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At least 613 records · Page 34
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

TEAMER Technical Support on Biofouling and Corrosion for E-Wave Technologies LLC Novel (Abstract)

National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia (NTESS) in collaboration with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and with guidance from E-Wave, will assess corrosion and biofouling challenges specific to E-Wave’s innovative WEC designed to retrofit into and power existing aquaculture farm infrastructure from ocean waves. The teams will examine coatings via a static raw seawater test and determine the efficacy of coatings for E-Wave’s applications. Samples will include panels of materials provided by E-Wave and coated with three different paint treatments. Fouling will be determined using a staining technique followed by photographic analysis to evaluate fouling intensity on the surface. Materials will also be weighed before and after submersion to facilitate weight change analysis resulting from fouling organisms aggregating on the materials.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗
DOE OSTI2024

AGC-4 Specimen Post-Irradiation Examination Data Interim Report

This interim report documents preliminary results of the post-irradiation examination material property testing from the fourth advanced graphite creep (AGC), AGC 4, capsule specimens. This is the fourth of a series of six irradiation test trains planned as part of the AGC experiment to fully characterize the neutron irradiation effects and radiation creep behavior of current nuclear graphite grades to moderate dose levels (=7 dpa). The AGC 4 capsule was irradiated in the Idaho National Laboratory Advanced Test Reactor at a nominal temperature of 800°C and to a peak dose of 8 dpa. Half of the AGC-4 specimens were subjected to compressive stresses to induce irradiation creep. Post-irradiation testing and measurement results are reported with the exception of thermal testing, which is still in progress, and irradiation mechanical strength testing. Additionally, some specimens initially deemed too hot to be examined in the ART Graphite laboratory may still be measured. The data reported includes specimen dimensions for both stressed and unstressed specimens to establish the irradiation creep rates, mass and dimensional data necessary to derive density, elastic constants (Young?s modulus, shear modulus, and Poisson?s ratio) from ultrasonic time of flight velocity measurements, Young?s modulus from the fundamental frequency of vibration, and electrical resistivity. A more complete evaluation of trends in the material property changes, as well as irradiation-induced creep due to the irradiation environment and applied load on the specimens, will be discussed later in AGC 4 post-irradiation examination analysis reports.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2025

AGC-4 Specimen Post-Irradiation Examination Data Interim Report

This interim report documents preliminary results of the post-irradiation examination material property testing from the fourth advanced graphite creep (AGC), AGC 4, capsule specimens. This is the fourth of a series of six irradiation test trains planned as part of the AGC experiment to fully characterize the neutron irradiation effects and radiation creep behavior of current nuclear graphite grades to moderate dose levels (=7 dpa). The AGC 4 capsule was irradiated in the Idaho National Laboratory Advanced Test Reactor at a nominal temperature of 800°C and to a peak dose of 8 dpa. Half of the AGC-4 specimens were subjected to compressive stresses to induce irradiation creep. Post-irradiation testing and measurement results are reported with the exception of thermal testing, which is still in progress, and irradiation mechanical strength testing. Additionally, some specimens initially deemed too hot to be examined in the ART Graphite laboratory may still be measured. The data reported includes specimen dimensions for both stressed and unstressed specimens to establish the irradiation creep rates, mass and dimensional data necessary to derive density, elastic constants (Young?s modulus, shear modulus, and Poisson?s ratio) from ultrasonic time of flight velocity measurements, Young?s modulus from the fundamental frequency of vibration, and electrical resistivity. A more complete evaluation of trends in the material property changes, as well as irradiation-induced creep due to the irradiation environment and applied load on the specimens, will be discussed later in AGC 4 post-irradiation examination analysis reports.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Alloying of Pu-Al with Stainless Steel for Material Disposition

