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At least 703 records · Page 39

Open Source Visualization and Analysis Platform for 3D Reconstructions of Materials by Transmission Electron Microscopy

Three-dimensional characterization of materials at the nano- and meso-scale has become possible with transmission and scanning transmission electron microscopes (S/TEM). Its importance has extended to a wide class of nanomaterials such as hydrogen fuel cells, solar cells, industrial catalysts, new battery materials and semiconductor devices, as well as spanning high-tech industry, universities, and national labs. While capable instrumentation is abundant, this rapidly expanding demand for high-resolution tomography is bottlenecked by software that is instead tailored for lower-dose, biological applications and not optimized for higher-resolution materials applications. Existing tomography fails to utilize the chemical information provided by S/TEM spectrometers. To address this problem, this project delivered a scalable, fully functional, freely-distributable, open Source materials tomography package with a modern user interface that enables automated acquisition, alignment, and real-time reconstruction of raw tomography data, and provides advanced segmentation, three-dimensional chemical visualization and analysis optimized for materials applications. It has established an extendable framework capable of automation for high-throughput for the tomography of materials from data acquisition to visualization. Phase I and II delivered a full-featured, cross-platform, clean and integrated application for S/TEM materials tomography. It can read projection data from the microscope, with graphical tools for alignment of data, tomographic reconstruction, segmentation, and visualization of the reconstructed 3D volume. The entire pipeline can be saved to an XML state file, enabling fully reproducible data processing and analysis with a full Python environment for the development of custom algorithms, processing, and analysis requirements. Phase IIB extended the application to provide real-time tomographic reconstruction, "live updates" as data is processed, analysis of big data, and multi-channel tomography. Here, quantitative assessment of nanomaterials can occur as data is being recorded on a 3D visualization platform that accommodates additional information from multiple channels. We provide unmatched high-throughput tomography, where the complete tomographic pipeline from measurement to 3D visualization can occur rapidly. The project was extended to offer capabilities for micro-CT, X-ray, neutron, focused ion beam, atomic electron tomography and atom probe tomography. With over 600 transmission electron microscopes worldwide and approximately 50 coming online each year, the demand and impact of an open-source tomography tool is large. Significant opportunities exist in high-tech industry, universities, and national labs to enable or enhance three-dimensional imaging at the nanoscale and bring automated high-throughput approaches that will accelerate progress in materials characterization and metrology. The project supports a service based business model by enabling lab-specific acquisition and processing customization and integration-support and development that will be provided into Phase III and beyond.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Dilute and Dispose Cost Estimate for Equipment Installation per the LCCE

As directed in the Consolidation Appropriations Act, 2016, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) initiated the preconceptual design and development of a Lifecycle Cost Estimate for the Surplus Plutonium Disposition (SPD) Dilute and Dispose Program. Based on August 2016 Program Requirements Document and subsequent supplemental guidance, LANL prepared the Lifecycle Cost Estimate under key assumptions that meet the program’s requirements. For Dilute and Dispose, the program would disposition surplus Pu by diluting oxide produced at LANL with inhibitor materials, packaging the materials in containers, and shipping the containers to a deep geologic repository for permanent disposal. The base assumption is that LANL would disassemble pits, convert the Pu metal to oxide, and characterize and package the material for shipment to SRS, where it would be diluted prior to geologic disposal at the WIPP site in New Mexico. Another major assumption for the Dilute and Dispose option is that LANL would increase the current oxide production rate (or throughput) to 1500 kg/year, 5 times higher than the maximum annual production of ~300 Kgs executed by the ARIES Oxide Production Program at LANL. Analysis based on the ARIES program’s throughput model revealed that 15 pieces of equipment would need to be installed within PF-4 and certain facility improvements would need to be accomplished in order to meet the desired throughput levels. The additional equipment would be essentially identical to equipment already used within PF-4 for existing operations.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Optimized Carbon Fiber Intermediate Development to Enable High-Volume Manufacturing of Lightweight Automotive Composites

