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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 757 records · Page 42
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

OLD PUZZLE, NEW INSIGHTS: A LITHIUM-RICH GIANT QUIETLY BURNING HELIUM IN ITS CORE

About 1% of giant stars have been shown to have large surface Li abundances, which is unexpected according to standard stellar evolution models. Several scenarios for lithium production have been proposed, but it is still unclear why these Li-rich giants exist. A missing piece in this puzzle is the knowledge of the exact stage of evolution of these stars. Using low- and-high-resolution spectroscopic observations, we have undertaken a survey of lithium-rich giants in the Kepler field. In this Letter, we report the finding of the first confirmed Li-rich core-helium-burning giant, as revealed by asteroseismic analysis. The evolutionary timescales constrained by its mass suggest that Li production most likely took place through non-canonical mixing at the RGB tip, possibly during the helium flash.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Determination of effective axion masses in the helium-3 buffer of CAST

The CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) is a ground based experiment located in Geneva (Switzerland) searching for axions coming from the Sun. Axions, hypothetical particles that not only could solve the strong CP problem but also be one of the favored candidates for dark matter, can be produced in the core of the Sun via the Primakoff effect. They can be reconverted into X-ray photons on Earth in the presence of strong electromagnetic fields. In order to look for axions, CAST points a decommissioned LHC prototype dipole magnet with different X-ray detectors installed in both ends of the magnet towards the Sun. The analysis of the data acquired during the first phase of the experiment yielded the most restrictive experimental upper limit on the axion-to-photon coupling constant for axion masses up to about 0.02 eV/c{sup 2}. During the second phase, CAST extends its mass sensitivity by tuning the electron density present in the magnetic field region. Injecting precise amounts of helium gas has enabled CAST to look for axion masses up to 1.2 eV/c{sup 2}. This paper studies the determination of the effective axion masses scanned at CAST during its second phase. The use of a helium gas buffer at temperatures of 1.8 K has required a detailed knowledge of the gas density distribution. Complete sets of computational fluid dynamic simulations validated with experimental data have been crucial to obtain accurate results.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2014

TH-A-19A-05: Modeling Physics Properties and Biologic Effects Induced by Proton and Helium Ions

Purpose: Currently, proton and carbon ions are used for cancer treatment. More recently, other light ions including helium ions have shown interesting physical and biological properties. The purpose of this work is to study the biological and physical properties of helium ions (He-3) in comparison to protons. Methods: Monte Carlo simulations with FLUKA, GEANT4 and MCNPX were used to calculate proton and He-3 dose distributions in water phantoms. The energy spectra of proton and He-3 beams were calculated with high resolution for use in biological models. The repair-misrepairfixation (RMF) model was subsequently used to calculate the RBE. Results: The proton Bragg curve calculations show good agreement between the three general purpose Monte Carlo codes. In contrast, the He-3 Bragg curve calculations show disagreement (for the magnitude of the Bragg peak) between FLUKA and the other two Monte Carlo codes. The differences in the magnitude of the Bragg peak are mainly due to the discrepancy in the secondary fragmentation cross sections used by the codes. The RBE for V79 cell lines is about 0.96 and 0.98 at the entrance of proton and He-3 ions depth dose respectively. The RBE increases to 1.06 and 1.59 at the Bragg peak of proton and He-3 ions. The results demonstrated that LET, microdosimetric parameters (such as dose-mean lineal energy) and RBE are nearly constant along the plateau region of Bragg curve, while all parameters increase within the Bragg peak and at the distal edge for both proton and He-3 ions. Conclusion: The Monte Carlo codes should revise the fragmentation cross sections to more accurately simulate the physical properties of He-3 ions. The increase in RBE for He-3 ions is higher than for proton beams at the Bragg peak.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

Implementation of spot scanning dose optimization and dose calculation for helium ions in Hyperion

