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At least 1,045 records · Page 58

White Box Access to Quantum Testbeds for Co-Design

At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), we operate and maintain the Quantum Device and Integration Testbed (QuDIT) facility, a small quantum testbed that supports about 10 active research teams (including our own) and over 50 internal and external collaborators. This testbed is designed to give remote white box access to users for research, training, and outreach. A guiding principle behind the development of our testbed infrastructure, software and user interfaces is to empower users to perform experiments at the cutting edge of quantum information science at any level of abstraction, from materials studies, device physics and control and characterization techniques to algorithm development and quantum operating system design. Our testbed targets a multilevel quantum system (qudit) to expand the accessible Hilbert space of a simple-to-manufacture quantum device and focuses on quantum simulation, typically implemented through custom gates designed with quantum optimal control methods, rather than on a universal computing framework with a fixed gate set. We leverage the Lab’s high-performance computing (HPC) program and related expertise to simulate quantum systems, develop hybrid algorithms, and generate gates optimized for given simulations. Additionally, we have adopted a co-design philosophy from the HPC community in designing new hardware, so that the systems we develop are optimized for the specific physics simulations we plan to use them for.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Theoretical Prediction of Thermal Expansion Anisotropy for Y 2 Si 2 O 7 Environmental Barrier Coatings Using a Deep Neural Network Potential and Comparison to Experiment

Environmental barrier coatings (EBCs) are an enabling technology for silicon carbide (SiC)-based ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) in extreme environments such as gas turbine engines. However, the development of new coating systems is hindered by the large design space and difficulty in predicting the properties for these materials. Density Functional Theory (DFT) has successfully been used to model and predict some thermodynamic and thermo-mechanical properties of high-temperature ceramics for EBCs, although these calculations are challenging due to their high computational costs. In this work, we use machine learning to train a deep neural network potential (DNP) for Y 2 Si 2 O 7 , which is then applied to calculate the thermodynamic and thermo-mechanical properties at near-DFT accuracy much faster and using less computational resources than DFT. We use this DNP to predict the phonon-based thermodynamic properties of Y 2 Si 2 O 7 with good agreement to DFT and experiments. We also utilize the DNP to calculate the anisotropic, lattice direction-dependent coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) for Y 2 Si 2 O 7 . Molecular dynamics trajectories using the DNP correctly demonstrate the accurate prediction of the anisotropy of the CTE in good agreement with the diffraction experiments. In the future, this DNP could be applied to accelerate additional property calculations for Y 2 Si 2 O 7 compared to DFT or experiments.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Bridging the gap between simulated and experimental ionic conductivities in lithium superionic conductors

Lithium superionic conductors (LSCs) are of major importance as solid electrolytes for next-generation all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries. While ab initio molecular dynamics have been extensively applied to study these materials, there are often large discrepancies between predicted and experimentally measured ionic conductivities and activation energies due to the high temperatures and short time scales of such simulations. Here, we present a strategy to bridge this gap using moment tensor potentials (MTPs). We show that MTPs trained on energies and forces computed using the van der Waals optB88 functional yield much more accurate lattice parameters, which in turn leads to accurate prediction of ionic conductivities and activation energies for the Li 0·33 La 0·56 TiO 3 , Li 3 YCl 6 and Li 7 P 3 S 11 LSCs. NPT MD simulations using the optB88 MTPs also reveal that all three LSCs undergo a transition between two quasi-linear Arrhenius regimes at relatively low temperatures. This transition can be traced to an increase in the number and diversity of diffusion pathways, in some cases with a change in the dimensionality of diffusion. Furthermore, this work presents not only an approach to develop high accuracy MTPs, but also outlines the diffusion characteristics for LSCs which is otherwise inaccessible through ab initio computation.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Digital twins and deep learning segmentation of defects in monolayer MX 2 phases

