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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 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Material processing, microstructure, and composite properties of low carbon Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC)

Traditional PVA fiber-reinforced Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) show high tensile ductility and superior durability with tight crack width, but the high cost and embodied carbon can hinder its wider application in infrastructures. The objective of this study is to develop a better understanding of the fresh and hardened properties of an ECC that employs a lower embodied-carbon binder, Limestone Calcined Clay Cement (LC3), and lower-cost PP fiber that is widely available. Specifically, the interrelations between material processing, microstructure, and composite properties were studied experimentally. The results showed that ECC with high tensile ductility up to 9% tensile strain and tight crack width with 50 μm at 2% tensile strain can be achieved. It was found that a matrix paste with higher viscosity generally enhanced fiber dispersion uniformity and robustness in tensile strain-hardening. The paste viscosity is increased when OPC is replaced by LC3 and can be tuned with superplasticizer content. Larger maximum flaw size leads to lower first crack strength, beneficial for microcrack initiation and multiple cracking. This study generates fundamental knowledge linking processing-microstructure-performance of PP-LC3-ECC. This class of low embodied carbon ECC with tight crack width is expected to contribute to reducing the carbon footprint of the built environment.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Tensile properties of powder-metallurgical-processed tungsten alloys after neutron irradiation near recrystallization temperatures

The tensile properties of powder-metallurgical-processed Pure W, K-doped W, W-3%Re, and K-doped W-3%Re were examined after neutron irradiation up to 0.7 dpa at 910–1020 °C with a thermal neutron shield in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR). After irradiation, recrystallized Pure W (R) exhibited a brittle fracture mode, while recrystallized K-doped W-3%Re (R) exhibited a ductile fracture mode at 500 °C. K-doped W-3%Re (R) has fine grains, and hence, contains a considerable number of grain boundaries that act as sinks for irradiation defects. Solid solute Re in the W matrix could improve not only the mechanical properties of W, but also its resistance to neutron irradiation. At 500 °C, the ductility of K-doped W-3%Re after irradiation was significantly higher than that of Pure W. The irradiation at ~1000 °C did not induce hardening of stress-relieved (SR) W materials, but SR W materials tended to exhibit a decrease in the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and an increase in total elongation (TE). Here, the softening due to the recovery and recrystallization of SR W materials and the hardening due to the formation of irradiation defect clusters were balanced during irradiation at ~1000 °C, and ductility was exhibited without an increase in strength.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Phase Transitions of Eutectic High Entropy Alloy AlCoCrFeNi 2.1 Under Shock Compression

High entropy alloys (HEAs) are a new class of metals that exhibit unique mechanical performance. Among HEAs, additively manufactured eutectic high entropy alloys (AM EHEAs) have recently emerged as candidate materials for use in extreme conditions due to their simultaneous high strength and ductility. However, the deformation and structural evolution of AM EHEAs under conditions of high pressure have not been well characterized, limiting their use in extreme applications. Dynamic compression experiments and molecular dynamics simulations are presented to study the structural evolution of AM EHEA AlCoCrFeNi 2.1 when compressed to pressures up to 400 GPa. In situ X-ray diffraction measurements capture the appearance of face-centered cubic and body-centered cubic phases at different pressure conditions, with pure- and mixed-phase regions. Furthermore, understanding the phase stability and structural evolution of the AM EHEA offers new insights to guide the development of high-performance complex materials for extreme conditions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Phase-field modeling of orientation-dependent crack growth in ductile single crystals with anisotropic elasticity

Crack growth in ductile single crystals (DuSCs) is orientation dependent due to the anisotropies of crystal plasticity and elastic tensor. This study develops a phase-field model incorporating both crystal plasticity and crack growth and proposes a general method to decompose the elastic energy into compressive and tensile parts to prevent crack growth under compression in the phase-field description. The phase-field model, in combination with three Euler angles, is employed to simulate orientation-dependent crack growth in DuSCs. The contributions from crystal plasticity and anisotropic elasticity are compared, and the former is found to dominate in the anisotropy of crack growth in copper single crystals. Furthermore, the simulation results demonstrate that crystal orientation strongly affects the heterogeneous distribution of plastic strain and the interaction between plastic strain and crack growth. High-throughput phase-field simulations are performed with exhaustive crystal orientations, and the results are explained based on the anisotropy of the Taylor factor.

