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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 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

The potential for New Mexico basalts to sequester CO 2 with a focus on critical element mobility

This study evaluates the potential of New Mexico basaltic rocks and mafic mine waste for CO₂ sequestration via mineral carbonation. Batch experiments up to 200 days at 40°C simulated CO₂-bearing fluid interactions with various crushed basaltic materials at different grain sizes. Results showed that 70–80% of injected CO₂ was mineralized, with the finest grain sizes showing the most rapid and effective drawdown. The experiments also assessed the mobility of critical metals (Cu, Ni, Zn, Co), revealing trends tied to mineral dissolution and secondary mineral formation. The findings support the dual potential of mine waste for CO₂ sequestration and critical element recovery, informing future carbon capture and resource upcycling strategies.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS2006

Pulse-Flow Microencapsulation System

The pulse-flow microencapsulation system (PFMS) is an automated system that continuously produces a stream of liquid-filled microcapsules for delivery of therapeutic agents to target tissues. Prior microencapsulation systems have relied on batch processes that involve transfer of batches between different apparatuses for different stages of production followed by sampling for acquisition of quality-control data, including measurements of size. In contrast, the PFMS is a single, microprocessor-controlled system that performs all processing steps, including acquisition of quality-control data. The quality-control data can be used as real-time feedback to ensure the production of large quantities of uniform microcapsules.

Morrison, Dennis R.↗
NASA NTRS2021

Radio Frequency Plasma Synthesis of Boron Nitride Nanotubes (BNNTs) for Structural Applications: Part III

The emergence of commercial quantities of BNNTs facilitates the exploration of structural material applications. BNNT-reinforced composites must exhibit extraordinary mechanical properties in order to justify the cost premium. Prevailing theory indicates that suitable BNNTs must possess an aspect ratio (AR= length/diameter) approaching 10,000 to provide effective discontinuous reinforcement under tensile loading. A survey of commercial products shows that although the quantities are sufficient, lots of uniform morphology are unavailable. Therefore, the opportunity exists to supplement procedures either during synthesis operations or post-synthesis processing in order to deliver homogeneous batches of high AR BNNTs. An assessment of relevant technologies reveals established methods compatible with sorting of BNNTs by physical dimensions, i.e., size and/or shape. Electrostatic fractionation emerges as the leading candidate, with the potential to isolate high-purity, low-defect, high AR product. The adaptation of existing equipment to the handling of fibrous particulate on the nanoscale will be paramount to success. Although currently focused on BNNTs, the concepts outlined may be applied to nanotubes synthesized from any organic or inorganic compounds. This survey sets the stage for delivering reproducible lots of BNNTs that satisfy the dimensional requirements for use in acreage structural materials.

induction plasma, BNNT, aspect ratio, fractionatio↗
DOE OSTI2020

Feedback regulation of crystal growth by buffering monomer concentration

Abstract Crystallization is a ubiquitous means of self-assembly that can organize matter over length scales orders of magnitude larger than those of the monomer units. Yet crystallization is notoriously difficult to control because it is exquisitely sensitive to monomer concentration, which changes as monomers are depleted during growth. Living cells control crystallization using chemical reaction networks that offset depletion by synthesizing or activating monomers to regulate monomer concentration, stabilizing growth conditions even as depletion rates change, and thus reliably yielding desired products. Using DNA nanotubes as a model system, here we show that coupling a generic reversible bimolecular monomer buffering reaction to a crystallization process leads to reliable growth of large, uniformly sized crystals even when crystal growth rates change over time. Buffering could be applied broadly as a simple means to regulate and sustain batch crystallization and could facilitate the self-assembly of complex, hierarchical synthetic structures.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS2007

Effect of PdO on TiO(sub2) Loading on Chemochromic Detection of Hydrogen

Safety is always a concern in all applications that utilize hydrogen (H(sub2)) in one form or the other. Hydrogen leaks are invisible and odorless. In addition, blending odorants or additives into hydrogen in a manner similar to natural gas is generally undesirable for certain applications including proton exchange membrane fuel cells. To facilitate detection of the location of hydrogen leaks, a special chemochromic H(sub2) sensing material that employs titania (Ti0(sub2)) supported palladium oxide (PdO) pigments encapsulated within a special silicone matrix has been developed at the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC). Several batches of PdO H(sub2) sensing pigments were synthesized using various Ti0(sub2) supports and their hydrogen detection activity determined. TEM and Particle size distribution analysis showed that smaller particles with hemispherical crystalline structure produced faster coloration kinetics when exposed to H(sub2) gas. However, uniformly distributed PdO particles on the Ti0(sub2) surface displayed greater color contrast, quantified by delta epsilon measurements. XRD analysis indicated that the crystalline phase of Ti0(sub2) had no effect on the chemochromic performance of the pigments in laboratory environment.

