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At least 685 records · Page 38
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1997

Ion Sources and Acceleration Mechanisms Inferred from Local Distribution Functions

This study investigates the sources of the ions up the complex and nonisotropic H(+) velocity distribution functions observed by the Geotail spacecraft on May 23, 1995, in the near-Earth magnetotail region and recently reported by Frank et al. [1996]. A distribution function observed by Geotail at -10 R(sub E) downtail is used as input for the large scale kinetic (LSK) technique to follow the trajectories of approximately 90,000 H(+) ions backward in time. Time-dependent magnetic and electric fields are taken from a global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of the magnetosphere and its interactions with appropriate solar wind and IMF conditions. The ion population described by the Geotail distribution function was found to consist of a mixture of particles originating from three distinct sources: the ionosphere, the low latitude boundary layer (LLBL), and the high latitude plasma mantle. Ionospheric particles had direct access along field lines to Geotail, and LLBL ions convected adiabatically to the Geotail location. Plasma mantle ions, on the other hand, exhibited two distinct types of behavior. Most near-Earth mantle ions reached Geotail on adiabatic orbits, while distant mantle ions interacted with the current sheet tailward of Geotail and had mostly nonadiabatic orbits. Ions from the ionosphere, the LLBL, and the near-Earth mantle were directly responsible for the well-separated, low energy structures easily discernible in the observed and modeled distribution functions. Distant mantle ions formed the higher energy portion of the Geotail distribution. Thus, we have been successful in extracting useful information about particle sources, their relative contribution to the measured distribution and the acceleration processes that affected particle transport during this time.

Ashour-Abdalla, M.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Empirical modeling of environment-enhanced fatigue crack propagation in structural alloys for component life prediction

This research aims to develop the methods and understanding needed to incorporate time and loading variable dependent environmental effects on fatigue crack propagation (FCP) into computerized fatigue life prediction codes such as NASA FLAGRO (NASGRO). In particular, the effect of loading frequency on FCP rates in alpha + beta titanium alloys exposed to an aqueous chloride solution is investigated. The approach couples empirical modeling of environmental FCP with corrosion fatigue experiments. Three different computer models have been developed and incorporated in the DOS executable program. UVAFAS. A multiple power law model is available, and can fit a set of fatigue data to a multiple power law equation. A model has also been developed which implements the Wei and Landes linear superposition model, as well as an interpolative model which can be utilized to interpolate trends in fatigue behavior based on changes in loading characteristics (stress ratio, frequency, and hold times).

Richey, Edward, III↗
NASA NTRS1997

Hierarchical Simulation to Assess Hardware and Software Dependability

This thesis presents a method for conducting hierarchical simulations to assess system hardware and software dependability. The method is intended to model embedded microprocessor systems. A key contribution of the thesis is the idea of using fault dictionaries to propagate fault effects upward from the level of abstraction where a fault model is assumed to the system level where the ultimate impact of the fault is observed. A second important contribution is the analysis of the software behavior under faults as well as the hardware behavior. The simulation method is demonstrated and validated in four case studies analyzing Myrinet, a commercial, high-speed networking system. One key result from the case studies shows that the simulation method predicts the same fault impact 87.5% of the time as is obtained by similar fault injections into a real Myrinet system. Reasons for the remaining discrepancy are examined in the thesis. A second key result shows the reduction in the number of simulations needed due to the fault dictionary method. In one case study, 500 faults were injected at the chip level, but only 255 propagated to the system level. Of these 255 faults, 110 shared identical fault dictionary entries at the system level and so did not need to be resimulated. The necessary number of system-level simulations was therefore reduced from 500 to 145. Finally, the case studies show how the simulation method can be used to improve the dependability of the target system. The simulation analysis was used to add recovery to the target software for the most common fault propagation mechanisms that would cause the software to hang. After the modification, the number of hangs was reduced by 60% for fault injections into the real system.

Ries, Gregory Lawrence↗
NASA NTRS1984

Water-vapor effects on friction of magnetic tape in contact with nickel-zinc ferrite

The effects of humidity of moist nitrogen on the friction and deformation behavior of magnetic tape in contact with a nickel-zinc ferrite spherical pin were studied. The results indicate that the coefficient of friction is markedly dependent on the ambient relative humidity. Although the coefficient of friction remains low below 40-percent relative humidity, it increases rapidly with increasing relative humidity above 40 percent. The general ambient environment of the tape does not have any effect on the friction behavior if the area where the tape is in sliding contact with the ferrite pin is flooded with controlled nitrogen. The response time for the friction of the tape to humidity changes is about 10 sec. The effect of friction as a function of relative humidity on dehumidifying is very similar to that on humidifying. A surface softening of the tape due to water vapor increases the friction of the tape.

