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At least 181 records · Page 10
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2011

Modeling and Characterization of Damage Processes in Metallic Materials

This paper describes a broad effort that is aimed at understanding the fundamental mechanisms of crack growth and using that understanding as a basis for designing materials and enabling predictions of fracture in materials and structures that have small characteristic dimensions. This area of research, herein referred to as Damage Science, emphasizes the length scale regimes of the nanoscale and the microscale for which analysis and characterization tools are being developed to predict the formation, propagation, and interaction of fundamental damage mechanisms. Examination of nanoscale processes requires atomistic and discrete dislocation plasticity simulations, while microscale processes can be examined using strain gradient plasticity, crystal plasticity and microstructure modeling methods. Concurrent and sequential multiscale modeling methods are being developed to analytically bridge between these length scales. Experimental methods for characterization and quantification of near-crack tip damage are also being developed. This paper focuses on several new methodologies in these areas and their application to understanding damage processes in polycrystalline metals. On-going and potential applications are also discussed.

Glaessgen, E. H.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Fast Assessment of Metal Performance through Dislocation Physics and Machine Learning

The microstructure of metals is key to their mechanical properties. The types, density, composition and morphology of crystal defects all have pronounced impact on the properties. Changes to the microstructure occurring during processing and use can be very striking. The emerging technology additive manufacturing (AM) has the potential to improve performance by allowing optimized designs, but the process and environments can lead to unusual microscale features whose properties must be understood and characterized to enable higher technological readiness levels and application. Experimentally, an extensive evaluation of mechanical properties of 3D printed metals is a challenge, and anomalous effects related to the AM process add complexity. We present a new machine learning (ML) model predicting mechanical response based on dislocation mediated plasticity simulations. A large set of 3D discrete dislocation dynamics simulations with wide ranges of loading conditions is transformed to preprocessed data ready for training with the ML model. The trained model can predict the mechanical response of Mo30W for a given microstructure evolution, providing key information essential for optimization of AM processing.

Jaehyun Cho↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Fast Assessment of Metal Performance through Dislocation Physics and Machine Learning

The microstructure of metals is key to their mechanical properties. The types, density, composition and morphology of crystal defects all have pronounced impact on the properties. Changes to the microstructure occurring during processing and use can be very striking. The emerging technology additive manufacturing (AM) has the potential to improve performance by allowing optimized designs, but the process and environments can lead to unusual microscale features whose properties must be understood and characterized to enable higher technological readiness levels and application. Experimentally, an extensive evaluation of mechanical properties of 3D printed metals is a challenge, and anomalous effects related to the AM process add complexity. We present a new machine learning (ML) model predicting mechanical response based on dislocation mediated plasticity simulations. A large set of 3D discrete dislocation dynamics simulations with wide ranges of loading conditions is transformed to preprocessed data ready for training with the ML model. The trained model can predict the mechanical response of Mo30W for a given microstructure evolution, providing key information essential for optimization of AM processing.

Jaehyun Cho↗
NASA NTRS1998

Crystal Growth of ZnSe and Related Ternary Compound Semiconductors by Vapor Transport

Interest in optical devices which can operate in the visible spectrum has motivated research interest in the II-VI wide band gap semiconductor materials. The recent challenge for semiconductor opto-electronics is the development of a laser which can operate at short visible wavelengths, In the past several years, major advances in thin film technology such as molecular beam epitaxy and metal organic chemical vapor deposition have demonstrated the applicability of II-VI materials to important devices such as light-emitting diodes, lasers, and ultraviolet detectors.The demonstration of its optical bistable properties in bulk and thin film forms also make ZnSe a possible candidate material for the building blocks of a digital optical computer. Despite this, developments in the crystal growth of bulk II-VI semiconductor materials has not advanced far enough to provide the low price, high quality substrates needed for the thin film growth technology. The electrical and optical properties of semiconductor materials depend on the native point defects, (the deviation from stoichiometry), and the impurity or dopant distribution. To date, the bulk growth of ZnSe substrates has been plagued with problems related to defects such as non-uniform distributions of native defects, impurities and dopants, lattice strain, dislocations, grain boundaries, and second phase inclusions which greatly effect the device performance. In the bulk crystal growth of some technologically important semiconductors, such as ZnTe, CdS, ZnSe and ZnS, vapor growth techniques have significant advantages over melt growth techniques due to the high melting points of these materials.

