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At least 217 records · Page 12

Unique Tuft Test Facility Dramatically Reduces Brush Seal Development Costs

Brush seals have been incorporated in the latest turbine engines to reduce leakage and improve efficiency. However, the life of these seals is limited by wear. Studies have shown that optimal sealing characteristics for a brush seal occur before the interference fit between the brush and shaft is excessively worn. Research to develop improved tribopairs (brush and coating) with reduced wear and lower friction has been hindered by the lack of an accurate, low-cost, efficient test methodology. Estimated costs for evaluating a new material combination in an engine company seal test program are on the order of $100,000. To address this need, the NASA Lewis Research Center designed, built, and validated a unique, innovative brush seal tuft tester that slides a single tuft of brush seal wire against a rotating shaft under controlled loads, speeds, and temperatures comparable to those in turbine engines. As an initial screening tool, the brush seal tuft tester can tribologicaly evaluate candidate seal materials for 1/10th the cost of full-scale seal tests. Previous to the development of the brush seal tuft tester facility, most relevant tribological data had been obtained from full-scale seal tests conducted primarily to determine seal leakage characteristics. However, from a tribological point of view, these tests included the confounding effects of varying contact pressures, bristle flaring, high-temperature oxidation, and varying bristle contact angles. These confounding effects are overcome in tuft testing. The interface contact pressures can be either constant or varying depending on the tuft mounting device, and bristle wear can be measured optically with inscribed witness marks. In a recent cooperative program with a U.S. turbine engine manufacturer, five metallic wire candidates were tested against a plasma-sprayed Nichrome-bonded chrome carbide. The wire materials used during this collaboration were either nickel-chrome- or cobaltchrome-based superalloys. These tests corroborated full-scale seal test results and provided insight into previously untested combinations. As the cycle temperature for improved efficiency turbine engines increases, new brush seal materials combinations must be considered. Future brush seal tuft testing will include both metallic and ceramic bristles versus commercial and NASA-developed shaft coatings. The ultimate goal of this work is to expand the current data base so that seal designers can tailor brush seal materials to specific applications.

Fellenstein, James A.↗

Investigation of Aerodynamic and Icing Characteristics of a Flush Alternate Inlet Induction System Air Scoop

An investigation has been made in the NACA Lewis icing research tunnel to determine the aerodynamic and icing characteristics of a full-scale induction-system air-scoop assembly incorporating a flush alternate inlet. The flush inlet was located immediately downstream of the offset ram inlet and included a 180 deg reversal and a 90 deg elbow in the ducting between inlet and carburetor top deck. The model also had a preheat-air inlet. The investigation was made over a range of mass-air- flow ratios of 0 to 0.8, angles of attack of 0 and 4 deg airspeeds of 150 to 270 miles per hour, air temperatures of 0 and 25 F various liquid-water contents, and droplet sizes. The ram inlet gave good pressure recovery in both clear air and icing but rapid blockage of the top-deck screen occurred during icing. The flush alternate inlet had poor pressure recovery in both clear air and icing. The greatest decreases in the alternate-inlet pressure recovery were obtained at icing conditions of low air temperature and high liquid-water content. No serious screen icing was observed with the alternate inlet. Pressure and temperature distributions on the carburetor top deck were determined using the preheat-air supply with the preheat- and alternate-inlet doors in various positions. No screen icing occurred when the preheat-air system was operated in combination with alternate-inlet air flow.