Miyoshi, K.↗
NASA NTRS1986

A model for the use of satellite remote sensing for the measurement of primary production in the ocean

A model of primary production based upon the responses of phytoplankton to differing light and nutrient fields is described. This model includes the effects on production of variations in surface pigment concentration, the mixed layer depth, and the dependence on the incident solar irradiance. The model has been tested using in situ data provided by the Southern California Bight Studies of Eppley, et al. (1979), the California Cooperative Fisheries Investigations, the Organization of Persistent Upwelling Structures, and other data sets. A synoptic measure of the distribution of surface pigments is derived from the West Coast Chlorophyll and Temperature Time Series. The features and behavior of the model are presented together with the results of the model verification.

Collins, Donald J.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Analytical and experimental studies on creep behavior of polymeric matrix composites

The creep behavior of graphite/epoxy composites is studied both analytically and experimentally. In the analytical study, a special finite element procedure was developed for the accurate and efficient analysis of creep response in anisotropic materials. This procedure was used to study the stress and strain distributions and histories in composite laminates containing circular holes. In the experimental study, creep tests were performed to investigate the time-dependent response of graphite/epoxy composites at elevated temperature. The moire interferometry technique was employed to determine the deformation histories in notched composites. The experimental results were compared with the analytical predictions and good agreement was observed.

Lin, K. Y.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Real-Time Measurements of Aft Dome Insulation Erosion on Space Shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motor

Real-time erosion of aft dome internal insulation was measured with internal instrumentation on a static test of a lengthened version of the Space Shuffle Reusable Solid Rocket Motor (RSRM). This effort marks the first time that real-time aft dome insulation erosion (Le., erosion due to the combined effects of thermochemical ablation and mechanical abrasion) was measured in this kind of large motor static test [designated as Engineering Test Motor number 3 (ETM3)I. This paper presents data plots of the erosion depth versus time. The data indicates general erosion versus time behavior that is in contrast to what would be expected from earlier analyses. Engineers have long known that the thermal environment in the aft dome is severe and that the resulting aft dome insulation erosion is significant. Models of aft dome erosion involve a two-step process of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling and material ablation modeling. This modeling effort is complex. The time- dependent effects are difficult to verify with only prefire and postfire insulation measurements. Nozzle vectoring, slag accumulation, and changing boundary conditions will affect the time dependence of aft dome erosion. Further study of this data and continued measurements on future motors will increase our understanding of the aft dome flow and erosion environment.

McWhorter, Bruce↗
NASA NTRS2012

Ozone-Temperature Diurnal and Longer Term Correlations, in the Lower Thermosphere, Mesosphere and Stratosphere, Based on Measurements from SABER on TIMED

The analysis of mutual ozone-temperature variations can provide useful information on their interdependencies relative to the photochemistry and dynamics governing their behavior. Previous studies have mostly been based on satellite measurements taken at a fixed local time in the stratosphere and lower mesosphere. For these data, it is shown that the zonal mean ozone amounts and temperatures in the lower stratosphere are mostly positively correlated, while they are mostly negatively correlated in the upper stratosphere and in the lower mesosphere. The negative correlation, due to the dependence of photochemical reaction rates on temperature, indicates that ozone photochemistry is more important than dynamics in determining the ozone amounts. In this study, we provide new results by extending the analysis to include diurnal variations over 24 hrs of local time, and to larger spatial regimes, to include the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT). The results are based on measurements by the SABER instrument on the TIMED satellite. For mean variations (i.e., averages over local time and longitude) in the MLT, our results show that there is a sharp reversal in the correlation near 80 km altitude, above which the ozone mixing ratio and temperature are mostly positively correlated, while they are mostly negatively correlated below 80 km. This is consistent with the view that above -80 km, effects due to dynamics are more important compared to photochemistry. For diurnal variations, both the ozone and temperature show phase progressions in local time, as a function of altitude and latitude. For temperature, the phase progression is as expected, as they represent migrating tides. For day time ozone, we also find regular phase progression in local time over the whole altitude range of our analysis, 25 to 105 km, at least for low latitudes. This was not previously known, although phase progressions had been noted by us and by others at lower altitudes. For diurnal variations, we find that between about 40 and 65 km, the ozone amounts and temperatures are mostly negatively correlated or neutral, while below approx. 40 km they are mostly positively correlated or neutral. The correlations are less systematic and less robust than for correlations of the mean. At altitudes above approx.65 km, the correlations are more complex, and depend on the tidal temperature variations. For the diurnal case, consideration needs to be given to transport by thermal tides and to the efficacy of response times of ozone concentrations and temperature to each other.