The ongoing pursuit of improved fuel economy and reduced greenhouse gas emissions has resulted in sustained interest for lightweight materials technologies. In this context, carbon fiber composites have captured the imagination of automotive engineers due to the potential to achieve substantial mass reduction when compared to traditional steel construction. That stated, the use of carbon fiber composites in automotive has been limited for the most part to premium supercars and other derivative platforms. In these cases, manufacturing costs are less of an obstacle to implementation, and the performance benefits of carbon fiber have enabled production of structures offering more than 50% weight savings. In practice, translating these low-volume demonstrations onto high-volume vehicle platforms has remained challenging. This can be attributed to several factors, with the absence of suitable high throughput production methodologies being a key impediment. To date, structural, crash critical components have relied upon manufacturing techniques born out of the aerospace industry. This has created a disconnect between automotive production systems that are accustomed to manufacturing multiple parts per minute and the aerospace technologies that have cycle times in the order of hours. Consequently, the focus of this project is the development of manufacturing process technology for carbon fiber composites that can support a mainstream vehicle program at an assumed throughput of 100,000 vehicles per year. In practice, this translates to a part-to-part cycle time of less than 3 minutes. Project participation included contributions from a broad range of academic, industrial and national lab partners. The primary scope of work, being the development of new carbon fiber epoxy compounds that are stable at room temperature and suited to high throughput automated processing. For project management, the work streams were divided into six key areas, with the lead organization in parentheses. • Carbon fiber/epoxy materials formulation development and scale up (Dow) • Simulation of discontinuous near isotropic meso-structure intermediates (Purdue) • Simulation of mechanical performance of compression molded components (Purdue) • Meso-Scale morphological analysis and correlation with structural performance (UTK) • Paint and adhesion durability analysis (MSU) • Demonstrator part design, prototype production, and validation testing (Ford). The primary goal at the commencement of the project was development of a chopped carbon fiber sheet molding compound (SMC) that offered a three times improvement in tensile modulus over a comparable glass-based SMC. In addition to meeting mechanical performance targets, the resin kinetics were modified to achieve a processing cycle time of less than 3 minutes. Other critical-to-quality (CTQ) specifications were also stipulated to account for a broad range of materials and processing characteristics. To achieve the above, staff scientists at Dow Chemical created an extensive series of new epoxy blends for testing and validation. Throughout this development, a key challenge was attaining material performance goals without impacting processing behavior and paintability of finished components. The latter required a new internal mold release system being developed by Dow that was designed to complement the kinetics of the rapid cure epoxy. As a complement to work studies at the industrial partners, the teams from academia executed a series of analytical and experimental studies to investigate potential factors influencing CF-SMC performance. Unit cell models were developed to capture the meso-scale representations of the fiber matrix architecture. Results of this analysis and subsequent morphological investigations led to the design of a novel composite derivative comprising carbon fiber platelets embedded in an epoxy matrix; the platelet size and aspect ratio playing significant role in final composite properties. This approach was a departure from previous research in CF-SMC development whereby bulk filamentization or disassembly of the carbon fiber rovings had been considered the most effective means of achieving both fiber wet through and wet-out. As the course of the academia studies progressed, the aspect ratio of the fiber constituents was further optimized before finalizing material attributes and processing conditions. For the purposes of technology validation, the Ford team led a work stream devoted to the design, fabrication and testing of demonstration components. The carbon fiber SMC material has the potential to displace numerous stampings and castings on an automotive structure but ultimately vehicle closure applications were selected to showcase the abilities of the CF-SMC to achieve both mass reduction and business case for large complex structures. Using target properties established by the Dow staff scientists, the complete closure system for a full-size sedan decklid and a mid-size wagon liftgate were engineered. Prototypes for both applications were fabricated using production representative processing methods to allow for physical testing and performance validation of the CF-SMC structures. Following completion of a testing program that concluded with a FMVSS301 55 mph offset rear crash, the CF-SMC formulation was declared by the Ford team to have met all engineering requirements. To summarize, the joint development activities during this project led to significant technical breakthroughs and achievement of all milestones. The result was the development of a novel, tack-free carbon fiber molding compound that is suited to automated processing. This combined room temperature stability, fast cure kinetics, and internal mold release system facilitates cycle times that are conducive to high-volume production. The VORAFUSE M6400 successfully passed technology validation at Ford and is now eligible for consideration on future production commercial vehicle programs.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Integrated Computational Materials and Mechanical Modeling for Additive Manufacturing of Alloys with Graded Structure Used in Fossil Fuel Power Plants

