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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 1,459 records · Page 81
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

PACT Center: Perovskite PV Accelerator for Commercializing Technologies (Final Technical Report)

The Perovskite PV Accelerator for Commercializing Technologies (PACT) center was established in July 2021 as a national resource to accelerate the commercialization of perovskite photovoltaic (PV) technology in the United States. Since its inception, PACT has been led by Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) in partnership with the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), formerly known as NREL. From FY20-FY23, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), CFV Labs, Black & Veatch (B&V), and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) were part of the project team. LANL brought expertise in perovskite PV device designs and processing, CFV Labs (now GroundWork Renewables) provided initial indoor and outdoor measurement hardware technology, B&V led the initial effort on perovskite PV bankability, and EPRI worked on reviewing testing standards, identifying commercialization gaps, and helping to run PACT’s Industry Advisory Board, a group including representatives from commercial testing labs, independent engineering firms, insurance companies, state regulators, and electric utilities. To source perovskite PV module samples, PACT contracted with the University of North Carolina (UNC), the University of Toledo, the University of Washington, and SLAC/Stanford University to provide a steady stream of research-grade perovskite mini modules, enabling protocol development in advance of commercial module availability. The project period ran from July 1, 2021, through December 31, 2025, including a No Cost Extension. Starting in FY25, the project was continued as a Core Capability in the Lab Call portfolio and continues at a reduced budget with only Sandia and NLR as funded recipients. Notably, starting in FY25 PACT expanded its scope beyond MHP modules to accept all emerging PV mini module technologies for testing, including organic PV (OPV) and all-thin-film tandems, with the aim of supporting commercialization across the broader emerging PV ecosystem. With this change in scope the program was renamed the PV Accelerator for Commercializing Technologies, dropping perovskite from the name.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Accurate Machine Learning for Predicting the Viscosities of Deep Eutectic Solvents

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are emerging as environmentally friendly designer solvents for mass transport and heat transfer processes in industrial applications; however, the lack of accurate tools to predict and thus control their viscosities under both a range of environmental factors and formulations hinders their general application. While DESs may serve as designer solvents, with nearly unlimited combinations, this unfortunately makes it experimentally infeasible to comprehensively measure the viscosities of all DESs of potential industrial interest. To assist in the design of DESs, we have developed several new machine learning (ML) models that accurately and rapidly predict the viscosities of a diverse group of DESs at different temperatures and molar ratios using, to date, one of the most comprehensive data sets containing the properties of over 670 DESs over a wide range of temperatures (278.15–385.25 K). Three ML models, including support vector regression (SVR), feed forward neural networks (FFNNs), and categorical boosting (CatBoost), were developed to predict DES viscosity as a function of temperature and molar ratio and contrasted with multilinear and two-factor polynomial regression baselines. Further, quantum chemistry-based, COSMO-RS-derived sigma profile (σ-profile) features were used as inputs for the ML models. The CatBoost model is excellent at externally predicting DES viscosity, as indicated by high R 2 (0.99) and low root-mean-square-error (RMSE) and average absolute relative deviations (AARD) (5.22%) values for the testing data sets, and 98% of the data points lie within the 15% of AARD deviations. Furthermore, SHapley additive explanation (SHAP) analysis was employed to interpret the ML results and rationalize the viscosity predictions. The result is an ML approach that accurately predicts viscosity and will aid in accelerating the design of appropriate DESs for industrial applications.

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

Fabrication and Test of C3a: A Six-Layer Subscale Canted $\cos \theta$ Dipole Magnet Using High-Temperature Superconducting corc Wires