Huang, Frank T.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Behaviour of nitric oxide trails deposited in the mesosphere and stratosphere

The transient behavior of a nitric oxide trail deposited at approximately 60 km altitude is studied by the solution of the appropriate multidimensional diffusion equation which includes terms representing the effects of wind shear. Similar analysis is then carried out for the situation in the stratosphere. Trail behavior is found to be relatively independent of altitude and background ozone, but strongly dependent on the magnitude of eddy diffusity and the initial nitric oxide concentration. The nitric oxide trail reacts with ambient ozone to form nitrogen dioxide. For a trail 100 m initial radius, an ozone hole will form to a maximum size in 4 to 6 hours and then decay. The overall recovery time of the atmosphere following the creation of the trail is less than 12 hours.

Eberstein, I. J.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Regression Verification Using Impact Summaries

Regression verification techniques are used to prove equivalence of syntactically similar programs. Checking equivalence of large programs, however, can be computationally expensive. Existing regression verification techniques rely on abstraction and decomposition techniques to reduce the computational effort of checking equivalence of the entire program. These techniques are sound but not complete. In this work, we propose a novel approach to improve scalability of regression verification by classifying the program behaviors generated during symbolic execution as either impacted or unimpacted. Our technique uses a combination of static analysis and symbolic execution to generate summaries of impacted program behaviors. The impact summaries are then checked for equivalence using an o-the-shelf decision procedure. We prove that our approach is both sound and complete for sequential programs, with respect to the depth bound of symbolic execution. Our evaluation on a set of sequential C artifacts shows that reducing the size of the summaries can help reduce the cost of software equivalence checking. Various reduction, abstraction, and compositional techniques have been developed to help scale software verification techniques to industrial-sized systems. Although such techniques have greatly increased the size and complexity of systems that can be checked, analysis of large software systems remains costly. Regression analysis techniques, e.g., regression testing [16], regression model checking [22], and regression verification [19], restrict the scope of the analysis by leveraging the differences between program versions. These techniques are based on the idea that if code is checked early in development, then subsequent versions can be checked against a prior (checked) version, leveraging the results of the previous analysis to reduce analysis cost of the current version. Regression verification addresses the problem of proving equivalence of closely related program versions [19]. These techniques compare two programs with a large degree of syntactic similarity to prove that portions of one program version are equivalent to the other. Regression verification can be used for guaranteeing backward compatibility, and for showing behavioral equivalence in programs with syntactic differences, e.g., when a program is refactored to improve its performance, maintainability, or readability. Existing regression verification techniques leverage similarities between program versions by using abstraction and decomposition techniques to improve scalability of the analysis [10, 12, 19]. The abstractions and decomposition in the these techniques, e.g., summaries of unchanged code [12] or semantically equivalent methods [19], compute an over-approximation of the program behaviors. The equivalence checking results of these techniques are sound but not complete-they may characterize programs as not functionally equivalent when, in fact, they are equivalent. In this work we describe a novel approach that leverages the impact of the differences between two programs for scaling regression verification. We partition program behaviors of each version into (a) behaviors impacted by the changes and (b) behaviors not impacted (unimpacted) by the changes. Only the impacted program behaviors are used during equivalence checking. We then prove that checking equivalence of the impacted program behaviors is equivalent to checking equivalence of all program behaviors for a given depth bound. In this work we use symbolic execution to generate the program behaviors and leverage control- and data-dependence information to facilitate the partitioning of program behaviors. The impacted program behaviors are termed as impact summaries. The dependence analyses that facilitate the generation of the impact summaries, we believe, could be used in conjunction with other abstraction and decomposition based approaches, [10, 12], as a complementary reduction technique. An evaluation of our regression verification technique shows that our approach is capable of leveraging similarities between program versions to reduce the size of the queries and the time required to check for logical equivalence. The main contributions of this work are: - A regression verification technique to generate impact summaries that can be checked for functional equivalence using an off-the-shelf decision procedure. - A proof that our approach is sound and complete with respect to the depth bound of symbolic execution. - An implementation of our technique using the LLVMcompiler infrastructure, the klee Symbolic Virtual Machine [4], and a variety of Satisfiability Modulo Theory (SMT) solvers, e.g., STP [7] and Z3 [6]. - An empirical evaluation on a set of C artifacts which shows that the use of impact summaries can reduce the cost of regression verification.

