element method – to elucidate the behavior of powders during die compaction – with (2) the peridynamics modeling technique – to model the discontinuous nature of damage and predict tablet breakage during the critical stages of unloading and ejection from the compression die. This short communication presents a proof of concept including a workflow to calibrate the linked FEM-PD simulation models. Further, it demonstrates promising results from a preliminary experimental validation of the approach. Following further development, this approach could be used to guide the optimization of compression processes through targeted changes to formulation material properties, compression process conditions, and/or tooling geometries to deliver improved process efficiency and tablet robustness.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

X-Ray Microtomography Measurements of Coevolving Particle Size and Shape

This study measures simultaneous changes in particle size and shape during grain crushing and proposes quantitative metrics to track their coevolving statistical distribution. Idealized granular materials with widely different initial particle shapes (i.e., spheres, quasi-ellipsoids, plates, and rods) are compressed oedometrically at vertical stress levels sufficient to induce particle breakage. X-ray microtomography and digital image analysis are then used to track changes in particle-scale characteristics. The observations indicate that more irregular particles tend to exhibit a higher degree of breakage compared to more spherical grains subjected to an equivalent stress level. Despite these differences, the measurements also indicate that all the tested particle sets approach a common attractor (expressed in terms of aspect ratio, flatness, and elongation), regardless of their initial morphology. A new shape evolution index is proposed to quantify such trends. With this new metric, it is shown that in all the tested materials, the particle shape evolves faster than size, especially for the more regular morphologies, thus implying that the shape tends to reach its attractor point before the grading reaches its ultimate particle size distribution. Furthermore, this finding underpins an ultimate stage of crushing-driven compression that occurs with particle size reduction but minimal shape changes (i.e., self-replicating shapes due to fractures).

Oedometric compression↗
DOE OSTI2024

Exploring the Regimes of Particle Behavior upon Impact via the Discrete Element Method

Discrete element method simulations are conducted to probe the various regimes of post-impact behavior of particles with solid surfaces. The impacting particles are described as spherical agglomerates consisting of smaller constituent (or primary) particles held together via surface adhesion. Under the influence of a wide range of impact velocities and particle surface energies, five distinct behavioral regimes—rebounding, vibration, fragmentation, pancaking, and shattering—are identified, and force transmission patterns are linked to post-impact behavior. In the rebounding regime, the coefficient of restitution decreases linearly as impact velocity increases and the particle agglomerate experiences compaction. In the fragmentation regime, rebound velocity generally decreases with increasing fragment size. The rebound velocity of fragments decreases with time except for the smallest fragments, which can increase in velocity due to collisions with other fragments of high velocity. Particle breakage in the pancaking regime does not follow common mechanistic models of breakage.

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

Long-term effects of thinning and woody control on longleaf pine plantation development, understory abundance, and tree damage from an ice storm

Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) plantations have been established across the southeastern United States as the first step in restoring the declining savanna ecosystem, yet their long-term stability and development to open canopied woodlands may depend on early density and vegetation management treatments. Commercial thinning (CT) was applied in 2012 (year 18) to a long-term study of longleaf pine community restoration at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, SC to increase abundance of herb species. Although precommercial thinning (PCT) and woody vegetation control increased herb species cover during the first five years of the study, measurements from years 17 to 22 indicated a continuing decline in their cover since year 9 despite application of CT in year 18. Herb species richness, however, increased from 21 to 43 species per 100 m2 area during the last six years of the study, likely a result of disturbances associated with CT and an ice storm in year 20. Application of PCT in 1994, when the plantations were 8–11 years old, reduced their susceptibility to stem bending and breakage from the ice storm, which occurred 20 years later in 2014. Measured 5 months before the storm, pine height: dbh ratio (HD) averaged 78 and 90 for trees growing with and without PCT, respectively, and stem breakage (% of trees) from the ice storm increased linearly (r2 = 0.53) with HD. Pine mortality from the combined effects of glaze ice and wind differed with (28%) versus without (45%) PCT, indicating that long-term stability of longleaf pine plantations depends on early density management.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Probing the shear-induced microstructure of a smectite clay aqueous suspensions using rheo-USANS and rheo-SIPLI measurements