Lewis, James P.↗

The Novel Hybrid Ab Initio Model of High-Performance Structural Alloys Design for Fossil Energy Power Plants

The current project developed a novel HT-CALPHAD/DFT approach, which can quickly design new high-performance structural alloys for the application of FE power plants. The PI will mainly take charge of high-throughput DFT simulations and computational thermodynamics of the selected multicomponent alloy systems for the FE power plant applications. At the end of the project, a novel hybrid model based on high throughput CALPHAD/DFT simulations and computational thermodynamics will be developed to provide guidance on how to identify multi-component new high-performance structural alloys with much less computational effort needed. It will address the extensive computation time needed for DFT on the new alloys design. In addition, it will also address the well-known headache of DFT, i.e. how to make the accurate prediction of the high-temperature equilibria. The novel hybrid model the PI proposed will not only be applied to the design of high-performance structural alloys in FE power plants but in many different applications, such as nuclear reactors. This hybrid modeling approach includes four sections: 1) HT-CALPHAD modeling of Al-Co-Cr-Ni-Fe system with FCC and BCC phase. In this section, 3561 non-equiatomic compositions were randomly generated in order to investigate the phase stability of single FCC and BCC phases. Meanwhile, we proposed a data screening procedure to screen out the good candidates within these compositions, considering the temperature range, average density, and melting temperature, etc. 2) Investigation of FCC-Cr lattice stability in Fe-Cr system. We systematically assessed the reliability of FCC-Cr lattice stability derived by DFT and CALPHAD approaches. Meanwhile, the Fe-Cr binary system was chosen as a case study to verify the Cr lattice stability obtained by both approaches. 3) High-throughput DFT modeling on elastic properties of Al-Co-Cr-Ni-Fe systems. We predicted and established the FCC quinary elastic constant database of the Al-Co-Cr-Fe-Ni systems at 0K by using special quasi-random structure (SQS) approach. The predictions will start with pure elements of Al-Co-Cr-Fe-Ni system and will be continued with binaries, ternaries, quaternaries, and finally the quinary compositions. 3) Modeling of temperature-dependent elastic properties in Al-Co-Cr-Ni-Fe systems. In this part, we predict the thermal expansion coefficient and elastic stiffness coefficient as a function of temperature by applying quasiharmonic approximation. With this approach, the elastic properties of HEAs at elevate temperature can be estimated.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Additive Manufacturing of Corrosion Resistant UHTC Materials for Chloride Salt-to-sCO2 Brayton Cycle Heat Exchangers

The objectives of the project include: (1) screen high-purity, high density ultra-high-temperature ceramics (UHTCs) for chloride salt corrosion resistance, (2) develop binder-jet additive manufacturing and sintering for ZrB 2 -MoSi 2 blends using literature and experiments to demonstrate feasibility, and (3) evaluate chloride salt corrosion resistance of additively manufactured ZrB 2 -MoSi 2 . These initial objectives support the development of a durable and reliable ultra-compact high-efficiency salt-to-sCO 2 heat exchanger for closed-loop Brayton power cycles based on corrosion resistant, high-strength, thermally conductive UHTC materials and novel designs enabled by additive manufacturing. The UHTC materials are also abrasion resistant so that they could be applicable to all three thermal carrier media pathways identified in the CSP Gen3 Roadmap.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Eddy current studies for the beam screen of the Electron-Ion Collider hadron storage ring superconducting magnets

A copper-clad stainless steel beam screen will be installed in each of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) superconducting (SC) magnets used for making the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) Hadron Storage Ring (HSR). Eddy currents are induced within conductors to oppose a changing magnetic flux. Eddy currents will appear on the EIC HSR beam screens during ramp up and ramp down, after a magnet quenches and when reversing the polarity of the γ transition jump quadrupoles during γ transition crossing. This study evaluates the magnitude of the eddy currents, the temperature increase due to Joule heating and the stress at the beam screens from the eddy-current induced force.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

A machine learning model for predicting the minimum miscibility pressure of CO 2 and crude oil system based on a support vector machine algorithm approach

CO 2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is a potential way for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS). Though, the effect of CO 2 injection is greatly influenced by the reservoir conditions. Typically, Minimum miscible pressure (MMP) is selected as one of the key parameters for the screening and evaluation of prospective CO 2 flooding. Conventional slim tube test is both accurate and widely accepted but it is inefficient. Existing empirical formulas for MMPs are easy to be used but have been proved inaccurate and unreliable. Machine learning-based methods have great advantages in predicting MMP. However, only predication accuracy is discussed for most models without the screening of the main control factors and further validation of the model reliability. In this paper, a new prediction model based on support vector machine (SVM) was developed for pure/impure CO 2 and crude oil system. This study was based on 147 sets of MMP data from the literature with full information on reservoir temperature, oil composition and gas composition. The main control factors were screened by several statistical methods. Unlike the conventional prediction models that verified by only prediction accuracy, learning curve and single factor control variable analysis are further validated to obtain the optimum model.