REBCO coated conductors have a strong potential for high-field magnet applications. The REBCO technology, however, is still in its infancy for accelerator magnet applications. As part of the U.S. Magnet Development Program (MDP), we developed a six-layer canted cos θ dipole magnet, C3a, using CORC® wires developed by Advanced Conductor Technologies LLC. All the layers were wound using a semi-automated winding machine. Three layers of the magnet used CORC® wires containing the SuperPower “AP” REBCO tapes and the remaining layers used the wires containing the “HM” tapes. At 77 K, both kinds of CORC® wires showed 5% to 10% degradation, after bending to a minimum bend radius of 30 or 35 mm, with respect to the self-field critical current measured before winding. At 4.2 K, the magnet reached 9.5 kA at a ramp rate of 9 A s -1 and generated a dipole field of 1.4 T. Further, the critical current of one layer degraded by 4% after a current transient up to 10.5 kA ramped in an averaged rate of 175 kA s -1 or 20 T s -1 . We confirmed the HM CORC® wire can carry a higher current than the AP CORC® wire at 4.2 K. The test results of the C3a magnet showed that the fabrication and assembly procedure can be used for the upcoming full-scale C3 magnet.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

A machine learning approach to determine the elastic properties of printed fiber-reinforced polymers

This work focuses on the simultaneous determination of the elastic constants and the fiber orientation state for a short fiber-reinforced polymer composite by performing a minimum of experimental tests. Here we introduce a methodology that enables the inverse determination of fiber orientation state and the in-situ polymer properties by performing tensile tests at the composite coupon level. We demonstrate the approach for the extrusion deposition additive manufacturing (EDAM) process to illustrate one application of the methodology, but the development is such that it can be applied to short fiber-reinforced polymer (SFRP) systems processed via other methods. Currently, developing composites additive manufacturing digital twins require extensive material characterization. In particular, the mechanical characterization of the orthotropic elastic properties of a composite involves extensive sample preparation and testing, therefore the elasticity tensor is generally populated using a micromechanics model. This, however, requires measuring the fiber orientation state in addition to knowing the constituent material properties. Experimentally measuring the fiber orientation state can be tedious and time consuming. Further, optical methods are limited to resolving the orientation of cylindrical fibers or cluster of non-cylindrical fibers, and computed tomography (CT) methods scan regions of volume that are much smaller than a full printed bead. Therefore, we propose a methodology, accelerated by machine learning, to identify the anisotropic mechanical properties and fiber orientation state at the same time. Early results show that inference of the fiber orientation and composite properties is possible with as few as three tensile tests. Our results show that a combination of the choice of the micromechanics model and reliable set of experiments can yield the nine elastic constants, as well as, the fiber orientation state.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Using additive manufacturing technologies in high-field accelerator magnet coils

Recent advances with additive manufacturing (AM) technologies using various materials allow them to be considered for the manufacture of precise and complicated metal parts of the magnet coils of high field accelerator magnets from aluminum bronze, titanium alloy, stainless steel, etc. The 3D printing technology is also being used to fabricate prototype models of real parts to test and optimize their geometry. This paper discusses the designs of the complex stress-management coil parts developed at Fermilab, their fabrication using AM technologies, and quality control methods and results.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

ARPA-E Grid Optimization (GO) Competition Challenge 3

Synthetic Input Data and Team Results for the GO Competition Challenge 3 for Events 1 - 4 and the Sandbox, along with problem and format descriptions and code to validate data and solutions, are available here. Data for industry scenarios will not be made public. The Grid Optimization (GO) Competition Challenge 3 focused on the security-constrained optimal power flow (SCOPF) problem. It is part of a continuing effort begun with Challenges 1 and 2, to successfully discover, develop, and test innovative and disruptive software solutions for critical energy challenges and to overcome existing barriers. The broader goal of the of the GO Competition is to accelerate the development of transformational and disruptive methods for solving problems related to the electric power grid and to provide a transparent, fair, and comprehensive evaluation of new solution methods. Challenge 3 used multiperiod dynamic markets, including advisory models for extreme weather events, day-ahead markets, and the real-time markets with an extended look-ahead. In Event 4, whose submission window was August 31-September 4, 2023, 14 teams solved for the objective values of 669 scenarios (39 scenarios required solutions both with and without line switching being allowed). The 591 synthetic scenarios from 9 network models (3.6 GB) are available here. Ten teams were funded to participate and 7 won prizes totaling $2,400,000. The largest prize ($550,000) went to Mississippi State University. An additional $600,000 was awarded in Event 3 (6/15-16/2023). No prizes were awarded in Events 1 (1/25-27/2023) or 2 (4/13-14/2023). For more information on the competition and challenge see the "GO Competition Challenge 3 Information" resource below.