Hypothesis: The static microstructure of aqueous sodium-montmorillonite (Na-Mt) suspensions at low ionic strengths (where Particle Size/Debye Length ≈1) exhibits both the particle–particle ordering as well as aggregation with repulsive ordered domains having characteristic optical birefringence and attractive aggregated entities larger than 20 µm resulting in ever-increasing yield stresses also known as physical aging-rejuvenation behavior. We hypothesize that the attractive particle–particle aggregation is the underlying cause behind the physical aging-rejuvenation behavior observed in Na-Mt suspensions with no contribution from structural dynamics driven by repulsive particle–particle ordering or jamming. Experiments: We investigate the shear-induced microstructure of aqueous Na-Mt suspensions in the sol and gel state using rheo-ultra-small angle neutron scattering (rheo-USANS) experiments at shear rates of 1, 50, 500, and 2000 s −1 . We also perform rheo-shear-induced polarization light imaging (rheo-SIPLI) experiments to relate ordering with shearing and aging. Findings: Shearing the suspensions at low to moderate shear rates induces particle–particle aggregation and shearing at high shear rates induces the breakage of particle–particle aggregation in the sol and gel states, suggesting the microstructural aggregation in the sol and gel state is shear sensitive and a full rejuvenation or breakage of particle–particle aggregation is only achieved at a minimum critical shear rate. The rheo-SIPLI experiments reveal that the sol and gel state exhibited strong Maltese cross patterns at a shear rate of 1000 s −1 , indicating particle–particle ordering. Post shearing, the gel exhibited temporal evolution of storage modulus without any noticeable influence on the appearance of the Maltese cross pattern indicating physical aging and particle ordering are distinct length scale phenomena in Na-Mt suspensions and the physical aging-rejuvenation behaviour is a feature of particle–particle aggregation as opposed to ordering.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Multi-fidelity kinetic theory-based approach for the prediction of particle attrition: Application to jet cup attrition system

The timescale difference between the “fast” flow dynamics of fluidized bed reactors and the relatively “slow” rate of particle degradation makes the direct computational prediction of attrition challenging. An approach to this challenge is a multi-fidelity strategy where a high fidelity model for the flow dynamics is coupled with a lower fidelity model for the long-time resolution of the bulk attrition of the reactor inventory. We implement this approach using high-fidelity kinetic theory simulations to calculate the flow dynamics which are post-processed to calculate the frequency and intensity of the particle-particle and particle-wall collisions (e.g. collision energy spectra). This is combined with the particle breakage properties to construct the coefficients for a low-fidelity model [e.g. Monazam et al., 2018, Powder Technology 340, p. 528-536]. Simulations are performed of a jet cup attrition system containing Canadian hematite (Monazam et al. 2018). Furthermore, these are first analyzed using the collision energy spectra. Quantitative predictions of the mass loss are made using a low-fidelity model derived from the collision-spectra and a calibrated material breakage coefficient. The results are found to compare favorably with the experimental measurements.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Tuning the Mechanical Properties of a Polymer Semiconductor by Modulating Hydrogen Bonding Interactions

Conjugation breakers (CBs) with different H-bonding chemistry and linker flexibility are designed and incorporated into a Diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)-based conjugated polymer backbone. The effects of H-bonding interactions on polymer semiconductor morphology, mechanical properties and electrical performance are systematically investigated. We observe that CBs with H-bonding self-association constant >0.7 or denser packing tendency are able to induce higher polymer chain aggregation and crystallinity in as-casted thin film, resulting in higher modulus and crack on-set strain. Additionally, the rDoC (relative degree of crystallinity) of the stretched thin film with the highest crack on-set strain only suffers a small decrease, suggesting the main energy dissipation mechanism is the breakage of H-bonding interactions. By contrast, other less stretchable polymer films dissipate strain energy through the breakage of crystalline domains, indicated by drastic decrease in rDoC. Furthermore, we evaluate their electrical performance under mechanical strain in fully stretchable field-effect transistors. The polymer with the highest crack on-set strain has the least degradation in mobility as a function of strain. Overall, these observations suggest that we can aptly tune the mechanical properties in polymer semiconductors by modulating intermolecular interactions, such as H-bonding chemistry and linker flexibility. Such understanding provides molecular design guidelines for future stretchable semiconductors.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Conservation of endo -glucanase 16 (EG16) activity across highly divergent plant lineages

