Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “condensed matter & materials physics”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 919 records · Page 51

Comparison of copper and aluminum as the thermal link material for conduction-cooled accelerator cavities

Cryocooler conduction-cooling has recently emerged as a new frontier for cryogenic cooling for superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) cavities. In this scheme, an SRF cavity is mechanically coupled to a closed-cycle cryocooler using linkages made of high thermal conductivity metals. In this note, we compare the thermal transport properties of high purity aluminum and high purity copper as applied to SRF cavity conduction cooling. We show that copper can enable faster cooldown than aluminum from room temperature to the base temperature near 4 K and behave equally well or better during steady state cavity operation near the base temperature.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Nematic Fluctuations in the Non-Superconducting Iron Pnictide BaFe 1.9-x Ni 0.1 Cr x As 2

The main driven force of the electronic nematic phase in iron-based superconductors is still under debate. Here, we report a comprehensive study on the nematic fluctuations in a non-superconducting iron pnictide system BaFe 1.9-x Ni 0.1 Cr x As 2 by electronic transport, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), and inelastic neutron scattering (INS) measurements. Previous neutron diffraction and transport measurements suggested that the collinear antiferromagnetism persists to x = 0.8, with similar Néel temperature TN and structural transition temperature Ts around 32 K, but the charge carriers change from electron type to hole type around x = 0.5. In this study, we have found that the in-plane resistivity anisotropy also highly depends on the Cr dopings and the type of charge carriers. While ARPES measurements suggest possibly weak orbital anisotropy onset near Ts for both x = 0.05 and x = 0.5 compounds, INS experiments reveal clearly different onset temperatures of low-energy spin excitation anisotropy, which is likely related to the energy scale of spin nematicity. These results suggest that the interplay between the local spins on Fe atoms and the itinerant electrons on Fermi surfaces is crucial to the nematic fluctuations of iron pnictides, where the orbital degree of freedom may behave differently from the spin degree of freedom, and the transport properties are intimately related to the spin dynamics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

High-Temperature Thermodynamics Modeling of Graphite

We present high-temperature thermodynamic properties for graphite from first-principles anharmonic theory. The ab initio electronic structure is obtained from density-functional theory coupled to a lattice dynamics method that is used to model anharmonic lattice vibrations. This combined approach produces free energies and specific heats for graphite that compare well with available experiments and results from models that empirically represent experimental data, such as CALPHAD. We show that anharmonic theory for the phonons is essential for accurate thermodynamic quantities above about 1000 K.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Thermodynamics of Liquid Uranium from Atomistic and Ab Initio Modeling

We present thermodynamic properties for liquid uranium obtained from classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and the first-principles theory. The coexisting phases method incorporated within MD modeling defines the melting temperature of uranium in good agreement with the experiment. The calculated melting enthalpy is in agreement with the experimental range. Classical MD simulations show that ionic contribution to the total specific heat of uranium does not depend on temperature. The density of states at the Fermi level, which is a crucial parameter in the determination of the electronic contribution to the total specific heat of liquid uranium, is calculated by ab initio all electron density functional theory (DFT) formalism applied to the atomic configurations generated by classical MD. The calculated specific heat of liquid uranium is compared with the previously calculated specific heat of solid γ-uranium at high temperatures. The liquid uranium cannot be supercooled below T sc ≈ 800 K or approximately about 645 K below the calculated melting point, although, the self-diffusion coefficient approaches zero at T D ≈ 700 K. Uranium metal can be supercooled about 1.5 times more than it can be overheated. The features of the temperature hysteresis are discussed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Epitaxial Integration of Dirac Semimetals with Si(001)

Topological semimetals contain novel combinations of properties that make them useful in a variety of applications, including optoelectronics, spintronics and low energy computing, and catalysis. Although they have been grown with high quality as bulk single crystals, incorporation with semiconductor substrates will ultimately be required to maximize their technological reach. Here, epitaxial growth of the Dirac semimetal Cd3As2 on Si(001) is demonstrated through two routes. First, Cd3As2(112) epilayers are grown on Si(001) via an intermediate CdTe(111) buffer layer. Second, Cd3As2(112) is grown directly on Si(001). This work sets the foundation for integration of novel semimetal materials with existing CMOS technology.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Sound Velocities in Vanadium Reveal Complex Elastic Behavior at High Pressures

