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At least 127 records · Page 7

Actinic and electron beam radiation curable water based electrode binders and electrodes incorporating same

A process for manufacturing an electrode utilizing electron beam (EB) or actinic radiation to cure the electrode binder is provided. A process is also disclosed for mixing specific actinic or EB radiation curable polymer precursors with electrode solid particles to form an aqueous mixture, application of the mixture to an electrode current collector, followed by the application of actinic or EB radiation to the current collector for curing the polymer, thereby binding the electrode binder to the current collector. Lithium ion batteries, electric double layer capacitors, and components produced therefrom are also provided.

Voelker, Gary E.↗

Radiation Exposure of Selected Composites and Thin Films

The effect of electron radiation on selected candidate composite materials was investigated. Radiation damage mechanisms were identified and the coefficient of thermal expansion were measured for each type composite material. It was concluded that the threshold for major physical and mechanical property changes in the polysulfone films and in the polysulfone and epoxy composites is in excess of 1 x 10 to the 9th power rads of electrons. Based upon these data, the 5208 and 934 epoxies and the P1700 polysulfone composites would be acceptable for 5 to 10 year geosynchronous Earth environment missions receiving 1 x 10 to the 9th power rads of electron radiation.

Wayne S Slemp↗

A BATSE investigation of radiation belt electrons precipitated by VLF waves

The Compton Observatory commonly encounters fluxes of energetic electrons which have been scattered from the inner radiation belt to the path of the satellite by resonant interactions with VLF waves from powerful man-made transmitters. The present investigation was motivated by the fact that in the Fall of 1993, the Gamma Ray Observatory was boosted from a 650 km altitude circular orbit to a 750 km altitude circular orbit. This was an opportunity, for the first time, to make observations at two different altitudes using the same instrument. We have examined DISCLA data from the Burst & Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) experiment from 1 Sep. 1993 to 29 Jan. 1994. During the period of study we identified 48 instances of the satellite encountering a cloud of energetic electrons which had been scattered by VLF transmitters. We find that boosting the altitude of the circular orbit from 650 km to 750 km increased the intensity of cyclotron resonance scattered electrons by a factor of two. To search for long term changes in the cyclotron resonance precipitation, we have compared the approx. 750 km altitude data from 106 days at the end of 1993 with data at the same altitudes and time of year in 1991. The cyclotron resonance events in 1991 were three times more frequent and 25% of those cases were more intense than any seen in the 1993 data. We attribute this difference to increased level of geomagnetic activity in 1991 near the Solar Maximum.

Datlowe, Dayton W.↗

A BATSE investigation of radiation belt electrons precipitated by VLF waves

The Compton Observatory commonly encounters fluxes of energetic electrons which have been scattered from the inner radiation belt to the path of the satellite by resonant interactions with VLF waves from powerful man-made transmitters. The present investigation was motivated by the fact that in the Fall of 1993, the Gamma Ray Observatory was boosted from a 650 km altitude circular orbit to a 750 km altitude circular orbit. This was an opportunity, for the first time, to make observations at two different altitudes using the same instrument. We have examined DISCLA data from the Burst & Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) experiment from 1 Sep. 1993 to 29 Jan. 1994. During the period of study we identified 48 instances of the satellite encountering a cloud of energetic electrons which had been scattered by VLF transmitters. We find that boosting the altitude of the circular orbit from 650 km to 750 km increased the intensity of cyclotron resonance scattered electrons by a factor of two. To search for long term changes in the cyclotron resonance precipitation, we have compared the approx. 750 km altitude data from 106 days at the end of 1993 with data at the same altitudes and time of year in 1991. The cyclotron resonance events in 1991 were three times more frequent and 25% of those cases were more intense than any seen in the 1993 data. We attribute this difference to increased level of geomagnetic activity in 1991 near the Solar Maximum.

Datlowe, Dayton W.↗

Acceleration, transport of and radiation by electrons in impulsive phase of flares

Recent work carried out in connection with various manifestations of the impulsive phase of solar flares is reviewed. Characteristics of accelerated electrons are determined, taking into account various possible interactions that electrons undergo as they traverse the flare plasma, and the expected radiation is evaluated via several mechanisms. Constraints are set on the characteristics of the accelerated electrons and on some properties of the flare plasma. Results obtained from comparisons with SMM and other observations of flares during the past solar cycle are described. It is shown that limits can be set on the range and distribution of the accelerated electron spectrum and pitch angle distribution, and on the column depth and field convergence rate of the flaring loop.