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has evaluated several options for the disposition of stainless-steel clad plutonium metal alloy. One of the technologies under consideration is alloying of the material with stainless steel (SS). The resulting SS-Pu alloy would be a non-proliferable waste form consisting of a secondary Pu composition region microencapsulated in the refractory stainless steel. Two 8-kg ingots were made at SS-1.8Zr-0.4Pu alloys (wt %); 8 kg was determined in a previous study to be the maximum mass of SS ingot at the maximum target Pu loading of 350-g that would result in a SS-4.4Pu alloy (wt %). Two smaller 500-g ingots were also produced at SS-1.6Zr-1.4Pu and SS-1.4Pu (wt %). The 500-g ingots evaluated alloying at a higher Pu concentration than in the 8 kg ingots, and they evaluated the necessity of adding Zr metal to incorporate the Pu and control Pu oxidation. Zr addition was found to be unnecessary to incorporate the Pu and control Pu oxidation. Drill turnings were collected from the large and small ingots and metallographic samples were directly cut from the small ingots. Both were analyzed to validate the structure and composition region formation. Chemical analyses of turnings proved that the Pu was dispersed within the SS ingots.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

High Selectivity Reactive Carbon Dioxide Capture over Zeolite Dual-Functional Materials

Reactive carbon dioxide capture (RCC) is a process where carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is captured from a mixed gas stream (such as air) and converted to products without first performing a separation step to concentrate the CO 2 . Here, in this work, zeolite dual-functional materials (ZFMs) are introduced and evaluated for simulated RCC. The studied ZFMs feature high surface area, crystalline, microporous zeolite faujasite (FAU) as the support. Sodium oxide (“Na 2 O”) is impregnated as an effective capture agent capable of scavenging low concentration CO 2 (1,000 ppm). Exchanged and impregnated sodium on FAU chemisorbs CO 2 as carbonates and bicarbonates but does not promote the conversion of sorbed CO 2 to products when heated in hydrogen. The addition of Ru promotes the formation of formates, while the addition of Pt generates carbonyl surface species when heated in hydrogen. The active metal then promotes extremely high selectivity for CO 2 hydrogenation to either methane on Ru catalyst (~150 °C) or carbon monoxide on Pt catalyst (~200 °C) when heated in reducing atmospheres.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Layered Transition Metal Oxides as Ca Intercalation Cathodes: A Systematic First-Principles Evaluation

Finding high-voltage Ca cathode materials is a critical step to unleashing the full potential of high-energy-density Ca-ion batteries. Therefore, first-principles calculations are used to demonstrate that P-type layered calcium transition metal (TM) oxide materials (CaTM 2 O 4 ) with a range of TM substitutions (TM = Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni) have excellent battery-related properties including thermodynamic stability, average voltage, energy density, synthesizability, ionic mobility, and electronic structure. However, the thermodynamic stability of the charged phase and TM redox activity are shown to be sensitive to TM selection, with CaCo 2 O 4 having the best balance of all considered properties. The utility of combining multiple TMs to expand the chemical search space for TM substitutions is demonstrated by mixing Co and Ni in layered CaTM 2 O 4 .

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Qualification Framework Evaluations, Status Quo, and Recommendations

The Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technology (AMMT) program develops cross-cutting technologies in support of a broad range of nuclear reactor technologies and maintains U.S. leadership in materials and manufacturing technologies for nuclear energy applications. The overarching vision of AMMT is to accelerate the development, qualification, demonstration, and deployment of advanced materials and manufacturing technologies to enable reliable and economical nuclear energy. The acceleration of qualification processes is one of the key aspects and qualification processes for the nuclear industry is not necessarily equivalent or benchmarked against other industries.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

MFC and Fuel Evaluation for KSU

Idaho National Laboratory's Materials and Fuels Complex is well equipped for research, development, and demonstration of nuclear fuel designs and reactor components. The capabilities for fuels RD&D at MFC are briefly presented and the observation of fuel behavior that merit RD&D at MFC are introduced, with emphasis on metal fast reactor fuel.