Purpose: Helium ions ({sup 4}He) may supplement current particle beam therapy strategies as they possess advantages in physical dose distribution over protons. To assess potential clinical advantages, a dose calculation module accounting for relative biological effectiveness (RBE) was developed and integrated into the treatment planning system Hyperion. Methods: Current knowledge on RBE of {sup 4}He together with linear energy transfer considerations motivated an empirical depth-dependent “zonal” RBE model. In the plateau region, a RBE of 1.0 was assumed, followed by an increasing RBE up to 2.8 at the Bragg-peak region, which was then kept constant over the fragmentation tail. To account for a variable proton RBE, the same model concept was also applied to protons with a maximum RBE of 1.6. Both RBE models were added to a previously developed pencil beam algorithm for physical dose calculation and included into the treatment planning system Hyperion. The implementation was validated against Monte Carlo simulations within a water phantom using γ-index evaluation. The potential benefits of {sup 4}He based treatment plans were explored in a preliminary treatment planning comparison (against protons) for four treatment sites, i.e., a prostate, a base-of-skull, a pediatric, and a head-and-neck tumor case. Separate treatment plans taking into account physical dose calculation only or using biological modeling were created for protons and {sup 4}He. Results: Comparison of Monte Carlo and Hyperion calculated doses resulted in a γ{sub mean} of 0.3, with 3.4% of the values above 1 and γ{sub 1%} of 1.5 and better. Treatment plan evaluation showed comparable planning target volume coverage for both particles, with slightly increased coverage for {sup 4}He. Organ at risk (OAR) doses were generally reduced using {sup 4}He, some by more than to 30%. Improvements of {sup 4}He over protons were more pronounced for treatment plans taking biological effects into account. All OAR doses were within tolerances specified in the QUANTEC report. Conclusions: The biological {sup 4}He model proposed above is a first approach matching biological data published so far. The advantage of {sup 4}He seems to lie in the reduction of dose to surrounding tissue and to OARs. Nevertheless, additional biological experiments and treatment planning studies with larger patient numbers and more tumor indications are necessary to study the possible benefits of helium ion beam therapy in detail.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

Mechanical properties and permeability of hydrogen isotopes through CrNi35WTiAl alloy, containing radiogenic helium

The long-term contact of structural materials (SM) with tritium-containing media makes their properties in terms of kinetic permeability of hydrogen isotopes change. This change is the consequence of the defect formation in SM due to the result of {sup 3}He build-up generated by the radioactive decay of tritium dissolved in SM. This paper presents the experimental results concerning the permeability of hydrogen isotopes through CrNi35WTiAl alloy containing {sup 3}He and the impact of the presence of {sup 3}He and H on its mechanical properties. Tensile tests of cylindrical samples containing various concentrations of {sup 3}He (90, 230 and 560 appm) have been performed in inert and hydrogen atmospheres. The build-up of {sup 3}He has been made using the 'helium trick' technique. The maximal decrease in the plastic characteristics of the CrNi35WTiAl alloy occurs in samples with the highest {sup 3}He (560 appm) content at 873 K. The permeability of deuterium through the CrNi35WTiAl alloy in the initial state and that with 560 appm of {sup 3}He content was explored. The presence of this {sup 3}He concentration has shown an increase in deuterium permeability, evidently due to structural changes in the material under the impact of radiogenic helium.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Sensing Few Electrons Floating on Helium with High-Electron-Mobility Transistors

We report on low-frequency measurements of few electrons floating on superfluid helium using a bespoke cryogenic cascode amplifier circuit built with off-the-shelf GaAs high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs). We integrate this circuit with a charge-coupled device (CCD) to transport the electrons on helium and characterize its performance. Here, we show that this circuit has a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of ~ 2 $\frac{e}{√Hz}$ at 102 kHz, an order of magnitude improvement from previous implementations, and provides a compelling alternative to few electron sensing with high-frequency resonators.

Charge-Coupled Devices↗
DOE OSTI2019

Evaluating Separation Selectivity and Collision Cross Section Measurement Reproducibility in Helium, Nitrogen, Argon, and Carbon Dioxide Drift Gases for Drift Tube Ion Mobility–Mass Spectrometry