02 PETROLEUM↗

Near-Field Passive Wireless Sensor for High-Temperature Metal Corrosion Monitoring

This work focuses on the fabrication and evaluation of a passive wireless sensor for the monitoring of the temperature and corrosion of a metal material at high temperatures. An inductor–capacitor (LC) resonator sensor was fabricated through the screen printing of Ag-based inks on dense polycrystalline Al 2 O 3 substrates. The LC design was modeled using the ANSYS HFSS modeling package, with the LC passive wireless sensors operating at frequencies from 70 to 100 MHz. The wireless response of the LC was interrogated and received by a radio frequency signal generator and spectrum analyzer at temperatures from 50 to 800 °C in real time. The corrosion kinetics of the Cu 110 was characterized through thermogravimetric (TGA) analysis and microscopy images, and the oxide thickness growth was then correlated to the wireless sensor signal under isothermal conditions at 800 °C. The results showed that the wireless signal was consistent with the corrosion kinetics and temperature, indicating that these two characteristics can be further deconvoluted in the future. In addition, the sensor also showed a magnitude- and frequency-dependent response to crack/spallation events in the oxide corrosion layer, permitting the in situ wireless identification of these catastrophic events on the metal surface at high temperatures.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Single-Crystal Diffuse Neutron Scattering Study of the Dipole-Octupole Quantum Spin-Ice Candidate Ce 2⁢ Zr 2 ⁢O 7 : No Apparent Octupolar Correlations Above 𝑇 = 0.05 K

The insulating magnetic pyrochlore Ce 2 ⁢Zr 2 ⁢O 7 has gained attention as a quantum spin-ice candidate with dipole-octupole character that arises from the crystal-electric-field ground-state doublet for the Ce 3+ Kramers ion. This dipole-octupole character permits both spin-ice phases based on magnetic dipoles and those based on more-exotic octupoles. This work reports low-temperature neutron diffraction measurements on single-crystal Ce 2 ⁢Zr 2⁢ O 7 with 𝑄 coverage both at low 𝑄, where the magnetic form factor for dipoles is near maximal, and at high 𝑄, covering the region where the magnetic form factor for Ce 3+ octupoles is near maximal. This study was motivated by recent powder neutron diffraction studies of other Ce-based dipole-octupole pyrochlores, Ce 2 ⁢Sn 2 ⁢O 7 and Ce 2 ⁢Hf 2 ⁢O 7 , which each showed temperature-dependent diffuse diffraction at high 𝑄, interpreted as arising from octupolar correlations. Our measurements use an optimized single-crystal diffuse scattering instrument that allows us to screen against strong Bragg scattering from Ce 2 ⁢Zr 2 ⁢O 7 . The temperature-difference neutron diffraction reveals a low-𝑄 peak consistent with dipolar spin-ice correlations reported in previous work, and an alternation between positive and negative net intensity at higher 𝑄. These features are consistent with our numerical-linked-cluster calculations using pseudospin interaction parameters previously reported for Ce 2 ⁢Zr 2⁢ O 7 , Ce 2 ⁢Sn 2 ⁢O 7 , and Ce 2 ⁢Hf 2 ⁢O 7 . Importantly, neither the measured data nor any of the NLC calculations show evidence for increased scattering at high 𝑄 resulting from octupolar correlations. We conclude that at the lowest attainable temperature for our measurements (𝑇 = 0.05 K), scattering from octupolar correlations in Ce 2 ⁢Zr 2 ⁢O 7 is not present in the neutron diffraction signal on the level of our observation threshold of around 0.1% of the low-𝑄 dipole scattering. We compare these results to those obtained earlier on powder Ce 2 ⁢Sn 2 ⁢O 7 and Ce 2⁢ Hf 2⁢ O 7 , and to low-energy inelastic neutron scattering from single-crystal Ce 2 ⁢Zr 2 ⁢O 7 .

