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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 559 records · Page 31

Power Electronic Substrates for Space Restricted Application

High-power modules use substrates to house the semiconductor device and for electrical insulation. These substrates are constructed with thermally conductive dielectric material sandwiched between two metals to extract heat from semiconductor chips. Thus, the required cooling performance of a power module is linked to the substrate’s thermal performance and can vary based on the substrate technologies. In this study, four substrate technologies were evaluated for space-restricted applications: direct-bonded copper, an insulated metal substrate, a thermally annealed pyrolytic graphite–based insulated metal substrate, and direct-bonded aluminum, where the heat sink is directly attached without thermal interface materials. The finite element results suggest that the popular direct-bonded copper substrate has better thermal performance than the rest of the substrates for space-restricted applications. Furthermore, a modified direct-bonded copper is proposed to further improve thermal performance. The evaluation results show that the modified substrate can handle 30% more losses than its traditional counterpart.

Chowdhury, Shajjad↗

High Entropy Analysis Code

This code describes the process to estimate material properties using elemental properties and machine learning.

Kunz, MatthewR↗

Deep learning enhanced super-resolution x-ray fluorescence microscopy by a dual-branch network

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) microscopy is a powerful technique for quantifying the distribution of elements in complex materials, which makes it a crucial imaging technique across a wide range of disciplines in physical and biological sciences, including chemistry, materials science, microbiology, and geosciences. However, as a scanning microscopy technique, the spatial resolution of XRF imaging is inherently constrained by the x-ray probe profile and scanning step size. Here we propose a dual-branch machine learning (ML) model, which can extract scale-variant features and bypass abundant low-frequency information separately, to enhance the spatial resolution of the XRF images by mitigating the effects of blurring from the probe profile. The model is trained by simulated natural images, and a two-stage training strategy is used to overcome the domain gap between the natural images and experimental data. The tomography reconstruction from enhanced XRF projections shows an improvement in resolution by a scale factor of four and reveals distinct internal features invisible in low-resolution XRF within a battery sample. This study offers a promising approach for obtaining high-resolution XRF imaging from its low-resolution version, paving the way for future investigations in a broader range of disciplines and materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Represent precipitation-induced geological hazards in Earth system models using artificial intelligence

Precipitation-induced geological hazards, such as debris flow, landslides, mudflow and rockfalls (hereafter referred to as landslides), pose serious threats to public safety in many areas through the world. As residential properties and infrastructure in the US have increasingly expanded into landslide-prone areas and the drivers of landslides (e.g., wildfires and hurricanes) are predicted to intensify under climate warming, losses and fatalities from landslides are likely to increase in the future. Although our understanding of geoenvironmental factors and mechanisms contributing to landslides has greatly improved, only moderate progress has been made in predicting landslides out of well-studied watersheds. Furthermore, explicitly representing various landslide-related processes in Earth system models (ESMs), from the buckling of local bearing elements in granular materials, to frictional sliding between grains, formation of microcracks in the soil matrix, rupture of capillary bridges, or breakage of plant roots3 is still very unlikely within the next decade, even with the help of exascale computers.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

RCT Continuing Training: Item Release and RAM Control [Slides]

Welcome to the online RCT Continuing Training. This quarter’s topic will review the fundamental elements of radioactive material control and releasing items from controlled areas to include: evaluation if an item may be released and the actions necessary to perform a release from a controlled area.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

Sigma Division Capability Strategy

Sigma Division maintains a unique manufacturing science capability at Los Alamos National Laboratory that has made substantial contributions to weapons component process development for more than 70 years. This mission requires the ability to handle a range of radiological and hazardous materials, work with a variety of metallic and non-metallic components, and process materials systems with elements spanning hydrogen to uranium. Today, Sigma serves as a national resource for uranium research and development, provides hardware for experimental campaigns, supports production by demonstrating modern fabrication technologies, and conducts manufacturing science research primarily for customers across the nuclear weapons complex, including the Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, and Office of Defense Programs.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗

Explicit Dynamic Impact Analysis of the Building 3525 Packages

This report describes the methodology used for the safety basis analysis of the Building (Bldg.) 3525 casks and presents preliminary results for a selected geometry. The specific problem analyzed is a free fall load case onto an unyielding target at various orientations. The various orientations were analyzed to ensure that the packages were subjected to the orientation that causes the most damage. The analysis approach, material modeling, finite element modeling, and results for the selected case are presented, along with a brief discussion of conservatism and uncertainties. The results for the analyzed load cases show that through selected administrative controls, no breach of the container or loss of shielding will occur in the package.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Improved synthesis of intermetal compounds

Method in crystal growth using liquid encapsulation techniques permits GaAs synthesis of materials from constituent elements whose vapor pressures are high at temperature at which they react spontaneously. Techniques may be useful for synthesis of GaP.

Haggerty, J. S.↗

The use of iron and extended applications of the U. Va. cold balance wind tunnel system.