Previous ion mobility (IM) studies have demonstrated that varying the drift gas composition can be used to enhance chemical selectivity and resolution, yet there are few drift gas studies aimed at achieving quantitatively reproducible mobility measurements. Here, we critically evaluate the conditions necessary to achieve reproducible collision cross section (CCS) measurements in pure drift gases (helium, nitrogen, argon, and carbon dioxide) using a commercial uniform field drift tube instrument. Optimal experimental parameters are assessed based on the convergence of CCS measurements to reproducible values which are compared with literature values. A suite of calibration standards with diverse masses, biological classes, and charge states are examined to assess chemical selectivity and resolution achievable in each drift gas. Results indicate nitrogen and argon perform similarly and are sufficient for most applications where high resolving power and high peak capacity are desired. Carbon dioxide exhibits more selectivity for resolving structurally heterogeneous compounds, which may be preferable in specific analyte pair separations. Helium demonstrated modest separation capabilities but has utility for comparison to theoretical values and previously published work. In drift gases other than nitrogen, pressure differentials up to 230 mTorr between the drift tube and upstream chamber were optimal for improving correlation to literature values, while in nitrogen, the recommended pressure differential of 150 mTorr was found appropriate. We present recommended experimental parameters as well as gas-specific CCS measurements for structurally homogeneous sets of analytes which are suitable for use by other laboratories as standards for purposes of instrument calibration and overall assessment of IM separation performance. .

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Bubble formation in helium-implanted nanostructured ferritic alloys at elevated temperatures

Helium bubble formation was examined by scanning/transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM) in Fe-9/10Cr binary alloys and two dispersion strengthened nanostructured alloys (CNA3 and 14YWT containing 5–10 nm diameter carbide and oxide particles, respectively) after ex-situ and in-situ He implantation to ~10,000 appm at 500 to 900 °C. The combination of high-resolution STEM images and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) revealed that the Y-Ti-O nanoparticles in 14YWT were uniformly distributed and exhibited a one-to-one relationship for bubble attachment to the nanoclusters. In the in-situ experiment at 900 °C, grain boundary cracking was severe in the Fe-10Cr model alloy, but not in the nanostructured alloys. From 500 to 900 °C, the bubble size generally increased with increasing irradiation temperature, while the bubble density decreased with increasing temperature. At the same temperatures, the bubble size in the implanted materials was in the order of Fe-9/10Cr > CNA3 > 14YWT, while the bubble density showed the opposite order. The observed bubble number densities for the nanostructured alloys are comparable to the nanoparticle density, suggesting that the nanoparticles in both alloys were effective in trapping He. Overall, our results indicate that very high He concentrations can be managed in nanostructured alloys by sequestering the helium into smaller bubbles (which leads to a lower volume swelling value) and to shield He from the grain boundaries. This can be attributed to the much higher sink strength associated with the nanoclusters or the He trapping ability between different types of nanoclusters.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Grain boundary softening from stress assisted helium cavity coalescence in ultrafine-grained tungsten

The formation of helium cavities in coarse-grained materials produces hardening proportional to the number density and size of the cavities and due to the interaction of dislocations with intragranular helium defects. In nanostructured metals containing a high density of interfacial sinks, preferential cavity formation in the grain boundaries instead produces softening that is often attributed to enhanced interfacial plasticity. Here, employing two grades of ultrafine-grained tungsten, we explore this effect using targeted implantation studies to map cavity evolution as a function of the irradiation conditions and quantify its impact on the mechanical response through nanoindentation. Softening is reported at implantation temperatures above the threshold for preferential grain boundary cavity formation but at a sufficiently low fluence prior to the growth of intragranular cavities. Collective changes in the mean cavity size, density, and morphology beneath a residual impression on an implanted surface indicate that cavity coalescence accompanied the reduction in hardness. Complementary atomistic simulations demonstrate that, in tungsten grain structures exhibiting softening, grain boundary bubble coalescence is driven by stress concentrations that further act to localize strain in the grain boundaries through cooperative deformation processes involving local atomic shuffling and sliding, dislocation emission, and even the nucleation of unstable twinning events.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Eliminating flow-induced microphonics in a superfluid helium cryogenic system

Superconducting radio frequency cavities are the devices of choice when it comes to accelerating charged particle beams in modern particle accelerators. They are held in a bath of liquid helium, to maintain their operating temperature at 2.0 K. The dimensions of these cavities are controlled within microns to facilitate operation at design conditions. During operation however, these cavities experience microphonic disturbances i.e., small mechanical deformations, that cause an undesired response in the electrical performance of the cavity. This paper proposes solutions to mitigate microphonics caused by fluid flow, particularly by the fill line into the helium bath in a 2.0 K cryogenic system. Specifically, three different systems designs are proposed, two of which dramatically reduce vapor generation and thereby its contribution to microphonics. The third design is found to completely suppress vapor generation and is explored in further detail.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Application of a deep learning semantic segmentation model to helium bubbles and voids in nuclear materials