Backes, John↗
NASA NTRS1999

Circadian and sleep-dependent regulation of hormone release in humans

Daily oscillations characterize the release of nearly every hormone. The circadian pacemaker, located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus, generates circadian, approximately 24-hour rhythms in many physiologic functions. However, the observed hormonal oscillations do not simply reflect the output of this internal clock. Instead, daily hormonal profiles are the product of a complex interaction between the output of the circadian pacemaker, periodic changes in behavior, light exposure, neuroendocrine feedback mechanisms, gender, age, and the timing of sleep and wakefulness. The interaction of these factors can affect hormonal secretory pulse frequency and amplitude, with each endocrine system differentially affected by these factors. This chapter examines recent advances in understanding the effects on endocrine rhythms of a number of these factors. Sleep exerts a profound effect on endocrine secretion. Sleep is a dynamic process that is characterized by periodic changes in electrophysiologic activity. These electrophysiologic changes, which are used to mark the state and depth of sleep, are associated with periodic, short-term variations in hormonal levels. The secretion of hormones such as renin and human growth hormone are strongly influenced by sleep or wake state, while melatonin and cortisol levels are relatively unaffected by sleep or wake state. In addition, sleep is associated with changes in posture, behavior, and light exposure, each of which is known to affect endocrine secretion. Furthermore, the tight concordance of habitual sleep and wake times with certain circadian phases has made it difficult to distinguish sleep and circadian effects on these hormones. Specific protocols, designed to extract circadian and sleep information semi-independently, have been developed and have yielded important insights into the effects of these regulatory processes. These results may help to account for changes in endocrine rhythms observed in circadian rhythm sleep disorders, including the dyssomnia of shift work and visual impairment. Yet to be fully investigated are the interactions of these factors with age and gender. Characterization of the factors governing hormone secretion is critical to understanding the temporal regulation of endocrine systems and presents many exciting areas for future research.

Non-NASA Center↗
NASA NTRS2000

Dynamics in Layer Models of Solid Flame Propagation

Self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) is a process in which combustion waves, e.g., "solid flames", which are considered here, are employed to synthesize desired materials. Like many other systems, SHS is a pattern forming system. The problem of describing experimentally observed patterns and of predicting new, as yet unobserved, patterns continues to attract the attention of scientists and mathematicians due to the fundamental significance of the phenomena in combustion in particular, and in nonlinear science in general. Here, we analyze the dynamics of solid flame propagation in a 2D region by considering the region to be composed of parallel, identical layers aligned along the direction of propagation and having thermal contact. Each layer is then described by wave propagation in 1D, with the transverse Laplacian replaced by a term describing heat exchange between neighboring layers. This configuration is the simplest model of a 2D system because it accounts, in a simple way, for the principal feature of the problem, i.e., heat exchange between neighbors in the transverse direction. For simplicity, we describe the situation for two layers. Because the layers are identical, uniformly propagating waves in each layer must be identical, independent of the heat exchange rate alpha. When the Zeldovich number Z exceeds a critical value Z(sub c), which depends on alpha, uniformly propagating waves become unstable. The stability diagram for the two coupled layers reproduces that for the full 2D problem after appropriate identification of parameters in the two problems. Depending on parameter values, we determine three different steady-state dynamical behaviors (though additional behaviors are also expected to occur). The three behaviors are: (i) waves in each layer which pulsate in phase as they propagate, so that together they form a single pulsating propagating wave; (ii) the waves in each layer are no longer identical, and antiphase pulsations occur, with the two waves alternately advancing and receding as they propagate. This wave is the analog of the spinning wave on the surface of a circular cylinder; (iii) finally, there is a region of bistability between the in phase and antiphase waves. with each having its own domain of attraction, so that which of the two behaviors occur depends on the condition of initiation of the wave. The results of our computations indicate a qualitative similarity in the behavior of combustion waves in the layer model and in the full 2D model. Specifically, due to the similarity between the small alpha wave behavior in the layer model and the large diameter behavior in the model of waves on the surface of a cylinder, we are able to predict the behavior of the mean velocity for the waves on the cylinder, where computations of the full problem can be rather difficult. We also compute solutions for three or more layers. The results of our computations prompt us to predict that, while planar uniformly propagating waves are unstable, the wave will be quasiplanar, i.e., the resulting spinning waves have very low amplitude hot spots, and travel with the velocity close to that of the uniformly propagating wave. Such waves may be difficult to distinguish from uniformly propagating waves in experiments. We also find that for both the layer model and full 2D problem, steady-state time-dependent waves, e.g., pulsating and spinning wave, have a conserved quantity H which characterizes the excess energy in the wave, just as in the case of uniformly propagating waves. The quantity H, which is generated by dissipation, does not vary in time and is proportional to the diffusivity and caloricity of the system, and inversely proportional to the mean wave velocity.