Su, Ching-Hua↗
NASA NTRS1999

Electrical Impact of SiC Structural Crystal Defects on High Electric Field Devices (Invited)

As illustrated by the invited paper at this conference and other works, SiC wafers and epilayers contain a variety of crystallographic imperfections, including micropipes, closed-core screw dislocations, grain boundaries, basal plane dislocations, heteropolytypic inclusions, and surfaces that are often damaged and contain atomically rough features like step bunching and growth pits or hillocks. Present understanding of the operational impact of various crystal imperfections on SiC electrical devices is reviewed, with an emphasis placed on high-field SiC power devices and circuits.

Neudeck, Philip G.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Coordinated Stem and NanoSIMS Analysis of Enstatite Whiskers in Interplanetary Dust Particles

Enstatite whiskers (less than 10 micrometer length, less than 200 nanometer width) occur in chondritic-porous interplanetary dust particles (CP IDPs), an Antarctic micrometeorite and a comet 81P/Wild-2 sample. The whiskers are typically elongated along the [100] axis and contain axial screw dislocations, while those in terrestrial rocks and meteorites are elongated along [001]. The unique crystal morphologies and microstructures are consistent with the enstatite whiskers condensing above approximately 1300 K in a low-pressure nebular or circumstellar gas. To constrain the site of enstatite whisker formation, we carried out coordinated mineralogical, chemical and oxygen isotope measurements on enstatite whiskers in a CP IDP.

Nakamura-Messenger, K.↗
NASA NTRS1990

The potential for ductility enhancement from surface and interface dislocation sources in NiAl

Limited ductility and toughness of NiAl and related aluminides near room temperature pose major problems in their potential application as structural materials. An analysis of these problems is presented as part of a review of the flow and fracture behavior of binary NiAl. Following this discussion is a demonstration that conditions of elastic and plastic constraint associated with phase boundaries afforded by surface films, internal lamellae, or precipitates may introduce sufficient densities of mobile dislocations to enhance the ductility of NiAl-based materials by significant amounts. Examples of this behavior are presented for several model materials, including 001- and 123-oriented single crystals of oxide-coated NiAl, directionally solidified beta-gamma-prime (Ni70Al30) and beta-gamma (Ni50Fe30Al20) in situ composites, and several NiAl/precipitate systems. The nature of the resulting dislocation substructures and the effects of several materials variables are described.

Noebe, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Quantification Of 4H- To 3C-Polymorphism In Silicon Carbide (SiC) Epilayers And An Investigation Of Recombination-Enhanced Dislocation Motion In SiC By Optical Emission Microscopy (Oem) Techniques