Imaging nanoscale radiation-induced defects using the transmission electron microscope (TEM) is a key factor in the successful implementation of materials for nuclear energy structural applications. Analyzing each defect in a TEM micrograph is currently a manual task. To identify the defects in a single image can take anywhere from 15 min to an hour and a project can require the analysis of anywhere from tens to ≥ 100 images. Here, we use artificial intelligence (AI) models to automate this task. For simplification, we evaluated images with only a single type of defect; helium bubbles. Additionally, we performed semantic segmentation of these helium bubble defects in electron microscopy images of irradiated FeCrAl alloys using a deep learning DefectSegNet model. This model, which was previously used to classify crystal defects, is inspired by the classic DenseNet and U-Net image segmentation models. It claims high spatial resolution, but has poor performance at object boundaries. Our paper improves the DefectSegNet model’s application by adding two new features. First, the DefectSegNet model is applied not only to perform calculation pixel-wise but also object (or feature) wise. Because object-wise metrics are directly relevant to our final goal of detecting bubbles, whereas pixel-wise classification is only an intermediate step, it is an important part of our study. Second, a distance map loss (DML) function has been added to increase its performance at object boundaries. It is crucial to accurately represent defects boundaries, especially bubbles, in order to track the bubble-induced swelling caused by irradiation. The boundary-focused DML function is also compared to other loss functions like Cross-entropy, Weighted Binary Cross Entropy (WBCE), Dice and Intersection over Union (IOU). Finally, by incorporating new features, we found a marked improvement on segmentation quality and better shape preservation at the boundaries and areas of the bubbles.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Estimation of the Thermal-Fluids and Thermal-Structural Performance of Helium-Cooled Modular Finger-Type Divertors

Over the past decade, our group has investigated the thermal-fluid performance of the helium-cooled modular divertor with multiple jets (HEMJ) and a simplified “flat” design of the HEMJ for long-pulse magnetic fusion energy (MFE) reactors. Experimental studies were performed in a helium (He) loop at the prototypical pressure of 10 MPa, nearly prototypical He temperatures and incident heat fluxes using test sections made from stainless steel and tungsten alloys. Correlations for average Nusselt numbers and pressure loss coefficients were developed from the data and are used to validate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models. Here, this work presents updated thermal-fluids performance curves based on these correlations that estimate the maximum heat flux that can be accommodated by the plasma-facing surface and coolant pumping power requirements at prototypical operating conditions. Thermal-structural performance curves developed from ITER structural design criteria are introduced, which include protection against ductile and non-ductile failure, ratcheting fatigue, and creep fatigue. The performance design curves for these finger-type divertors demonstrate that the “flat” design, with a significantly less complicated geometry than the HEMJ, has thermal-fluid and thermal-structural performance comparable to the original HEMJ concept, and may be superior in terms of non-ductile failure criteria.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Cascade-Induced Ballistic Helium Resolutioning from Bubbles in Iron

Molecular dynamics simulations have been used to assess the ability of atomic displacement cascades to eject helium from small bubbles in iron. This study of the ballistic resolutioning mechanism employed a recently-developed Fe-He interatomic potential in concert with an iron potential developed by Ackland and co-workers. The primary variables examined were: irradiation temperature (100 and 600K), cascade energy (5 and 20 keV), bubble radius (0.5 and 1.0 nm), and He-to-vacancy ratio in the bubble (0.25, 0.5 and 1.0). Systematic trends were observed for each of these variables. For example, ballistic resolutioning leads to a greater number of helium atoms being displaced from larger bubbles and from bubbles that have a higher He/vacancy ratio (bubble pressure). He resolutioning was reduced at 600K relative to 100K, and for 20 keV cascades relative to 5 keV cascades. Overall, the results indicate a modest level of He removal by ballistic resolutioning. The results can be used to provide guidance in selection of a resolution parameter that can be employed in cluster dynamics models to predict the bubble size distribution that evolves under irradiation.