Aldushin, A. P.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Mechanics of composite materials: Recent advances; Proceedings of the Symposium, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, August 16-19, 1982

The present conference on the mechanics of composites discusses microstructure's influence on particulate and short fiber composites' thermoelastic and transport properties, the elastoplastic deformation of composites, constitutive equations for viscoplastic composites, the plasticity and fatigue of metal matrix composites, laminate damping mechanisms, the micromechanical modeling of Kevlar/epoxy composites' time-dependent failure, the variational characterization of waves in composites, and computational methods for eigenvalue problems in composite design. Also discussed are the elastic response of laminates, elastic coupling nonlinear effects in unsymmetrical laminates, elasticity solutions for laminate problems having stress singularities, the mechanics of bimodular composite structures, the optimization of laminated plates and shells, NDE for laminates, the role of matrix cracking in the continuum constitutive behavior of a damaged composite ply, and the energy release rates of various microcracks in short fiber composites.

Hashin, Z.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Thermal Characterization of Fe3O4 Nanoparticles Formed from Poorly Crystalline Siderite

Increasing interest in environmental geochemistry has led to the recognition that crystals with sizes in the nanometer range (e.g., colloids and nanoscale precipitates) and poorly crystalline compounds (e.g., ferrihydrites) may comprise the majority of reactive mineral surface area near the Earth s surface. When the diameters of individual particles are in the range of 100 nm or less, the surface energy contribution to the free energy modifies phase stability. This results in stabilization of polymorphs not normally encountered in the macrocrystal domain. These phases potentially have very different surface-site geometries, adsorptive properties, and growth mechanisms, and exhibit size-dependent kinetic behavior. Thus nanophases dramatically modify the physical and chemical properties of soils and sediments. In a more general sense, the characteristics of nanocrystals are of intense technological interest because small particle size confers novel chemical, optical, and electronic properties. Thus, nanocrystalline materials are finding applications as catalytic substrates, gas phase separation materials, and even more importantly in the field of medicine. This is an opportune time for mineral physicists working on nanocrystalline materials to develop collaborative efforts with materials scientists, chemists, and others working on nanophase materials of technological interest (e.g., for magnetic memories). Our objective in this study was to synthesize submicron (<200 nm) magnetite and to study their thermal and particle size properties.

Lauer, H. V., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Role of the Russell-McPherron Effect in the Acceleration of Relativistic Electrons

While it is well known that high fluxes of relativistic electrons in the Earth's radiation belts are associated with high-speed solar wind and its heightened geoeffectiveness,less known is the fact that the Russell McPherron(R M) effect strongly controls whether or not a given high-speed stream is geoffective. To test whether it then follows that the R M effect also strongly controls fluxes of relativistic electrons, we perform a superposed epoch analysis across corotating interaction regions (CIR) keyed on the interfaces between slow and fast wind. A total of 394 stream interfaces were identified in the years 1994-2006. Equinoctial interfaces were separated into four classes based on the R-M effect,that is, whether the solar wind on either side of the interface was either(geo)effective (E) or ineffective (I) depending on season and the polarity of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). Four classes of interface identified as II, IE, EI,and EE are possible. The classes IE and EI correspond to CIRs with polarity changes indicating passage through the heliospheric current sheet. To characterize the behavior of solar wind and magnetospheric variables, we produced maps of dynamic cumulative probability distribution functions (cdfs) as a function of time over 10-day intervals centered on the interfaces. These reveal that effective high-speed streams have geomagnetic activity nearly twice as strong as ineffective streams and electron fluxes a factor of 12 higher. In addition they show that an effective low-speed stream increases the flux of relativistic electrons before the interface so that an effective to ineffective transition results in lower fluxes after the interface.We conclude that the R-M effect plays a major role in organizing and sustaining a sequence of physical processes responsible for the acceleration of relativistic electrons.