Wire-arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) has demonstrated its unique capability of producing large-size alloy components with a significantly reduced fabrication time and enhanced geometry design freedom. In this project, the team has developed an ICME (Integrated Computational Materials Engineering) modeling framework, which supports the WAAM of the AUSC (Advanced Ultra-Supercritical) power plant components. The manufacturing design has been applied to Inconel 740H, steel P91, as well as the dissimilar alloy components between steel P91 and Inconel 740H. The ICME model framework is developed by considering two types of modeling. First, mechanistic modeling has been applied to control the printing quality and understand the sequence of the dissimilar printing of the wall structure. The following models have been included in the developed ICME framework: finite element thermal model, grain structure model, residual stress simulation, crystal plasticity model, CALPHAD-based precipitation kinetic model, phase stability prediction, thermal expansion predictive model, and heuristic creep model. Secondary, a physics-based machine learning model has also been developed based on the ICME model structure. The machine learning model development is based on the ICME model prediction with calibration of the experiments. In addition, the WAAM has been utilized as a high-throughput experimental tool rapidly generating a gradient of alloy composition to facilitate experimental database generation for process-structure-property relationships. Such a database directly supported the ICME-enhanced machine learning, which further assisted in intermediate composition block design between P91 and 740H. A high-throughput screening study of the oxidation resistance has been performed based on such high-throughput experimentation. Based on the computational design, several dissimilar alloy manufacturing with post-heat treatment have been performed with a comprehensive evaluation of mechanical performance, including hardness mapping, yield strength, creep resistance. In this project, the single component of P91 and 740H processed by WAAM after heat treatment designed by ICME has demonstrated higher performance in yield strength and creep resistance than the wrought materials. The P91 sample prepared by WAAM with ICME-designed heat treatment performs better than P92 in creep resistance. The designed graded alloy printing with intermediate block shows a promising performance that exceeds the traditional welding. Moreover, the current research indicates the high need for location-specific design analysis with uncertainty quantification, an important topic that deserves more dedicated research. The achievement of this project demonstrated the promising future of WAAM in structural alloy manufacturing for energy power plant development. Successful printing requires synergetic efforts made by manufacturing, mechanical, and materials sciences.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗

A Multi-Scale Computational Platform for Predictive Modeling of Corrosion in Al-Steel Joints (Final Report)