Mohajeri, Nahid↗
DOE OSTI2021

Initial tests of large format sensors for the ATLAS ITk strip tracker

For the construction of the Inner Tracker (ITk) as part of the phase-II upgrade programme of the ATLAS detector for the High-Luminosity (HL) LHC, batches of Long Strip (LS) and Short Strip (SS) n + -in-p type micro-strip sensors have been produced by Hamamatsu Photonics and Infineon. The full size sensors measure approximately 98 × 98 mm 2 and are designed and engineered for tolerance against the 9.7 × 10 14 1 MeV n eq /cm 2 fluence expected at the HL-LHC, including a safety factor of 1.5. Each sensor has 2 or 4 columns of 1280 individual channels arranged at 75.5 μ m horizontal pitch. To ensure the sensors comply with their specifications, a Quality Control (QC) procedure has been implemented, comprising measurements on every individual sensor as well as on a sample basis. Every sensor is subjected to an initial visual inspection, after which the full surface of the sensor is captured with very high resolution by an automated camera setup. Non-contact metrology is performed to obtain the sensor surface profile. Electrical measurements establishing the reverse bias leakage current and depletion voltage are then conducted automatically. Sample sensors from every batch are subjected to 40 h of leakage stability checks in controlled atmosphere, and tests on every channel measuring leakage current, coupling capacitance and bias resistance are done. The recorded results are uploaded to a production database following data quality checks. In this paper, QC test validation data and the compiled results for the first batches of production grade sensors are presented. The QC protocol was validated, and the first production sensors were confirmed to be within specification. The results are compared to those from the previous generation of prototype sensors.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Reduced diffusion and enhanced retention of multiple radionuclides from pore structure characterization of barrier materials for enhanced repository performance

Fluid flow and chemical transport in porous media are the macroscopic consequences of pore structure, which integrates geometry (e.g., pore size and surface area, pore-size distribution) and topology (e.g., pore connectivity). Low-permeability geological media whose pores are poorly interconnected will exhibit the characteristics of anomalous diffusion and sample size-dependent effective porosity, which will strongly impact long-term net diffusion and retention of radionuclides in geological repository settings involving different host rocks and barrier materials. A suite of innovative and complementary experimental approaches is utilized to study the microscopic pore structure and macroscopic fluid flow & chemical transport for a range of host rocks and barrier materials, in addition to standard clay minerals and reference rocks. With a particular focus on quantifying the presence and magnitude of “isolated” pores for a reduced effective porosity in low-permeability geomedia, the integrated methodologies for basic properties and pore structure characterization of these geomedia include X-ray diffraction, thin section petrography, grain size distribution, water immersion porosimetry after vacuum-pulling for full saturation, mercury intrusion porosimetry, nitrogen physisorption, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray computed tomography, and (ultra-)small angle neutron (X-ray) scattering. In addition, custom-designed gas diffusion, tracer recipe involving a range of anionic and cationic chemicals with subsequent analyses by laser ablation and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, along with batch sorption, column transport, and imbibition tests were conducted for coupled effects of pore structure and chemical retention/transport. From the perspectives of pore structure in conjunction with multiple and complementary approaches to examining a range of sample sizes under different observational scales, we find that the poor pore connectivity is prevalent in low-permeability media (mudstone and crystalline rock) that is related to geological processes (e.g., compaction, diagenesis and thermal maturation). For example, the deep and organic matter-rich mudstones have a much smaller effective porosity than the total porosity (as a result of poor pore connectivity) and associated diffusion coefficient, and the effective porosity & diffusion coefficients are also dependent upon the sample sizes used in the measurement. Similarly, most of the pore space in the shallow mudstone is also controlled by pore-throat diameters in the 5-50 nm range of intergranular pore types from its fine-grained nature, but with an overall good pore connectivity. However, the nm-sized pore space (physically pore-network architecture) and strong sorption capacities (chemical retention from clay minerals) of both shallow and deep mudstones lead to the synergistic retention of cationic radionuclides and their utilities as effective host rocks and barrier materials. Our unique approaches of studying how the micro-scale pore structure affect macro-scale fluid flow, diffusion & retention, and chemical transport produce improved mechanistic understanding, and realistic quantification, of diffusion and retention of typical radionuclides in a range of generic host rocks and barrier materials (clay/shale, salt, crystalline rock, and tuff), with the overall results leading to scientifically-based understanding of enhanced isolation (from both diffusion and retention) of radionuclides and improved confidence on the long-term performance of geological repository to store high-level radioactive wastes. In addition to the training of 25 undergraduates, graduates, and postdocs of UTA, the scientists (organizations) involved in performing this work (e.g., discussion, sample sharing, and operation of SANS and SAXS instruments) include Ed Matteo, Yifeng Wang, and Kristopher Kuhlman (Sandia National Laboratories), Jens Birkholzer, Liange Zheng, Tim Kneafsey, and Sharon Borglin (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), Mavrik Zavarin (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), Yukio Tachi and Yuta Fukatsu (Japan Atomic Energy Agency), Mieke de Craen (Euridice, Belgium), Markus Bleuel (NIST), Wei-Ren Chen, Gergely Nagy, Changwoo Do, William Heller, Larry Anovitz, and Kenneth Littrell (ORNL), as well as Jan Illvsky, Ivan Kuzmenko, Ju-Sang Park and Jon Almers (ANL). Key deliverables include a total of 13 peer-reviewed journal articles (nine published and three under review), 23 presentations at scientific conferences (AAPG, AAPG Southwest Section, AGU, Asian Clay Conference, GSA, GSA South-Central Section, IHLRWM, InterPore, International Conference on Chemistry and Migration Behavior of Actinides and Fission Products in the Geosphere, International Conference on Coupled Processes in Fractured Geological Media: Observation, Modeling and Application), and academic institutions (UTA, New Mexico State University; University of Poitiers, France; University of Helsinki, Finland; Uppsala University, Sweden; Istanbul Technical University, Turkey) and other organizations (Andra, France; Posiva Oy, Finland).