Computational Solid Mechanics↗
DOE OSTI2023

A multi-length-scale investigation of the applicability of ductility laws for annealed and work-hardened copper

Small-scale mechanical testing provides unique advantages over conventional testing in investigating the mechanical response of nuclear materials. While small-scale testing enables accelerated materials research, it raises the question of comparability to large-scale properties for engineering design considerations. Among different mechanical properties for structural design considerations such as yield and ultimate tensile stress, ductility is of critical importance with respect to structural component health. The effectiveness of using small-scale mechanical testing for probing these mechanical properties is dictated by understanding how the mechanical responses translate from the microscale to the engineering scale. Therefore, a better understanding of size scaling effects via gathering and analysis of experimental data is required to bridge length-scales. Further, this work builds upon previous reports to provide statistical data on how mechanical response changes as the size of the specimens are reduced from conventional sizes. One hundred twenty mesoscale tensile coupons of oxygen-free high thermal conductivity (OFHC) copper in work-hardened and annealed state have been manufactured using micro-wire electrical discharge machining (EDM) and tested under uniaxial tension. The mesoscale specimens have dimensions dictated by pre-selected geometric ratios (i.e., gauge section length over the square root of the cross-section area) with gauge length dimensions of 3 mm (or less) and sub-millimeter gauge widths and thicknesses. The mesoscale responses were compared to bulkscale properties to reveal the effect of specimen size on the mechanical response as a function of grain size and material state for a single phase face-centered cubic metal.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Irradiation effects in tungsten—From surface effects to bulk mechanical properties

Advanced materials such as tungsten fibre-reinforced composites allow to overcome severe weaknesses of the baseline materials for plasma-facing components — copper and tungsten. The effect of the fusion environment on the mechanical properties of these materials, e.g. the embrittlement by neutron irradiation, plays a key role for the development of future fusion reactors. To simulate this effect, high-energy ions are used as a substitute for the displacement damage by neutrons. We propose the use of very fine tungsten wire as a possibility of studying the influence of irradiation damage on the mechanical properties. This is possible as they allow full-depth irradiation of almost the entire volume despite the limited penetration depth of ions. Geometrical size effects are mitigated due to the nanoscale microstructure of the wire. In addition, similar wire is used in tungsten fibre-reinforced composites. Thus, the investigation of irradiated wire can directly be used for the prediction of the bulk composite properties. For the proof of this concept tungsten wire with a diameter of 16 μm was electrochemically thinned to 5 μm and irradiated with 20.5 MeV W 6+ ions. The mechanical properties were subsequently determined by macroscopic tensile testing. Irradiation to 0.3, 1 and 9 dpa did not lead to a change of the mechanical behaviour. Both strength and ductility, the latter indicated by the reduction of area, were similar to the as-fabricated state.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Adversarial Ensemble Modeling of Multi-modal Mechanical Properties for Iron-Based Alloys

Mechanical properties of alloys are controlled by their microstructure; and microstructure evolution is controlled by internal and external stressors. Chemical complexity during the alloy processing may result in heterogeneity and observation of multimodal performance patterns. Thus, to ensure the desired performance of stressed components it is important to understand the origin and mechanisms of such behavior. Adversarial ensemble modeling was introduced here to explain multimodal mechanical properties of the iron-based alloys. The modeling results showed that the areas of a single mechanism predominance were contiguous across the alloy compositions clustered by similarity, with sharp and persistent boundaries separating the single-mechanism domains. The marginal compositions resulted in increased competition between the adversarial models but only led to the multimodal behavior when the competing models diverged. Transparency of the clustering method allowed explicit interpretation of the chemistries leading to such competition. The adversarial ensemble was interpreted through transition from ductile to brittle microstructure.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Size-dependent stochastic tensile properties in additively manufactured 316L stainless steel