Petrosian, Vahe↗

Infrared spectroscopic analysis of the effects of simulated space radiation on a polyimide

Infrared spectroscopic techniques have been used to study the effects of electron radiation on the polyimide PMDA-p,p-prime- ODA. The radiation exposures were made at various dose rates, for a total dose approximately equal to that for 30 years of exposure to electron radiation in geosynchronous earth orbit. At high dose rates the major effect was probably the formation of a polyisoimide or a charged quaternary amine, and at the low dose rates the effect was a reduction in the amount or aromatic ether linkage. In addition, the effects of dose rate for a small total dose were studied. Elevated temperatures occurred at high dose rates and were, in part, probably the cause of the radiation product. The data suggest that dose rates for accelerated simulations of the space environment should not exceed 100,000 rads/sec.

Ferl, J. E.↗

Highly Relativistic Radiation Belt Electron Acceleration, Transport, and Loss: Large Solar Storm Events of March and June 2015

Two of the largest geomagnetic storms of the last decade were witnessed in 2015. On 17 March 2015, a coronal mass ejection-driven event occurred with a Dst (Disturbance Storm Time Ring Current Index) value reaching 223 nanoteslas. On 22 June 2015 another strong storm (Dst reaching 204 nanoteslas) was recorded. These two storms each produced almost total loss of radiation belt high-energy (E (Energy) greater than or approximately equal to 1 millielectronvolt) electron fluxes. Following the dropouts of radiation belt fluxes there were complex and rather remarkable recoveries of the electrons extending up to nearly 10 millielectronvolts in kinetic energy. The energized outer zone electrons showed a rich variety of pitch angle features including strong butterfly distributions with deep minima in flux at alpha equals 90 degrees. However, despite strong driving of outer zone earthward radial diffusion in these storms, the previously reported impenetrable barrier at L (L-shell magnetic field line value) approximately equal to 2.8 was pushed inward, but not significantly breached, and no E (Energy) greater than or approximately equal to 2.0 millielectronvolts electrons were seen to pass through the radiation belt slot region to reach the inner Van Allen zone. Overall, these intense storms show a wealth of novel features of acceleration, transport, and loss that are demonstrated in the present detailed analysis.

Baker, D. N.↗

Simulating Long–Term Dynamics of Radiation Belt Electrons Using DREAM3D Model

Here, we compared the performance of DREAM3D simulations in reproducing the long-term radiation belt dynamics observed by Van Allen Probes over the entire year of 2017 with various boundary conditions (BCs) and model inputs. Specifically, we investigated the effects of three different outer boundary conditions, two different low-energy boundary conditions for seed electrons, four different radial diffusion (RD) coefficients (DLL), four hiss wave models, and two chorus wave models from the literature. Using the outer boundary condition driven by GOES data, our benchmark simulation generally well reproduces the observed radiation belt dynamics inside L* = 6, with a better model performance at lower μ than higher μ, where μ is the first adiabatic invariant. By varying the boundary conditions and inputs, we find that: (a) The data-driven outer boundary condition is critical to the model performance, while adding in the data-driven seed population doesn't further improve the performance. (b) The model shows comparable performance with DLL from Brautigam and Albert (2000, https://doi.org/10.1029/1999ja900344), Ozeke et al. (2014, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013ja019204), and Liu et al. (2016, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015gl067398), while with DLL from Ali et al. (2016, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016ja023002) the model shows less RD compared to data. (c) The model performance is similar with data-based hiss models, but the results show faster loss is still needed inside the plasmasphere. (d) The model performs similarly with the two different chorus models, but better capturing the electron enhancement at higher μ using the Wang et al. (2019, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018ja026183) model due to its stronger wave power, since local heating for higher energy electrons is under-reproduced in the current model.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

KiT-RT: An Extendable Framework for Radiative Transfer and Therapy

Here, in this article, we present Kinetic Transport Solver for Radiation Therapy (KiT-RT), an open-source C++-based framework for solving kinetic equations in therapy applications available at https://github.com/CSMMLab/KiT-RT . This software framework aims to provide a collection of classical deterministic solvers for unstructured meshes that allow for easy extendability. Therefore, KiT-RT is a convenient base to test new numerical methods in various applications and compare them against conventional solvers. The implementation includes spherical harmonics, minimal entropy, neural minimal entropy, and discrete ordinates methods. Solution characteristics and efficiency are presented through several test cases ranging from radiation transport to electron radiation therapy. Due to the variety of included numerical methods and easy extendability, the presented open-source code is attractive for both developers, who want a basis to build their numerical solvers, and users or application engineers, who want to gain experimental insights without directly interfering with the codebase.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Survival of bacterial isolates exposed to simulated Jovian trapped radiation belt electrons and solar wind protons