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Small to Full-Height Scale Comparisons of Cesium Ion Exchange Performance with Crystalline Silicotitanate

Crystalline silicotitanate (CST) ion exchanger is planned to be used to remove cesium (137Cs) from the aqueous phases of Hanford tank wastes in preparation for vitrification at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) Pretreatment Facility. Column scale up testing was conducted to evaluate performance of Cs exchange onto the CST. Batch contact testing was conducted to assess exchange kinetics of Cs exchange at four different CST PSDs. Column testing was conducted at three column sizes, small (2.5% full height), medium (12% full height), and full height, to assess Cs load performance behavior. Testing at the small scale was compared to actual Hanford tank waste testing to verify the validity of simulant tests to accurately represent full height column performance. A change in CST particle size was essential in scaling the small column dynamics up to full scale. Based on these results, a determination of intraparticle and film diffusion impacts on overall mass transfer coefficients will allow future modeling of the breakthrough performance at a range of process conditions.

Westesen, Amy M.↗
NASA NTRS2000

JavaGenes: Evolving Graphs with Crossover

Genetic algorithms usually use string or tree representations. We have developed a novel crossover operator for a directed and undirected graph representation, and used this operator to evolve molecules and circuits. Unlike strings or trees, a single point in the representation cannot divide every possible graph into two parts, because graphs may contain cycles. Thus, the crossover operator is non-trivial. A steady-state, tournament selection genetic algorithm code (JavaGenes) was written to implement and test the graph crossover operator. All runs were executed by cycle-scavagging on networked workstations using the Condor batch processing system. The JavaGenes code has evolved pharmaceutical drug molecules and simple digital circuits. Results to date suggest that JavaGenes can evolve moderate sized drug molecules and very small circuits in reasonable time. The algorithm has greater difficulty with somewhat larger circuits, suggesting that directed graphs (circuits) are more difficult to evolve than undirected graphs (molecules), although necessary differences in the crossover operator may also explain the results. In principle, JavaGenes should be able to evolve other graph-representable systems, such as transportation networks, metabolic pathways, and computer networks. However, large graphs evolve significantly slower than smaller graphs, presumably because the space-of-all-graphs explodes combinatorially with graph size. Since the representation strongly affects genetic algorithm performance, adding graphs to the evolutionary programmer's bag-of-tricks should be beneficial. Also, since graph evolution operates directly on the phenotype, the genotype-phenotype translation step, common in genetic algorithm work, is eliminated.