Recent work in metal additive manufacturing (AM) suggests that mechanical properties may vary with feature size; however, these studies do not provide a statistically robust description of this phenomenon, nor do they provide a clear causal mechanism. Because of the huge design freedom afforded by 3D printing, AM parts typically contain a range of feature sizes, with particular interest in smaller features, so the size effect must be well understood in order to make informed design decisions. This work investigates the effect of feature size on the stochastic mechanical performance of laser powder bed fusion tensile specimens. A high-throughput tensile testing method was used to characterize the effect of specimen size on strength, elastic modulus and elongation in a statistically meaningful way. The effective yield strength, ultimate tensile strength and modulus decreased strongly with decreasing specimen size: all three properties were reduced by nearly a factor of two as feature dimensions were scaled down from 6.25 mm to 0.4 mm. Hardness and microstructural observations indicate that this size dependence was not due to an intrinsic change in material properties, but instead the effects of surface roughness on the geometry of the specimens. Finite element analysis using explicit representations of surface topography shows the critical role surface features play in creating stress concentrations that trigger deformation and subsequent fracture. The experimental and finite element results provide the tools needed to make corrections in the design process to more accurately predict the performance of AM components.

316L stainless steel↗
DOE OSTI2023

Process-structure-property considerations for wire-based directed energy deposition of Ti-6Al-4V

Directed energy deposition (DED) is an attractive additive manufacturing (AM) process for large structural components. The rapid solidification and layer-by-layer process associated with DED results in non-ideal microstructures, such as large grains with strong crystallographic textures. These non-ideal microstructures can lead to severe anisotropy in the mechanical properties. Despite these challenges, DED has been identified as a potential solution for the manufacturing of near net shape Ti-6Al-4V preforms, replacing lost casting and forging capabilities. Two popular wire-based directed energy deposition (W-DED) processes were considered for the manufacturing of Ti-6Al-4V with assessments on their respective metallurgical and mechanical properties, as compared to a conventionally processed material. The two W-DED processes explored were wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) and electron beam additive manufacturing (EBAM). High throughput inspection and tensile testing procedures were utilized to generate statistically relevant data sets related to each process and sample orientation. The 2 AM technologies produced material with remarkably different microstructures and mechanical properties. Importantly, results revealed key differences in strength and ductility for the two disparate processes which were found to be related to differences in the metallurgical properties.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Effects of chemical segregation on ductility-anisotropy in high strength Fe-Mn-Al-C lightweight austenitic steels

Ductile Fe-Mn-Al-C lightweight steels offer great potential as high specific strength materials for weight critical applications. In the present work, very high yield (~1 GPa) and ultimate tensile strength levels (~1.5 GPa) were obtained along the rolling and transverse directions of Fe-30Mn-8.5Al-0.9Si-0.9C-0.5Mo (wt.%), with high tensile elongation to failure of ~35%. This excellent mechanical behavior was attributed to the nanoscale, ordered κ-carbide precipitates formed during aging after rolling. However, tensile ductility was not isotropic through all directions of the rolled plate. In particular, the ductility was consistently lower than 5% true strain along the normal direction. Upon detailed microstructural investigations, micro-scale lamellar chemical micro-segregation bands were detected, which caused the observed anisotropic embrittlement along certain plate directions. These bands resulted in low failure strains along the normal direction since it is oriented perpendicular to these chemical segregation bands, resulting in a failure type reminiscent of delamination-induced cleavage fracture. Chemical segregation causes an inhomogeneous κ-carbide precipitate distribution upon aging, producing more pronounced mechanical anisotropy after peak-aging as compared to the solution heat treated samples. Surprisingly, deformation twinning was observed after tensile deformation of solution-heat treated specimens via electron-backscatter diffraction experiments, which is anomalous for a high stacking faulty energy (SFE) material. Further, it was proposed that chemical micro-segregation promotes locally different SFE regions, leading to deformation twinning in this nominally high SFE material. Overall, this work demonstrates the effects of chemical segregation on mechanical properties and microstructural evolution in a high performance, lightweight Fe-Mn-Al-C steel.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Characterization of boundary precipitation in a heavy ion irradiated tungsten heavy alloy under the simulated fusion environment