Environments that impose operational constraints on conventional silicon-(Si) based semiconductor devices frequently appear in military- and space-grade applications. These constraints include high temperature, high power, and high radiation environments. Silicon carbide (SiC), an alternative type of semiconductor material, has received abundant research attention in the past few years, owing to its radiation-hardened properties as well as its capability to withstand high temperatures and power levels. However, the growth and manufacture of SiC devices is still comparatively immature, and there are severe limitations in present crystal growth and device fabrication processes. Among these limitations is a variety of crystal imperfections known as defects. These imperfections can be point defects (e.g., vacancies and interstitials), line defects (e.g., edge and screw dislocations), or planar defects (e.g., stacking faults and double-positioning boundaries). All of these defects have been experimentally shown to be detrimental to the performance of electron devices made from SiC. As such, it is imperative that these defects are significantly reduced in order for SiC devices to become a viable entity in the electronics world. The NASA Glenn High Temperature Integrated Electronics & Sensors Team (HTIES) is working to identify and eliminate these defects in SiC by implementing improved epitaxial crystal growth procedures. HTIES takes two-inch SiC wafers and etches patterns, producing thousands of mesas into each wafer. Crystal growth is then carried out on top of these mesas in an effort to produce films of improved quality-resulting in electron devices that demonstrate superior performance-as well as fabrication processes that are cost-effective, reliable, and reproducible. In this work, further steps are taken to automate HTIES' SiC wafer inspection system. National Instruments LabVIEW image processing and pattern recognition routines are developed that are capable of quantifying and mapping defects on both the substrate and mesa surfaces, and of quantifying polymorphic changes in the grown materials. In addition, an optical emission microscopy (OEM) system is developed that will facilitate comprehensive study of recombination-enhanced dislocation motion (REDM).

Speer, Kevin M.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Three-Dimensional Stress Fields and Slip Systems for Single Crystal Superalloy Notched Specimens

Single crystal superalloys have become increasingly popular for turbine blade and vane applications due to their high strength, and creep and fatigue resistance at elevated temperatures. The crystallographic orientation of a single crystal material greatly affects its material properties, including elastic modulus, shear modulus, and ductility. These directional properties, along with the type of loading and temperature, dictate an anisotropic response in the yield strength, creep resistance, creep rupture ductility, fatigue resistance, etc. A significant amount of research has been conducted to determine the material properties in the <001> orientation, yet the material properties deviating from the <001> orientation have not been assessed for all cases. Based on the desired application and design criteria, a crystal orientation is selected to yield the maximum properties. Currently, single crystal manufacturing is able to control the primary crystallographic orientation within 15 of the target orientation, which is an acceptable deviation to meet both performance and cost guidelines; the secondary orientation is rarely specified. A common experiment is the standard load-controlled tensile test, in which specimens with different orientations can be loaded to observe the material response. The deformation behavior of single-crystal materials under tension and compression is known to be a function of not only material orientation, but also of varying microdeformation (i.e. dislocation) mechanisms. The underlying dislocation motion causes deformation via slip, and affects the activation of specific slip systems based on load and orientation. The slip can be analyzed by observing the visible traces left on the surface of the specimen from the slip activity within the single crystal material. The goal of this thesis was to predict the slip systems activated in three-dimensional stress fields of a notched tensile specimen, as a function of crystal orientation, using finite element analysis without addressing microstructural deformation mechanisms that govern their activation. Out of three orientations tested, the specimen with a [110] load orientation and a [001] growth direction had the lowest maximum resolved shear stress; this specimen orientation appears to be the best design candidate for a tensile application.

Magnan, Shannon M.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Shock Deformation in Zircon, a Comparison of Results from Shock-Reverberation and Single-Shock Experiments

The utility of the mineral zircon, ZrSiO4, as a shock-metamorphic geobarometer and geochronometer, has been steadily growing within the planetary science community. Zircon is an accessory phase found in many terrestrial rock types, lunar samples, lunar meteorites, martian meteorites and various other achondrites. Because zircon is refractory and has a high closure temperature for Pb diffusion, it has been used to determine the ages of some of the oldest material on Earth and elsewhere in the Solar System. Furthermore, major (O) and trace-element (REE, Ti, Hf) abundances and isotope compositions of zircon help characterize the petrogenetic environments and sources from which they crystallized. The response of zircon to impact-induced shock deformation is predominantly crystallographic, including dislocation creep and the formation of planar and sub-planar, low-angle grain boundaries; the formation of mechanical {112} twins; transformation to the high pressure polymorph reidite; the development of polycrystalline microtextures; and dissociation to the oxide constituents SiO2 and ZrO2. Shock microstructures can also variably affect the U- Pb isotope systematics of zircon and, in some instances, be used to constrain the impact age. While numerous studies have characterized shock deformation in zircon recovered from a variety of terrestrial impact craters and ejecta deposits and Apollo samples, experimental studies of shock deformation in zircon are limited to a handful of examples in the literature. In addition, the formation conditions (e.g., P, T) of various shock microstructures, such as planar-deformation bands, twins, and reidite lamellae, remain poorly con-strained. Furthermore, previous shocked-zircon experimental charges have not been analyzed using modern analytical equipment. This study will therefore under-take an new set of zircon shock experiments, which will then be microstructurally characterized using state-of-the-art instrumentation within the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division (ARES), NASA Johnson Space Center.

