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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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

H-Canyon Jumper Gasket Sealing Evaluation

H-Canyon Documented Safety Analysis approved December 2019 credits the leak integrity of H-Canyon (HCA) process tanks, piping, and jumpers in preventing the release of radioactive material in a post seismic environment. Demonstration of leak tightness capability for this equipment was achieved through substantial analytical effort. However, one potential weak point that affects leak integrity exists at the gasketed joint between Hanford Connectors (HC) and nozzles. Review of the HCA Crane Log over a three-year period indicates the HCs periodically leak. Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) was requested to perform gasket compression tests that evaluate gasket relaxation characteristics, i.e., creep, and provide improvements to the HC installation process that can reduce or eliminate the frequency of leaks at HCs. A HC torque value of 312 ft-lbf is the target value used because it is the minimum torque value, with 95% confidence, when an unlubricated HC is impacted for standard sealing period of 9 seconds. In the HCA pipe-jumper connections are installed remotely by using HCs. HCs inherently add to the uncertainty of a gasketed joint because a calibrated torque value cannot be applied. The gasket material is a special material made of asbestos-fiber impregnated with Teflon. This material has been used for decades and generally performs well but does leak intermittently as gaskets creep and preloaded torque is lost. Gasket types are either snap-ring (SR) or lampshade (LS). Both gasket types cover the same seating area. The SR gasket is designed to remain with the jumper when the jumper is removed leaving the nozzle faces clean of any debris. SR gaskets are initially installed when the jumper is fabricated. Changing gaskets is time consuming and the radioactive environment presents risks to personnel. When jumpers are removed LS gaskets could be used to better seal the connection to reduce down time and ALARA concerns. That is, an LS gasket would be remotely positioned over the nozzle and the HC reinstalled. Testing also included two situations not typical of plant operation. One situation was the use of the non-standard double-layered gaskets (DG), and the other situation was the use of a LS without removal of the installed SR gasket. The DG was used when the supply of LS gaskets ended, so that testing could continue. It was of interest to demonstrate this gasket’s creep response because the DG, which was two gaskets glued together, was thicker than the LS gasket and the thicker material was expected to elicit a greater creep characteristics. The second situation of using two gaskets together by installing an LS gasket without removing the installed gasket is not allowed by the ASME Codes. However, by demonstrating the creep history of such a gasket arrangement it could be considered as an option that could possibly seal a connection while significantly reducing operational down time and personnel risk. Forty tests were conducted, and the overall results demonstrate the initial applied force and how the gasket changes with time. The change in sealing force, in terms of torque, was then measured to obtain a force history as the gaskets creep. This report documents the results of those tests as well as the method used to perform the tests.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2015

Anvil cell gasket design for high pressure nuclear magnetic resonance experiments beyond 30 GPa

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments are reported at up to 30.5 GPa of pressure using radiofrequency (RF) micro-coils with anvil cell designs. These are the highest pressures ever reported with NMR, and are made possible through an improved gasket design based on nano-crystalline powders embedded in epoxy resin. Cubic boron-nitride (c-BN), corundum (α-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}), or diamond based composites have been tested, also in NMR experiments. These composite gaskets lose about 1/2 of their initial height up to 30.5 GPa, allowing for larger sample quantities and preventing damages to the RF micro-coils compared to precipitation hardened CuBe gaskets. It is shown that NMR shift and resolution are less affected by the composite gaskets as compared to the more magnetic CuBe. The sensitivity can be as high as at normal pressure. The new, inexpensive, and simple to engineer gaskets are thus superior for NMR experiments at high pressures.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2022

Sealability Qualification of Material Extruded Zytel Gaskets at Extreme Temperatures

In this work, an in-depth qualification of additively manufactured Zytel for gasketing proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC’s) subject to extreme temperature conditions. The temperature cycling of the PEMFC from 55°C to 100°C accelerates the deterioration of these gaskets compared to that of conventional operation. The additive manufacturing process employed to print these gaskets is material extrusion using Zytel filament. In order to see the effects of the temperature of interest on the printed specimen, each specimen was thermally soaked and then charactered and tested according to ASTM standard F37B. ASTM F37B tests a materials ability to seal and maintain it while bearing both a compressive load and internal pressure load to simulate being in static operation. This process of thermally soaking and sealability testing is shown to show the validity of both this material and additive manufactured components for other applications as well. It is observed that soaking the gaskets at 100°C corrects some of the defects that are present after printing such as missing layers and small voids on the surface of the samples. This allowed for the hot soaked materials to perform better than the samples at room temperature and cold soaked.