Materials and Fuels Complex↗
DOE OSTI2021

Effects of low-temperature neutron irradiation on the microstructure and tensile properties of duplex 2304 stainless steel and its electron-beam welds

A lean duplex stainless steel material (2304-grade) in its base metal and electron beam (e-beam) welded conditions were studied microstructurally and mechanically as a function of irradiation conditions to evaluate its use as a structural material at low temperatures (60–100 °C). Neutron irradiation up to a fluence of 1.40 × 10 19 n/cm 2 (E > 0.1 MeV) or ~0.011 dpa decreased the total elongation of both base metal and e-beam welded samples. Overall, radiation hardening was observed in all the samples. The transversely cut irradiated samples showed some nonuniform quasi-cleavage and shearing in their fracture surfaces, indicating the variance of ductile nature of the two-phased (deformable austenite and harder ferrite) duplex structure. The e-beam welded samples also showed quasi-cleavage fracture, which is a characteristic of radiation-induced embrittlement. Furthermore, these observations of the e-beam welded samples were attributed to the formation of coarse ferrites, grain boundary and intragranular phases such as γ 2 and γ 3 , and minor impurity phases such as CrN and Cr 2 N in the weld pool and/or heat-affected zone of the samples. Radiation-induced elemental segregation was also identified in the post-irradiated base metal.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Identifying materials with charge–spin physics using charge–spin susceptibility computed from first principles

The authors present a quantity termed charge–spin susceptibility, which measures the charge response to spin degrees of freedom in strongly correlated materials. This quantity is simple to evaluate using both standard density functional theory and many-body electronic structure techniques, enabling comparison between different levels of theory. A benchmark on 28 layered magnetic materials shows that large values of charge–spin susceptibility correlate with unconventional ground states such as disordered magnets and unconventional superconductivity.

Rodrigues, J. N. B. (ORCID:0000000283158553)↗
DOE OSTI2025

Enabling Industrial Re-Use of Large-Format Additive Manufacturing Molding and Tooling

Large-format additive manufacturing (LFAM) is an enabling manufacturing technology capable of producing large parts with highly complex geometries for a wide variety of applications, including automotive, infrastructure/construction, and aerospace mold and tooling. In the past decade, the LFAM industry has seen widespread use of bio-based, glass, and/or carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites which, when printed, serve as a lower-cost alternative to metallic parts. One of the highest-volume materials utilized by the industry is carbon fiber (CF)-filled polycarbonate (PC), which in out-of-autoclave applications can achieve comparable mechanical performance to metal at a significantly lower cost. Previous work has shown that if this material is recovered at various points throughout the manufacturing process for both the lab and pilot scale, it can be mechanically recycled with minimal impacts on the functional performance and printability of the material while significantly reducing the feedstock costs. End-of-life (EOL) CF-PC components were processed through industrial shredding, melt compounding, and LFAM equipment, followed by evaluation of the second-life material properties. Experimental assessments included quantitative analysis of fiber length attrition, polymer molecular weight degradation using gel permeation chromatography (GPC), density changes via pycnometry, thermal performance using dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and mechanical performance (tensile properties) in both the X- and Z-directions. Results demonstrated a 24.6% reduction in average fiber length compared to virgin prints, accompanied by a 21% decrease in X-direction tensile strength and a 39% reduction in tensile modulus. Despite these reductions, Z-direction tensile modulus improved by 4%, density increased by 6.8%, and heat deflection temperature (HDT) under high stress retained over 97% of its original value. These findings underscore the potential for integrating mechanically recycled CF-PC into industrial LFAM applications while highlighting the need for technological innovations to mitigate fiber degradation and enhance material performance for broader adoption. This critical step toward circular material practices in LFAM offers a pathway to reducing feedstock costs and environmental impact while maintaining functional performance in industrial applications.

additive manufacturing↗
DOE OSTI2026

Imaging of a van der Waals spin-orbit torque system using spin ensembles in hBN

Recently, optically active spin defects embedded in two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) crystals have emerged as a transformative quantum sensing platform to explore cutting-edge materials science. Taking advantage of excellent solid-state integrability, this new class of spin defects can be readily arranged in nanoscale proximity to target materials, showing great promise for realizing in-situ quantum sensing of microscopic spin and charge behaviors in vdW heterostructures. Here we report hexagonal boron nitride-based quantum imaging of field-free deterministic magnetic switching and electric current distributions in an all-vdW spin-orbit torque (SOT) system. By visualizing variations of nanoscale magnetic stray field profile of room-temperature 2D magnet Fe 3 GaTe 2 under different SOT conditions, we show how the magnetic switching evolves from deterministic to stochastic behavior due to the interplay between spin orientations, anisotropy and Joule heating. Micromagnetic simulations rationalize our results well, revealing the role of field-like SOT in inhibiting thermal fluctuation driven stochastic switching and chaotic multi-domain competition. This understanding, which is otherwise difficult to access by conventional transport measurements, offers valuable insights into material design, testing, and performance evaluation of next-generation vdW spintronic devices.