In the concerted effort to identify materials capable of surviving the adverse environment of a fusion reactor interior, tungsten heavy alloys have been put forth as leading candidates. Experimental trials and behavioral studies have yielded positive results for their adoption by taking advantage of the alloy’s unique balance of inherently high fracture toughness and low sputter yields; yet due to their relative novelty in the fusion community, there remains a lack of understanding on the response of these materials to the extended high temperature irradiation environment of the reactor interior. Further, to alleviate this issue and provide the necessary data on the behavior of tungsten heavy alloys to the simulated fusion environment, a 90W-7Ni-3Fe alloy has been subjected to elevated temperature sequential Ni + and He + ion irradiations to mimic the expected displacement damage and gas production expected after five years of service as a plasma facing material component. Atomic-scale structural analyses and nanoscale chemical mapping have identified the formation of two distinct precipitation structures, a surface localized η-carbide and an a-W 2 C type tungsten carbide, both of which appear to originate at the bi-phase interface between W and the ductile phase. This irradiation assisted and induced precipitate formation respectively is anticipated to adversely affect these materials by selective embrittlement at bi-phase interfaces leading to a reduction in the material’s overall fracture toughness during prolonged high temperature irradiation. It is asserted that any potential exposure to C during fusion reactor operational service should be minimized as to prevent the formation of these phases.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Atomic faulting induced exceptional cryogenic strain hardening in gradient cell–structured alloy

Coarse-grained materials are widely accepted to display the highest strain hardening and the best tensile ductility. We experimentally report an attractive strain hardening rate throughout the deformation stage at 77 kelvin in a stable single-phase alloy with gradient dislocation cells that even surpasses its coarse-grained counterparts. Contrary to conventional understanding, the exceptional strain hardening arises from a distinctive dynamic structural refinement mechanism facilitated by the emission and motion of massive multiorientational tiny stacking faults (planar defects), which are fundamentally distinct from the traditional linear dislocation–mediated deformation. In conclusion, the dominance of atomic-scale planar deformation faulting in plastic deformation introduces a different approach for strengthening and hardening metallic materials, offering promising properties and potential applications.

Gradient dislocation structure↗
DOE OSTI2025

Mechanical properties, strain hardening, and fracture behavior of ultrasonic additively manufactured Zircaloy-4 after low-temperature neutron irradiation

Ultrasonic additive manufacturing (UAM) is a solid-state, layer-by-layer advanced manufacturing process that has the potential to create custom spatially controlled composites with embedded wires and sensors for nuclear component manufacture. For this work, to assess the feasibility of using UAM for nuclear-relevant materials research, the technique was used to produce a 3.5-mm-thick Zircaloy-4 plate for irradiation testing. The UAM Zircaloy-4 specimens were irradiated in the High Flux Isotope Reactor at a target irradiation temperature of 117 °C to 2.9 displacements per atom (dpa) to assess differences in irradiation-hardening behavior as a function of alloy processing path. The UAM and reference baseplate (BP) materials increased in yield strength by 372±27 MPa and 346±21 MPa, respectively, and both suffered significant reductions in uniform and total elongation attributed to irradiation hardening at low-temperature. Although the materials had similar nanoscale defect structures, including nanoscale black dot/loop features and strain-induced dislocation channels, the UAM material’s processing-related defects resulted in accelerated strain localization and failure as demonstrated by lower post-irradiation uniform elongation of UAM specimens (0.5 %) compared to BP (1.5 %) material. The UAM material also showed considerable anisotropy in mechanical response due to crack propagation along weld boundaries, resulting in differences in strength & ductility when tested parallel and perpendicular to the prior UAM build orientation. Therefore, although the fundamental irradiation response of UAM-processed Zircaloy-4 was phenomenologically comparable to that of BP reference material, additional optimization of the UAM processing is needed to produce irradiation-resistant and nuclear-relevant materials.