Sealability↗
DOE OSTI2016

High Temperature Sealants and Gaskets in Nuclear Applications

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has been conducting research to develop and deploy advances in ceramic filter technology to benefit nuclear facilities. There is a need for better materials for High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters, especially those able to withstand moisture and higher temperatures as experienced in fire conditions. One of the next steps in this process is the improvement of the system sealants and gaskets. The LLNL team has reached out to the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) for assistance with the task of identifying potential materials as well as conducting experiments utilizing the testing units developed by LLNL's collaboration with California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly). Current commercial filters use fluid seals and urethane gasket seals. Although these seals are sufficient for the minimum requirements of existing nuclear facilities, they will not be sufficient as improvements in ceramic filters and pre-filters reach their full potential. Currently, HEPA filters can only survive up to 1000 deg. F (exhaust air) and 500 deg. F (supply air) for less than 2 hours. Our research at the University of Texas at El Paso reviewed hundreds of sealant and gasket materials to identify improved sealants and gaskets that can be used in existing filters as well as ceramic HEPA filters and pre-filters. Results of the research will be supplied to support the relevant code, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) AG-1, in particular Section FO. (authors)

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2016

High Temperature Sealants and Gaskets in Nuclear Applications

LLNL has been conducting research to develop and deploy advances in ceramic filter technology to benefit nuclear facilities. There is a need for better materials for HEPA filters, especially those able to withstand moisture and higher temperatures as experienced in fire conditions. One of the next steps in this process is the improvement of the system sealants and gaskets. Current commercial filters use fluid seals and urethane gasket seals. Although these seals are sufficient for the minimum requirements of existing nuclear facilities, they will not be sufficient as improvements in ceramic filters and pre-filters reach their full potential. Currently, HEPA filters can only survive up to 1000°F (exhaust air) and 500°F (supply air) for less than 2 hours. Our research at the University of Texas at El Paso reviewed hundreds of sealant and gasket materials to identify improved sealants and gaskets that can be used in existing filters as well as ceramic HEPA filters and prefilters. Results of the research will be supplied to support the relevant code, ASME AG-1, in particular Section FO.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

The Qualification of Sealability and Creep Relaxation of Additively Manufactured Zytel Gaskets for PEM Fuel Cells

The purpose of this thesis is to study the feasibility of low-cost additive manufacturing of gaskets for proton exchange membrane fuel cells exposed to extreme temperature conditions ranging from -55°C to 100°C. With the growing popularity and decreasing costs of additive manufacturing technologies, specifically Material Extrusion (ME), research is being conducted to determine the feasibility of ME components. Thermally cycled PEMFCs may exhibit accelerated gasket deterioration, therefore, the mechanical stability of material extruded gaskets following a harsh thermal cycle must be assessed. The feasibility of the material extruded gaskets will be proven by manufacturing optimization and mechanical testing. The target material for this study is Zytel by DuPont Chemical. The mechanical stability will be assessed via sealability and creep relaxation testing according to ASTM F37B and ASTM F38B respectively. Because the capabilities to conduct sealability testing at temperature were not available, each specimen was thermally soaked and allowed to return to room temperature prior to testing. As a result of sealability experiments, the 100°C-soaked specimens resulted in lower leak rates with a higher precision when compared to specimens soaked at -55°C and 22°C at across all compressive loads. It was observed from results from creep relaxation testing that there is thermal contraction and expansion occurring at 55°C and 100°C respectively, which can be observed by the resultant graphs. The recoverability of thermally cycled specimens are better than those that just experienced a high temperature hold. After the seven-day thermal cycle, the samples stabilized and maintained their structure.