Plant cell walls are highly dynamic structures that are composed predominately of polysaccharides. As such, endogenous carbohydrate active enzymes (CAZymes) are central to the synthesis and subsequent modification of plant cells during morphogenesis. The endo-glucanase 16 (EG16) members constitute a distinct group of plant CAZymes, angiosperm orthologs of which were recently shown to have dual β-glucan/xyloglucan hydrolase activity. Molecular phylogeny indicates that EG16 members comprise a sister clade with a deep evolutionary relationship to the widely studied apoplastic xyloglucan endo-transglycosylases/hydrolases (XTH). A cross-genome survey indicated that EG16 members occur as a single ortholog across species and are widespread in early diverging plants, including the non-vascular bryophytes, for which functional data were previously lacking. Remarkably, enzymological characterization of an EG16 ortholog from the model moss Physcomitrella patens (PpEG16) revealed that EG16 activity and sequence/structure are highly conserved across 500 million years of plant evolution, vis-à-vis orthologs from grapevine and poplar. Ex vivo biomechanical assays demonstrated that the application of EG16 gene products caused abrupt breakage of etiolated hypocotyls rather than slow extension, thereby indicating a mode-of-action distinct from endogenous expansins and microbial endo-glucanases. As a result, the biochemical data presented here will inform future genomic, genetic, and physiological studies of EG16 enzymes.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Electroluminescence Analysis and Grading of Hail Damaged Solar Panels

We analyzed more than 4000 electroluminescence images of hail damaged solar panels from a cluster of houses in Texas. We enhanced the images for ease of analysis and classified the defects within each solar cell into categories of glass breakage, installer damage, inactive substrings, crack severity, interconnect wire problems, and whether the damage was likely caused by hail. From these statistics, we quantified each panel into five levels of hail damage for insurance claims, and four levels of overall quality for potential resale pricing. Here, we share here some statistics regarding the defects with the hope that the data is useful to others attempting to predict the invisible damage to systems based just on the easily observable glass breakage statistics.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Investigation on nanoscale material removal process of BK7 and fused silica glass during chemical‐mechanical polishing

Abstract Understanding the nanoscale material removal process in chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is of fundamental importance for the operation and further development of CMP. In this study, the nanoscale material removal processes of both fused silica glass and BK7 glass were investigated based on single‐pad‐asperity polishing experiments. The results indicate that the material removal characteristics are highly dependent on the composition and structure of glass materials. In the mechanically induced chemical bonding removal mode, only atoms locate near the outermost several layers can participate in the formation and breakage of interfacial bridge bonds. Moreover, the force on the abrasive particle must exceed a threshold value to induce significant removal of Si atoms from the glass substrate, because as the breakage of Si glass –O backbonds does not occur in low‐stress conditions. We reveal for the first time that the chemical and mechanical properties of the topmost layer, which is recognized as densification, hydrated, or redeposition layer, have not been significantly affected by the mechanical action of the abrasive particles when polishing in this kind of material removal mode. The results are expected to provide a deeper insight into the nanoscale material removal mechanism during glass CMP.

Wang, Lin↗
DOE OSTI2020

Low Cost (CAPEX and variable): Tool design for cell and module fabrication with thin, free-standing silicon wafers