Imaging techniques↗
DOE OSTI2021

Analysis of Ion-Exchanged ZSM-5, BEA, and SSZ-13 Zeolite Trapping Materials under Realistic Exhaust Conditions

An industry-defined evaluation protocol was used to evaluate the hydrocarbon trapping (HCT) and passive NOx adsorption (PNA) potential for BEA, ZSM-5, and SSZ-13 zeolites with ion-exchanged Pd or Ag. All materials underwent 700 °C degreening prior to exposure to an industry-derived protocol gas stream, which included NOx, ethylene, toluene, and decane as measured trapping species as well as common exhaust gasses CO, H2O, O2, CO2, and H2. Evaluation showed that BEA and ZSM-5 zeolites were effective at trapping hydrocarbons (HCs), as saturation was not achieved after 30 min of exposure. SSZ-13 also stored HCs but was only able to adsorb 20–25% compared to BEA and ZSM-5. The presence of Ag or Pd did not impact the overall HC uptake, particularly in the first three minutes. Pd/zeolites had significantly lower THC release temperature, and it aided in the conversion of the released HCs; Ag only had a moderate effect in both areas. With respect to NOx adsorption, the level of uptake was much lower than HCs on all samples, and Ag or Pd was necessary with Pd being notably more effective. Additionally, only Pd/ZSM-5 and Pd/SSZ-13 continue to store a portion of the NOx above 200 °C, which is critical for downstream selective catalytic NOx reduction (SCR). Hydrothermal aging (800 °C for 50 h) of a subset of the samples were performed: BEA, Pd/BEA, ZSM-5, Pd/ZSM-5, and Pd/SSZ-13. There was a minimal effect on the HC storage, ~10% reduction in capacity with no effect on release temperature; however, only Pd/SSZ-13 showed significant NOx storage after aging.

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

Observations Regarding Face Shield Designs Using Commonly Available Materials

A Sandia COVID-19 LDRD effort, the Sandia E-PiPEline Team, systematically evaluated design options for face shields constructed from commonly available materials (CAMs). This study is not focused on face shields for medical applications, and as such, has excluded labeling and flammability considerations suggested by the FDA. Design options for face shields were analyzed with subject matter expert input considering the design's effectiveness (seal around face), reusability (compatibility with solvents, degree of inertness), producibility (ability to obtain materials, build time), cost, and comfort (fit around head, contact surface interface). Observations for the design of face shields using CAMS are provided here.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Solutionization via Severe Plastic Deformation: Effect on Natural Aging in an Al-Mg-Si-(Mn) Alloy

Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion (ShAPE), a severe plastic deformation technique that is fast and scalable, was used to produce thin-wall tubing from alloy 6082 (Al-0.8Mg-0.9Si-0.7Mn) with in-situ solutionization during processing quickly followed by quenching. Quench medium and input material heat treatment were varied and natural aging behavior (T1 heat treatment) was evaluated using tensile testing. As-cast input material was found to have higher strength early in post-ShAPE natural aging and homogenized input material was found to have strengthening during natural aging. Compared to air quenching, water quenching gave greater strength both early in and after natural aging. These observations along with microscopy suggest that: 1. air quenching was too slow; 2. as-cast material was not fully solutionized but plastic deformation broke up the coarse intermetallic particles, which provided strengthening; and 3. homogenized material was solutionized well, which led to good natural aging behavior.