The research team proposed to develop innovative multi-scale models to predict corrosion and the resulting mechanical performances in aluminum-steel joints. The methods of joining considered are resistance spot welding, self-piercing riveting, and rivet-welding, all suitable for mass production applications. The multi-scale models integrate high throughput first-principle calculations based on density functional theory (DFT), high throughput calculation of phase diagrams (CALPHAD) modeling, and finite element method (FEM) simulations. These models are to be validated through laboratory experiments. Furthermore, the models are available as open source so as to enable scientists and engineers in the community to adapt and contribute to the development and application. The approaches rely on the research team’s extensive experience on the prediction of properties of individual phases at finite temperatures and variable compositions through DFT calculations, and our broad expertise on dissimilar material joining and their corrosion. The proposed computational framework enables high throughput computations for improved predictions of corrosion and the associated mechanical performance in dissimilar material joints, resulting in significant reduction in computational time needed by the current state-of-the-art methods. With the participation of researchers from three universities, an auto manufacturer, two manufacturing technology/equipment suppliers, and a software developer/vendor, the interdisciplinary research team applies the technical development on both phase-based modeling and laboratory experiments into the automobile body joining processes for validation and technology demonstration. The global cost of corrosion was estimated at about 3.4% of the global GDP in 2013. By using available corrosion control practices, it is estimated a saving between 15-35% of the cost of corrosion. In the U.S., more than $276 billion is spent repairing corrosion damage. Prediction of the corrosion and its impact on performance of the dissimilar material joints is critical for reducing the massive number of the current corrosion-based recalls for automobiles. Thus, the project goal is to develop models to enable predictive maintenance and end-of-life planning of multi-metal joints with risk of corrosion under different conditions such as exposure to high temperatures in summer and salt solutions in winter, quantified through its pH. An academia-industry consortium led by the University of Michigan and including Pennsylvania State University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Georgia, General Motors Company, Livermore Software Technology Corporation, and Optimal Process Technologies, LLC. created multi-scale models for prediction of corrosion in aluminum-steel joint structures such of them used in vehicle subassemblies – chassis and transmission systems. Starting from the first principle calculations, the team developed mathematical and data-driven models to predict the metallic components, which are formed during joining of two metals, for example aluminum and steel - a lightweight multilateral system which is currently used in more than 60% car bodies. These models were used for simulating chemical reactions that are happening when the joining metallic components are exposed to high temperatures and different pH values. The team was able to predict how the corrosion installs on the metallic components and how they lead to a sudden failure of components in cars. Newly developed machine learning algorithms combining Science, Technology, Engineering and Math disciplines, advanced finite element simulation and experimental validations have been integrated in a platform for prediction of the corrosion evolution and prediction the failure of joints under mechanical loadings and fatigue. Moreover, based on machine learning and inverse analysis, the team proposed solutions for designing new metallic alloys less susceptible to corrosion when joining multi-material assembles. An average of 4% error compared with experiments was achieved for the most common joints that are used in vehicle subassemblies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Multiplication of freestanding III-V semiconductor membranes from a single wafer by alternating growth with amorphous graphene interlayer

Freestanding single-crystalline III-V compound semiconductors are important building blocks for functional devices due to their high electron mobilities, a wide range of bandgaps, and excellent optoelectronic properties. Despite efforts to produce such membranes by detaching epitaxial layers from donor wafers, current methods suffer from either slow processes or poor material quality. Here, we demonstrate a technique to grow and harvest multiple epitaxial membranes with extremely high throughput at the wafer scale. For this, a process to directly grow amorphous graphene on III-V substrates in metal-organic chemical vapor deposition reactors is developed, which enables an advanced remote epitaxy scheme comprised of multiple alternating layers of amorphous graphene and III-V epitaxial layers that can be formed by a single epitaxy run. Each epilayer in the multi-stack structure is then harvested by layer-by-layer peeling, producing multiple freestanding membranes with unprecedented throughput from a single wafer. Because amorphous graphene provides a weak van der Waals interface that allows peeling at the interface without damaging the epilayer or the substrate, wafers can be reused for subsequent membrane production. Therefore, this work represents a meaningful step toward high-throughput and low-cost production of single-crystal membranes that can be heterointegrated.

Han, Ne Myo↗

Accelerating polyketide synthase engineering for high TRY production of biofuels and bioproducts (Final Technical Report)

Polyketide synthase (PKS) enzymes have a modular, deterministic logic that holds the potential to act as a flexible chemical factory for the biological production of a huge diversity of valuable small molecule compounds. However, engineering a custom PKS to produce a specific desired product currently requires years of trial and error, for reasons that remain poorly understood. In this project, we have developed a rapid, high throughput, Design-Build-Test-Learn (DBTL) cycle for polyketide synthases (PKSs) and demonstrate its utility for production of materials precursors. The objectives are 1) to develop a rapid, high-throughput (HT) DBTL cycle for PKSs that will enable production of a large number of unnatural, organic molecules on demand at high titer, rate, and yield (TRY); 2) to demonstrate the utility of the PKS DBTL cycle to produce three molecules: one commodity chemical (caprolactam or valerolactam) and two novel materials precursors (caprolactam or valerolactam derivatives); and 3) to demonstrate the utility of the PKS DBTL cycle to increase the TRY of one molecule (caprolactam or valerolactam). In this project, we have successfully demonstrated our high throughput PKS DBTL pipeline, and have biologically produced valerolactam and several other novel nylon monomers.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Accelerating polyketide synthase engineering for high TRY production of biofuels and bioproducts (CRADA Final Report)