With missions to Jupiter, the spacecraft will be exposed for extended durations to solar wind radiation and the Jovian trapped radiation belt. This study is designed to determine the effect of these radiation environments on spacecraft bacterial isolates. The information can be used in the probability of contamination analysis for these missions. A bacterial subpopulation from Mariner Mars 1971 spacecraft (nine spore-forming and three non-spore-forming isolates) plus two comparative organisms, Staphylococcus epidermidis ATCC 17917 and a strain of Bacillus subtilis var. niger, were exposed to 2, 12, and 25 MeV electrons at different doses with simultaneous exposure to a vacuum of 1.3 x 10(-4) N m-2 at 20 and -20 degrees C. The radioresistance of the subpopulation was dependent on the isolate, dose and energy of electrons. Temperature affected the radioresistance of only the spore-forming isolates. Survival data indicated that spores were reduced approximately 1 log/1500 J kg-1 (10 J kg-1=1 krad), while non-spore-forming isolates (micrococci) were reduced 1.5-2 logs/1500 J kg-1 with the exception of an apparent radioresistant isolate whose resistance approached that of the spores. The subpopulation was found to be less resistant to lower energy than to higher energy electrons. The bacterial isolates were exposed to 3 keV protons under the same conditions as the electrons with a total fluence of 1.5 x 10(13) p cm-2 and a dose rate of 8.6 x 10(9) p cm-2 s-1. The results showed that only 20% of S. epidermidis and 45% of B. subtilis populations survived exposure to the 3 keV protons, while the mean survival of the spacecraft subpopulation was 45% with a range from 31.8% (non-spore-former) to 64.8% (non-spore-former). No significant difference existed between spore-forming and non-spore-forming isolates.

Electrons↗

Voyager electronic parts radiation program, volume 1

The Voyager spacecraft is subject to radiation from external natural space, from radioisotope thermoelectric generators and heater units, and from the internal environment where penetrating electrons generate surface ionization effects in semiconductor devices. Methods for radiation hardening and tests for radiation sensitivity are described. Results of characterization testing and sample screening of over 200 semiconductor devices in a radiation environment are summarized.

Stanley, A. G.↗

Continuum radiation and electron plasma oscillations in the distant geomagnetic tail

ISEE-3 electric field measurements are used to examine the properties of electromagnetic continuum radiation in the distant geomagnetic tail. Continuum is observed in all the tail's plasma regions and in the magnetosheath. The power spectrum at 210 R sub E is nearly identical to that at 40 R sub E, indicating that the tail cavity forms a reasonably loss-free waveguide. The angular distribution exhibits both anisotropy, which is similar to that observed nearer the earth, and isotropy for high frequencies (greater than 31.6 kHz) in the magnetosheath and for low frequencies (equal to or less than 17.8 kHz) in the tail lobes and boundary layer. Isotropic radiation suggests that, in addition to the near earth source, continuum is also generated over a large spatial region in the tail. Electrostatic electron plasma oscillations are also detected in the distant tail, and these could represent the local source of the continuum.

Coroniti, F. V.↗

Survival of bacterial isolates exposed to simulated Jovian trapped radiation belt electrons and solar wind protons

With missions to Jupiter, the spacecraft will be exposed for extended duration to solar wind radiation and the Jovian trapped radiation belt. This study is designed to determine the effect of these radiation environments on spacecraft bacterial isolates. The information can be used in the probability of contamination analysis for these missions. A bacterial subpopulation from Mariner Mars 1971 spacecraft (nine sporeforming and three nonsporeforming isolates) plus two comparative organisms, Staphylococcus epidermidis ATCC 17917 and a strain of Bacillus subtilis var. niger, were exposed to 2-, 12-, and 25-MeV electrons at different doses with simultaneous exposure to a vacuum of 0.0013 N/sqm at 20 and -20 C. The radioresistance of the subpopulation was dependent on the isolate, dose, and energy of electrons. Temperature affected the radioresistance of only the sporeforming isolates. Survival data indicated that spores were reduced approximately 1 log/1500 J/kg, while nonsporeforming isolates (micrococci) were reduced 1.5 to 2 logs/1500 J/kg with the exception of an apparent radioresistant isolate whose resistance approached that of the spores. The subpopulation was found to be less resistant to lower energy than to higher energy electrons.

Taylor, D. M.↗

Nuclear Remote System Design: Radiation and Electronics

Idaho National Laboratory has unique opportunities to examine fuels, materials, and experiment inside of the available radiological hot cells. Due to the uninhabitable nature of a hot cell environment, everything done inside of the hot cell is operated remotely. Remote operations are optimized by Nuclear Remote System Design (NRSD). NRSD is the designing, altering, or configuring of structures, items, and systems that will be placed into radiological environments.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