Lazarin, Robert↗
DOE OSTI2023

Interface gasket for building envelope

A gasket assembly for attaching a window to a panel opening includes an inner frame, an outer frame, and an elastic material connecting the inner frame to the outer frame. The elastic material extends contiguously and circumferentially to couple the outer frame to the inner frame. The outer frame and inner frame can include gap flanges and the elastic material can include opposing lateral side portions. The gap flanges are embedded in the lateral side portions of the elastic material. The outer frame includes connecting structure for coupling of the outer frame to the panel opening. The inner frame includes a connecting structure for coupling of the gasket assembly to the window. The gasket assembly is configured to support the window in the panel opening and form a seal between the panel opening and the window. A method of making a gasket assembly is also disclosed.

Aaron, Adam M.↗
DOE OSTI2025

3D printed polymer gaskets for custom-form batteries

Additive manufacturing (AM) processes, like 3D printing, help to facilitate complex and customizable battery geometries which can provide design freedom and enhance volumetric energy density within electronic devices. AM materials must have the thermal and mechanical properties that enable printability, and when used in batteries, AM materials must also be chemically and electrochemically compatible with the battery chemistry. The compatibility between AM materials and the battery is of particular importance for the cell packaging materials which must be inert and are often overlooked. This study systematically studies AM-compatible polymeric materials for use as gaskets in lithium-ion cells. The materials investigated include three thermoplastics suitable for material extrusion printing: polylactic acid (PLA), polycarbonate, and polypropylene/polyethylene copolymer (PPPEC); and two photoresins suitable for vat photopolymerization (VPP) printing: an acrylate-based photoresin and a polyethylene glycol diacrylate photoresin. The AM gasket materials were tested in comparison to a conventional commercial polypropylene gasket. Mechanical testing (swell measurements and material stiffness) and electrochemical testing (linear sweep voltammetry and galvanostatic cycling of full cells) demonstrated that PLA and the VPP polymers were the least compatible with the lithium-ion battery chemistry, despite their prevalent use in studies of AM batteries, and that PPPEC was the most compatible.

3D printing↗
DOE OSTI2016

Analyzing the photonic band gaps in two-dimensional plasma photonic crystals with fractal Sierpinski gasket structure based on the Monte Carlo method

In this paper, the properties of photonic band gaps (PBGs) in two types of two-dimensional plasma-dielectric photonic crystals (2D PPCs) under a transverse-magnetic (TM) wave are theoretically investigated by a modified plane wave expansion (PWE) method where Monte Carlo method is introduced. The proposed PWE method can be used to calculate the band structures of 2D PPCs which possess arbitrary-shaped filler and any lattice. The efficiency and convergence of the present method are discussed by a numerical example. The configuration of 2D PPCs is the square lattices with fractal Sierpinski gasket structure whose constituents are homogeneous and isotropic. The type-1 PPCs is filled with the dielectric cylinders in the plasma background, while its complementary structure is called type-2 PPCs, in which plasma cylinders behave as the fillers in the dielectric background. The calculated results reveal that the enough accuracy and good convergence can be obtained, if the number of random sampling points of Monte Carlo method is large enough. The band structures of two types of PPCs with different fractal orders of Sierpinski gasket structure also are theoretically computed for a comparison. It is demonstrate that the PBGs in higher frequency region are more easily produced in the type-1 PPCs rather than in the type-2 PPCs. Sierpinski gasket structure introduced in the 2D PPCs leads to a larger cutoff frequency, enhances and induces more PBGs in high frequency region. The effects of configurational parameters of two types of PPCs on the PBGs are also investigated in detail. The results show that the PBGs of the PPCs can be easily manipulated by tuning those parameters. The present type-1 PPCs are more suitable to design the tunable compacted devices.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

H-Canyon Jumper Gasket Sealing Evaluation

H-Canyon Documented Safety Analysis approved December 2019 credits the leak integrity of HCanyon (HCA) process tanks, piping, and jumpers in preventing the release of radioactive material in a post seismic environment. Demonstration of leak tightness capability for this equipment was achieved through substantial analytical effort. However, one potential weak point that affects leak integrity exists at the gasketed joint between Hanford Connectors (HC) and nozzles. Review of the HCA Crane Log over a three-year period indicates the HCs periodically leak. Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) was requested to perform gasket compression tests that evaluate gasket relaxation characteristics, i.e., creep, and provide improvements to the HC installation process that can reduce or eliminate the frequency of leaks at HCs. A HC torque value of 312 ft-lbf is the target value used because it is the minimum torque value, with 95% confidence, when an unlubricated HC is impacted for standard sealing period of 9 seconds.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2015