ACOPF↗
DOE OSTI2023

Contribution of IN2P3 to PIP-II Project: Plans and Progress

IJCLab is one of the labs of IN2P3 (National institute of nuclear and particle physics), one of the ten research institutes composing the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). Since 2018, IJCLab has been involved in the PIP-II project, assisting with the design, development, and qualification of accelerator components for the SSR2 (Single Spoke Resonator type 2) section of the superconducting linac. The first pre-production components (cavity, coupler, and tuner) have been fabricated, and some of the first qualification tests have been performed at IJCLab. This paper will summarize the complete scope of IJCLab¿s contributions to PIP-II and give updates on the performances of the first pre-production components.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Demonstration of Niobium Tin in 218 MHz Low-beta Quarter Wave Accelerator Cavity

A 218 MHz quarter wave niobium cavity has been fabricated for the purpose of demonstrating Nb3Sn technology on a low-beta accelerator cavity. Niobiumtin has been established as a promising next generation SRF material, but development has focused primarily in high-beta elliptical cell cavities. This material has a significantly higher TC than niobium, allowing for design of higher frequency quarter wave cavities (that are subsequently smaller) as well as for significantly lowered cooling requirements (possibly leading to cryocooler based designs). The fabrication, initial cold testing, and Nb3Sn coating are discussed as well as test plans and details of future applications.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

A high repetition rate millimeter wavelength accelerator for an X-ray free-electron laser

A compact collinear wakefield accelerator has been designed for an X-ray free-electron laser capable of operating at a pulse repetition rate in the tens of kilohertz. The maximum achievable accelerating gradient has been determined, with its limitation linked to beam breakup instability. The fabrication techniques for the principal components of the accelerator including wakefield generation, couplers for excess power extraction and diagnostics, focusing quadrupoles, and a novel undulator have been discussed. Results from various laboratory and beam-based tests on these components have been compared to their original design specifications and demonstrated very good agreement. A preliminary design for the XFEL has been presented, featuring a novel small-period, force-neutral, adjustable-phase undulator.

26 undulator↗
DOE OSTI2021

High Efficiency, Low Cost RF Sources for Accelerators and Colliders

Calabazas Creek Research, Inc. (CCR) and its collaborators are developing high efficiency, low cost RF sources. Phase and Amplitude Controlled Magnetrons: CCR, Fermilab, and Communications & Power Industries, LLC (CPI) recently developed a 100 kW, 1.3 GHz magnetron system with amplitude and phase control. The system operated at more than 80% efficiency and demonstrated rapid control of amplitude and phase. Multiple Beam Triodes: CCR, in collaboration with CPI and JP Accelerator Works, Inc., is developing 200 kW, pulsed and CW RF sources from 350 to 700 MHz with projected efficiencies exceeding 80% and cost of $0.50/Watt. Prototype tubes are scheduled for tests in spring 2021. High Efficiency Klystrons:CCR, CPI, and Leidos, Inc. are building a 1.3 GHz, 100 kW klystron operating at 80% efficiency. High power testing is scheduled for summer 2021. Multiple Beam IOTs: CCR and Georgia Tech Research Institute are developing MBIOTs with simplified input coupling and high efficiency. Simulations indicate that 3rd harmonic drive power can increase the efficiency 8-10 %. The program is developing a prototype tube to produce 200 kW peak, 100 kW average power at 704 MHz.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Characterization of NbTi busbar for HL LHC Interaction Region Quadrupoles

