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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 1,045 records · Page 58
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2006

Gas-Liquid Separation Strategies in Microgravity Environment

Bubble entrainment in liquids represents a serious problem in the microgravity environment. Whenever bubbles are entrained in a liquid,they tend to remain stationary in the liquid bulk in the absence of any external forcing. This is due to the reduction or complete absence of the buoyancy force in the microgravity environment, Thus the buoyancy force can not the be exploited to place the bubbles at the top of the liquid volume as in Ig(sub o) conditions. This situation represents a serious drawback in many space based engineering and scientific applications. We have demonstrated in a series of low gravity experiments conducted during parabolic flight on board aircraft that bubbles can be controlled in such a manner as to increase,the probability of their expulsion from a liquid bulk. In these tests the liquid'bulk was made either to be contained within, or to flow through specially designed containers using capillary force alone. Such containers appear to facilitate bubble removal, from the liquid bulk. Different successful liquid flow configurations will be discussed and the efficacy of the resulting bubble expulsion mechanisms will be demonstrated.

Antar, Basil N.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Gauging Systems Monitor Cryogenic Liquids

Rocket fuel needs to stay cool - super cool, in fact. The ability to store gas propellants like liquid hydrogen and oxygen at cryogenic temperatures (below -243 F) is crucial for space missions in order to reduce their volumes and allow their storage in smaller (and therefore, less costly) tanks. The Agency has used these cryogenic fluids for vehicle propellants, reactants, and life support systems since 1962 with the Centaur upper stage rocket, which was powered with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. During proposed long-duration missions, super-cooled fluids will also be used in space power systems, spaceports, and lunar habitation systems. In the next generation of launch vehicles, gaseous propellants will be cooled to and stored for extended periods at even colder temperatures than currently employed via a process called densification. Densification sub-cools liquids to temperatures even closer to absolute zero (-459 F), increasing the fluid s density and shrinking its volume beyond common cryogenics. Sub-cooling cryogenic liquid hydrogen, for instance, from 20 K (-423 F) to 15 K (-432.4 F) reduces its mass by 10 percent. These densified liquid gases can provide more cost savings from reduced payload volume. In order to benefit from this cost savings, the Agency is working with private industry to prevent evaporation, leakage, and other inadvertent loss of liquids and gases in payloads - requiring new cryogenic systems to prevent 98 percent (or more) of boil-off loss. Boil-off occurs when cryogenic or densified liquids evaporate, and is a concern during launch pad holds. Accurate sensing of propellants aboard space vehicles is also critical for proper engine shutdown and re-ignition after launch, and zero boil-off fuel systems are also in development for the Altair lunar lander.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2009

Catastrophe Optics Method to Determine the Micro-Nano Size Profiles at TPL of Liquid Films on a Solid Surface

As discovered by recent studies, what directly affects the wetting and spreading is curvature in micro-region rather than the macroscopic contact angle. Measuring the profile of the micro-region becomes an important research topic. Recently, catastrophe optics has been applied to this kind of measurements. Optical catastrophe occurring in far field of waves of liquid-refracted laser beam implies a wealth of information about the liquid spreading not only for liquid drops but also for films. When a parallel laser beam passes through a liquid film on a slide glass at three-phase-line (TPL), very interesting optical image patterns occur on a screen far from the film. An analysis based on catastrophe optics discloses and interprets the formation of these optical image patterns. The analysis reveals that the caustic line manifested as the bright-thick line on the screen implies the lowest hierarchy of optical catastrophes, called fold caustic. This optical catastrophe is produced by the inflexion line on liquid surface at the liquid foot, which is formed not only in the spreading of drops but also in spreading of films. The generalized catastrophe optics method enables to identify the edge profiles and determine the edge foot height of liquid films. Keywords: Crossover region, Inflexion line, liquid edge foot, Catastrophe optics, Caustic and diffraction

Chao, David F.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Fast Ignition and Sustained Combustion of Ionic Liquids

A catalyst free method of igniting an ionic liquid is provided. The method can include mixing a liquid hypergol with a HAN (Hydroxylammonium nitrate)-based ionic liquid to ignite the HAN-based ionic liquid in the absence of a catalyst. The HAN-based ionic liquid and the liquid hypergol can be injected into a combustion chamber. The HAN-based ionic liquid and the liquid hypergol can impinge upon a stagnation plate positioned at top portion of the combustion chamber.