Polyketide synthase (PKS) enzymes have a modular, deterministic logic that holds the potential to act as a flexible chemical factory for the biological production of a huge diversity of valuable small molecule compounds. However, engineering a custom PKS to produce a specific desired product currently requires years of trial and error, for reasons that remain poorly understood. In this project, we have developed a rapid, high throughput, Design-Build-Test-Learn (DBTL) cycle for polyketide synthases (PKSs) and demonstrate its utility for production of materials precursors. The objectives are 1) to develop a rapid, high-throughput (HT) DBTL cycle for PKSs that will enable production of a large number of unnatural, organic molecules on demand at high titer, rate, and yield (TRY); 2) to demonstrate the utility of the PKS DBTL cycle to produce three molecules: one commodity chemical (caprolactam or valerolactam) and two novel materials precursors (caprolactam or valerolactam derivatives); and 3) to demonstrate the utility of the PKS DBTL cycle to increase the TRY of one molecule (caprolactam or valerolactam). In this project, we have successfully demonstrated our high throughput PKS DBTL pipeline, and have biologically produced valerolactam and several other novel nylon monomers.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Woody Feedstock 2022 State of Technology Report

The U.S. Department of Energy promotes production of advanced liquid transportation fuels from lignocellulosic biomass by funding fundamental and applied research that advances the state of technology (SOT). As part of its involvement in this mission, Idaho National Laboratory completes an annual SOT report for n th -plant and 1 st -plant woody biomass feedstock logistics. The purpose of the SOT is to provide the status of feedstock supply system technology development for woody biomass to biofuels relative to technical targets and cost goals from specific design cases, based on data and experimental results. Conventional feedstock supply systems need to be modified to meet the demands of conversion pathways, specifically to have the ability to adjust the quality of the raw biomass materials. Advanced systems incorporate innovative methods of material handling, preprocessing and supply chain configuration. In advanced designs, variability of the raw biomass can be reduced to produce feedstocks of a uniform format, moving toward biomass commoditization. Against this backdrop, the 2022 Woody SOT for low-ash woody feedstocks utilizes feedstock fractionation by incorporating technologies that can separate the biomass into its anatomical fractions (wood, bark, needle, and extrinsic ash) to reduce impurities and attempt to maximize the retention of usable fractions that satisfy downstream quality considerations. By using a series of air classification steps, this strategy can reduce the extrinsic ash in forest residues, separate out a majority of the incoming needles (which can be supplied to alternate markets), and maximize the retention of whitewood in the usable fraction. The fractionated forest residues are then mixed with clean-pine chips in a 50-50 blend to prepare the feedstock for the desired conversion pathway. The n th -plant analysis estimated the delivered cost for the feedstock at $\$$69.23/dry ton (2016$\$$) which represents a $\$$6.64/dry ton decrease compared to the cost estimate of the 2021 Woody SOT supply system for low-ash woody feedstocks. The quality requirements in the 2022 Woody SOT were identical to those of the 2021 Woody SOT at = 1.00 wt % ash and = 50.51 wt% carbon. The cost savings derive primarily from reductions in dry matter losses during air classification. The GHG emissions for the n th -plant analysis were estimated at 178.39 kg CO2e/dry ton compared to 178.71 kg CO 2 e/dry ton in the 2021 Woody SOT, a decrease of 0.32 kg CO2e/dry ton. The small change stems from an increase in emissions attributed to preprocessing and slightly larger savings in emissions from transportation. In the 1 st -plant analysis of the 2022 Woody SOT system, the average throughput was estimated to be approximately 2,128 dry tons/day or 96.51% of the name plate capacity. During the simulation the daily throughput ranged from 1,090 dry tons/day to 2,200 dry tons/day, or 49.43% to 99.75% of the daily nameplate capacity. After the year of operation 722,403 tons of processed feedstock were produced in total without regard to quality considerations (99.64% of the annual nameplate capacity). The variability in throughput was primarily caused by equipment failures in the system. Regular failures, downtime caused by routine maintenance per manufacturer guidelines, contributed to a majority 62.50% of failures and 62.60% of downtime. Failures due to wear were the other cause of disruption within the system, impacting the rotary shear and orbital screen and accounting for 37.50% of the failures and 37.40% of the total downtime. Ultimately the system was on stream for 87.84% during the simulation period, which is only 2.16 percentage points below the nth-plant assumption for on-stream time. The production cost of the system averaged $\$$71.66/dry ton. The costs ranged from a minimum of $\$$71.23/dry ton to a maximum of $\$$2,115.30/dry ton. When dry matter losses (disposed low-quality fractions as well as other losses such as in grinders) were considered the costs increased to an average of $\$$75.11/dry ton with a minimum of $\$$74.69/dry ton and a maximum of $\$$2,136.86/dry ton...