Developing methods to understand and control defect formation in nanomaterials offers a promising route for materials discovery. Monolayer MX 2 phases represent a particularly compelling case for defect engineering of nanomaterials due to the large variability in their physical properties as different defects are introduced into their structure. However, effective identification and quantification of defects remain a challenge even as high-throughput scanning transmission electron microscopy methods improve. This study highlights the benefits of employing first principles calculations to produce digital twins for training deep learning segmentation models for defect identification in monolayer MX 2 phases. Around 600 defect structures were obtained using density functional theory calculations, with each monolayer MX 2 structure being subjected to multislice simulations for the purpose of generating the digital twins. Several deep learning segmentation architectures were trained on this dataset, and their performances evaluated under a variety of conditions such as recognizing defects in the presence of unidentified impurities, beam damage, grain boundaries, and with reduced image quality from low electron doses. Further, this digital twin approach allows benchmarking different deep learning architectures on a theory dataset, which enables the study of defect classification under a broad array of finely controlled conditions. It thus opens the door to resolving the underpinning physical reasons for model shortcomings and potentially chart paths forward for automated discovery of materials defect phases in experiments.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Understanding and Predicting the Spatially Resolved Adsorption Properties of Nanoporous Materials

Using knowledge from statistical thermodynamics and crystallography, we develop an image–image translation model, called SorbIIT, that uses three-dimensional grids of adsorbate–adsorbent interaction energies as input to predict the spatially resolved loading surface of nanoporous materials over a broad range of temperatures and pressures. SorbIIT consists of a closed-form differential model for loading-surface prediction and a U-Net to generate spatial differential distributions from the energy grids. SorbIIT is trained using the energy grids and adsorbate distributions (obtained from high-throughput simulations) of 50 synthesized and 70 hypothetical zeolites and applied for predicting the adsorption of carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, n-butane, 2-methylpropane, krypton, and xenon in other zeolites from 256 to 400 K. In conclusion, employing a quadratic isotherm model for the local differentiation, SorbIIT yields mean R 2 values of 0.998 for total adsorption and 0.6904 for local adsorption with a resolution of 0.2 Å, and a value of 0.721 for the structural similarity of the local loading distribution.

Sun, Yangzesheng↗

Predicting impurity spectral functions using machine learning

The Anderson Impurity Model (AIM) is a canonical model of quantum many-body physics. Here we investigate whether machine learning models, both neural networks (NN) and kernel ridge regression (KRR), can accurately predict the AIM spectral function in all of its regimes, from empty orbital, to mixed valence, to Kondo. To tackle this question, we construct two large spectral databases containing approximately 410 000 and 600 000 spectral functions of the single-channel impurity problem. We show that the NN models can accurately predict the AIM spectral function in all of its regimes, with pointwise mean absolute errors down to 0.003 in normalized units. We find that the trained NN models outperform models based on KRR and enjoy a speedup on the order of 10 5 over traditional AIM solvers. Finally, the required size of the training set of our model can be significantly reduced using farthest point sampling in the AIM parameter space, which is important for generalizing our method to more complicated multichannel impurity problems of relevance to predicting the properties of real materials.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

FY22 Progress Report: SRNL Analysis of ICCWR LCM and WAMS Data for Corrosion and Cracking

Algorithms for machine learning and data analysis for the 3013 Surveillance Program are being developed in an ongoing collaborative effort by the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) and the University of South Carolina (USC). To detect the presence of corrosion and cracking, data is collected from large binary files generated by a Laser Confocal Microscope (LCM) or Wide Area 3D Measurement System (WAMS). Software is being developed to use the physical attributes in the data files (e.g., height, color, and grayscale values; all as functions of a location in a plane projection) to detect the presence of surface corrosion and cracking. A user-friendly Matlab Graphical User Interface (GUI) that reads data from either LCM or WAMS files was developed to integrate input data with software developed for processing and evaluation. The GUI can selectively download binary data, interrogate data attributes, label data for training ML algorithms, flag significant features, execute Machine Learning (ML) algorithms, output parameters from trained ML algorithms, report ML model accuracy with respect to labeled data, and generate graphical representations for various analyses. Surface defects can be called out by setting user-specified thresholds, feature based analysis or machine learning algorithms. Enhancements to data labeling capability have been developed to address this essential precursor to application of ML routines. Efficient labeling is particularly important in view of the very large volume of data required to train ML algorithms.

