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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 109 records · Page 6
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Local Thermomechanical Processing for Improving Formability of High Strength Aluminum Sheets

Limited room temperature formability hinders the wide-spread use of high strength aluminum alloys in structural body-in-white parts. Stamping or extrusion at warm temperatures or from softer tempers are the current solutions. In this work, our approach is to start with age-hardened sheets from 7xxx and 6xxx family of alloys and improve their formability using local thermomechanical processing only in the regions demanding highest ductility in the forming processes. We achieved local formability improvements with friction stir processing and introduce another process named roller-bending as a concept and showed its feasibility through finite element simulations. Initial results from FSP indicated significant deformation in the processed zones with minimal sheet distortion. FSP also resulted in dynamically recrystallized, fine grained (d < 5 µm) microstructures in the processed regions with textures significantly different from the base material. This resulted in formability improvements of > 30% in 7085-T76 and > 50% in 6111-T6 alloys as measured by minimum bend radius (r/t) ratios established with V-bending tests performed at 90° and 180° bend angles. Based on the encouraging initial results, we envision applicability of these processes in both pre- and post-stamping stages through integration of the process tools as end-effectors to robotic arms.

Nasim, Wahaz↗
DOE OSTI2023

USE OF NOVEL REFRACTORY DESIGN AND INSTALLATION TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVED ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN IRON AND STEEL AND OTHER ENERGY INTENSIVE INDUSTRIES

This work describes a US Department of Energy funded program which unites key players to develop and deploy new technologies aimed at increasing energy efficiencies while reducing their overall energy and environmental footprint. The research brings together a vertically integrated collaborative team consisting of the end user (US Steel), material producers/suppliers (Allied Mineral Products and Reno Refractories), raw material suppliers (American Metallurgical Services, Minerals Manufacturing), and research organizations (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, National Energy Technology Laboratory and University of Alabama-Birmingham) with the objective of designing and producing new refractory materials. Design and production criteria are based on novel aggregates, improved particle packing, and engineered surface textures. In addition, the recycling and use of spent refractory materials has been investigated resulting in development of a novel installation technique that utilizes additive manufacturing technology and existing refractory shotcrete technology. The combination of these new technologies will improve the energy, environmental, and economic efficiencies of the steel industry while reducing the environmental footprint. The developed technology is potentially applicable to additional energy intensive industries including cement, glass, pulp and paper, and non-ferrous metals processing.

Hemrick, James↗
DOE OSTI2024

Stress localization investigation of additively manufactured GRCop-42 thin-wall structure

A full-field crystal plasticity (CP) framework is presented for the GRCop-42 alloy to study microscopic mechanical behavior and local stress heterogeneities. The microstructures of additively manufactured (AM) materials are often unique relative to conventionally processed materials, and the local thermal histories drive these differences during the build process. These thermal histories depend on the process parameters (laser power, scan speed, and scan strategy) and the part geometry. Prior research has shown that the mechanical properties of thin-walled structures can vary significantly with wall thickness due to changes in the thermal boundary conditions during manufacturing. It is, therefore, desirable to perform CP simulations based on the phenomenological constitutive model to predict the local mechanical responses induced by microstructural heterogeneities. This work generates representative microstructures based on experimentally collected grain information (i.e., texture) for grain scale stress analysis, and the material constitutive parameters are calibrated using the experimental mechanical testing data. Here, we specifically investigated the effect of crystallographic texture and grain morphologies on the size-dependent mechanical properties of AM GRCop-42. The selection of appropriate material properties for implementing an effective free surface boundary condition and the influence of adjacent buffer layers are also discussed. Analysis of local field results reveals a strong correlation between stress localization and the initial grain orientation. However, no significant relationship between the misorientation of the individual adjacent grains and the average misorientation is observed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Quantitative texture analysis using the NOMAD time-of-flight neutron diffractometer

Strategies for efficient and reliable texture measurements have been explored using the Nanoscale Ordered Materials Diffractometer (NOMAD) at the Spallation Neutron Source located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). To test these strategies, the texture of an Al alloy was also investigated using another neutron diffraction instrument, a constant-wavelength neutron diffractometer (NRSF2) located at the High Flux Isotope Reactor, also at ORNL. Reasonable agreement was found across the two experimental methods, but differences in overall texture strength and the symmetry of some components were noted, depending on the data reduction and analysis method selected. Finally, on the basis of these results, potential improvements are identified which would enhance the texture measurement capability on NOMAD.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Structure–Property Correlation of Hierarchically Porous Carbons for Fluorocarbon Adsorption