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Development of a Laser Ultrasonics-based Approach for Rapid Screening of High Entropy Alloys

This project utilized a laser ultrasonic technique to systematically study temperature-induced evolution of material properties in a set of interrelated binary alloys and a high entropy alloy (HEA) fabricated using arc-melting and spark plasma sintering processes. This technique involved the use of a nanosecond duration, high-intensity pulsed laser to thermo-elastically generate ultrasonic waves that propagate in the bulk of the metal alloy. Sub-nanometer-scale displacements associated with the propagating bulk ultrasonic waves were detected along the epicenter on the opposite surface of the sample using a 1 GHz bandwidth photorefractive interferometer. Phase transformations and microstructural changes were inferred from the temperature-dependent trends in the bulk acoustic velocities and features in the ultrasonic epicentral waveforms measured in the binary alloys. These inferences were then correlated with electron/optical microscopy observations and predictions using calculations of phase diagrams (CALPHAD). The results showed that the laser-generated ultrasonic pulses were strongly influenced by changes in material microstructure and could accurately track thermally driven phase transformations and detect the presence of microscale heterogeneities (grain boundaries, dendritic structures, etc.) in the set of binary alloy samples. The measurement approach was then applied to a quinary HEA sample for estimating phase transition temperature and determining microstructural heterogeneity. The rapid, non-contact and non-destructive ultrasonic testing approach demonstrated here is amenable to high throughput combinatorial investigations that can be applied to graded composition HEAs produced using advanced manufacturing methods. When paired with atomistic simulations and CALPHAD modeling, this approach can overcome the bottlenecks faced by current material characterization methods in efficiently screening the vast discovery space of HEAs that spans over a hundred million unique quinary alloy compositions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Solvent selection for biphasic extraction of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural via multiscale modeling and experiments

We introduce a comprehensive conceptual framework for selecting solvents for reactive extraction in biphasic organic-water systems and demonstrate it for the separation of HMF (5-hydroxylmethylfurfural), a platform chemical produced in the acid-catalyzed dehydration of hexoses. We first perform in silico screening of ~2500 solvents, from the ADFCRS-2018 database using the ADF COSMO-RS implementation, and classification, based on the solvent partition coefficient. We then determine experimentally the partition coefficients for HMF, fructose, and products of HMF rehydration (levulinic acid (LA), and formic acid (FA)), the mutual water-organic solvent solubilities, and the separation factors in >50 select solvents spanning multiple homologous series at room temperature and a typical reaction temperature with in situ sampling. We find that COSMO-RS is excellent for screening purposes (typical error in most cases within a factor of ~2). Increased temperatures lead to significant reduction in partitioning, and room temperature measurements are clearly inadequate for solvent selection. Upon down selecting classes of solvents based on separation performance, we perform experimental thermal stability and reaction compatibility studies of a small set of solvents at relevant reactive-extraction temperatures. We discover that many substituted phenols exhibit an order-of-magnitude increase in partitioning compared to conventional solvents due chiefly to hydrogen bond interactions and show the necessary stability but retain a significant fraction of water and LA, factors that need to be considered in technoeconomic analysis. In contrast, anilines, aldehydes, and acids are good to excellent regarding separation but incompatible with this specific reaction medium. Furthermore, this multifaceted framework can be extended to other biomass-derived products and processes.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Aerothermal performance and structural integrity of a Rene 41 thermal protection system at Mach 6.6