3013 Corrosion↗

Mission leverage education: NSU/NASA innovative undergraduate model

The BEST Lab (Center for Excellence in Science Education), the Center for Materials Research (CMR), and the Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science (CS) Departments at Norfolk State University (NSU) joined forces to implement MiLEN(2) IUM - an innovative approach tu integrate current and emerging research into the undergraduate curricula and train students on NASA-related fields. An Earth Observing System (EOS) mission was simulated where students are educated and trained in many aspects of Remote Sensing: detector physics and spectroscopy; signal processing; data conditioning, analysis, visualization; and atmospheric science. This model and its continued impact is expected to significantly enhance the quality of the Mathematics, Science, Engineering and Technology (MSET or SMET) educational experience and to inspire students from historically underrepresented groups to pursue careers in NASA-related fields. MiLEN(2) IUM will be applicable to other higher education institutions that are willing to make the commitment to this endeavor in terms of faculty interest and space.

Chaudhury, S. Raj↗

Structural Health Monitoring of Epoxy Bond between Dissimilar Materials

Structures composed of adhesively bonded materials face many challenges when subjected to thermal loading, as adherend material(s) behave differently and can induce stresses in the glue bond. Current methods to test bond strength are limited to destructive tests, which increase costs to produce adhesively bonded structures. Strain gages are proposed to monitor the expansion profile of adhesive bonds as structures undergo thermal loading. Because resulting signals are DC in nature, no spectral quantities can be observed. Principle component analysis (PCA) is proposed to differentiate between damaged and undamaged structures. Training data are taken for various damage states and the minimum Mahalanobis distance is calculated to categorize testing data into damage state. The results indicate the potential for a strain-gage based monitoring system with PCA based decision-making, with further research necessary prior to implementation of the system.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

The Application of Artificial Intelligence Deep Learning to Visually Identify Micrometeoroid and Orbital Debris Impacts

Recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) are changing the World. Novel approaches to training AI systems have led to dramatic reductions in the amount of time required. Training an AI system could take years and teams of people using traditional methods, but with the advancements of Deep Learning (DL) models this training can now be accomplished by an individual in a matter of minutes. The development of “fast AI” libraries has delivered AI to essentially everyone. Democratization of AI power has inspired many to revisit past problems that will benefit from DL approaches. For example, the application of AI has improved detection of breast cancer by 20% compared to traditional detection methods. Computer vision and machine learning are being used to identify soil deficiencies and provide planting recommendations to farmers. Success stories like these and many others have provided inspiration to see if AI can help improve one of our needed capabilities – that of visually identifying micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) impact damage to spacecraft from images of the spacecraft exterior. The need to visually locate and characterize spacecraft MMOD impact damage has been present since the early days of space travel. This is often done by either having a crew member take photographs of the spacecraft through a window using a hand-held camera or ground personnel directing externally-mounted cameras. The photographs are then transmitted back to Earth for visual analysis. This method of MMOD damage inspection works well and has been used on various spacecraft including the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station (ISS). One of the issues with the current method that we believe AI could improve is the speed and possibly the accuracy in identifying MMOD impacts. Note that detecting MMOD impacts in images can be very difficult. The visual appearance of an MMOD impact can change dramatically with lighting conditions, size of impact, depth of penetration, material types, surface waviness, fabric coverings, camera & lens, distance to surface, spacecraft orientation, analyst experience, and many other factors. Currently, this takes a team of highly-experienced specialists in both the fields of Image Analysis and MMOD impacts. This paper documents our initial research in training an AI DL model using the fast-AI library to identify actual and simulated MMOD impacts and perforations into exposed flat surfaces. While we recognize that this initial goal seems modest, it must be noted that what we have done would have taken teams of individuals and years of training just ten years ago. Our long-term goal is to add complexity and use-cases to the DL model being trained to expand the capabilities of this model so that it can be used to identify MMOD impacts on all types of spacecraft surfaces.

Cameron M Collins↗

High-Accuracy Semiempirical Quantum Models Based on a Minimal Training Set

A great need exists for computationally efficient quantum simulation approaches that can achieve an accuracy similar to high-level theories at a fraction of the computational cost. In this regard, we have leveraged a machine-learned interaction potential based on Chebyshev polynomials to improve density functional tight binding (DFTB) models for organic materials. The benefit of our approach is two-fold: (1) many-body interactions can be corrected for in a systematic and rapidly tunable process, and (2) high-level quantum accuracy for a broad range of compounds can be achieved with ~0.3% of data required for one advanced deep learning potential. Our model exhibits both transferability and extensibility through comparison to quantum chemical results for organic clusters, solid carbon phases, and molecular crystal phase stability rankings. Overall, our efforts thus allow for high-throughput physical and chemical predictions with up to coupled-cluster accuracy for systems that are computationally intractable with standard approaches.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Predicting Atomistic Transitions with Transformers