Although traditional commercially available porous carbon-fluorocarbon working pairs have shown promising applicability for adsorption cooling, advancements in synthetic carbons may further improve performance. Moreover, insights into structure-property relationships that target higher sorption capacities within these synthesized carbons may guide such materials' future design. We utilized hierarchically porous synthetic carbons (HPCs) with colossal microporous and mesoporous characterized by high surface areas (up to 2689 m 2 /g) and pore volumes (up to 10.31 cm 3 /g) towards fluorocarbon R134a adsorption. This unique pore topology leads to exceptional R134a uptake, ~250 wt.%, outperforming the highest uptake carbon material to date, Maxsorb III (~220 wt.%). Additionally, material characterizations reveal that the outstanding R134a capacity may be attributed to textural properties and oxygen-terminated functional groups more than graphitization of the material. Most importantly, HPCs are efficiently utilized in a two-bed model chiller device, where the performance shows excellent working capacity (105 wt%, ~1.5 times the value of reported carbon materials/R134a). Fluorocarbons adsorption on HPCs also displays fast kinetics (equilibrium time: ~2 min) mainly driven by physical adsorption (Qst: ~27 kJ/mol), characteristic of swiftly reversible behavior adsorption-desorption behaviors. This work provides a fundamental understanding of the applicability of HPCs/R134a working pair for adsorption cooling.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Stabilization of magnetic bubbles in [Ni/Co]n multilayers on an oxygen-reconstructed Nb(110) surface via an ultra-thin Cu interlayer

Magnetic thin films hosting topological spin textures, such as magnetic skyrmions, hold high potential for breakthroughs in the field of spintronics, due to good scalability and energy efficiency. Novel computational architectures such as memory-in-logic devices rely on material platforms able to host those topological spin textures. Furthermore, recently proposed designs of novel quantum information technologies are based on heterostructures where topological spin textures are in direct proximity to a superconducting layer. Here, we demonstrate the stabilization of out-of-plane magnetic bubbles in highly ordered [Ni/Co]n multilayers on a Nb(110) single crystal. This is achieved without the need for the removal of the well-known Nb(110)-oxide surface reconstruction, due to the introduction of an ultra-thin Cu interlayer in between the Nb substrate and the magnetic multilayer. The Cu interlayer generates a well-ordered hexagonal surface, which is key for the epitaxial growth of the [Ni/Co]n multilayers hosting the desired out-of-plane anisotropy. The magnetic ground state of the prepared material stacks is directly imaged via spin-polarized low-energy electron microscopy, revealing the presence of magnetic bubble domains with lateral sizes as small as 450 nm.

Dibajeh, Ahmad↗
DOE OSTI2021

Texture Memory in Hexagonal Metals and Its Mechanism

Texture memory is a phenomenon in which retention of initial textures occurs after a complete cycle of forward and backward transformations, and it occurs in various phase-transforming materials including cubic and hexagonal metals such as steels and Ti and Zr alloys. Texture memory is known to be caused by the phenomena called variant selection, in which some of the allowed child orientations in an orientation relationship between the parent and child phases are preferentially selected. Without such variant selection, the phase transformations would randomize preferred orientations. In this article, the methods of prediction of texture memory and mechanisms of variant selections in hexagonal metals are explored. The prediction method using harmonic expansion of orientation distribution functions with the variant selection in which the Burgers orientation relationship, {110}β//{0001} α-hex <1$\bar{1}$1>β//$\langle2\bar{11}0\rangle$ α-hex , is held with two or more adjacent parent grains at the same time, called “double Burgers orientation relation (DBOR)”, is introduced. This method is shown to be a powerful tool by which to analyze texture memory and ultimately provide predictive capabilities for texture changes during phase transformations. Variation in nucleation and growth rates on special boundaries and an extensive growth of selected variants are also described. Analysis of textures of commercially pure Ti observed in situ by pulsed neutron diffraction reveals that the texture memory in CP-Ti is indeed quite well predicted by consideration of the mechanism of DBOR. The analysis also suggests that the nucleation and growth rates on the special boundary of 90° rotation about $\langle2\bar{11}0\rangle$ α-hex should be about three times larger than those of the other special boundaries, and the selected variants should grow extensively into not only one parent grain but also other grains in α-hex(hexagonal)→β(bcc) transformation. The model calculations of texture development during two consecutive cycles of α-hex→β→α-hex transformation in CP-Ti and Zr are also shown.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Topological spin/structure couplings in layered chiral magnet Cr 1/3 TaS 2 : The discovery of spiral magnetic superstructure