Erickon, T. M.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Structural Characterization of Solar Silicon

Compared to single crystal silicon, solar silicon generally contains large residual stresses and numerous structural defects. During subsequent processing, the defect structure can undergo further changes since, at the high temperatures required for diffusion, dislocations are sufficiently mobile to rearrange themselves in patterns which reduce long range residual stresses. This process, which is similar to the polygonization of strained metals, has no counterpart in single crystal silicon. Many of the solar silicon materials are grown from graphite dies and crucibles and therefore contain carbon concentrations in excess of 1E18. The interactions between carbon, crystal defects, intrinsic point defects, oxygen and diffusing dopants are discussed.

Ast, D. G.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Control of superlattice morphology in GaAs sub1-subxPsubx cascade cells

Superlattices of GaAs(1-x)p(x) are being incorporated into cascade solar cell structures in order to reduce the dislocation density in the top cells and thus reduce recombination loss and increase output voltage. For a superlattice to effectively block the propagation of dislocations its average composition must be equal to that of the layer beneath it (from efficiency considerations for a cascade cell, the average composition should be about GaAs(.7)P(.3). When superlattices of this approximate composition were grown on GaAs by MOCVD, severe distortion of the crystal layers was observed. The essential features of this distortion are nonplanar morphology and accelerated etching in regions containing excess phosphorus and clusters of dislocations. Similar observations have been made with superlattices grown with two other MOCVD systems, indicating that the problem is of fundamental technological significance, not just an artifact of one particular growth system. The nature of the distortion effect is described, and several strategies for preventing its occurrence are presented.

Blakeslee, A. E.↗
NASA NTRS1991

1000 to 1200 K time-dependent compressive deformation of single-crystalline and polycrystalline B2 Ni-40Al

The 1000-K and 1200-K time-dependent deformation of 100-line-oriented and non-100-line-oriented single crystals of Ni-40Al (made by a modified Bridgman technique) was examined over a large range of strain rates (from 0.1 to 10 to the -7th per sec). The results were compared with those for polycrystalline Ni-40Al made by hot pressing XD synthesized powder. The results from measurements of slow-plastic-strain-rate properties of the two materials show that single crystals offer no strength advantage over polycrystalline material. Both forms were found to deform via a dislocation climb mechanism.

Whittenberger, J. D.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Ground Based Program for the Physical Analysis of Macromolecular Crystal Growth

