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At least 559 records · Page 31

Software Computes Tape-Casting Parameters

Tcast2 is a FORTRAN computer program that accelerates the setup of a process in which a slurry containing metal particles and a polymeric binder is cast, to a thickness regulated by a doctor blade, onto fibers wound on a rotating drum to make a green precursor of a metal-matrix/fiber composite tape. Before Tcast2, setup parameters were determined by trial and error in time-consuming multiple iterations of the process. In Tcast2, the fiber architecture in the final composite is expressed in terms of the lateral distance between fibers and the thickness-wise distance between fibers in adjacent plies. The lateral distance is controlled via the manner of winding. The interply spacing is controlled via the characteristics of the slurry and the doctor-blade height. When a new combination of fibers and slurry is first cast and dried to a green tape, the shrinkage from the wet to the green condition and a few other key parameters of the green tape are measured. These parameters are provided as input to Tcast2, which uses them to compute the doctor-blade height and fiber spacings needed to obtain the desired fiber architecture and fiber volume fraction in the final composite.

deGroh, Henry C., III↗

CAST Safety Enhancement Research on Airplane State Awareness and Prediction Technologies

Loss of control in flight (LOC-I) is the leading cause of fatal aircraft accidents. A study of LOC accidents and incidents, commissioned by the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) identified a growing trend in loss of Airplane State Awareness (ASA) by the flight crew. This has led to recommended safety enhancements that include flight deck technologies for improving current and predicted energy state awareness. In this talk, we discuss recent CAST motivated efforts to develop new information systems for predicting and assessing the future aircraft energy state and auto-flight configuration. The outputs from these systems can serve multiple purposes, including improved pilot alerting for anticipating and recovering from problematic flight conditions, as well as higher level flight safety assurance for autonomous operations.

Schuet, Stefan↗

Experimental Observations of Mechanisms of Pattern Formation During Freeze Casting

Empirically, many different materials compositions have been freeze cast over the years. Few have been analyzed to better understand the mechanisms by which the ice crystal growth drives structure formation, particularly the substructures on the cell walls. Collating substructural features, for example, ridges, bridges, and “jellyfish-like” substructures, found on the cell walls of freeze-cast ceramics (platelets versus particles), fibrillated biopolymers (collagen, nanocellulose), and "smooth" biopolymers (chitosan, trehalose), we capture the ice crystal growth process and analyze it both in situ in 2D and "post-mortem" in 3D to gain insights into anisotropic ice crystal growth and other self-assembly mechanisms. Combining these experimental observations with 3D Phase-field simulations of structure formation in ice-templated materials, detailed in a companion presentation, it becomes possible to gain fundamental science insights and to obtain the desired structure-property-processing correlations not only at the more traditional macroscopic, but also at the meso- and microscopic scales.

Kaiyang Yin↗

3D Phase-Field Simulations of Pattern Formation During Freeze Casting

We present the results of a combined experimental and phase-field modeling study of pattern formation during freeze casting. Those studies use unidirectional freezing of simple binary liquid mixtures of water and sugars (sucrose and trehalose) in a temperature gradient, which suffice to produce hierarchical templated structures similar to those observed in more complex multi-component freeze-cast systems including lamellae, undulated ridges, and more exotic “jellyfish-like” substructures. Multiscale 3D phase-field simulations reproduce remarkably well those structures quantitatively and identify key properties of the ice-water interface that control their formation. They further reveal that lamellae form as a result of a novel symmetry-breaking secondary instability of partially faceted cellular structures and pinpoint additional secondary instability mechanisms giving rise to smaller-scale substructures.

Kaihua Ji↗

Factors that Influenced Airplane State Awareness Accidents and Incidents: CAST SE-210 Output 2: Report 2 of 6

This report is part of a series of reports that address flight deck design and evaluation, written as a response to loss of control accidents. In particular, this activity is directed at failures in airplane state awareness in which the pilot loses awareness of the airplane’s energy state or attitude and enters an upset condition. The Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) created a team to analyze a set of incidents and accidents associated with the flight crew’s loss of awareness of aircraft attitude or energy state. The CAST activity focused on a set of 18 loss of control (LOC) accidents and incidents. In those events, the pilot seemed to lose awareness of the state of the airplane, especially related to its energy state or its attitude. To understand the roots of that loss of awareness, we analyzed the events in relation to a set of factors that were present in many of them. We show how these factors contributed to lost awareness. Then, we use that understanding to identify potentially useful changes to the flight deck interface and how those flight deck changes could be evaluated.

commercial aviation↗

Identification of Scenarios for System Interface Design Evaluation: CAST SE-210 Output 2 Report 5 of 6