Significance Magnets in which chirality of crystal lattice gives rise to noncollinear spin orders are ideal playgrounds for studies of novel physical phenomena originating from the nontrivial topology of magnetic textures. Most studies have been focused on homochiral materials, while topological magnetic states of heterochiral magnets have rarely been explored. Here, we report a layered chiral helimagnet with highly tunable topological heterochiral states. Tuning the chiral domain density, we have observed a topological magnetic texture that has the form of a spiral unfolding in the radial direction. In weak in-plane fields, this spiral magnetic superstructure transforms into a nonspiral array of concentric rings. Our results open a horizon for studies of tunable topological magnetic textures.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Hot Rolling of ZK60 Magnesium Alloy with Isotropic Tensile Properties from Tubing Made by Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion (ShAPE)

In the present work, we utilized Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion (ShAPE), a solid-phase processing technique, to extrude hollow tubes of ZK60 Mg alloy. Hot rolling was performed on these as-extruded tubes (after slitting them longitudinally) to thickness reductions of 37%, 68%, and 93% to investigate their viability as rolling feedstock material. EBSD analysis showed the formation of twinned grains in the ShAPE processed material and a gradual re-orientation of the basal texture parallel to the extrusion direction with each rolling step. Moreover, an equiaxed grain size of 5.15 ± 3.39 μm was obtained in the ShAPE extruded material, and the microstructure was retained even after 93% rolling reduction. The rolled sheets also showed excellent tensile strengths and no mechanical anisotropy, a critical characteristic for formability. The unique microstructures developed and their excellent mechanical properties, combined with the ease of scalability of the process, make ShAPE a promising alternative to existing methods for producing rolling feedstock material.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Topological Defect Mediated Helical Phase Reorientation by Uniaxial Stress

Strain engineering enables precise, energy-efficient control of nanoscale magnetism. However, unlike well-studied strain-dislocation interactions in mechanical deformation, the spatial evolution of strain-induced spin rearrangement remains poorly understood. Using Lorentz transmission electron microscopy, we manipulate and observe helical domain reorientation under quantitatively applied uniaxial tensile stress. Our findings reveal striking similarity to plastic deformation in metals, where the critical stress for propagation vector ( Q ) reorientation depends on its angle with the stress direction. Magnetic defects mediate reorientation via “break-and-reconnect” or “dislocation gliding–annihilation” processes. Simulations confirm that strain-induced anisotropic Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction may play a key role. These insights advance strain-driven magnetism and offer a promising route for energy-efficient magnetic nanophase control in next-generation information technology. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Effects of lead and lean in multi-axis directed energy deposition

Here, the present study examines the effect of varying laser incidence angles on textural, microstructural, and geometric characteristics of directed energy deposition (DED) processed materials, providing a more comprehensive outlook on participating laser-matter interaction phenomena and ultimately devising strategies to ameliorate print performance. In this study, single-layer, single-/multi-track specimens were processed to examine the effect of non-orthogonal angular configurations on bead morphology, microstructure, phase composition, and textural representation of DED-processed 316L stainless steel materials. It was observed that bead size decreased at increasing lead and lean angles. Asymmetry in the distribution of the bead morphology as a function of lead angle indicates better catchment for acute lead angle configurations over obtuse configurations. No significant differences in phase composition, texture, and microstructure were observed in moderate off-axis configurations. When the penetration depth for the deposits was below 20 μm, columnar structures dominated the microstructure of the deposited material. At deeper penetration depths, columnar and equiaxed structures were observed at the bead-substrate interface and center of the bead, respectively. Compared to powder-blown DED, wire-DED dilution profiles were found to be asymmetric in both orthogonal and non-orthogonal wire DED samples.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Elucidating the structural properties and reversible regional texture effect of GdB 6 under high pressure