Compressional (VP) and shear (VS) wave velocities of polycrystalline vanadium were measured simultaneously up to 11.5 GPa at room temperature using ultrasonic interferometry in a multi-anvil press. Complex softening behavior in VS and resulting shear moduli are discovered, possibly revealing a precursor to the reported phase transition within 30–60 GPa. The current data enables a comprehensive assessment of the elastic and mechanical properties of vanadium at high pressures, including bulk and shear moduli, Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, and Pugh’s ratio. Through fitting to the 3rd-order finite strain equations, the elastic moduli and their pressure derivatives were determined to be K S0 = 151 (2) GPa, G 0 = 46.9 (8) GPa, K$^{’}_{S0}$ = 3.47 (5), and G$^{’}_{0}$ = 0.62 (1). These experimental results allow us to compare with and benchmark the existing Steinberg–Guinan models for extrapolations to extreme pressure and temperature conditions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Ultrafast X-ray Diffraction Study of a Shock-Compressed Iron Meteorite above 100 GPa

Natural kamacite samples (Fe92.5Ni7.5) from a fragment of the Gibeon meteorite were studied as a proxy material for terrestrial cores to examine phase transition kinetics under shock compression for a range of different pressures up to 140 GPa. In situ time-resolved X-ray diffraction (XRD) data were collected of a body-centered cubic (bcc) kamacite section that transforms to the high-pressure hexagonal close-packed (hcp) phase with sub-nanosecond temporal resolution. The coarse-grained crystal of kamacite rapidly transformed to highly oriented crystallites of the hcp phase at maximum compression. The hcp phase persisted for as long as 9.5 ns following shock release. Comparing the c/a ratio with previous static and dynamic work on Fe and Fe-rich Fe-Ni alloys, it was found that some shots exhibit a larger than ideal c/a ratio, up to nearly 1.65. This work represents the first time-resolved laser shock compression structural study of a natural iron meteorite, relevant for understanding the dynamic material properties of metallic planetary bodies during impact events and Earth’s core elasticity.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Electrical and Magnetic Properties of FeGa 3 with Antisite Disorder

We investigated the electronic and magnetic ground states of the cage compound FeGa 3 under the presence of Fe antisite disorder (namely as Fe 0.258 Ga 0.742 ) by x-ray diffraction (XRD), Mössbauer spectroscopy (MS), magnetization and electrical resistivity. Our results show that approximately 4.5 (5)% Fe antisite occupying one of the two non-equivalent Ga sites changes significantly the electronic and magnetic ground states of the pristine compound. We uncover that Fe 0.258 Ga 0.742 undergoes two magnetic transitions, T 1 ≈ 60 K and T 2 ≈ 15 K, the latter associated with the suppression of semiconducting behavior. We focus our discussion on the role that in-gap impurity states and spin disorder play across semiconducting-metal and paramagnetic-magnetic transitions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Iron nitride materials and magnets including iron nitride materials

The disclosure describes magnetic materials including iron nitride, bulk permanent magnets including iron nitride, techniques for forming magnetic materials including iron nitride, and techniques for forming bulk permanent magnets including iron nitride.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Magnetoelastically actuated MEMS device and methods for its manufacture

A magnetoelastically actuated device includes a microscale cantilever arm supported at a standoff distance from a substrate. The cantilever arm is formed as a laminar magnetic actuator configured to bend when it is subjected to a magnetic field. The cantilever arm includes a film of magnetostrictive material. Also provided is a method for fabricating the magnetoelastically actuated device. The method includes defining an actuator mold in a layer of photoresist on a structural layer of the cantilever arm and electrodepositing a layer of a magnetostrictive alloy containing cobalt and iron onto the structural layer within the actuator mold.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