This report is one in a series of reports describing research to develop enhanced approaches to design and evaluation of flight deck interaction. The research was conducted to support the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) response to incidents and accidents caused by failure of the flight crew to maintain aircraft attitude or energy state awareness. This report partially responds to Safety Enhancement (SE) 210.2 (CAST, 2014) by describing development of operational scenarios for evaluation of flight crew interaction. Evaluations of human performance with an interface rely on asking humans to perform operational tasks in an appropriate operational context. The report includes the major sources of material for developing operational scenarios—which include system state, operational tasks, operational context, and safety events—and a method for developing an appropriate set of operational scenarios for interface evaluation.

commercial aviation↗

Experimental Observations of Mechanisms of Pattern Formation During Freeze Casting

Empirically, many different materials compositions have been freeze cast over the years. Few have been analyzed to better understand the mechanisms by which the ice crystal growth drives structure formation, particularly the substructures on the cell walls. Collating substructural features, for example, ridges, bridges, and “jellyfish-like” substructures, found on the cell walls of freeze-cast ceramics (platelets versus particles), fibrillated biopolymers (collagen, nanocellulose), and "smooth" biopolymers (chitosan, trehalose), we capture the ice crystal growth process and analyze it both in situ in 2D and "post-mortem" in 3D to gain insights into anisotropic ice crystal growth and other self-assembly mechanisms. Combining these experimental observations with 3D Phase-field simulations of structure formation in ice-templated materials, detailed in a companion presentation, it becomes possible to gain fundamental science insights and to obtain the desired structure-property-processing correlations not only at the more traditional macroscopic, but also at the meso- and microscopic scales.

Kaiyan Yin↗

3D Phase-Field Simulations of Pattern Formation During Freeze Casting

We present the results of a combined experimental and phase-field modeling study of pattern formation during freeze casting. Those studies use unidirectional freezing of simple binary liquid mixtures of water and sugars (sucrose and trehalose) in a temperature gradient, which suffice to produce hierarchical templated structures similar to those observed in more complex multi-component freeze-cast systems including lamellae, undulated ridges, and more exotic “jellyfish-like” substructures. Multiscale 3D phase-field simulations reproduce remarkably well those structures quantitatively and identify key properties of the ice-water interface that control their formation. They further reveal that lamellae form as a result of a novel symmetry-breaking secondary instability of partially faceted cellular structures and pinpoint additional secondary instability mechanisms giving rise to smaller-scale substructures.

Kaihua Ji↗

Methods for manufacturing geometric multi-crystalline cast materials

Methods are provided for casting one or more of a semi-conductor, an oxide, and an intermetallic material. With such methods, a cast body of a geometrically ordered multi-crystalline form of the one or more of a semiconductor, an oxide, and an intermetallic material may be formed that is free or substantially free of radially-distributed impurities and defects and having at least two dimensions that are each at least about 10 cm.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Methods for manufacturing monocrystalline or near-monocrystalline cast materials

Methods are provided for casting one or more of a semiconductor, an oxide, and an intermetallic material. With such methods, a cast body of a monocrystalline form of the one or more of a semiconductor, an oxide, and an intermetallic material may be formed that is free of, or substantially free of, radially-distributed impurities and defects and having at least two dimensions that are each at least about 35 cm.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Creep and Tensile Properties of Direct Metal Laser Sintered (DMLS) Inconel 738LC Coupons and Comparison to Cast Properties

Due to the nature of sCO2 power cycles, a number of turbine parts must have good mechanical properties at elevated temperatures. For recompression cycles, the turbine inlet temperature is between 600°C - 750°C, which puts nearly all high-temperature turbine parts into a creep regime. The high-strength parts in these applications are often composed of materials having high nickel or chrome contents, and are often termed superalloys. At these temperatures, the blades must survive mechanical loads due to centrifugal stress and blade loading. While centrifugal stress is primarily a function of tip velocity and its associated centrifugal acceleration, blade loading is a function of power density. Since sCO2 turbomachinery is approaching the power density of rocket engines, blade loading tends to be quite large. Another result of this high power density is that blade passages for 1-10 MW turbines tend to be quite small, making conventional fabrication methods challenging and costly; this leads engineers to pioneer new techniques to address these challenges. The authors of the current work are addressing this challenge by applying additive manufacturing techniques in the production of a 10 MW radial inflow impeller. While a comprehensive database exists for the mechanical properties of forged and cast superalloys, data is sparse for superalloys fashioned by direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) or other additive manufacturing methods. For the remainder of this work, the term printed will refer to components manufactured using one of these processes for brevity. The current work stems from the desire to manufacture a radial inflow turbine impeller using additive manufactured (AM) Inconel 738. While Siemens has adopted the use of DMLS printed Inconel 738 for use in select aviation engine parts, creep and tensile properties have not been published to the extent needed to validate a given design. The current work will show creep and tensile properties of AM Inconel 738 in the horizontal and vertical build directions and their respective comparison to cast Inconel 738 properties.