Joshi, Prakash B.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Flow Regime Transitions and Pressure Drop in Gas-Liquid Flows through Packed Beds in Microgravity

The Packed Bed Reactor Experiment (PBRE) focused on the hydrodynamics of gas-liquid flow in porous media, specifically on flow regime transition and pressure drop correlation. The reactor included a cylindrical test section of 60 cm in length, 5 cm in diameter and filled with 2 mm spherical glass beads. Liquid water and Nitrogen gas were flowed into a centrifugal phase separator after exiting the test section. Five absolute pressure transducers and two high-speed video cameras spanned the test section to measure the pressure drop and capture flow regime behavior. Video observations, analysis of pressure traces, and pressure drop data were used to identify flow patterns. It was found that the slope of pressure gradient data when plotted versus the gas or liquid Reynolds numbers changed when the flow regime changed. This observation was used to identify the flow regime boundaries. At high liquid flow rates (high interaction regime), dispersed bubble and pulse flow regimes were detected. At low liquid flow rates (low interaction regime), large bubble and gas channeling regimes were observed. The transition from the big bubble regime to the gas channeling regime occurred at a critical gas flow rate independent of the liquid flow rate. Similarly, the transition from the low interaction to the high interaction regime occurred at a critical liquid flow rate. For these different flow regimes, different two-phase flow friction factors and pressure gradient correlations were fitted as a function of the gas and liquid modified Reynolds numbers and Suratman number. It was found that in all the flow regimes the capillary contribution to the pressure drop is significant and can be as high as 90% of the total pressure drop.

Brian Motil↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Design for an Integrated Open-Loop System for Carbon Dioxide Removal using Liquid Amine

Manned Space missions require maintaining a safe environment for the crew that can both sustain a breathable atmosphere and remove pollutants. Carbon dioxide, while not toxic in low concentrations, accumulates as crew members work and breath and can eventually affect the crew’s health. Therefore, a constant, passive system to remove the carbon dioxide build up is necessary for long-term missions. Currently, the prevailing liquid sorbent used in submarines and industrial flue gas utilizes the primary amine, monoethanolamine (MEA), to capture, transfer, and remove carbon dioxide from air. Diglycolamine (DGA) is an alternate primary amine that has similar performance and less volatility. It is currently being studied at Ames Research Center (ARC) and is the primary candidate for the operation of the sub-scale liquid amine test stand. The test stand is used to investigate liquid flow and liquid gas interfaces to assist in a system design for microgravity applications. The test stand includes a wedge design utilizes capillary action to hold the liquid while allowing gas-liquid interaction for carbon dioxide transfer. These wedge trays are placed in a contactor unit to remove carbon dioxide from the air stream, a degasser unit to replenish the liquid amine, and a capillary condensing heat exchanger (CCHX) to recapture water lost in the degasser unit. Nominal operating conditions for the contactor are a gas flow rate of 26scfm enriched with pure CO2 to 2600ppm and a liquid mixture of 65/35 vol% DGA/H2O at 0.65mL/min while the degasser was operated at 100°C and 1 atm. This paper discusses the challenges and limitations of a fully integrated system which will influence the design of a new subscale test stand.

Adrian Cortez↗
DOE OSTI2018

Immobilization of organic radioactive and non-radioactive liquid waste in a composite matrix

A method for immobilizing liquid radioactive waste is provided, the method having the steps of mixing waste with polymer to form a non-liquid waste; contacting the non-liquid waste with a solidifying agent to create a mixture, heating the mixture to cause the polymer, waste, and filler to irreversibly bind in a solid phase, and compressing the solid phase into a monolith. The invention also provides a method for immobilizing liquid radioactive waste containing tritium, the method having the steps of mixing liquid waste with polymer to convert the liquid waste to a non-liquid waste, contacting the non-liquid waste with a solidifying agent to create a mixture, heating the mixture to form homogeneous, chemically stable solid phase, and compressing the chemically stable solid phase into a final waste form, wherein the polymer comprises approximately a 9:1 weight ratio mixture of styrene block co-polymers and cross linked co-polymers of acrylamides.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2017

9.12 - Porous Liquids Based on Rationally Designed Complex, Hierarchical Nano- and Microarchitectures

Porous liquids with permanent porosity are a new area of materials science, which should exhibit attractive properties to open up long-term applications in chemical processes. However, since 2007 when the idea was firstly put forward, these unique porous materials remained essentially hypothetical. The creation of permanent pores in dense liquid state is much more challenging than that in rigid solids, owing to the loose packing of liquid molecules with free to move properties. As proposed, the homogeneous incorporation of rigid porous solids into the liquid phase to afford permanent porosity is a promising synthetic strategy toward porous liquids fabrication. Unfortunately, there are a number of challenges associated with creating porous liquid, such as intermolecular self-filling, easy collapse or decomposition of the organic hosts, and serious settling of nanoparticles. Very recently, the development of supramolecular chemistry based on hierarchical assembly of nanoscale elements into three-dimensional, complex nano- and microarchitectures gives birth to a great opportunity to address the above issues for porous liquid fabrication. Here, porous liquids based on the rationally designed complex, hierarchical architecture with robust porous structure are presented along with potential applications such as gas separations.