Accurate knowledge of the atomistic transition pathways in materials and material surfaces is crucial for many material science problems. However, conventional simulation techniques used to find these transitions are extremely computationally intensive. Even with large-scale, accelerated material simulations, the computational cost constrains the applicable domain in practice. Machine learning models, with the potential to learn the complex emergent behaviors governing atomistic transitions as a fast surrogate model, have great promise to predict transitions with a vastly reduced computational cost. Here, we demonstrate how transformers can be trained to predict atomistic transitions in nano-clusters. We show how we evaluate physical validity of the predictions and how a multitude of additional, different microstates can be generated by slightly varying the data provided to the model.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Nuclear Safety [Vol. 32, No. 4, October-December 1991]

Nuclear Safety is a review journal that covers significant developments in the field of nuclear safety. Its scope includes the analysis and control of hazards associated with nuclear energy, operations involving fissionable materials, and the products of nuclear fission and their effects on the environment. Primary emphasis is on safety in reactor design, construction, and operation; however, the safety aspects of the entire fuel cycle, including fuel fabrication, spent-fuel processing, nuclear waste disposal, handling of radioisotopes, and environmental effects of these operations, are also treated. Table of Contents for this issue follows. GENERAL SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS: 477 Report on the International Symposium on the Use of Probabilistic Safety Assessment for Operational Safety—PSA '91, S. Chakraborty and M. Khatib-Rahbar; 488 Good Relationships Are Pivotal in Nuclear Data Bases, A. S. Heger and B. V. Koen; 494 Technical Note: The Interagency Nuclear Safety Review Panel's Evaluation of the Ulysses Space Mission, J. A. Sholtis, Jr., D. A. Huff, L. B. Gray, N. P. Klug, and R. O. Winchester; ACCIDENT ANALYSIS: 502 The Severe Accident Analysis Program for the Savannah River Nuclear Production Reactors, M. L. Hyder; CONTROL AND INSTRUMENTATION: 511 A Framework for Selecting Suitable Control Technologies for Nuclear Power Plant Systems, R. A. Kisner; DESIGN FEATURES: 521 Containments for Gas-Cooled Power Reactors History and Status, P.W. Williams; ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS: 537 Indoor Radon: A Natural Risk, N. H. Harley and J.H. Harley; On the Importance of the Atmospheric Parameters in the Fission Products Distribution of a Severe Reactor Accident, M. C. Barla and A. R. Bayulken; Book Review: Health Effects of Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation BEIR V, C. R. Richmond; WASTE AND SPENT FUEL MANAGEMENT: 555 Activities Related to Waste and Spent Fuel Management, M. D. Muhlheim and E. G. Silver OPERATING EXPERIENCES: 567 Effects of Component Aging on the Westhinghouse Control Rod Drive System, K. Sullivan and W. Gunther; 577 Reactor Shutdown Experience, Compiled by J. W. Cletcher, 580 Selected Safety-Related Events, Compiled by G. A. Murphy; 582 Operating U 8 Power Reactors, Compiled by M. D. Muhlheim and E. G. Silver, RECENT DEVELOPMENTS: 596 General Administrative Activities, Compiled by M. D. Muhlheim and E. G. Silver; 610 Reports, Standards, and Safety Guides, D. S. Queener; 614 Proposed Rule Changes as of June 30, 1991; ANNOUNCEMENTS: 520 Workshop on PC PRAISE: A Probabilistic Fracture Mechanics Personal Computer Code for Nuclear Power Plant Piping Reliability Assessment; 536 Fifth Workshop on Nuclear Power Plant Containment Integrity; 624 New OECD "International Information System on Occupational Exposure (ISOE)"; 625 Harvard School of Public Health Announces Short Courses; 625 Eighth Power Plant Dynamics, Control and Testing Symposium; 626 Second Training Course on Off-Site Emergency Planning and Response for Nuclear Accidents; 618 The Authors; 622 Reviewers of Nuclear Safety, Vol 32.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Nuclear Safety [Vol. 32, No. 4, October-December 1991]

