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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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Mechanical and heat treatments for precipitation hardenable stainless steels and effects on mechanical properties
Mechanical properties of lunar surface at Surveyor III landing site
Mechanical properties of Surveyor 7 Tycho landing site compared with properties of maria lunar landing sites
Mechanical properties, morphology, and relaxation processes in elastomers and crystalline polymers
This paper investigates the mechanical properties and strengthening mechanisms of cold sprayed Al-Mg alloys as a function of Mg content. Cold spray (CS) is a solid-state deposition process that can be used as a repair technique for structural components. However, the limited ductility of cold sprayed materials is an unsettled issue in CS community. Herein, reproducible, and significantly increased elongation to failure (∼15%) in as-deposited conditions is reported in CS Al-Mg binary alloys with low Mg content (≤ 2.5 wt%). Furthermore, reducing Mg content down to 2.5 wt% in CS Al-Mg binary alloys demonstrated comparable mechanical strength to its wrought counterparts. Strengthening mechanisms were analyzed in wrought and CS Al-Mg alloys based upon microstructural characteristics, such as grain size, Mg solute concentration, and dislocation density. A quantitative evaluation of yield strength revealed that grain boundary strengthening is predominant in CS Al-Mg alloys as compared with their wrought counterparts. When comparing among CS Al-Mg binary alloys of different compositions, Mg solute concentration, and dislocation density governed mechanical strength. In conclusion, the underlying mechanism for the variation of mechanical properties and strengthening mechanisms is discussed in terms of these microstructural characteristics.
The mechanical properties of bare ZM-21 magnesium alloy flat tensile specimens were determined for test temperatures of +400 F, +300 F, +200 F, +80 F, 0 F, -100 F, -200 F, and -320 F. The ultimate tensile and yield strengths of the material increased with decreasing temperature with a corresponding reduction in elongation values. Stress corrosion tests performed under: (1) MSFC atmospheric conditions; (2) 95% relative humidity; and (3) submerged in 100 ppm chloride solution for 8 weeks indicated that the alloy is not susceptible to stress corrosion. The corrosion tests indicated that the material is susceptible to attack by crevice corrosion in high humidity and chemical type attack by chloride solution. Atmospheric conditions at MSFC did not produce any adverse effects on the material, probably due to the rapid formation of a protective oxide coating. In both the mechanical properties and the stress corrosion evaluations the test specimens which were cut transverse to the rolling direction had superior properties when compared to the longitudinal properties.
Behavior of various alloys, polymers and composites
The mechanical properties of bones are governed by the same principles as those of man-made load-bearing structures, but the organism is able to adapt its bone structure to changes in skeletal loading. In this overview of the determinants of the strength and stiffness of bone, a continuum approach has been taken, in which the behavior of a macroscopic structure depends on its shape and size, and on the mechanical properties of the material within. The latter are assumed to depend on the composition (porosity and mineralization) and organization (trabecular or cortical bone architecture, collagen fiber orientation, fatigue damage) of the bone. The effects of each of these factors are reviewed. Also, the possible means of non-invasively estimating the strength or other mechanical properties of a bone are reviewed, including quantitative computed tomography, photon absorptiometry, and ultrasonic measurements. The best estimates of strength have been obtained with photon absorptiometry and computed tomography, which at best are capable of accounting for 90% of the strength variability in a simple in vitro test, but results from different laboratories have been highly variable.
Lunar surface mechanical properties as determined from photographs and landing dynamics of Surveyor I spacecraft
Lunar surface mechanical properties determined by landing impacts, telemetry data from Surveyor III, and comparison of data collected by Surveyor I and Surveyor III
Beta transition mechanism dynamic mechanical properties in bisphenol-A based epoxy resins prepared with different curatives
Lunar surface mechanical properties derived from Surveyor 5 photographs
Lunar soil mechanical properties studied by Surveyor 5 erosion experiment
Lunar surface mechanical properties at Surveyor 5 site
Dynamic mechanical spectroscopy has emerged as an effective laboratory method for analytical investigations of polymers. These methods were applied in investigating the property changes of silicone poppets implanted in artificial heart valves, and for exploring the cause of hardening of certain solid propellants. As a research activity, the property-structure relations which lead to the ability to superimpose dynamic data for epoxy resins were investigated.
Ultrasonic techniques for mechanical property characterizations are reviewed and conceptual models are advanced for explaining and interpreting the empirically based results. At present, the technology is generally empirically based and is emerging from the research laboratory. Advancement of the technology will require establishment of theoretical foundations for the experimentally observed interrelations among ultrasonic measurements, mechanical properties, and microstructure. Conceptual models are applied to ultrasonic assessment of fracture toughness to illustrate an approach for predicting correlations found among ultrasonic measurements, microstructure, and mechanical properties.
Mechanical properties and morphology of poly(etheretherketone) (PEEK) were studied for samples having different thermal histories. Isothermal and rate-dependent crystallization were studied to ascertain the relationship between crystallinity/morphology and processing condition. Degree of crystallinity and microstructure were controlled by cooling the melt at different rates, ranging from quenching to slowly cooling, and by annealing amorphous material above the glass transition temperature Tg. It is found that degree of crystallinity was not as important as processing history in determining the room temperature mechanical properties. Samples with the same degree of crystallinity had very different tensile properties, depending on rate of cooling from the melt. All samples yielded by shear band formation and necked down. Quenched films had the largest breaking strains, drawing to 270 percent. Slowly cooled films exhibited ductile failure at relatively low strains. Best combined mechanical properties were obtained from semicrystalline films cooled at intermediate rates from the melt.
PRM (polymerization of monomeric reactants) methodology was used to prepare thirty different polyimide oligomeric resins. Monomeric composition as well as chain length between sites of crosslinks were varied to examine their effects on glass transition temperature (Tg) of the cured/postcured resins. An almost linear correlation of Tg versus molecular distance between the crosslinks was observed. An attempt was made to correlate Tg with initial mechanical properties (flexural strength and interlaminar shear strength) of unidirectional graphite fiber composites prepared with these resins. However, the scatter in mechanical strength data prevented obtaining as clear a correlation as was observed for the structural modification/crosslink distance versus Tg. Instead, only a range of composite mechanical properties was obtained at the test temperatures studied (room temperature, 288 and 316 C). Perhaps more importantly, what did become apparent during the attempted correlation study was: (1) that PMR methodology could be used to prepare composites from resins that contain a wide variety of monomer modifications, and (2) that these composites almost invariably provided satisfactory initial mechanical properties as long as the resins selected were melt processable.