McPherron, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Simultaneous multifrequency observations of Jovian S bursts

The millisecond component of the Jovian decameter emission was studied at high resolution in order to examine the short-term behavior of the S-burst drift rates and to define the drift rate spectrum at high frequencies. By using dynamic spectra of 300 microsec and 3.3 kHz resolution and covering discrete frequency bands in the 26-33 MHz range, large systematic changes in the magnitude of the S-burst drift rates are observed on a time scale of seconds to minutes. The drift rate variability, its dependence on frequency, and absence of the predicted drift rate turnover in the spectrum are interpreted in terms of an ionospheric electron source. Low-resolution intensity-time tracings, abrupt changes in mean drift rates from group to group, and systematic variations in the group-to-group mean drift rates due to predictable temporal changes in the magnetic field gradient on the Io flux tube are discussed. These temporal changes are due to motion of the Io-associated magnetic flux tube in the Jovian magnetosphere.

Flagg, R. S.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A vacuum (10(exp -9) Torr) friction apparatus for determining friction and endurance life of MoSx films

The first part of this paper describes an ultrahigh vacuum friction apparatus (tribometer). The tribometer can be used in a ball-on-disk configuration and is specifically designed to measure the friction and endurance life of solid lubricating films such as MoS(x) in vacuum at a pressure of 10 exp -7 Pa. The sliding mode is typically unidirectional at a constant rotating speed. The second part of this paper presents some representative friction and endurance life data for magnetron sputtered MoS(x) films (110 nm thick) deposited on sputter-cleaned 440 C stainless-steel disk substrates, which were slid against a 6-mm-diameter 440 C stainless-steel bearing ball. All experiments were conducted with loads of 0.49 to 3.6 N (average Hertzian contact pressure, 0.33 to 0.69 GPa), at a constant rotating speed of 120 rpm (sliding velocity ranging from 31 to 107 mm/s due to the range of wear track radii involved in the experiments), in a vacuum of 7 x 10 exp -7 Pa and at room temperature. The results indicate that there are similarities in friction behavior of MoS(x) films overs their life cycles regardless of load applied. The coefficient of friction (mu) decreases as load W increases according to mu = kW exp -1/3. The endurance life E of MoS(x) films decreases as the load W increases according to E = KW exp -1.4 for the load range. The load- (or contract-pressure-) dependent endurance life allows us to reduce the time for wear experiments and to accelerate endurance life testing of MoS(x) films. For the magnetron-sputtered MoS(x) films deposited on 440 C stainless-steel disks: the specific wear rate normalized to the load and the number of revolutions was 3 x 10 exp -8 mm exp 3/N-revolution; the specific wear rate normalized to the load and the total sliding distance was 8 x 10 exp -7 mm exp 3/N-m; and the nondimensional wear coefficient of was approximately 5 x 10 exp -6. The values are almost independent of load in the range 0.49 to 3.6 N (average Hertzian contact pressures of 0.33 to 0.69 GPa).

Miyoshi, Kazuhisa↗
NASA NTRS2003

Reduction of Defects in Germanium-Silicon

Crystals grown without being in contact with a container have superior quality to otherwise similar crystals grown in direct contact with a container, especially with respect to impurity incorporation, formation of dislocations, and residual stress in the crystals. In addition to float-zone processing, detached Bridgman growth, although not a completely crucible-free method, is a promising tool to improve crystal quality. It does not suffer from the size limitations of float zoning and the impact of thermocapillary convection on heat and mass transport is expected to be negligible. Detached growth has been observed frequently during g experiments. Considerable improvements in crystalline quality have been reported for these cases. However, neither a thorough understanding of the process nor a quantitative assessment of the quality of these improvements exists. This project will determine the means to reproducibly grow GeSi alloys in a detached mode and seeks to compare processing-induced defects in Bridgman, detached-Bridgman, and floating-zone growth configurations in GeSi crystals (Si less than or equal to 10 at%) up to 20mm in diameter. Specific objectives include: measurement of the relevant material parameters such as contact angle, growth angle, surface tension, and wetting behavior of the GeSi-melt on potential crucible materials; determination of the mechanism of detached growth including the role of convection; quantitative determination of the differences in defects and impurities for crystals grown using normal Bridgman, detached Bridgman, and floating zone (FZ) methods; investigation of the influence of a defined flow imposed by a rotating magnetic field on the characteristics of detached growth; control of time-dependent Marangoni convection in the case of FZ growth by the use of a rotating magnetic field to examine the influence on the curvature of the solid-liquid interface and the heat and mass transport; and growth of benchmark quality GeSi-single crystals.

Szofran, Frank R.↗