Consideration of the possibility of extending the use of a cold magnetic balance wind tunnel system to non-continuously spinning aircraft configurations and to subsonic flow regimes. The problems involved in these extensions are discussed. The possible use of iron for the magnetic support element, or some material reasonable equivalent, is found to be crucial. The existing theoretical evidence that iron may be used without penalty is summarized.

Parker, H. M.↗

The use of iron and extended applications of the University of Virginia Cold Balance Wind Tunnel System

The prototype design of the University of Virginia Cold Magnetic Balance Wind Tunnel System, primarily for assured performance, is based on the use of ferrites for the magnetic support element and for the case of spinning missile configurations in supersonic flow. The extension of applicability to noncontinuously spinning airplane configurations and to subsonic flow regimes would be highly desirable. The problems involved in these extensions are discussed. The possible use of iron for the magnetic support element, or some material reasonable equivalent, is found to be crucial. The existing theoretical evidence that iron may be used without penalty is summarized.

Parker, H. M.↗

Determination of meteor parameters using laboratory simulation techniques

Atmospheric entry of meteoritic bodies is conveniently and accurately simulated in the laboratory by techniques which employ the charging and electrostatic acceleration of macroscopic solid particles. Velocities from below 10 to above 50 km/s are achieved for particle materials which are elemental meteoroid constituents or mineral compounds with characteristics similar to those of meteoritic stone. The velocity, mass, and kinetic energy of each particle are measured nondestructively, after which the particle enters a target gas region. Because of the small particle size, free molecule flow is obtained. At typical operating pressures (0.1 to 0.5 torr), complete particle ablation occurs over distances of 25 to 50 cm; the spatial extent of the atmospheric interaction phenomena is correspondingly small. Procedures have been developed for measuring the spectrum of light from luminous trails and the values of fundamental quantities defined in meteor theory. It is shown that laboratory values for iron are in excellent agreement with those for 9 to 11 km/s artificial meteors produced by rocket injection of iron bodies into the atmosphere.

Friichtenicht, J. F.↗

An elastoplastic analysis of a uniaxially loaded sheet with an interference-fit bolt

The stresses and strains in a uniaxially loaded sheet with an unloaded interference-fit bolt were calculated by an elastoplastic finite-element analysis. The material properties represented a 7075-T6 aluminum alloy sheet and a steel bolt. The analysis considered the two ideal cases of no slip and no friction at the bolt-sheet interface for a single combination of bolt diameter, interference level, and cyclic loading. When the bolt was inserted, the sheet deformed plastically near the hole; the first tensile load cycle produced additional yielding, but subsequent cycles to the same level caused only elastic cyclic stresses. These stresses together with fatigue data for unnotched specimens were used to estimate crack initiation periods and initiation sites. The cases analyzed with interference-fit bolts were predicted to have crack initiation periods which were about 50 times that for a clearance-fit bolt. Crack initiation was predicted to occur on the transverse axis at a distance of about one radius from the hole.

Crews, J. H., Jr.↗

Cold cathodes for sealed-off CO2 lasers

Cold cathodes for CO2 lasers should possess a very low sputtering rate, have a minimum of negative ions in the sputtering products, and consume no oxygen. These conditions can be satisfied by selecting cathode materials from those elements of group I in the periodic table which form semiconducting oxide layers and then exposing these elements to a reducing gas mixture. Experimental results show that silver, internally oxidized silver-copper alloys, and pure copper satisfy most of these requirements in He-CO2-CO-Xe gas mixtures. Infrared CO and CO2 gas analysis performed on simple gas discharge tubes using such cathodes indicate that laser lives of 10,000 hr can be expected.

Hochuli, U. E.↗

New horizons for study of the cardiopulmonary and circulatory systems

The paper discusses the development of computer-controlled three-dimensional reconstruction techniques designed to determine the dynamic changes in the true shape and dimensions of the epi- and endocardial surfaces of the heart, along with variable time base (stop-action to real-time) displays of the transmural distribution of the coronary microcirculation and the three-dimensional anatomy of the macrovasculature in all regions of the body throughout individual cardiac and/or respiratory cycles. A technique for reconstructing a cross section of the heart from multiplanar videoroentgenograms is outlined. The capability of high spatial and high temporal resolution scanning videodensitometry makes possible measurement of the appearance, mean transit and clearance of roentgen opaque substances in three-dimensional space through the myocardium with a degree of simultaneous anatomic and temporal resolution not obtainable by current isotope techniques. The distribution of a variety of selected chemical elements or biologic materials within a body portion can also be determined.

Wood, E. H.↗

An automated procedure for preliminary design of primary structure for transport Aircraft

A multistation structural synthesis procedure, designed to perform structural sizing and detail design of boxbeam structure, is presented. The design procedure combines the use of an iterative sizing technique for distributing material to structural elements with a nonlinear programming technique to finding efficient structural element designs of a given weight. Constraints based on fatigue and fracture criteria and static strength criteria under multiple loading conditions are considered, as well as constraints on the upper and lower bounds of the actual design variables. Emphasis is placed on the overall design procedure and the technique used to include the fatigue and fracture criteria.

Kruse, G. S.↗