Impact of Different Standard Type A7A Drum Closure-Ring Practices on Gasket Contraction and Bolt Closure Distance– 15621

The Department of Energy, the Savannah River National Laboratory, several manufacturers of specification drums, and the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) are collaborating in the development of a guidance document for DOE contractors and vendors who wish to qualify containers to DOT 7A Type A requirements. Currently, the effort is focused on DOT 7A Type A 208-liter (55-gallons) drums with a standard 12-gauge bolted closure ring. The U.S. requirements, contained in Title 49, Part 178.350 “Specification 7A; general packaging, Type A specifies a competent authority review of the packaging is not required for the transport of (Class 7) radioactive material containing less than Type A quantities of radioactive material. For Type AF drums, a 4 ft. regulatory free drop must be performed, such that the drum “suffers maximum damage.” Although the actual orientation is not defined by the specification, recent studies suggest that maximum damage would result from a shallow angle top impact, where kinetic energy is transferred to the lid, ultimately causing heavy damage to the lid, or even worse, causing the lid to come off. Since each vendor develops closure recommendations/procedures for the drums they manufacture, key parameters applied to drums during closing vary based on vendor. As part of the initial phase of the collaboration, the impact of the closure variants on the ability of the drum to suffer maximum damage is investigated. Specifically, closure testing is performed varying: 1) the amount of torque applied to the closure ring bolt; and, 2) stress relief protocol, including: a) weight of hammer; and, b) orientation that the hammer hits the closure ring. After closure, the amount of drum lid gasket contraction and the distance that the closure bolt moves through the closure ring is measured.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2015

Impact of different standard type A7A drum closure-ring practices on gasket contraction and bolt closure distance - 15621

The Department of Energy, the Savannah River National Laboratory, several manufacturers of specification drums, and the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) are collaborating in the development of a guidance document for DOE contractors and vendors who wish to qualify containers to DOT 7A Type A requirements. Currently, the effort is focused on DOT 7A Type A 208-liter (55-gallons) drums with a standard 12-gauge bolted closure ring. The U.S. requirements, contained in Title 49, Part 178.350 'Specification 7A; general packaging, Type A specifies a competent authority review of the packaging is not required for the transport of (Class 7) radioactive material containing less than Type A quantities of radioactive material. For Type AF drums, a 4 ft. regulatory free drop must be performed, such that the drum 'suffers maximum damage.' Although the actual orientation is not defined by the specification, recent studies suggest that maximum damage would result from a shallow angle top impact, where kinetic energy is transferred to the lid, ultimately causing heavy damage to the lid, or even worse, causing the lid to come off. Since each vendor develops closure recommendations/procedures for the drums they manufacture, key parameters applied to drums during closing vary based on vendor. As part of the initial phase of the collaboration, the impact of the closure variants on the ability of the drum to suffer maximum damage is investigated. Specifically, closure testing is performed varying: 1) the amount of torque applied to the closure ring bolt; and, 2) stress relief protocol, including: a) weight of hammer; and, b) orientation that the hammer hits the closure ring. After closure, the amount of drum lid gasket contraction and the distance that the closure bolt moves through the closure ring is measured. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2022

Narrow Slot Gasket Grooves And Step Changes In Width

We provide corrections to the slot capacitance and inverse inductance per unit length for slot gasket groove geometries using an approximate conformal mapping approach. We also provide corrections for abrupt step changes in slot width along with boundary discontinuity conditions for implementation in the various slot models.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2015

NCO-5 Technician Cuts Finger while Cutting Gasket Material

As part of the ADPSM Safety Improvement Plan, the WSST has established a subcommittee for a Learning Team. The purpose of a Learning Team is to transfer and communicate the information into operational feedback and improvement. We want to pay attention to the small things that go wrong because they are often early warning signals and may provide insight into the health of the whole system.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