Zhang, Jinshui↗
DOE OSTI2017

Polyamorphic Transformations in Fe-Ni-C Liquids: Implications for Chemical Evolution of Terrestrial Planets

During the formation of the Earth's core, the segregation of metallic liquids from silicate mantle should have left behind evident geochemical imprints on both the mantle and the core. Some distinctive geochemical signatures of the mantle-derived rocks likely own their origin to the metal-silicate differentiation of the primitive Earth, setting our planet apart from undifferentiated meteorites as well as terrestrial planets or moons isotopically and compositionally. Understanding the chemical evolution of terrestrial planetary bodies requires knowledge on properties of both liquid iron alloys and silicates equilibrating under physicochemical conditions pertinent to the deep magma ocean. Here we report experimental and computational results on the pressure-induced structural evolution of iron-nickel liquids alloyed with carbon. Our X-ray diffraction experiments up to 7.3 gigapascals (GPa) demonstrate that Fe-Ni (Fe 90 Ni 10 ) liquids alloyed with 3 and 5 wt % carbon undergo a polyamorphic liquid structure transition at approximately 5 GPa. Corroborating the experimental observations, our first-principles molecular dynamic calculations reveal that the structural transitions result from the marked prevalence of three-atom face-sharing polyhedral connections in the liquids at >5 GPa. The structure and polyamorphic transitions of liquid iron-nickel-carbon alloys govern their physical and chemical properties and may thus cast fresh light on the chemical evolution of terrestrial planets and moons.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

Repairable and Reconfigurable Structured Liquid Circuits

The advance of printed electronics is significantly bolstered by the development of liquid-state electronics that overcome the inherent limitations in flexibility and reconfigurability of solid-state electronics. By integrating the biocompatibility and conductivity of sulfonated polyaniline (S-PANI) and phytic acid (PA) with the reconfigurability of structured liquids, highly conductive all-liquid threads are developed. The dense packing and overlap of PA/S-PANI complexes at an oil/water interface promotes in-plane electron transport, and standard four-point probe measurements of PA/S-PANI interfacial assemblies demonstrate enhanced electrical properties. Notably, the rapid jetting of the ink phase into the matrix phase allows for liquid threads to be printed, enabling the fabrication of large-scale, conductive pathways between two electrodes and liquid circuits. Upon mechanical cleavage of the liquid wires, circuits can be broken, but will easily self-repair using an electric field, making this motif useful in the design of switches as well as restoring conductive pathways in series or in parallel. In conclusion, the demonstrated flexibility and reconfigurability these PA/S-PANI wires possess hold significant promise for their practical use in the design of flexible and adaptive bioelectronics that can be repaired on demand, signifying a transformative step in the evolution of liquid electronic materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Transforming Porous Organic Cages into Porous Ionic Liquids via a Supramolecular Complexation Strategy

Porous liquids are a type of porous materials that engineer permanent porosity into unique flowing liquids, exhibiting promising functionalities for a variety of applications. In this study, a Type I porous liquid is synthesized by transforming porous organic cages into porous ionic liquids via a supramolecular complexation strategy. Simple physical mixing of 18-crown-6 with task-specific anionic porous organic cages affords a porous ionic liquid with anionic porous organic cages as the anionic parts and 18-crown-6/potassium ion complexes as the cationic parts. In contrast, mixing of 15-crown-5 and anionic porous organic cages in a 2:1 ratio gives only solids, while the addition of excess 15-crown-5 affords a Type II porous liquid. The permanent porosity in the cage-based porous liquids has been also confirmed by molecular simulation, positron (e + ) annihilation lifetime spectroscopy, and enhanced gas sorption capacity compared with pure crown ethers.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2018