The US Accelerator Upgrade for the HiLumi-LHC (US-HL-LHC AUP) project and CERN are designing and fabricating superconducting quadrupole magnets for the interaction regions of the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HLLHC). The triplet is made of three optical elements: Q1, Q2, and Q3. The Nb3Sn quadrupole magnets operate in superfluid He at 1.9 K with a nominal field gradient of 132.6 T/m. The three inner triplet elements are connected together with superconducting buses. The design and fabrication of the through and local buses is carried out at Applied Physics and Superconducting Technology Division (APS-TD) at Fermilab (FNAL). This paper reports the characterization of the bus-bar thermoelectric properties. The bus was tested with a short Nb3Sn magnet (MQXFS1e) in the vertical test facility of the APS-TD at FNAL. The test demonstrated that the bus design is adequate since no spontaneous quench took place up to 17.87 kA current value. Quench propagation velocities were investigated over a range of currents that is typical for accelerator superconducting magnets. Temperature margins were found above that required for the Hi- Lumi triplet bus. The design guarantees the protection of the bus at operational current value according to the quench detection voltage threshold (100 mV) established for the Hi-Lumi LHC interaction region.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Tuning Methanol Transformation Pathways for Sustainable Steam Reforming: Na-Promotion Effects on Ag/m-ZrO 2 Catalysts

This work investigates the influence of sodium promotion on Ag/m-ZrO 2 catalysts for methanol steam reforming (MSR), focusing on activity, selectivity, surface chemistry, and mechanistic pathways. Temperature programmed reduction (TPR), XANES/EXAFS, CO 2 TPD, DRIFTS, and temperature programmed surface reaction methods were combined with fixed bed MSR testing to develop an integrated structure–function understanding of Na-modified Ag-ZrO 2 interfaces. Na addition systematically increases surface basicity, stabilizes strongly basic O 2− sites, and weakens the ν(CH) vibrational mode of surface formate, thereby facilitating C–H bond scission and accelerating decarboxylation to CO 2 . At moderate promoter levels (0.5–1.0 wt.% Na), the catalysts show significantly enhanced CO 2 selectivity and increased conversion relative to unpromoted Ag/m-ZrO 2 , while CH 4 formation remains negligible. Excessive Na (≥1.8 wt.%) leads to slower formate decomposition, greater carbonate stabilization, and suppressed conversion, revealing a narrow optimum around 1 wt.% Na. Short-term stability testing demonstrates steady conversion and product selectivity for both unpromoted and Na-promoted catalysts, with the latter maintaining markedly higher CO 2 selectivity. Although Pt/YSZ retains far superior intrinsic activity at ~10× higher space velocity, Ag offers a cost-advantaged alternative where lower cost metals are desirable. Collectively, these findings show that Na promotion enables tunable MSR selectivity on Ag/m-ZrO 2 by directing formate decomposition toward the CO 2 -forming pathway.

CO2 selectivity↗
DOE OSTI2020

Fabrication and testing of high-performance all-metal neutron guides and axisymmetric mirrors by electrochemical replication

Neutron scattering is one of the most useful methods of studying the structure of matter, with applications to biomedical, structural, magnetic and energy-related materials. Neutron-scattering instruments are installed around research reactors or accelerator-based neutron sources, and neutron guides are critical components of these facilities. They are neutron-transport optical devices consisting of state-of-the-art mirrors often tens of meters long. Here we demonstrate a novel fabrication method of all-metallic neutron guides and axisymmetric mirrors by electroplating from precision mandrels. The process allows for the fabrication of single-piece all-metal guides of prismatic and axisymmetric shapes. We also demonstrate supermirror guides and axisymmetric focusing supermirrors produced with the same technology. We present the fabrication and tests of the multilayer-coated replicated guides and optic and show that the mandrel is reproduced with high fidelity and reliability. Furthermore, such supermirror optics will provide game-changing improvements in neutron techniques.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Accelerating Learning with Set-Based Concurrent Engineering

The traditional design approach for product development is to develop a design based on customer requirements and technical knowledge, build the product according to the detail requirements provided, and then test the product to validate that it works as intended. The team typically starts by identifying a single design approach and spends their time validating a single design during testing. Design teams often encounter issues in the course of development with performance, manufacturability, interfaces and more. To compensate for test failures, teams often build in time into the schedule for additional design loopbacks. Further, when the loopbacks lead to change, the late changes are costly and risky, causing the team to focuses on "fixing the bare minimum" to meet cost and schedule expectations.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2026