Nuclear Safety is a review journal that covers significant developments in the field of nuclear safety. Its scope includes the analysis and control of hazards associated with nuclear energy, operations involving fissionable materials, and the products of nuclear fission and their effects on the environment. Primary emphasis is on safety in reactor design, construction, and operation; however, the safety aspects of the entire fuel cycle, including fuel fabrication, spent-fuel processing, nuclear waste disposal, handling of radioisotopes, and environmental effects of these operations, are also treated. Table of Contents for this issue follows. GENERAL SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS: 477 Report on the International Symposium on the Use of Probabilistic Safety Assessment for Operational Safety—PSA '91, S. Chakraborty and M. Khatib-Rahbar; 488 Good Relationships Are Pivotal in Nuclear Data Bases, A. S. Heger and B. V. Koen; 494 Technical Note: The Interagency Nuclear Safety Review Panel's Evaluation of the Ulysses Space Mission, J. A. Sholtis, Jr., D. A. Huff, L. B. Gray, N. P. Klug, and R. O. Winchester; ACCIDENT ANALYSIS: 502 The Severe Accident Analysis Program for the Savannah River Nuclear Production Reactors, M. L. Hyder; CONTROL AND INSTRUMENTATION: 511 A Framework for Selecting Suitable Control Technologies for Nuclear Power Plant Systems, R. A. Kisner; DESIGN FEATURES: 521 Containments for Gas-Cooled Power Reactors History and Status, P.W. Williams; ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS: 537 Indoor Radon: A Natural Risk, N. H. Harley and J.H. Harley; On the Importance of the Atmospheric Parameters in the Fission Products Distribution of a Severe Reactor Accident, M. C. Barla and A. R. Bayulken; Book Review: Health Effects of Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation BEIR V, C. R. Richmond; WASTE AND SPENT FUEL MANAGEMENT: 555 Activities Related to Waste and Spent Fuel Management, M. D. Muhlheim and E. G. Silver OPERATING EXPERIENCES: 567 Effects of Component Aging on the Westhinghouse Control Rod Drive System, K. Sullivan and W. Gunther; 577 Reactor Shutdown Experience, Compiled by J. W. Cletcher, 580 Selected Safety-Related Events, Compiled by G. A. Murphy; 582 Operating U 8 Power Reactors, Compiled by M. D. Muhlheim and E. G. Silver, RECENT DEVELOPMENTS: 596 General Administrative Activities, Compiled by M. D. Muhlheim and E. G. Silver; 610 Reports, Standards, and Safety Guides, D. S. Queener; 614 Proposed Rule Changes as of June 30, 1991; ANNOUNCEMENTS: 520 Workshop on PC PRAISE: A Probabilistic Fracture Mechanics Personal Computer Code for Nuclear Power Plant Piping Reliability Assessment; 536 Fifth Workshop on Nuclear Power Plant Containment Integrity; 624 New OECD "International Information System on Occupational Exposure (ISOE)"; 625 Harvard School of Public Health Announces Short Courses; 625 Eighth Power Plant Dynamics, Control and Testing Symposium; 626 Second Training Course on Off-Site Emergency Planning and Response for Nuclear Accidents; 618 The Authors; 622 Reviewers of Nuclear Safety, Vol 32.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Graph neural networks for efficient learning of mechanical properties of polycrystals

Herein we present graph neural networks (GNNs) as an efficient and accurate machine learning approach to predict mechanical properties of polycrystalline materials. Here, a GNN was developed based on graph representation of polycrystals incorporating only fundamental features of grains including their crystallographic orientation, size, and grain neighbor connectivity information. We tested our method on modeling stiffness and yield strength of α -Ti microstructures, varying in their crystallographic texture. We find the GNN predicts both properties with high accuracy with mean relative errors of ~1% for unseen microstructures from a given set of textures and < 2% for microstructures of unseen texture, even when presented with limited training data. This accuracy is comparable to methods that require high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) microstructure data, such as 3D convolutional neural networks (3D-CNNs) and models that depend on the computation of spatial statistics. The present results show that graph-based deep learning is a promising framework for property prediction, especially considering the high cost associated with obtaining high-resolution 3D microstructure data and the general scarcity of experimental materials datasets.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Deep learning enhanced super-resolution x-ray fluorescence microscopy by a dual-branch network