wilkes, Jason↗

Hybrid cam bore sand core with metal chills for cast aluminum block

A system for making a hybrid cam bore sand core with metal chills for an engine block includes an engine block cast of an aluminum material. A camshaft bore extends through the engine block. A cam bore sand core with at least one metal chill is positioned within the camshaft bore. A body portion of the at least one metal chill is positioned in direct contact with a cam bearing surface of at least one cam bearing member during casting of the engine block to increase a cooling rate of the at least one cam bearing member and create a crystalline material depth of the cam bearing member having enhanced mechanical properties.

Petrus, Ronald J.↗

Cast iron alloy for automotive engine applications with superior high temperature oxidation properties

A cast iron alloy is provided with a composition in weight percent (wt. %) of carbon between 2.6 to 3.4 wt. %, silicon between 2.4 to 3.2 wt. %, manganese between 0.3 to 0.6 wt. %, molybdenum between 0.4 to 1.2 wt. %, nickel between 0.6 to 1.75 wt. %, magnesium between 0.01 to 0.075 wt. %, aluminum between 1.8 to 3.5 wt. %, sulfur between 0.003 to 0.025 wt. %, zirconium between 0.001 to 0.02 wt. %, cerium between 0.001 to 0.03 wt. %, lanthanum between 0.0005 to 0.02 wt. %, and a balance of iron and unavoidable trace elements. A part formed from the cast iron alloy is also provided and the part has an Ac1 temperature equal to or greater than 895° C. and a thermo-mechanical fatigue lifetime of at least 10,000 cycles when cycled between 400° C. to 800° C. with a total cyclic strain equal to 0.001 m/m.

Godlewski, Larry Alan↗

New Formulation of Cast Stone for {sup 99}Tc Immobilization in Sulfate Rich Secondary Waste Stream - 16098

A low-temperature, cementitious waste form called Cast Stone (or grout) has been selected for solidification of the Effluent Treatment Facility (ETF)-treated wastes at the Hanford Site. Because the waste stream to be solidified may be relatively high in sulfate, the current Cast Stone dry blend formulation with ordinary Portland cement (OPC), fly ash (FA), and blast furnace slag (BFS) (47% BFS, 45% FA, and 8% OPC) may not be adequate. Thus a new formulation, called secondary waste grout, was proposed and tested. The secondary waste grout uses hydrated lime [Ca(OH){sub 2}] to tie up the sulfate initially such that ettringite [Ca{sub 6}Al{sub 2}(SO{sub 4}){sub 3}(OH){sub 12}.26(H{sub 2}O)] forms rapidly instead of forming as the cementitious waste form cures. Three different liquid waste simulants (242-A evaporator, Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility [ERDF] leachates, and Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant [WTP] off-gas condensates) were prepared and solidified using this new dry blend formulation. Baseline grout dry mixes were 20 wt% hydrated lime (HL), 35 wt% OPC, and 45 wt% BFS, and two different water-to-dry mix (w/dm) ratios (0.5 and 0.6) of free water mass to mass of dry blend were tested. After curing for a minimum of 28 days, the grout solidified waste forms were characterized and used for Tc leachability testing using the EPA 1315 Method. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed that ∼12-15% of ettringite was formed in early stage of 28-day curing for the grouts prepared with the high sulfate WTP simulant and HL addition. In addition, the new formulation of secondary waste grout prepared with HL (20%), OPC (35%), and BFS (45%) at either 0.5 or 0.6 water to dry mix ratio yields higher average Tc interval leachability index (LI) values (12.5 to 13.9) after 28 to 90 days of leaching using deionized water, which is higher than the desired {sup 99}Tc LI value of 12 for grout destined for burial in the Integrated Disposal Facility at the Hanford Site. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Dopant for improving casting and electroplating performance

Systems, methods, components, and parts are provided for improving casting and electroplating performance of a plated cast part by doping a semiconductor material with an electrically active dopant before mixing the semiconductor material into a base material. The doped semiconductor material improves the castability of the base material and has an improved electrical conductivity which is closer to that of the base material such that a consistency of a subsequent plating on the part is improved.