This project aimed to develop technologies that can potentially enable free-standing thin (<80 μm) wafer in today’s manufacturing lines with high production yield, and thereby reduce capex barriers of silicon photovoltaics cells and modules. One of the major benefits is that thin wafer dramatically reduces the amount of polysilicon required. As a result, it can lead to reduction in the capital expenditures associated with polysilicon refining and wafer fabrication, which together are more than half of the total capital expenditure to manufacture Si PV module. We focused our efforts on developing the tools needed to enable high yield fabrication of wafer, cell, and module with thin silicon wafers. However, as the wafer thickness reduces, the major challenge is that wafer breakage increases significantly. Three technological areas were explored in this project to improve the production yield of the silicon wafer, namely detection of edge cracks via dark-field near-infrared (NIR) scattering; (2) wafer handling using controlled temperature profiles; (3) manufacturable low-stress cell interconnection for multiwire. First, the formation of wafer cracks in submillimeter length is one of the reasons that causes wafer breakages. Crack detection tools are needed to enable us to locate and track the wafer crack during manufacturing, so that we can improve the process to reduce initialization. The state-of-the-art crack detection technique cannot fulfill the need for measuring submillimeter edge cracks detrimental for thin wafers. The prototype developed in this project demonstrates the scanning of microcracks near wafer edges. With a semi-automatic laboratory setup, the submillimeter cracks were reliably detected near the edges in multi-Si wafers. The smallest detectable crack is 200 µm in length in slow scans; and submillimeter cracks are detected in high-throughput scans at the scan speed of >0.5 m/s, which is compatible with the inline detection of a manufacturing line at least 1 sec/wafer. This detection limit is a significant advancement in comparison to the benchmarked industrial tool. Second, wafer handling with the well-controlled temperature profile was thought to be the solution to reduce crack initiation and propagation during the manufacturing. However, without crack detection being widely adopted in production line, we did not find a strong industrial pull toward this technology. We did an initial literature survey and then diverted our efforts to the other tasks. Third, the innovation on low-stress multi-wire interconnection tackles a fundamental problem in the standard interconnection scheme. The standard over-under “zig-zag” interconnection induces a significant amount of stress into the soldering point on the cell whenever PV module is under stress, e.g., thermal cycling, transportation, and installation. Therefore, the interconnection process was re-designed in this project to allow for significant movement between adjacent solar cells, e.g., due to thermal expansion, without building up stresses on the solar cells or solder joints. The new interconnection method with the cross-connect wire also simplifies the tabbing and stringing process by replacing the standard over-under method with an off-cell interconnect from top to bottom. A manual tabbing and stringing tool for this new process was prototyped in the lab to demonstrate the fabrication of this new interconnection design. During the test with brass sheets as our “testing cells”, it was found that the mechanical cycling test only broke the interconnection after more than 50,000 cycles, which is equivalent to more than 130 years of the day-and-night thermal cycles. Lastly, throughout the project, we continuously analyzed the PV market with techno-economic analysis to identify the opportunity for thin Si adoption. Even though the drastic cost reduction has already happened in the past five years, our analysis results indicated that we can still save quite significantly in both manufacturing cost and factory capex, Particularly, in order to grow the PV manufacturing capacity to multi-terawatt level, reducing the thickness of silicon wafer is one of the most effective ways to quickly reduce factory capex, and sustain the high growth rate. The technologies developed in this project are readily available to provide some assistances in tackling the production yield problem.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Impact Fracture and Fragmentation of Glass via the 3D Combined Finite-Discrete Element Method

A driving technical concern for the automobile industry is their assurance that developed windshield products meet Federal safety standards. Besides conducting innumerable glass breakage experiments, product developers also have the option of utilizing numerical approaches that can provide further insight into glass impact breakage, fracture, and fragmentation. The combined finite-discrete element method (FDEM) is one such tool and was used in this study to investigate 3D impact glass fracture processes. To enable this analysis, a generalized traction-separation model, which defines the constitutive relationship between the traction and separation in FDEM cohesive zone models, was introduced. The mechanical responses of a laminated glass and a glass plate under impact were then analyzed. For laminated glass, an impact fracture process was investigated and results were compared against corresponding experiments. Correspondingly, two glass plate impact fracture patterns, i.e., concentric fractures and radial fractures, were simulated. The results show that for both cases, FDEM simulated fracture processes and fracture patterns are in good agreement with the experimental observations. The work demonstrates that FDEM is an effective tool for modeling of fracture and fragmentation in glass.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1973

Seismicity and recent faulting in eastern California and western and central Nevada: A preliminary report

The author has identified the following significant results. ERTS-1 imagery covering the eastern California-Nevada seismic belt were utilized to study the fault pattern in relation to the distribution of earthquake epicenters and Quaternary volcanic rocks. Many suspected faults not previously mapped were identified. These include several suspected shear zones in Nevada, faults showing evidence of recent breakage, and major lineaments. Highly seismic areas are generally characterized by Holocene faulting and Quaternary volcanic activity. However, several major fault segments showing evidence of recent breakage are associated with little or no seismicity. The tectonic pattern strongly suggests that the eastern California-Nevada seismic belt coincides with a major crustal rift associated with zones of lateral shear. New data on potentially active fault zones have direct practical applications in national and local earthquake hazard reduction programs. Positive contacts have been made with Kern and Ventura Counties to make results of this investigation available for application to their earthquake hazards definition projects.