Milligan, Brian K.↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Comparative Study of Degradation Behaviors of LiFePO 4 , LiMn 2 O 4 , and LiNi 0.8 Mn 0.1 Co 0.1 O 2 in Different Aqueous Electrolytes

Aqueous Li-ion batteries (ALIBs) are an important class of battery chemistries owing to the intrinsic non-flammability of aqueous electrolytes. However, water is detrimental to most cathode materials and could result in rapid cell failure. Identifying the degradation mechanisms and evaluating the pros and cons of different cathode materials are crucial to guide the materials selection and maximize their electrochemical performance in ALIBs. Here, in this study, we investigate the stability of LiFePO 4 (LFP), LiMn 2 O 4 (LMO) and LiNi 0.8 Mn 0.1 Co 0.1 O 2 (NMC) cathodes, without protective coating, in three different aqueous electrolytes, i.e., salt-in-water, water-in-salt, and molecular crowding electrolytes. The latter two are the widely reported "water-deficient electrolytes." LFP cycled in the molecular crowding electrolyte exhibits the best cycle life in both symmetric and full cells owing to the stable crystal structure. Mn dissolution and surface reduction accelerate the capacity decay of LMO in water-rich electrolyte. On the other hand, the bulk structural collapse leads to the degradation of NMC cathodes. LMO demonstrates better full-cell performance than NMC in water-deficient aqueous electrolytes. LFP is shown to be more promising than LMO and NMC for long-cycle-life ALIB full cells, especially in the molecular crowding electrolyte. However, none of the aqueous electrolytes studied here provide enough battery performance that can compete with conventional non-aqueous electrolytes. This work reveals the degradation mechanisms of olivine, spinel, and layered cathodes in different aqueous electrolytes and yields insights into improving electrode materials and electrolytes for ALIBs.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Hydrogen Storage System Modeling: Public Access, Maintenance, and Enhancements

The overall vision of this project is to provide ownership and support for maintaining existing material-based hydrogen storage systems models. This includes making models accessible to the research community through a public web page and updating and enhancing storage systems models to support material developers in assessing their materials relative to DOE vehicle-level targets. Key elements for FY24: Continue to update and enhance existing models for broader application and user-friendliness. Develop tools to evaluate the performance of hydrogen storage materials developed under HyMARC activities or other fundamental hydrogen storage materials discovery research. Expand the application of current hydrogen storage models beyond light-duty vehicles to include medium-, heavy-duty, and mining vehicles and stationary application(s). Develop models for alternatives, such as LOHCs, to material-based systems (liquefied & gaseous H2) and compare for various mobile and stationary use cases.

ENERGY STORAGE,HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2022

Development of a prediction model for radiotherapy response among patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma based on the tumor immune microenvironment and hypoxia signature

Abstract Introduction The immune system and hypoxia are major factors influencing radiosensitivity in patients with different cancer types. This study aimed at developing a model to predict radiotherapy response in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) based on the tumor immune microenvironment and hypoxia signature. Materials and Methods We first evaluated the hypoxia status and tumor immune microenvironment in the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort by using transcriptomic data. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between the “high immunity and low hypoxia” and “low immunity and high hypoxia” groups and those DEGs significantly associated with disease‐specific survival in the univariate Cox regression analysis were selected as the prognostic DEGs. We selected the immune hypoxia–related genes (IHRGs) by intersecting prognostic DEGs with immune and hypoxia gene sets. We used the IHRGs to train a multivariate Cox regression model in the TCGA cohort, based on which we calculated the IHRG prognostic index (IHRGPI) for each patient and validated its efficacy in predicting radiotherapy response in the Gene Expression Omnibus cohorts. Furthermore, we explored potential mechanisms and effective combinational treatment strategies for different IHRGPI groups. Results Five IHRGs were used to construct the IHRGPI, which was used to dichotomize the cohorts. The patients with lower IHRGPI showed a better radiotherapy response across different cohorts and endpoints, including overall survival, progression‐free survival, and recurrence‐free survival ( p < 0.05). Patients with higher IHRGPI showed greater hypoxia and lesser immune cell infiltration. A lower IHRGPI indicated a better immunotherapy response, while a higher IHRGPI indicated a better chemotherapy response. Conclusions IHRGPI is promising for predicting radiotherapy response and guiding combinational treatment strategies in patients with HNSCC.

Zhu, Guang‐Li↗