Digital image correlation↗
DOE OSTI2025

3013 Baseline Inner Container Report: Description, Imaging, and Analysis

This report presents consolidated findings from three microscopy studies of baseline Bagless Transfer Containers (BTCs), which are the inner containers used in DOE Standard 3013-compliant plutonium storage packages. The studies were conducted by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), and DNV, a subcontractor specializing in corrosion science. The baseline BTCs examined had not been exposed to corrosive environments, serving as control samples for comparison with destructively examined (DE) containers. Additionally, the Background section provides an overview of the BTC design, including manufacturing methods, material properties, and container configurations that may influence corrosion behavior. The primary objective of the LANL and SRNL studies was to establish reference characteristics of BTCs to distinguish manufacturing artifacts from corrosion-induced features observed in DE containers. Both laboratories used advanced microscopy techniques, including Wide Area Microscopy (WAMS), Laser Confocal Microscopy (LCM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Focused Ion Beam (FIB), to reveal that most surface anomalies were shallow and attributable to flow-forming processes, not corrosion. Subsurface impurities, identified as non-metallic inclusions, were also observed. DNV’s investigation focused on characterizing the mechanical and chemical properties of the BTC material to support crack growth modeling. Their findings indicate higher hardness and strength but reduced ductility—consistent with flow-formed 304L stainless steel and a higher-than-expected martensite content, in contrast to manufacturer claims. Ongoing and future studies, including Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD), aim to further understand the microstructural factors influencing crack initiation and propagation. The combined studies provide a crucial baseline for distinguishing corrosion effects in DE containers, contributing to the safe and reliable long-term storage of plutonium-bearing materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Fracturing process of micro-concrete under uniaxial and triaxial compression: Insights from in-situ X-ray mechanical tests

This paper presents an experimental study of concrete at meso-scale (aggregates, macro-pores and mortar matrix) in order to get a better understanding of the local failure mechanisms known to drive the macroscopic mechanical behaviour of the material. The main originality comes from conducting in-situ X-ray mechanical tests on micro-concrete samples of realistic composition (including cement, sand, aggregates and water), under uniaxial compression and, for the first time, under triaxial compression at 5 MPa, 10 MPa and 15 MPa confining pressures. A timeseries analysis of the set of 3D images coming from each test allows for the measurement of the 3D kinematic fields (displacement and strain fields) throughout the experiments. The different failure patterns observed for each loading path are discussed, along with a quantification of the 3D fracturing processes at the scale of the largest heterogeneities (aggregates and macro-pores). With an increasing level of confinement, the transition from brittle to ductile response is observed, as well as an increase of the strength of the material. The pronounced impact of the meso-scale heterogeneities of concrete on their local failure mechanisms is highlighted. It is shown that strain localisation mainly originates between aggregates and mortar matrix, with the shape and location of the largest aggregates and macro-pores essentially driving the propagation of the cracking network.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Reformulating a Gurson-based dynamic damage model and demonstrating improved predictive power and numerical robustness

The original Tepla (TEnsile PLAsticity) ductile damage model, based on the Gurson yield surface, has long been used to model damage evolution and material failure under dynamic loading. Unfortunately, Tepla suffered from mesh sensitivity, numerical instability, and limited predictive capability. Here, we theoretically reformulate Tepla to address these issues. We especially focus on the prediction of porosity, which is the key state variable used for modeling ductile damage, as compared to more easily measured surface velocities, which are at best an indirect measure of damage. Key model changes include separating the viscosity during volumetric void growth from underlying shear strength behavior and switching to an iterative bisection solver. The new Tepla is then calibrated on incipient spall experiments on half-hard copper and tantalum, which demonstrate its ability to simultaneously fit the model to recovered porosity distributions and measured surface velocities, a stringent test. Improved numerical behavior, such as greatly reduced mesh sensitivity, is also shown in those simulations. Finally, the new Tepla model is applied to several high-explosive loaded, sweeping wave experiments, showing the ability of the model to predict behavior on tests with significantly different loading conditions and histories than the calibration data.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Microstructures and deformation mechanisms of the medium-entropy alloy (NiCoCr) 76 (Ni 6 AlTi) 3