Abdel-Gawad, M.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Slicing of Silicon into Sheet Material. Silicon Sheet Growth Development for the Large Area Silicon Sheet Task of the Low Cost Silicon Solar Array Project

Tests on mineral oil slurries show that the potential for workability and low cost is present. However, slurries tested to date which had sufficient lubricity exhibited wafer breakage problems near the end of the run for as-yet unknown reasons. The first test of the large prototype saw under cutting force control was largely successful in that the controller worked perfectly. Unfortunately a technique error (excessive stroke shortening) caused blade breakage and low yield. The latest run of the large saw pointed up the fact that an indication of end-of-stoke vertical motion, or bounce, is necessary. A circuit to provide such indication was fabricated and installed. Preliminary tests show it to be excessively noise sensitive; therefore, work on grounding and shielding to reduce this sensitivity is in progress.

Fleming, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Proposed method for determining the thickness of glass in solar collector panels

An analytical method was developed for determining the minimum thickness for simply supported, rectangular glass plates subjected to uniform normal pressure environmental loads such as wind, earthquake, snow, and deadweight. The method consists of comparing an analytical prediction of the stress in the glass panel to a glass breakage stress determined from fracture mechanics considerations. Based on extensive analysis using the nonlinear finite element structural analysis program ARGUS, design curves for the structural analysis of simply supported rectangular plates were developed. These curves yield the center deflection, center stress and corner stress as a function of a dimensionless parameter describing the load intensity. A method of estimating the glass breakage stress as a function of a specified failure rate, degree of glass temper, design life, load duration time, and panel size is also presented.

Moore, D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Coplanar back contacts for thin silicon solar cells

A process for fabricating 2 to 3 mil wraparound solar cells was formulated. Sample thin wraparound cells were fabricated using this process. The process used a reinforced perimeter construction to reduce the breakage that occurs during handling of the wafers. A retracting piston post was designed and fabricated to help minimize the breakage that occurs during the screen printing process. Two alternative methods of applying the aluminum back surface field were investigated. In addition to the standard screen printed back surface field, both spin-on and evaporated aluminum techniques were researched. Neither spin-on nor evaporated aluminum made any noticeable improvement over the screen printing technique. A fine screen mesh was chosen for the application of the aluminum paste back surface field. The optimum time and temperature for firing the aluminum turned out to be thirty seconds at 850 C. The development work on the dielectric included looking at three dielectrics for the wraparound application. Transene 1000, Thick Film Systems 1126RCB and an in house formulation 61-2-2A were all tested. Cells with pre-dielectric thickness of 3.0-0-3.5 mils using Transene 1000 as the wraparound dielectric and the procedure outlined above showed an average efficiency of 10.7 percent. Thinner cells were fabricated, but had an unacceptable yield and efficiency.

Thornhill, J. W.↗
NASA NTRS1981

A piloted simulation of the backup control system engagement for the YAH-64

A piloted simulator experiment, designed to evaluate and optimize certain backup control system (BUCS) engagement parameters and to provide pilot familiarization with aircraft response prior to flight test of the BUCS in the YAH-64 Advanced Attack Helicopter, is described. Key elements of the simulation were the representation of a control system jam, the pilot's breaking of a shear pin in the jammed control, and the resultant BUCS engagement. To minimize the excursions in aircraft motion which could result from the pilot's control inputs after shear pin breakage, the BUCS control function is blended in gradually. The experiment's results indicate that optimum time to full control authority after shear pin breakage is three seconds in all axes for certain critical tasks. Special pilot training in the recovery from a control system jam may be necessary to minimize unacceptably large aircraft transients in the off-axis.

Blanken, C. L.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Improved Gas Seal for Electrolytic Cells

Breakage by differential thermal expansion reduced. Cells for hot electrolysis of gases improved by design that reduces vulnerability of gas seals to breakage at operating temperature of about 1000 degrees C.

Richter, R.↗