SOFC interconnect barriers and methods of making same using masks

A novel method to produce thin films spatially disposed on desired areas of workpieces is disclosed. Examples of include the formation of a yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) film formed on a desired portion of a stainless steel interconnect for solid oxide fuel cells by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). A number of methods to produce the spatially disposed YSZ film structures are described including polymeric and silicone rubber masks. The thin film structures have utility for preventing the reaction of glasses with metals, in particular alkali-earth containing glasses with ferritic stainless steels, allowing high temperature bonding of these materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Topological insulator-based high efficiency switching of magnetic unit, method and applications

A magneto-electronic device may include: a spin-orbit torque (SOT) generator layer; a magnetic memory layer; and/or sensing electrodes configured to measure a Hall effect of the magnetic memory layer. The SOT generator layer may include topological insulator material, and the magnetic memory layer may include ferromagnetic material with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. A magneto-electronic device may include: a spin-orbit torque (SOT) generator layer; a first magnetic memory layer on the SOT generator layer; an insulating layer on the first magnetic memory layer; and/or a second magnetic memory layer on the insulating layer. The SOT generator layer may include topological insulator material. The first magnetic memory layer and the second magnetic memory layer may include ferromagnetic material with either perpendicular magnetic anisotropy or in-plane magnetic anisotropy.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Energy storage devices having coated passive components

The present invention provides various passive electronic components comprising a layer of coated particles, and methods for producing and using the same. Some of the passive electronic components of the invention include, but are not limited to conductors, resistors, current collectors, capacitors, piezoelectronic devices, inductors and transformers. The present invention also provides energy storage devices and electrode layers for such energy storage devices having passive, electrically-conductive particles coated with one or more thin film materials.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Pore orientation using magnetic fields

The use of magnetic fields in the production of porous articles is generally described. Certain embodiments comprise exposing a matrix to a magnetic field such that particles within the matrix form one or more elongated regions (e.g., one or more regions in which the particles chain). In some embodiments, after the magnetic field has been applied, the particles and/or a liquid within the matrix can be at least partially removed. Removal of the particles and/or the liquid can leave behind anisotropic pores within the remainder of the matrix material.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Fabrication of multilayered carbon MEMS devices

The various technologies presented herein relate to formation of carbon micromechanical systems (CMEMS), wherein the CMEMS comprise multiple layers of carbon structures and are formed using a plurality of photoresist precursors that are processed to form carbon. The various embodiments can be utilized in producing a plurality of CMEMS with full production level fabrication, e.g., 6 inch wafers can be processed. A pyrolyzed layer of carbon is lithographically defined after pyrolysis, wherein the post-pyrolysis etch process can produce carbon structures having repeatable and accurate device geometries, with straight sidewalls. A sacrificial layer can be applied to facilitate separation of a first carbon layer from a second carbon layer, wherein, upon pyrolysis to form the second carbon layer and lithography thereof, the sacrificial layer is removed to form a CMEMS comprising a first carbon layer (e.g., comprising bottom contacts) located beneath a second carbon layer (e.g., a mechanical layer).

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Apparatus for determining a thermal conductivity and a thermal diffusivity of a material, and related methods

A method of determining a thermal conductivity and a thermal diffusivity of a material comprises exposing a specimen comprising a substrate of a material and a metallic film over the substrate to an amplitude modulated pump laser beam comprising electromagnetic radiation having a first wavelength and a first modulation frequency to form a pump spot on the metallic film. The specimen is exposed to a probe laser beam comprising electromagnetic radiation having a second wavelength to form a probe spot on the metallic film. A phase shift between the pump laser beam and a reflected probe laser beam is measured while scanning the pump spot relative to the probe spot. A modulation frequency of the pump laser beam is changed to a second modulation frequency and the pump spot is scanned relative to the probe spot while detecting the phase shift. A phase profile of the material is measured and a continuum-based model is fit to the phase profile. Related microscopes and related methods are also disclosed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Preparation of asymmetric porous materials

As asymmetric porous film structure formed by depositing a porous material film on a flexible substrate, and applying an anisotropic stress to the porous media on the flexible substrate, where the anisotropic stress results from a stress such as an applied mechanical force, a thermal gradient, and an applied voltage, to form an asymmetric porous material.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