A flightweight panel based on a metallic thermal-protection-system concept for hypersonic and reentry vehicles was subjected repeatedly to thermal cycling by quartz-lamp radiant heating using a thermal history representative of a reentry heat pulse and to aerodynamic heating at heating rates required to sustain a surface temperature of 1089 K (1960 R). The panel consisted of a corrugated heat shield and support members of 0.05-cm (0.02-in.) thick Rene 41 of riveted construction and 5.08-cm (2-in.) thick silica fibrous insulation packages covered by Rene 41 foil and inconel screening. All tests were conducted in the Langley 8-foot high-temperature structures tunnel with the heat shield corrugations alined in the stream direction. The panel sustained 5.33 hr of intermittent radiant heating and 6.5 min of intermittent aerodynamic heating of up to 1-min duration for differential pressures up to 6.2 kPa (0.9 psi) with no apparent degradation of thermal or structural integrity, as indicated by temperature distributions and results from load deflection tests and vibration surveys of natural frequencies.

Deveikis, W. D.↗

Resolving Anodic Current and Temperature Distributions in a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Water Electrolysis Cell Using a Pseudo-Two-Phase Computational Fluid Dynamics Model

Expanding upon our prior experimental work, we constructed a three-dimensional model of a polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolyzer using computational fluid dynamics. We applied the assumption of pseudo-two-phase flow, the flow of two phases with equal velocity. Experimental data were used to obtain parameters and to determine the conditions under which this model was valid. Anodic distributions of current density, temperature, liquid saturation, and relative humidity were obtained at various flow rates. The overall current density and temperature difference from inlet to outlet at the anode agreed strongly with experimental measurements under most circumstances. This verification allowed us to further examine the apparent gas coverage calculated from experimental and model temperature data. Results suggested a low liquid saturation and low relative humidity at the anode due to the consumption of liquid water and water vapor. However, we questioned the accuracy of the pseudo-two-phase assumption at low water feed rates. We concluded that the model was applicable to systems with liquid water feed rates greater than 0.6 ml min -1 cm -2 . Therefore, it is a fair screening method that can advise which operating conditions lead to excessive temperatures or drying at the anode, thereby promoting the longevity of the membrane and catalyst.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Using numerical methods to screen magnetocaloric materials in an active magnetic regenerative cycle

A 2-dimensional numerical model of a room temperature operating Active Magnetic Regenerator (AMR) that comprises of a regenerator, hot and cold heat exchangers, heat transfer fluid is developed. The regenerator is made of a magnetocaloric material (MCM) which heats up upon applying a magnetic field, H, and cools down when the field is removed; thus, making it the most essential part of an AMR. The model takes experimentally measured ΔT ad (H,T) and the C p (H,T) data as input and provides quantitative performance metrics of the magnetic cooling system, such as ΔT span and the cooling load, as output. With this model, it is possible to assess a wide range of MCMs in an AMR. 4 different MCMs were investigated using this model in terms of their ΔT span and the cooling loads—LaFe 10.96 Co 0.97 Si 1.07 , MnFeP (1-x) As (x) and AlFe 2 B 2 and Gd. During the screening of MCMs, all the important operating conditions of the device were fixed such as the fluid flow rate, ambient temperature, cycle duration, magnetic field strength. Our results indicate that Gd exhibits the maximum ΔT span with respectable cooling load, while AlFe 2 B 2 generates the lowest ΔT span . Even though LaFeCoSi compound did not perform as well as Gd, it could be the MCM choice for the realization of magnetic refrigeration on a global scale due to its much lower cost.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Screen printable copper pastes for silicon solar cells