As hard and refractory materials with high chemical resistance and mechanical strength, lanthanide hexaborides (LnB 6 ) have attracted much attention. Among the family of LnB 6 , gadolinium hexaboride (GdB 6 ) occupies a special position due to the half-filled 4f shell of Gd. Here, using in situ synchrotron radiation angle-dispersive X-ray diffraction in a diamond anvil cell at room temperature, the structural stability and compression behavior of GdB 6 are investigated extensively, GdB 6 is observed to be structurally stable up to 73 GPa, and the bulk modulus of 177 GPa is obtained under hydrostatic compression. In this paper, an interesting observation of pressure-induced spotty diffraction rings of GdB6 is reported, its formation mechanism can be well described by the reversible regional texture effect, which highlights the rearrangement of crystal grains under high pressure. The rearrangement mechanism has been well explained by investigating the pressure dependence of full width at half maximum, macro-differential stress and grain size. Collective grain rotation behavior motivated by stress difference is critical for the rearrangement process, the strong isotropy and strong stability of GdB 6 structure also provide necessary conditions for high-pressure grain rotation behavior. These results will help to promote the understanding of high-pressure structural properties of GdB 6 , and provide novel insights on the high-pressure grain behavior in hard materials with strong isotropy and three-dimensional skeleton constituted of strong covalent bonds.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Reversible hydrogen control of antiferromagnetic anisotropy in α-Fe 2 O 3

Antiferromagnetic insulators are a ubiquitous class of magnetic materials, holding the promise of low-dissipation spin-based computing devices that can display ultra-fast switching and are robust against stray fields. However, their imperviousness to magnetic fields also makes them difficult to control in a reversible and scalable manner. Here we demonstrate a novel proof-of-principle ionic approach to control the spin reorientation (Morin) transition reversibly in the common antiferromagnetic insulator α-Fe 2 O 3 (haematite) - now an emerging spintronic material that hosts topological antiferromagnetic spin-textures and long magnon-diffusion lengths. We use a low-temperature catalytic-spillover process involving the post-growth incorporation or removal of hydrogen from α-Fe 2 O 3 thin films. Hydrogenation drives pronounced changes in its magnetic anisotropy, Néel vector orientation and canted magnetism via electron injection and local distortions. We explain these effects with a detailed magnetic anisotropy model and first-principles calculations. Tailoring our work for future applications, we demonstrate reversible control of the room-temperature spin-state by doping/expelling hydrogen in Rh-substituted α-Fe 2 O 3 .

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

The impact of anisotropic thermal expansion on the isothermal annealing of polycrystalline α -uranium

Although grain growth impacts microstructural evolution in a wide variety of materials systems, the effect of anisotropic thermal expansion on grain boundary mobility and texture evolution has not been widely studied. Anisotropic thermal expansion occurs in multiple non-cubic metals, and the thermomechanical processing behavior of these materials can be better understood with further study into the impact of thermal expansion on grain boundary mobility and texture evolution. In this work, we develop a mesoscale phase field model of grain growth that includes the effect of anisotropic thermal expansion, which is applied to study polycrystalline α-uranium, a highly anisotropic metal. Three-dimensional simulations on polycrystalline a-uranium with and without thermal expansion eigenstrains are performed to study the grain boundary mobility and texture evolution as a function of temperature. A strain-free temperature of 933 K is selected, and the system is studied at within the range of 873 – 933 K at intervals of ten degrees, resulting in increasing thermal eigenstrain with decreasing temperature. We also estimate a grain boundary mobility prefactor and activation energy based on existing experimental data of isothermal annealing of α-uranium. The grain boundary mobility is found to display significant deviation from Arrhenius behavior with the inclusion of thermal expansion eigenstrain as the amount of thermal eigenstrain (and thus elastic strain energy within the system) increases. This result explains an experimentally observed grain boundary mobility deviation from Arrhenius behavior. Furthermore, the texture evolution is affected, such that the grain orientations become less random with increasing thermal eigenstrain, which could explain experimentally observed texture behavior. These results indicate that the effect of thermal expansion should be considered when predicting the thermomechanical processing behavior of α-uranium and other materials with anisotropic thermal expansion.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Creep Deformation and Dynamic Grain Growth in an Interstitial-Free Steel