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) microscopy is a powerful technique for quantifying the distribution of elements in complex materials, which makes it a crucial imaging technique across a wide range of disciplines in physical and biological sciences, including chemistry, materials science, microbiology, and geosciences. However, as a scanning microscopy technique, the spatial resolution of XRF imaging is inherently constrained by the x-ray probe profile and scanning step size. Here we propose a dual-branch machine learning (ML) model, which can extract scale-variant features and bypass abundant low-frequency information separately, to enhance the spatial resolution of the XRF images by mitigating the effects of blurring from the probe profile. The model is trained by simulated natural images, and a two-stage training strategy is used to overcome the domain gap between the natural images and experimental data. The tomography reconstruction from enhanced XRF projections shows an improvement in resolution by a scale factor of four and reveals distinct internal features invisible in low-resolution XRF within a battery sample. This study offers a promising approach for obtaining high-resolution XRF imaging from its low-resolution version, paving the way for future investigations in a broader range of disciplines and materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Filament-Free Bulk Resistive Memory Enables Deterministic Analogue Switching

Digital computing is nearing its physical limits as computing needs and energy consumption rapidly increase. Analogue-memory-based neuromorphic computing can be orders of magnitude more energy efficient at data-intensive tasks like deep neural networks, but has been limited by the inaccurate and unpredictable switching of analogue resistive memory. Filamentary resistive random access memory (RRAM) suffers from stochastic switching due to the random kinetic motion of discrete defects in the nanometer-sized filament. Here, this stochasticity is overcome by incorporating a solid electrolyte interlayer, in this case, yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), toward eliminating filaments. Filament-free, bulk-RRAM cells instead store analogue states using the bulk point defect concentration, yielding predictable switching because the statistical ensemble behavior of oxygen vacancy defects is deterministic even when individual defects are stochastic. Both experiments and modeling show bulk-RRAM devices using TiO2-X switching layers and YSZ electrolytes yield deterministic and linear analogue switching for efficient inference and training. Bulk-RRAM solves many outstanding issues with memristor unpredictability that have inhibited commercialization, and can, therefore, enable unprecedented new applications for energy-efficient neuromorphic computing. Beyond RRAM, this work shows how harnessing bulk point defects in ionic materials can be used to engineer deterministic nanoelectronic materials and devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

The rapid-tome, a 3D-printed microtome, and an updated hand-sectioning method for high-quality plant sectioning

Abstract Background Microscopic analysis of plant anatomy is a common procedure in biology to study structure and function that requires high-quality sections for accurate measurements. Hand sectioning of specimens is typically limited to moderately soft tissue while harder samples prohibit sectioning by hand and/or result in inconsistent thicknesses. Results Here we present both a clearly described hand-sectioning method and a novel microtome design that together provide the means to section a variety of plant sample types. The described hand-sectioning method for herbaceous stems works well for softer subjects but is less suitable for samples with secondary growth (e.g., wood production). Instead, the “Rapid-Tome” is a novel tool for sectioning both soft and tougher high-aspect-ratio samples, such as stems and roots, with excellent sample control. The Rapid-Tome can be 3D-printed in approximately 18 h on a mid-quality printer common at university maker spaces. After printing and trimming, Rapid-Tome assembly takes a few minutes with five metal parts common at hardware stores. Users sectioned a variety of plant samples including the hollow internodes of switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum ), fibrous switchgrass roots containing aerenchyma, and woody branches of eastern red cedar ( Juniperus virginiana ) and American sycamore ( Platanus occidentalis ). A comparative analyses with Rapid-Tome-produced sections readily revealed a significant difference in seasonal growth of sycamore xylem vessel area in spring (49%) vs. summer (23%). Additionally, high school students with no prior experience produced sections with the Rapid-Tome adequate for comparative analyses of various plant samples in less than an hour. Conclusions The described hand-sectioning method is suitable for softer tissues, including hollow-stemmed grasses and similar samples. In addition, the Rapid-Tome provides capacity to safely produce high-quality sections of tougher plant materials at a fraction of the cost of traditional microtomes combined with excellent sample control. The Rapid-Tome features rapid sectioning, sample advancement, blade changes, and sample changes; it is highly portable and can be used easily with minimal training making production of thin sections accessible for classroom and outreach use, in addition to research.

3D-printing↗