How Cloud is Accelerating Research at NREL

This presentation coincides with AWS's announcement of their new Parallel Computing Service (PCS) which allows for easy creation of HPC-style clusters in their AWS cloud computing platform. I helped them beta test this service before it was made generally available in August. AWS asked if we would be interested in discussing our experience with the PCS service, and our experience with HPC workloads in the cloud in general, so this slideshow discusses a brief history of scientific computing at NREL and shares a bit of our experiences and approach to utilizing cloud services for HPC-style workloads.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Simulated Lorentz Force Detuning Compensation With A Double Lever Tuner On A Dressed ILC/1.3 GHZ Cavity At Room Temperature

Pulsed SRF linacs with high accelerating gradients experience large frequency shifts caused by Lorentz force detuning (LFD). A piezoelectric actuator with a resonance control algorithm can maintain the cavity frequency at the nominal level, thus reducing the RF power. This study uses a double lever tuner with a piezoelectric actuator for compensation and another piezoelectric actuator to simulate the effects of the Lorentz force pulse. A double lever tuner has an advantage by increasing the stiffness of the cavity-tuner system, thus reducing the impact of LFD. The tests are conducted at room temperature and with a dressed 1.3 GHz 9-cell cavity.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Modeling low cycle fatigue (LCF) of additively manufactured Hastelloy X using An accelerated crystal plasticity fatigue damage model

This paper presents a microstructure-based model for low cycle fatigue (LCF) behavior and life of Nickel-based alloy Hastelloy X manufactured using laser-powder bed fusion (L-PBF) additive manufacturing (AM). AM Hastelloy X, a solution-strengthened alloy, is tested at elevated temperature under fully reversed LCF conditions at different strain levels. A generalized plane strain finite element model is generated from electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) characterization. The constitutive behavior of the material under fatigue is modeled using crystal plasticity and calibrated with both monotonic tensile and cyclic stress–strain data. The fatigue micro-crack initiation and propagation in the microstructure is modeled using a modified Chaboche fatigue damage model. An embedded boundary condition with a homogenous medium is used to apply the cyclic deformation and prevent numerically introduced over-constraints during fatigue simulation. A ‘cycle-jump’ method is used to accelerate the fatigue simulation and reduce the computational cost. The simulation results are compared to LCF experiments, showing satisfactory matches in cyclic stress behavior and number of cycles to macro-crack initiation for all applied strain ranges. In addition, the model illustrates the potential for quantifying microscale fatigue life impacting factors such as microstructure and surface roughness, which is needed to accurately quantify the reliability of AM components in service.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Degradation and Accelerated Recovery of Surface Passivation in n+, p+, and Intrinsic Poly-Si/SiOx Passivating Contacts for Silicon Solar Cells

We report on the degradation and recovery of surface passivation of fired poly-Si/SiOx passivating contacts with hydrogen containing Al2O3 during annealing in the dark and under illumination. Upon firing to a peak temperature of 670 degrees C, the iVoc for symmetric test structures with n+, p+, and intrinsic poly-Si/SiOx contacts decreases due to a loss of surface passivation. Upon further annealing over the temperature range of 200-350 degrees C in the dark, depending on the type of doping, the surface passivation either shows further degradation followed by recovery, or direct recovery to the initial iVoc. Annealing at higher temperatures and/or higher illumination intensities accelerates the kinetics for both degradation and recovery processes. We show that the degradation and recovery processes are thermally activated and proceed identically in subsequent firing and annealing steps showing their cyclic nature. We present a series reaction model to explain the kinetics of degradation and recovery processes for n+ and intrinsic poly-Si/SiOx contacts. By fitting the model's rate expressions to the data, the determined effective activation energy barriers for degradation and recovery for n+ poly-Si/SiOx contacts in the dark are 1.24 and 1.51 eV, which are lowered under 7.5 Suns illumination to 0.76 and 1.15 eV, respectively.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