displacement cascades↗
DOE OSTI2022

Measurement of Helium and Xenon Knudsen permeability in graphite IG-11

Here, understanding the flow and diffusion (transport) of gases through nuclear graphite is of interest in both the prismatic and pebble bed high-temperature gas reactors (HTGRs), for normal operation and under accident conditions, for example, as related to graphite oxidation. Both the laminar and turbulent gaseous transport are of interest. It has also been noted that nuclear graphite can have pore sizes that can possibly lead to non-continuum transport, as the pore size can be comparable to the gaseous mean free path. We report measurements and analyzes of experiments performed with IG-11 graphite in the pressure range of 10 Pa to 14,700 Pa, 293 K, using Helium, and research grade xenon (99.999%), respectively. These values are in fair agreement with those reported for different graphites and gases by other investigators, but are also higher by six orders of magnitude than those reported for Kr permeability in a developmental very low permeability graphite-HXT-90. Our measured ratio of the Helium and Xenon permeabilities is about 4, different from $\sqrt{\frac{m_{Xe}}{m_{He}}}$ ≈ 5.72 that corresponds to diffuse reflection at the graphite surface for both gases. Simple analysis indicates that the two gases have slightly different accommodation coefficients (about 25%) with the graphite surface. However, there could also be other reasons, such as experimental uncertainties or the need for a more detailed analysis.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Processes controlling helium bubble dynamics at varying temperatures in simulated radioactive materials

Alpha-radiation damage is known to degrade materials exposed to harsh radiation environments via swelling and embrittlement by nano-scale helium bubbles. How these bubbles grow under varying temperature is essential to understanding and predicting material failure and optimization. Using in situ X-ray scattering, we probed ≈1012 bubbles before, during and after annealing at different temperatures in He-implanted aluminum to reveal a critical growth activation temperature that depends strongly on the helium implantation conditions. An analysis of the data aided by our molecular dynamics simulations identifies multiple temperature-dependent bubble growth mechanisms above and below the critical growth activation temperature. Moreover, the irreversible bubble growth that occurs after annealing for ≈4 h was evaluated using dislocation dynamics and found to negligibly affect the yield strength but may affect subsequent bubble growth at temperature. These in situ results provide valuable insight into bubble growth never observed before and reveal, for the first time, bubble shrinkage after cooling.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Helium–Xenon mixtures to improve the topological signature in high pressure gas xenon TPCs

Within the framework of xenon-based double beta decay experiments, we propose the possibility to improve the background rejection of an electroluminescent Time Projection Chamber (EL TPC) by reducing the diffusion of the drifting electrons while keeping nearly intact the energy resolution of a pure xenon EL TPC. Additionally, based on state-of-the-art microscopic simulations, a substantial addition of helium, around 10 or 15 %, may reduce drastically the transverse diffusion down to 2.5 mm/ $\sqrt{m}$ from the 10.5 mm/ $\sqrt{m}$ of pure xenon. The longitudinal diffusion remains around 4 mm/ $\sqrt{m}$. Light production studies have been performed as well. They show that the relative variation in energy resolution introduced by such a change does not exceed a few percent, which leaves the energy resolution practically unchanged. Lastly, the technical caveats of using photomultipliers close to an helium atmosphere are also discussed in detail.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

Temperature dependence of helium-implantation-induced lattice swelling in polycrystalline tungsten: X-ray micro-diffraction and Eigenstrain modelling

Using synchrotron X-ray micro-diffraction and Eigenstrain analysis the distribution of lattice swelling near grain boundaries in helium-implanted polycrystalline tungsten is quantified. Samples heat-treated at up to 1473 K after implantation show less uniform lattice swelling that varies significantly from grain to grain compared to as-implanted samples. An increase in lattice swelling is found in the vicinity of some grain boundaries, even at depths beyond the implanted layer. As a result, these findings are discussed in terms of the evolution of helium-ion-implantation-induced defects.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Formation of tetragonal gas bubble superlattice in bulk molybdenum under helium ion implantation

In this paper, we report the formation of tetragonal gas bubble superlattice in bulk molybdenum under helium ion implantation at 573 K. The transmission electron microscopy study shows that the helium bubble lattice constant measured from the in-plane d-spacing is ~4.5 nm, while it is ~3.9 nm from the out-of-plane measurement. The results of synchrotron-based small-angle x-ray scattering agree well with the transmission electron microscopy results in terms of the measurement of bubble lattice constant and bubble size. The coupling of transmission electron microscopy and synchrotron high-energy X-ray scattering provides an effective approach to study defect superlattices in irradiated materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