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Functional characterization of glycosyltransferases in duckweed to enable predictive biology

Glycosyltransferases (GTs) catalyze the formation of glycosidic linkages to produce almost all complex carbohydrates. This project used a multi-disciplinary, high-throughput (HTP) biochemical and computational biology approach focused on duckweed as a model energy crop, to study carbohydrate metabolic processes. To achieve this, developed and carried out out high-throughput (HTP) functional characterization of plant glycosyltransferases (GTs) role of enzymatic microenvironments be assessed through a combined proteomic and computational biology approach, and the combined data was used to populate deep-learning frameworks to predict plant GT function. Functional validation achieved through this research is being used to assign gene function and study plant processes at the systems level to efficiently link the genome sequence with gene function. Together, the combined approaches used within this study provide a foundation for how computational prediction, in combination with high-throughput functional validation, can be used to study plant processes at the systems level and translate knowledge gained to efficiently link genome sequence with gene function in a species agnostic manner.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

KS4A-Omics1.0_FspDS682

Soil fungi facilitate the translocation of inorganic nutrients from soil minerals to other microorganisms and plants. This ability is particularly advantageous in impoverished soils, because fungal mycelial networks can bridge otherwise spatially disconnected and inaccessible nutrient hotspots. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying fungal mineral weathering and transport through soil remains poorly understood. Here, we addressed this knowledge gap by directly visualizing nutrient acquisition and transport through fungal hyphae in a mineral doped soil micromodel using a multimodal imaging approach. Here, we observed how a representative of common saprotrophic soil fungi, Fusarium sp. DS 682, exhibited a mechanosensory response (thigmotropism) around obstacles and through pore spaces (~12 μm) in the presence of minerals.This study establishes the significance of fungal biology and nutrient translocation mechanisms in maintaining fungal growth under water and nutrient limitations in a soil-like microenvironment, using a high-throughput multi-omic analysis approach. Data package KS4A-Omics.1.0_FspDS682 (Publication: Fungal Mineral Weathering Mechanisms Revealed Through Direct Molecular Visualization) contents reported here are the first version (1.0) and contain pre- and post-processed data using high throughput data capture technologies for multi-omic analysis and integration, this data package contains raw and post-processed experimental data for X-Ray Absorption Near Edge Structure Spectroscopy (XANES/XRF), Optical Microscopy, Proteomics, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (ToF-SIMS), X-Ray Diffraction Spectroscopy (XRD) files, and X- Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) using EMSL capabilities. This data package DOI contains a comprehensive collection of high-throughput multi-omics data and process metadata catalog. Support files include additional data download contents “Read Me” with dataset descriptor information and data source method application ontologies (see data dictionary section). Reported data download content is structured for compliance with reported guidelines provided by community standard initiatives and publisher stakeholder policies supporting FAIR data principles.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Perspectives of Open-Air Processing to Enable Perovskite Solar Cell Manufacturing