Globus, Al↗
NASA NTRS1995

Visualization of Computational Fluid Dynamics

Scientific visualization serves the dual purpose of exploration and exposition of the results of numerical simulations of fluid flow. Along with the basic visualization process which transforms source data into images, there are four additional components to a complete visualization system: Source Data Processing, User Interface and Control, Presentation, and Information Management. The requirements imposed by the desired mode of operation (i.e. real-time, interactive, or batch) and the source data have their effect on each of these visualization system components. The special requirements imposed by the wide variety and size of the source data provided by the numerical simulation of fluid flow presents an enormous challenge to the visualization system designer. We describe the visualization system components including specific visualization techniques and how the mode of operation and source data requirements effect the construction of computational fluid dynamics visualization systems.

Gerald-Yamasaki, Michael↗
NASA NTRS1987

Flaw imaging and ultrasonic techniques for characterizing sintered silicon carbide

The capabilities were investigated of projection microfocus x-radiography, ultrasonic velocity and attenuation, and reflection scanning acoustic microscopy for characterizing silicon carbide specimens. Silicon carbide batches covered a range of densities and different microstructural characteristics. Room temperature, four point flexural strength tests were conducted. Fractography was used to identify types, sizes, and locations of fracture origins. Fracture toughness values were calculated from fracture strength and flaw characterization data. Detection capabilities of radiography and acoustic microscopy for fracture-causing flaws were evaluated. Applicability of ultrasonics for verifying material strength and toughness was examined.

Baaklini, George Y.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Radiographic and ultrasonic characterization of sintered silicon carbide

The capabilities were investigated of projection microfocus X-radiography, ultrasonic velocity and attenuation, and reflection scanning acoustic microscopy for characterizing silicon carbide specimens. Silicon carbide batches covered a range of densities and different microstructural characteristics. Room temperature, four point flexural strength tests were conducted. Fractography was used to identify types, sizes, and locations of fracture origins. Fracture toughness values were calculated from fracture strength and flaw characterization data. Detection capabilities of radiography and acoustic microscopy for fracture-causing flaws were evaluated. Applicability of ultrasonics for verifying material strength and toughness was examined.

Baaklini, G. Y.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Aqueous nitrite ion determination by selective reduction and gas phase nitric oxide chemiluminescence

An improved method of flow injection analysis for aqueous nitrite ion exploits the sensitivity and selectivity of the nitric oxide (NO) chemilluminescence detector. Trace analysis of nitrite ion in a small sample (5-160 microL) is accomplished by conversion of nitrite ion to NO by aqueous iodide in acid. The resulting NO is transported to the gas phase through a semipermeable membrane and subsequently detected by monitoring the photoemission of the reaction between NO and ozone (O3). Chemiluminescence detection is selective for measurement of NO, and, since the detection occurs in the gas-phase, neither sample coloration nor turbidity interfere. The detection limit for a 100-microL sample is 0.04 ppb of nitrite ion. The precision at the 10 ppb level is 2% relative standard deviation, and 60-180 samples can be analyzed per hour. Samples of human saliva and food extracts were analyzed; the results from a standard colorimetric measurement are compared with those from the new chemiluminescence method in order to further validate the latter method. A high degree of selectivity is obtained due to the three discriminating steps in the process: (1) the nitrite ion to NO conversion conditions are virtually specific for nitrite ion, (2) only volatile products of the conversion will be swept to the gas phase (avoiding turbidity or color in spectrophotometric methods), and (3) the NO chemiluminescence detector selectively detects the emission from the NO + O3 reaction. The method is free of interferences, offers detection limits of low parts per billion of nitrite ion, and allows the analysis of up to 180 microL-sized samples per hour, with little sample preparation and no chromatographic separation. Much smaller samples can be analyzed by this method than in previously reported batch analysis methods, which typically require 5 mL or more of sample and often need chromatographic separations as well.

NASA Discipline Environmental Health↗
NASA NTRS2022

M2 Selective Laser Melting GRCop-42 Recycling Study

A powder recycling study was conducted to examine the effects of powder reuse on physical and mechanical properties of SLM GRCop-42. Twelve sequential builds were conducted, each reusing powder from the previous build topped off with virgin powder to fill the powder chamber. Powder morphology, particle size distribution, flowability, and chemistry were examined for each subsequent build, along with the mechanical properties of tensile and LCF specimens built with each powder batch. It was found that only powder flowability demonstrated a trend with increasing reuse, with flowability and cohesiveness generally decreasing over the course of the 12 builds. Minor variation in powder chemistry was observed throughout the study, however, the variations did not correlate with increasing powder reuse

Additive Manufacturing↗
NASA NTRS1977

Novel duplex vapor-electrochemical method for silicon solar cells

Silicon obtained by the SiF4-Na reaction was analyzed by spark source mass spectrometry (SSMS). Silicon samples prepared from induction melted powder were evaluated for electrical properties using four point probe conductivity and thermoelectric methods. SiF4-Na reaction under P sub SiF4 greater than 1 atmosphere. The amount of silicon produced was increased from 25 g per batch (in the glass reactor) to greater than 70 g per batch in the stainless steel reactor. The study of the effects of reaction variables such as P sub SiF4 and maximum temperature attained on the particle size of silicon powder showed that the silicon particle size tends to grow larger with increasing pressure of the SiF4 gas in the reaction system.