Here the microstructures and deformation mechanisms of the f.c.c. medium-entropy alloy (MEA) (NiCoCr) 76 (Ni 6 AlTi) 3 has been analyzed after various thermo-mechanical treatments. The solutionized, single-phase MEA, which had a grain size of 93.4 ± 31.9 μm, was cold-rolled (CR) to a 80% thickness reduction after which it showed both a high yield strength (YS) of 1539 MPa and a high ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 1602 MPa, but an elongation to failure, ε, of only 16%. The CR MEA was then subjected to one of two heat treatments: (1) the CR MEA was recrystallized at 1100°C for 24 h, which produced a single-phase material with 85 ± 61.7 μm grain size that exhibited a much lower YS and UTS of 364 MPa and 747 MPa, respectively, but a much greater ε of 73%; and (2) the MEA was aged at 700°C for 24 h, which produced a fine-grained (1.1 ± 0.9 μm) material and a high volume fraction (0.35) of 12 nm dia. L1 2 nanoparticles that exhibited an excellent combination of strength and ductility, viz., YS~1501 MPa, UTS~1651 MPa, elongation ~26%. The grain boundary strengthening and precipitation strengthening were together estimated to account for ~58% of the YS in the latter material. After deformation, the recrystallized MEA contained numerous stacking faults and a Taylor lattice structure containing domain boundaries and microbands, while the aged MEA exhibited numerous stacking faults and sheared particles. The density of low-angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) in the recrystallized MEA increased by 100 times to 2.2 × 10 –1 μm/μm 2 while the density of CSL Σ3 n boundaries decreased by 71% to 7.8 × 10 –3 μm/μm 2 after deformation. In contrast, the density of LAGBs in the aged MEA increased by 5 times to 2.6 μm/μm 2 while the density of CSL Σ3 n boundaries decreased by 57% to 0.6 μm/μm 2 after deformation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

The Ductility of 49Fe-49Co-2V Soft Magnetic Alloy Bar: Surface Effects and Test Methods

The tensile ductility of 49Fe-49Co-2V (Hiperco® 50A) bar was investigated in both as-received and heat-treated conditions. The as-received/machined specimens exhibit very low ductility compared to samples where heat treatment was the final step prior to testing. Microstructural characterization showed that internal residual strain from bar processing and, most importantly, surface machining damage, cause lower elongation in the as-received material. Because fracture of this intermetallic alloy initiates at the surface, it is particularly susceptible to surface machining damage, i.e., the near-surface region has already exhausted most of its ability to accumulate tensile strain. During heat treatment, the internal residual strain and near-surface machining damage are eliminated and ductility is improved, despite a higher degree of crystallographic ordering in the heat-treated condition (which typically lowers ductility). Furthermore, if machining is again performed after heat treatment, the material again exhibits brittle behavior, even with only light touch-up machining passes. Here, in this work, methods of tensile strain measurement were investigated, namely conventional knife-edge extensometry and noncontact digital image correlation (DIC) on heat-treated material. For clip-on knife-edge extensometry, the range of failure strain was 2.5-5.5% for heat-treated Hiperco. For noncontact methods, ductility up to 7% was observed. The results highlight the tendency for the alloy to fail at surface imperfections, even those produced by application of the extensometer itself. Noncontact laser extensometry is recommended for determining the intrinsic ductility of the alloy. A method of laser surface modification was developed which increased ductility by ~ 100% compared to unmodified samples. The high cooling rates achieved during laser surface processing can bypass the ordering reaction and produce a ductile disordered structure at the surface that exhibits ductile fracture characteristics.

EBSD↗