During the past year we have focused on application of in situ Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) for studies of the growth mechanisms and kinetics of crystallization for different macromolecular systems. Mechanisms of macrostep formation and their decay, which are important in understanding of defect formation, were studied on the surfaces of thaumatin, catalase, canavalin and lysozyme crystals. Experiments revealed that step bunching on crystalline surfaces occurred either due to two- or three-dimensional nucleation on the terraces of vicinal slopes or as a result of uneven step generation by complex dislocation sources. No step bunching arising from interaction of individual steps in the course of the experiment was observed. The molecular structure of the growth steps for thaumatin and lipase crystals were deduced. It was further shown that growth step advance occurs by incorporation of single protein molecules. In singular directions growth steps move by one-dimensional nucleation on step edges followed by lateral growth. One-dimensional nuclei have different sizes, less then a single unit cell, varying for different directions of step movement. There is no roughness due to thermal fluctuations, and each protein molecule which incorporated into the step remained. Growth kinetics for catalase crystals was investigated over wide supersaturation ranges. Strong directional kinetic anisotropy in the tangential step growth rates in different directions was seen. The influence of impurities on growth kinetics and cessation of macromolecular crystals was studied. Thus, for catalase, in addition to pronounced impurity effects on the kinetics of crystallization, we were also able to directly observe adsorption of some impurities. At low supersaturation we repeatedly observed filaments which formed from impurity molecules sedimenting on the surfaces. Similar filaments were observed on the surfaces of thaumatin, canavalin and STMV crystals as well, but the frequency was low compared with catalase crystallization. Cessation of growth of xylanase and lysozyme crystals was also observed and appeared to be a consequence of the formation of dense impurity adsorption layers. Attachment: "An in situ AFM investigation of catalase crystallization", "Atomic force microscopy studies of living cells: visualization of motility, division, aggregation, transformation, and apoptosis", AFM studies on mechanisms of nucleation and growth of macromolecular crystals", and "In situ atomic force microscopy studies of surface morphology, growth kinetics, defect structure and dissolution in macromolecular crystallization".

Malkin, Alexander J.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The effect of microgravity on protein crystal growth

Based on the results of microgravity crystallization experiments using the protein canavalin aboard four separate U.S. Space Shuttle missions, visual observations and diffraction data are presented that support the contention that protein crystals of improved quality can be obtained in a microgravity environment. With canavalin, no significant increase in resolution was noted, but an overall improvement in diffraction quality, as judged by statistical analyses of the data, was clear. This improvement in quality may be due primarily to the elimination of defects and dislocations rather than an overall enhancement of order. The mechanism for this improvement may be microgravity-stabilized depletion zones that develop around growing crystals that establish and maintain optimal growth conditions more rapidly following nucleation. Such zones would be destroyed by convective flow effects in earth's gravity.

Mcpherson, Alexander↗
NASA NTRS1983

TEM and SEM (EBIC) investigations of silicon bicrystals

The electrical and structural properties of low and medium angle tilt grain boundaries in silicon bicrystals were studied in order to obtain insight into the mechanisms determining the recombination activity. The electrical behavior of these grain boundaries was studied with the EBIC technique. Schottky barriers rather than p-n junctions were used to avoid annealing induced changes of the structure and impurity content of the as-grown crystals. Transmission electron spectroscopy reveals that the 20 deg boundary is straight, homogeneous, and free of extrinsic dislocations. It is concluded that, in the samples studied, the electrical effect of grain boundaries appears to be independent of the boundary misorientation. The dominant influence appears to be impurity segregation effects to the boundary. Cleaner bicrystals are required to study intrinsic differences in the electrical activity of the two boundaries.

Gleichmann, R.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Electrical, structural and chemical characterization of Si sheet material

Web Dendritic Si ribbons are deformed under a well-defined four point bending stress. Since the mechanical properties of Si are known to depend on the 0 content of the material, 0 measurements using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy were done to determine a proper control sample of non-defected single crystal Si. Four point bending revealed a unique two step bending behavior for the Web Si ribbons. An initial theory for this behavior involves the interaction of the dislocations generated by the deformation with the central twin planes of the ribbons. Measurements showed a uniformly high 0 content for the Web Si ribbons, approximately 10 to the 18th power atoms/cu.cm. The Web samples had a much broader absorption peak at 9 microns than is usually seen for well-annealed single crystal Si. This broadening is thought to be related to stress in the Web Si ribbons. Two samples containing a known amount of residual stress support this hypothesis. Also, a shoulder on the infrared absorption peak associated with interstitial 0 in Si appears in the transmission vs. wavenumber plots for some of the Web samples. This shoulder has been associated with 0-vacancy complexes or with 0 at dislocations. The O content and configuration do not seem to correlate with the growth configuration of the Web Si ribbon.

Ast, D. G.↗