A Physical Model Study of Two-Phase Gas–Liquid Flows in a Ladle Shroud

Argon-steel flows inside a ladle shroud during teeming from a ladle to a tundish have been modelled physically. To this end, full-scale Perspex models of bloom as well as slab casting shrouds (BCS and SCS), operating with air and water, have been applied. Both open to air as well as immersed conditions were investigated with and without gas injection. Flows inside a ladle shroud under open to air and immersed conditions were found to be substantially different with a strong function of gas and liquid flow rates, collector nozzle and shroud diameters. Depending on the volumetric gas injection rate relative to liquid flow rate, different flow regimes have been observed in an immersed shroud [i.e., 0<(((d s )/(L s )))≤0.24]. At extremely low gas flow rates, [i.e., (((Q g )/(Q L )))≤0.02], injected gas is completely entrained as bubbles by the down-flowing liquid resulting in a bubbly two-phase flow over the entire length of a shroud. However, with an increasing gas flow rate, two distinctly different regions start to develop within the shroud body: a free liquid jet in the upper part and a gas–liquid mixing zone below. The length of the free jet increases with an increasing gas flow rate and at significantly higher gas to liquid flow rates [viz., (((Q g )/(Q L ))) BCS ≥0.42] and [viz., (((Q g )/(Q L ))) SCS ≥0.30], and the free jet is found to prevail over the entire length of the shroud. Within the range of conditions studied, it is observed that the free jet length or the line of demarcation between the jetting and two-phase mixing zone depends on gas and liquid flow rates and is specific to a particular shroud-collector nozzle system. Physical model results further indicate that a sufficiently large free jet length (~ shroud length) tends to create a high pressure region inside a shroud and prevent ingression of air. Possible implications of the present findings with reference to industrial teeming practices are also discussed in the text.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2019

Plasma-Based Ambient Desorption/Ionization Mass Spectrometry for the Analysis of Liquid Crystals Employed in Display Devices

Liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) are the most frequently used display technology worldwide these days. Due to the rather complex manufacturing process and purity requirements for the chemicals used, quality control and display failure analysis are important analytical tasks. Currently, the state-of-the-art techniques (e.g., high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography (GC) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), or high-resolution microscopy) are costly and time-consuming. Hence, a new pathway to precisely analyze liquid-crystalline materials and LCDs in their native state is reported. A new approach for direct analysis via plasma-based ambient desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (ADI-MS) offers an inexpensive and faster alternative. In this study, direct analysis in real time (DART), the low-temperature plasma (LTP) probe, and flowing atmospheric-pressure afterglow (FAPA) ADI sources coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (HR-MS) are compared based on their capabilities and performance for liquid-crystal analysis. These sources enable direct analyte desorption from a sample surface at ambient conditions and ionize the vaporized analyte molecules in a subsequent step. Primarily, the ionization capabilities of the three ADI sources are compared for individual liquid-crystal standards, mixtures of liquid crystals (LCs), and complex liquid crystal/additive mixtures applied in commercially available LCDs. Furthermore, direct surface analysis from a glass substrate is also performed with ADI-MS to compare their applicability to this type of sample matrix. .

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2025

Electrochemical recovery of Gd into liquid Bi in molten LiCl-KCl-GdCl 3

The electrochemical recovery of Gd into liquid Bi electrodes was investigated in molten LiCl-KCl-GdCl 3 electrolyte at 773–973 K using constant currents of 10–150 mA cm −2 . High round-trip coulombic efficiency (>97 %) was demonstrated for deposition and removal of Gd into and from liquid Bi at all temperatures, confirming chemically reversible electrode reactions towards high recovery yield of Gd using liquid Bi. Furthermore, the overpotential associated with deposition of Gd into the liquid Bi electrode gradually increased with current density and decreased with temperature. At the lowest temperature of 773 K, a steep increase in overpotential was evident at high current densities due to slower mass transport and low solubility of Gd in liquid Bi (0.5 at.% Gd). Based on the impedance spectra of Bi electrodes at 773–973 K, the exchange current density was estimated to be 110–220 mA cm −2 , indicating facile charge transfer at the liquid electrode-electrolyte interface. Post-mortem characterization of Bi cathodes after electrolysis at 873 K indicated the formation of a solid GdBi(s) compound layer at the Bi electrode surface. Chemical analysis of Bi cathodes at various deposited Gd compositions resulted in Faradaic efficiencies of ∼75–84 %, promising a high recovery yield of Gd from molten salts using a strongly-interacting liquid Bi electrode.