Kapur, V. K.↗
NASA NTRS2012

I/O Performance Characterization of Lustre and NASA Applications on Pleiades

In this paper we study the performance of the Lustre file system using five scientific and engineering applications representative of NASA workload on large-scale supercomputing systems such as NASA s Pleiades. In order to facilitate the collection of Lustre performance metrics, we have developed a software tool that exports a wide variety of client and server-side metrics using SGI's Performance Co-Pilot (PCP), and generates a human readable report on key metrics at the end of a batch job. These performance metrics are (a) amount of data read and written, (b) number of files opened and closed, and (c) remote procedure call (RPC) size distribution (4 KB to 1024 KB, in powers of 2) for I/O operations. RPC size distribution measures the efficiency of the Lustre client and can pinpoint problems such as small write sizes, disk fragmentation, etc. These extracted statistics are useful in determining the I/O pattern of the application and can assist in identifying possible improvements for users applications. Information on the number of file operations enables a scientist to optimize the I/O performance of their applications. Amount of I/O data helps users choose the optimal stripe size and stripe count to enhance I/O performance. In this paper, we demonstrate the usefulness of this tool on Pleiades for five production quality NASA scientific and engineering applications. We compare the latency of read and write operations under Lustre to that with NFS by tracing system calls and signals. We also investigate the read and write policies and study the effect of page cache size on I/O operations. We examine the performance impact of Lustre stripe size and stripe count along with performance evaluation of file per process and single shared file accessed by all the processes for NASA workload using parameterized IOR benchmark.

Saini, Subhash↗
NASA NTRS1988

Characterization of sintered SiC by using NDE

Capabilities of projection microfocus X-radiography and of ultrasonic velocity and attenuation for characterizing silicon carbide specimens were assessed. Silicon carbide batches covered a range of densities and different microstructural characteristics. Room-temperature, four-point flexural strength tests were conducted. Fractography was used to identify types, sizes, and locations of fracture origins. Fracture toughness values were calculated from fracture strength and flaw characterization data. Detection capabilities of radiography for fracture-causing flaws were evaluated. Applicability of ultrasonics for verifying material strength and toughness was examined. Radiography proved useful in detecting high-density inclusions and isolated voids, but failed in detecting surface and subsurface agglomerates and large grains as fracture origins. Ultrasonic velocity dependency on density was evident. Attenuation dependency on density and mean pore size was clearly demonstrated. Understanding attenuation as a function of toughness was limited by shortcomings in K sub IC determination.

Baaklini, George Y.↗
DOE OSTI2024

The simultaneous removal of technetium and iodine from Hanford tank waste

The simultaneous removal of radionuclides technetium-99 and iodine-129 from an actual decontaminated Hanford tank waste sample (a mixture of decontaminated waste from tanks 241-AP-105 and 241-AP-107) was demonstrated for the first time in this work. A series of commercially available ion exchange resins were evaluated in batch contact tests in the tank waste, and all showed removal of both Tc and I. The highest Tc removal was observed for Purolite A530e while the highest iodine removal was observed for ResinTech SIR-110-MP. Batch tests in simulated tank waste with these two resins showed that the SIR-110-HP-MP had consistently higher K d for both pertechnetate and iodide and much higher K d than previous works on Tc removal from Hanford waste. As such, the SIR-110-MP was evaluated in a dual -column (lead/lag) test processing 5.2L of the tank waste mixture showing 60% breakthrough of Tc on the lead column and no significant breakthrough on the lag after 625 bed volumes (BV, 6 mL size) while significant iodine breakthrough (>50%) occurred after 28 BV. The limited iodine uptake was attributed to the column conditions generating mass transfer limitations. A fraction of the Tc and I was not captured by the resin (<10%) in either the batch tests or column tests. The iodine fraction was identified to be an iodide, likely organo-iodide. The fraction of the Tc was identified as a non-pertechnetate species, which is the first time non-pertechnetate has been identified in AP-105 and AP-107 tanks, although the exact species is still unknown.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