Young, Barbara Diane↗

Thermal Aging Degradation of Cast Stainless Steels in LWR Systems

Cast austenitic stainless steels (CASSs) have been extensively used for the large components of light water reactor (LWR) power plants such as primary coolant piping and pump casing. Since a large number of massive CASS components are installed in every modern nuclear power plant, any significant degradation of CASS components will raise serious concerns on the integrity of the entire power plant. Upon the presumption that the replacement cost of such massive components is prohibitive, therefore, thorough scientific understanding and systematic monitoring the thermal aging degradation of CASS components should be essential requirements for assessing the plant safety. In the past few decades many researches have concluded that the formation of Cr-rich α-phase by Spinoidal decomposition of δ-ferrite phase, which is formed in high temperature region during cooling, is the primary mechanism for the thermal embrittlement. Cracking mechanism in the thermally-embrittled duplex stainless steels consists of cleavage initiation at ferrite and crack propagation via separation of ferrite-austenite interphase. It has been known, however, that such thermal aging embrittlement is observed only in accelerated aging conditions and the cast stainless steel grades used in nuclear plants have performed well without experiencing real embrittlement. It has been speculated that long-term thermal aging for ≥ 60 years could lead to further decomposition of designed phases and increase of precipitation. This will result in significantly increased susceptibility to embrittlement or other degradation due to thermal aging-radiation synergistic effect, irradiation-induced degradation, stress-corrosion cracking, and general corrosion. Currently, therefore, the thermal embrittlement of CASS components is one of the most serious concerns for extended operation of nuclear power plants. A scientific research is underway to address the issues related to the thermal aging degradation of CASS components. The research aims to provide knowledge-based conclusive prediction for the integrity of the CASS components of LWR power plants during extended operation up to and beyond 60 years. This presentation intends to provide an introductory overview on the thermal aging phenomena in LWR relevant conditions and discussion on the measurements of mechanical property degradation after accelerated and LWR relevant thermal aging treatments. First, the thermal aging effect on toughness is discussed in terms of the causes of embrittlement and influential parameters. Second, the talk will include a comprehensive discussion on the thermal aging effects in different CASS grades (i.e., CF3, CF3M, CF8, and CF8M), which will focus on the influence of alloying elements such as molybdenum and carbon. Third, approximate analysis on thermal reaction in CASS was carried out using Arrhenius equation to decide the effective temperature range for accelerated aging experiments to simulate 60 and 80 years of services in limited time frame. The results will provide valuable insights in the degree of thermal aging. Fourth, calculation on equilibrium precipitation was performed for model CASS alloys using the CALPHAD program, and the results will be used to describe the precipitation behaviors in association with the degradation in mechanical properties. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Binder systems and methods for tape casting lithium garnet electrolytes

Slurry compositions, tape casting binder systems and fabrication methods for the fabrication of lithium-garnet electrolyte scaffolds for use in solid state batteries and other devices are provided. Slurry compositions may be optimized mixtures of LLZO powder, a dispersant, a lithium salt, a wetting agent a binder, a plasticizer and at least one solvent. The optimized ceramic slurry compositions may include MgO as a sintering additive to improve density and ionic conductivity of the doped-LLZO sheets and produce a fine-grained microstructure. Sintering protocols for cast slurries of commercially available doped LLZO powders eliminate the requirement of mother-powder coverings or externally applied pressure. An environmentally friendly water-based system using methylcellulose as a binder is also provided producing green tape and final properties comparable to those obtained with organic solvent-based systems.

Jonson, Robert↗

Effect of Slag-Steel Reaction on the Initial Solidification of Molten Steel during Continuous Casting

With the mold simulator technique, the effect of slag-steel reaction on the initial shell solidification as well as the heat transfer and lubrication behavior of the infiltrated mold/shell slag film was studied in this article. The results showed that the Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} content, the CaO/SiO{sub 2} ratio, and the viscosity of mold flux were increased with the progress of the slag-steel reaction during casting. The slag-steel reaction has two major effects on the initial shell solidification: one is increasing the mold heat flux and shell thickness by the decrease of slag film thickness. The other is the reduction of mold heat flux by the increase of crystal fraction in slag film. Mold flux with a lower basicity, viscosity, and crystallization temperature would result in a larger liquid slag consumption and the uneven infiltration of slag into the mold and shell gap that eventually leads to the irregular solidification of initial shell with a poor surface quality, such as slag entrapment and depressions as well as glaciation marks. Conversely, mold flux with a higher viscosity, basicity, and crystallization temperature would result in a smaller liquid slag consumption, which would cause the poor mold lubrication, the longitudinal shell surface defects, and drag marks.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