We report high throughput open-air processing techniques for the scalable production of all device and barrier layers for perovskite photovoltaics (PV). This work discusses and resolves some of the most formidable barriers to module-level scaling that the perovskite community has been facing. Our advanced technoeconomic manufacturing analysis indicates that vacuum-based processes with high capital expenditures (CapEx) and low throughputs dominate the cost of production. Open-air fabrication methods offer low CapEx routes to manufacturing, but achieving reproducibility in ambient conditions with varying relative humidity has been a persistent challenge. The use of rapid processing methods with plasma curing to convert films from the solution-state enables reproducibility, moisture immunity, and the highest perovskite PV efficiency produced in open-air. These methods are readily translatable to in-line processing where layers are sequentially deposited without the need for lengthy post-annealing steps that reduce throughput and involve additional equipment. Significant progress is demonstrated in reduced manufacturing costs as perovskites contend as a commercially viable next-generation thin film PV technology.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

End-to-end deep learning pipeline for real-time Bragg peak segmentation: from training to large-scale deployment

X-ray crystallography reconstruction, which transforms discrete X-ray diffraction patterns into three-dimensional molecular structures, relies critically on accurate Bragg peak finding for structure determination. As X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) facilities advance toward MHz data rates (1 million images per second), traditional peak finding algorithms that require manual parameter tuning or exhaustive grid searches across multiple experiments become increasingly impractical. While deep learning approaches offer promising solutions, their deployment in high-throughput environments presents significant challenges in automated dataset labeling, model scalability, edge deployment efficiency, and distributed inference capabilities. We present an end-to-end deep learning pipeline with three key components: (1) a data engine that combines traditional algorithms with our peak matching algorithm to generate high-quality training data at scale, (2) a modular architecture that scales from a few million to hundreds of million parameters, enabling us to train large expert-level models offline while deploying smaller, distilled models at the edge, and (3) a decoupled producer-consumer architecture that separates specialized data source layer from model inference, enabling flexible deployment across diverse computing environments. Using this integrated approach, our pipeline achieves accuracy comparable to traditional methods tuned by human experts while eliminating the need for experiment-specific parameter tuning. Although current throughput requires optimization for MHz facilities, our system's scalable architecture and demonstrated model compression capabilities provide a foundation for future high-throughput XFEL deployments.

Wang, Cong↗

Predicting Field Efficiency of Round-Baling Operations in High-Yielding Biomass Crops

Model simulations for bioenergy harvest planning need to utilize equipment-capacity relationships for equipment operating under the high-yield conditions typical of a biomass crop. These performance assumptions have a direct bearing on the estimates of machine capacity, the number of machines required, and, therefore, the cost to fulfill the biorefinery plant demands for a given harvest window. Typically, two major issues in these models have been poorly understood: the available time required to complete the harvest operation (often called probability of workdays) and the capacity of the harvest equipment as impacted by yield. Simulations use annual yield estimates, which incorporate weather events, to demonstrate year-to-year effects. Some simulations also incorporate potential yield increases from genetically modified energy crops. There are limited field performance data for most current forage equipment used for harvesting high-yield biomass crops. Analysis shows that the impact of wrap/eject time for round balers resulted in a 50% reduction in achieved throughput capacity (Mg/h). After the maximum throughput is reached, the cost of the round bale operation (3.23 USD/Mg) is double that of the large-square baler (1.63 USD/Mg). The round baler achieved throughput capacity is 50% less (32.7 Mg/h compared to 71.0 Mg/h) than the large-square baler.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

OctoFAS: A Two-Level Fair Scheduler That Increases Fairness in Network-Based Key-Value Storage