36 - MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Cylindrical Confinement of Nanocolloidal Cholesteric Liquid Crystal

The organization of nanocolloidal liquid crystals in constrained geometries has fundamental and practical importance, since under confinement, liquid crystals contain stable topological defects that can serve as templates for nanoparticle organization. Three-dimensional confinement of cholesteric (Ch) liquid crystals formed by cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) have been extensively studied; however, their two-dimensional confinement remains underinvestigated. In this work, we report the results of systematic experimental studies of two-dimensional confinement of Ch–CNC liquid crystal in cylindrical capillaries with varying inner diameters. Confinement resulted in phase separation of the Ch–CNC liquid crystal into a Ch shell formed by concentric CNC pseudolayers with the helicoidal axis perpendicular to the inner surface of the capillary walls, and a micrometer-diameter isotropic core thread running parallel to the long axis of the capillary. The morphology of the confined Ch–CNC liquid crystal varied when progressively increasing the degree confinement. Finally, we show that phase separation of the Ch–CNC liquid crystal into a Ch shell and an isotropic core is preserved in flexible capillary tubing, suggesting the applicability of this system for the fabrication of flexible optical waveguides.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

New Class of Type III Porous Liquids: A Promising Platform for Rational Adjustment of Gas Sorption Behavior

Porous materials have already manifested their unique properties in a number of fields. Generally, all porous materials are in a solid state other than liquid, in which molecules are closely packed without porosity. “Porous” and “liquid” seem like antonyms. In this paper, we report a new class of Type 3 porous liquids based on rational coupling of microporous framework nanoparticles as porous hosts with a bulky ionic liquid as the fluid media. Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) and CO 2 adsorption measurements confirm the successful engineering of permanent porosity into these liquids. Compared to common porous solid materials, as-synthesized porous liquids exhibited pronounced hysteresis loops in the CO 2 sorption isotherms even at ambient conditions (298 K, 1 bar). Finally, the unique features of these novel porous liquids could bring new opportunities in many fields including gas separation and storage, air separation and regeneration, gas transport, and permanent gas storage at ambient conditions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Nematic-like stable glasses without equilibrium liquid crystal phases

In this paper, we report the thermal and structural properties of glasses of posaconazole, a rod-like molecule, prepared using physical vapor deposition (PVD). PVD glasses of posaconazole can show substantial molecular orientation depending upon the choice of substrate temperature, T substrate , during deposition. Ellipsometry and IR measurements indicate that glasses prepared at T substrate very near the glass transition temperature (T g ) are highly ordered. For these posaconazole glasses, the orientation order parameter is similar to that observed in macroscopically aligned nematic liquid crystals, indicating that the molecules are mostly parallel to one another and perpendicular to the interface. To our knowledge, these are the most anisotropic glasses ever prepared by PVD from a molecule that does not form equilibrium liquid crystal phases. These results are consistent with a previously proposed mechanism in which molecular orientation in PVD glasses is inherited from the orientation present at the free surface of the equilibrium liquid. This mechanism suggests that molecular orientation at the surface of the equilibrium liquid of posaconazole is nematic-like. Posaconazole glasses can show very high kinetic stability; the isothermal transformation of a 400 nm glass into the supercooled liquid occurs via a propagating front that originates at the free surface and requires ~10 5 times the structural relaxation time of the liquid (τ α ). We also studied the kinetic stability of PVD glasses of itraconazole, which is a structurally similar molecule with equilibrium liquid crystal phases. Finally, while itraconazole glasses can be even more anisotropic than posaconazole glasses, they exhibit lower kinetic stability.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Glasses denser than the supercooled liquid

When aged below the glass transition temperature, T g , the density of a glass cannot exceed that of the metastable supercooled liquid (SCL) state, unless crystals are nucleated. The only exception is when another polyamorphic SCL state exists, with a density higher than that of the ordinary SCL. Experimentally, such polyamorphic states and their corresponding liquid–liquid phase transitions have only been observed in network-forming systems or those with polymorphic crystalline states. In otherwise simple liquids, such phase transitions have not been observed, either in aged or vapor-deposited stable glasses, even near the Kauzmann temperature. Here, we report that the density of thin vapor-deposited films of N,N'-bis(3-methylphenyl)-N,N'-diphenylbenzidine (TPD) can exceed their corresponding SCL density by as much as 3.5% and can even exceed the crystal density under certain deposition conditions. We identify a previously unidentified high-density supercooled liquid (HD-SCL) phase with a liquid–liquid phase transition temperature (T LL ) ~35 K below the nominal glass transition temperature of the ordinary SCL. Additionally, the HD-SCL state is observed in glasses deposited in the thickness range of 25 to 55 nm, where thin films of the ordinary SCL have exceptionally enhanced surface mobility with large mobility gradients. The enhanced mobility enables vapor-deposited thin films to overcome kinetic barriers for relaxation and access the HD-SCL state. The HD-SCL state is only thermodynamically favored in thin films and transforms rapidly to the ordinary SCL when the vapor deposition is continued to form films with thicknesses more than 60 nm.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