Dynamic grain growth is demonstrated to be much faster than static grain growth in a body-centered-cubic, interstitial-free steel sheet material at 850°C. Dynamic grain growth occurs during concurrent plastic deformation at elevated temperature, whereas static grain growth occurs during static annealing. Grain growth during steady-state plastic flow in tension at 850°C to a true strain of 0.2 at a true-strain rate of 10 -4 s -1 doubled grain size, while static annealing for the same time produced no increase in grain size. This is described as dynamic normal grain growth (DNGG) because no abnormally large grains were observed. The recrystallized microstructure of the steel demonstrated a log-normal distribution of grain sizes. DNGG produced bimodal grain size distributions that deviate from the theoretical expectation of a simple shift to larger sizes during normal growth. The bimodal distributions contained a remnant of small grains that were not consumed during grain growth. DNGG produced a crystallographic texture that is unique from both the recrystallized material and that produced by lattice rotation alone. DNGG strengthened the {111}&lang;110&rang; and {111}&lang;112&rang; components of the strong γ-fiber component in the original recrystallization texture. Lattice rotation from tensile deformation, by contrast, strengthened the α-fiber components that intersect the original γ-fiber.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Ruthenium supported on silicate and aluminosilicate mesoporous materials applied to selective sugar hydrogenation: Xylose to xylitol

A series of ruthenium-based catalysts supported on a set of silicate and aluminosilicate mesoporous molecular sieves was synthesized and tested in xylose hydrogenation. The materials were characterized in terms of morphology, textural properties, acidity, as well as ruthenium loading, dispersion, and oxidation state. In general, the aluminosilicates-based catalysts displayed a higher activity compared to their respective silicate supports, which can be ascribed to a higher Ru content and dispersion, enhanced by a higher acidity. The most active synthesized catalyst (Ru/Al-MCM-4) displayed an improved performance compared to a commercial Ru/C catalyst due to a better xylitol selectivity. Two modelling approaches were implemented to describe the kinetic rate. The first model was based on the hypothesis that xylose molecules and hydrogen are adsorbed in different active sites on the catalyst surface, while the second model supposes the formation of an intermediate on the catalyst surface that reacts to form xylitol. Both models gave a very good description of the experimental data.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Photoactivated p-Doping of Organic Interlayer Enables Efficient Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cells

Solution-processed organic semiconductor layers on rough surfaces tend to vary widely in thickness, significantly hindering charge extraction in relevant optoelectronic devices. Herein, we report the photoactivated p-doping of hole-transporting material (HTM) to enhance hole extraction for (textured) perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells, making the device performance less sensitive to the variation of hole transport layer thickness. We used the ionic compound 4-isopropyl-4'-methyldiphenyliodonium tetrakis(penta-fluorophenyl-borate) (DPI-TPFB) as a p-type dopant in poly(triaryl amine) (PTAA), which we used as the HTM. We observed that light soaking DPI-TPFB-doped PTAA shows approximately 22 times higher conductivity compared with an undoped PTAA film, which translated into an improved fill factor (FF) for tandem solar cells. Our tandem solar cells achieved an ~80% FF and 27.8% efficiency and operated at their maximum power point for 200 h without loss of performance, in addition to retaining ~83% of initial performance over a month of operation in an outdoor environment.

CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS,S↗
DOE OSTI2020

One-dimensional antilocalization of electrons from spin disorder probed by nonlinear Hall effect

In recent years, nonreciprocal transport measurement has emerged as a probe of spin orbit interaction, spin texture, superconductivity, and other fundamental properties of materials. Here, we study the nonlinear Hall effect (NLHE) in Bi 2 Se 3 /CoFeB heterostructures measured by second harmonic voltage method. Magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements demonstrate the origin of the NLHE to be the asymmetric magnon scattering mechanism. Moreover, a linear relation between the nonlinear Hall resistance and the electron phase coherence length of Bi 2 Se 3 is observed between 5 and 50 K. In this work, we propose a phenomenological model that explains the enhancement of the NLHE below 50 K as a result of one-dimensional antilocalization of electrons from spin disorder, enabled by spin-momentum locking and conservation of angular momentum.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