We identified a fairness problem in a network-based key-value storage system using Intel Storage Performance Development Kit (SPDK) in a multitenant environment. In such an environment, each tenant’s I/O service rate is not fairly guaranteed compared to that of other tenants. To address the fairness problem, we propose OctoFAS, a two-level fair scheduler designed to improve overall throughput and fairness among tenants. The two-level scheduler of OctoFAS consists of (i) inter-core scheduling and (ii) intra-core scheduling. Through inter-core scheduling, OctoFAS addresses the load imbalance problem that is inherent in SPDK on the storage server by dynamically migrating I/O requests from overloaded cores to underloaded cores, thereby increasing overall throughput. Intra-core scheduling prioritizes handling requests from starving tenants over well-fed tenants within core-specific event queues to ensure fair I/O services among multiple tenants. OctoFAS is deployed on a Linux cluster with SPDK. Through extensive evaluations, we found that OctoFAS ensures that the total system throughput remains high and balanced, while enhancing fairness by approximately 10% compared to the baseline, when both scheduling levels operate in a hybrid fashion.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Data Compression in the NEXT-100 Data Acquisition System

NEXT collaboration detectors are based on energy measured by an array of photomultipliers (PMT) and topological event filtering based on an array of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs). The readout of the PMT sensors for low-frequency noise effects and detector safety issues requires a grounded cathode connection that makes the readout AC-couple with variations in the signal baseline. Strict detector requirements of energy resolution better than 1% FWHM require a precise baseline reconstruction that is performed offline for data analysis and detector performance characterization. Baseline variations make it inefficient to apply traditional lossy data compression techniques, such as zero-suppression, that help to minimize data throughput and, therefore, the dead time of the system. However, for the readout of the SiPM sensors with less demanding requirements in terms of accuracy, a traditional zero-suppression is currently applied with a configuration that allows for a compression ratio of around 71%. The third stage in the NEXT detectors program, the NEXT-100 detector, is a 100 kg detector that instruments approximately five times more PMT sensors and twice the number of SiPM sensors than its predecessor, the NEXT-White detector, putting more pressure in the DAQ throughput, expected to be over 900 MB/s with the current configuration, which will worsen the dead time of the acquisition data system. This paper describes the data compression techniques applied to the sensor data in the NEXT-100 detector, which reduces data throughput and minimizes dead time while maintaining the event rate to the level of its predecessor, around 50 Hz.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

SMTN-002: Calculating LSST limiting magnitudes and SNR

This technote documents the various m5 calculation tools and provides some summary information to facilitate calculating SNR and m5 values. The throughput curves used for this analysis are from v1.9 of the syseng_throughput repo, which includes the "triple silver" mirror coatings, and as-measured mirror, filter and lens throughputs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Multiplication of freestanding III-V semiconductor membranes from a single wafer by alternating growth with amorphous graphene interlayer

Freestanding single-crystalline III-V compound semiconductors are important building blocks for functional devices due to their high electron mobilities, a wide range of bandgaps, and excellent optoelectronic properties. Despite efforts to produce such membranes by detaching epitaxial layers from donor wafers, current methods suffer from either slow processes or poor material quality. Here, we demonstrate a technique to grow and harvest multiple epitaxial membranes with extremely high throughput at the wafer scale. For this, a process to directly grow amorphous graphene on III-V substrates in metal-organic chemical vapor deposition reactors is developed, which enables an advanced remote epitaxy scheme comprised of multiple alternating layers of amorphous graphene and III-V epitaxial layers that can be formed by a single epitaxy run. Each epilayer in the multi-stack structure is then harvested by layer-by-layer peeling, producing multiple freestanding membranes with unprecedented throughput from a single wafer. Because amorphous graphene provides a weak van der Waals interface that allows peeling at the interface without damaging the epilayer or the substrate, wafers can be reused for subsequent membrane production. Therefore, this work represents a meaningful step toward high-throughput and low-cost production of single-crystal membranes that can be heterointegrated.

Han, Ne Myo↗