The current work demonstrates the successful metallization of a PERC silicon solar cell with screen-printable copper (Cu) paste that is sintered at elevated temperature in air atmosphere. The existing state of the art in Silicon (Si) solar cell metallization is silver (Ag) paste; Cu cost is 1/100th the cost of Ag and has a comparable conductivity. However, Cu undergoes rapid oxidation at elevated temperatures and the high diffusion of Cu into Si restricts its usage in the metallization of silicon solar cells. In this paper, a Cu paste containing a proprietary mixture of antioxidant additives and diffusion inhibitors was used to make front gridlines on PERC cells. The Cu-printed cells were fired in an IR belt furnace with a peak temperature of 576°C in air atmosphere. The solar cells discussed here reached an efficiency of 19%, which is 88% of the efficiency measured for a commercial Ag-printed cell. The working devices were further characterized using STEM, EDX, ToF-SIMS and long-term suns-V oc studies demonstrating an absence of Cu diffusion. Furthermore, thermally stressing the Cu-printed solar cells yielded a reduction of less than 1.9% of the initial pseudo fill factor (pFF) after 1000 hours at 200°C. Here, the shunt resistance of cells monitored over 3 years remained within 2.5% of its initial value, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the Cu diffusion barrier.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Low-temperature thermostatics of face-centered-cubic metallic hydrogen

The thermostatic properties of a high-symmetry phase of metallic hydrogen with atomic sphere radius between 0.1 and 1.5 bohr are studied, with special emphasis accorded to electronic screening and quantum proton motion. The electron-proton and proton-proton interactions receive a perturbation treatment based on the Singwi dielectric function, while the proton motion is handled by self-consistent harmonic approximation. Quantum behavior is found to be less pronounced than expected, and nuclear magnetism is absent. The phonon spectrum is, however, affected by screening and large proton motion. The zero-point vibrational energy and the superconducting critical temperature are below previous estimates. The crystalline-defect formation energies are a few times the Debye energy, which implies that defects contribute significantly to melting at the lower particle densities.

Caron, L. G.↗

Pair Identity and Smooth Variation Rules Applicable for the Spectroscopic Parameters of H2O Transitions Involving High-J States

Two basic rules (i.e. the pair identity and the smooth variation) applicable for H2O transitions involving high-J states have been discovered. The origins of these rules are the properties of the energy levels and wavefunctions of H2O states with the quantum number J above certain boundaries. As a result, for lines involving high-J states in individually defined groups, all their spectroscopic parameters (i.e. the transition wavenumber, intensity, pressure-broadened half-width, pressure-induced shift, and temperature exponent) must follow these rules. One can use these rules to screen spectroscopic data provided by databases and to identify possible errors. In addition, by using extrapolation methods within the individual groups, one is able to predict the spectroscopic parameters for lines in this group involving very high-J states. The latter are required in developing high-temperature molecular spectroscopic databases such as HITEMP.

Ma, Q.↗

The Nimbus 4 infrared spectroscopy experiment. I - Calibrated thermal emission spectra.

Measurement of the infrared spectrum of the earth and atmosphere between 400 and 1600/cm. In an effort to obtain spectra with high absolute accuracy, it was necessary to incorporate many factors into the calibration, including small departures from unity in the emissivity of the on-board calibration source, imbalance between cold and warm calibration ports, and effects due to orbital variations in instrument temperature. The inclusion of such higher order corrections, along with careful data screening processes, has ensured a high quality data set that can be used in a variety of geophysical and meteorological investigations. Representative samples of data are presented that illustrate the behavior of the thermal emission spectra under a variety of conditions encountered in a typical orbit, including extremes in temperature, surface reststrahlung (or residual ray) effects, and various types of cloud conditions.

Hanel, R. A.↗

Vapor-screen technique for flow visualization in the Langley Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel

The vapor-screen technique for flow visualization, as developed for the Langley Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel, is described with evaluations of light sources and photographic equipment. Test parameters including dew point, pressure, and temperature were varied to determine optimum conditions for obtaining high-quality vapor-screen photographs. The investigation was conducted in the supersonic speed range for Mach numbers from 1.47 to 4.63 at model angles of attack up to 35 deg. Vapor-screen photographs illustrating various flow patterns are presented for several missile and aircraft configurations. Examples of vapor-screen results that have contributed to the understanding of complex flow fields and provided a basis for the development of theoretical codes are presented with reference to other research.

Morris, O. A.↗