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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 OSTI2024

Prototyping and Manufacturing of Magnetic Gearbox Components using Innovations in Castings

In a previous collaboration with Emrgy (CRADA agreement NFE-17-06532), a housing component of Emrgy’s 10 kW gearbox was casted out of aluminum alloys using impression molds prepared using 3D printed techniques. (Henderson, 2018). After comparison with Emrgy’s existing hardware and material testing, the 3D printed impression molds were verified to represent a valid approach to advance technology readiness and commercialize Emrgy’s technology.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Continued Evaluation of the Use of a Raman Spectrometer for H-Canyon Dissolver Monitoring

Remote monitoring of dissolver activities in H-Canyon can help operators avoid delays associated with excessive levels of fuel fragments remaining after a run. SRNL has proposed that effective monitoring can be achieved by using a Raman spectrometer to measure NO 2 concentrations in the offgas stream sampled from the facility stack. Prior work (SRNL-STI-2021-00451) measuring the offgas from one dissolution batch of High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) fuel suggested a relationship between %NO 2 levels and fragment height. Herein, we report the results of monitoring and analysis of the dissolution of four batches of Material Test Reactor (MTR) fuel. A rigorous quantitative relationship between %NO 2 measurements and fragment heights could not be established, due to high uncertainties associated with both measurements. Uncertainties with gas measurements are associated with the %NO 2 levels in the offgas being close to the detection limit for the analyzer. Alternative gas measurement strategies are discussed which could improve sensitivity and reduce uncertainty. Limitations to the precision of the probe measurements are also discussed. It is also noted that the offgas is an average of the products from simultaneous dissolution of elements in multiple wells. Detection of a high fragment height level in an individual well may be hindered by low levels in other wells.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2025

A Safe Response to Renewable Energy Hazards

The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) and Underwriters Laboratories, LLC (UL) in conjunction with UL Solutions initiated a joint project in 2022 under an agreement with the United States Department of Energy-Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (DOE-EERE). This project focused on two separate and important initiatives related to energy efficiency in residential buildings. Initiative 1: Fire Performance on Energy Efficient Exterior Walls. Initiative 2: Firefighting Tactics in Residential Properties with Building Energy Storage Systems (BESS). The project’s first initiative addresses concerns surrounding new technologies with enhanced, energy-efficient exterior walls installed on residential properties. The concerns of fire rapidly traveling vertically up the exterior of these walls were examined. This addressed a growing concern from the first responder community that many times, the fires on the exterior of residential buildings have already evolved into an attic fire by the time of arrival – making it problematic to address the fire scenario. The test plan for Initiative 1 incorporated a modified version of an American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) test method, ASTM E2707, Standard Test Method for Determining Fire Penetration of Exterior Wall Assemblies Using a Direct Flame Impingement Exposure, as the foundation of the research. The test method involved a wall structure intended to represent retrofit construction to evaluate how fire would spread vertically or laterally. The second aspect of the UL-IAFF Project focuses on the fire service response to Residential Battery Energy Storage System (RBESS) incidents. These simulation tests were constructed in the large-scale fire test facility at UL Solutions’ Northbrook, IL campus. A baseline test was conducted that involved a test structure with no batteries—shelving units populated with standardized commodities, representing a typical garage with cellulosic and plastic contents. Three additional tests have been conducted to generate data with the contribution of energy storage system (ESS) batteries to compare fire and explosion hazards against the baseline test. Through this work, fire service tactical considerations can be explored. From the data, the team can determine 1) the visual indicators of a residential fire that has involved an RBESS (or, potentially, other large batteries) and 2) the impact of fire service-initiated ventilation of the structure on the fire conditions and explosion risks.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2025

Blending Pipeline Analysis Tool for Hydrogen (BlendPATH) Documentation and User Manual

The Blending Pipeline Analysis Tool for Hydrogen (BlendPATH) is a flexible, open-source Python tool designed to provide users with case-by-case analysis capabilities to identify the necessary modifications to repurpose existing natural gas transmission pipeline networks to transport hydrogen as a blend of a user-specified volume fraction of hydrogen or as a pure stream and to estimate the associated capital and operating expenditures resulting from those modifications. This tool is intended to be applied during the initial screening stage of a prospective project when pipeline developers compile transmission pipeline technical documentation and history but prior to performing detailed pipeline inspections. Performing analysis with BlendPATH during this initial screening stage can provide the user with an understanding of promising opportunities and probable economic outcomes of repurposing their pipeline network for hydrogen before proceeding with detailed pipeline materials testing and pipeline inspections. BlendPATH consists of multiple modules to simulate, assess, and modify existing natural gas transmission pipeline network designs to be compatible with hydrogen as a blend or pure stream. The tool employs an open-source gas network hydraulic model to simulate existing, user-specified transmission pipeline networks, and it applies ASME B31.12 to assess the pipe segments within these networks for compatibility with hydrogen and to modify the networks to achieve compatibility where the existing infrastructure is inadequate. Users can specify ASME B31.12 design options for pipeline assessment and can select from multiple methods for pipeline modification. This report details the functionalities of BlendPATH Version 2.0.2 and demonstrates an example of applying BlendPATH to a case study. Potential and intended users of this framework include natural gas pipeline developers and operators and researchers at both public and private institutions. BlendPATH is publicly available at https://github.com/NREL/BlendPATH.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2025

TEX-Chlorine Assemblies: Highly Enriched Uranium Plates with Sodium Chloride Absorbers Using Polyethylene Moderator and Polyethylene Reflector

This evaluation documents highly enriched uranium (HEU) experimental critical configurations with polyethylene moderators and sodium chloride absorbers conducted as part of the United States Nuclear Criticality Safety Program’s Thermal/Epithermal eXperiments (TEX) program. HEU-MET-MIXED-021 provides the benchmark evaluation of five TEX experiments designed to establish baseline configurations with HEU Jemima plates moderated by high density polyethylene (HDPE). The TEX-HEU experiments were designed to cover five different fission energy regimes by varying the thickness of the interstitial HDPE moderator, with varying fractions of thermal, intermediate, and fast fissions, and to be easily modified to accommodate test materials of interest. HEU-MET-INTER-013 documents the first TEX-HEU variation, incorporating hafnium in seven different experimental configurations. This evaluation covers an additional variant that incorporates absorber plates of compacted high-purity sodium chloride salt. These experiments were motivated by a criticality safety need for validation data for uranium purification by means of electrorefining with chloride salts, especially thermal and intermediate energy configurations resulting from moderator upset conditions, and their design was optimized by matching sensitivity profiles from application cases. All three experimental configurations are judged to be acceptable as benchmark cases. The main parameter varied between the configurations is the thickness of the polyethylene moderators and the sodium chloride absorbers between the HEU plates. Varying the thickness of the polyethylene tunes the neutron energy spectrum between majority thermal (Case 1 and 2) and intermediate (Case 3). The fission fractions, presented in Table 1, are determined calculationally. Case 3 is cross listed as HEU-MET-INTER-014.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Operation at Reduced Atmospheric Pressure and Concept of Reliability Redundancy for Optimized Design of Insulation Systems

Electrified transportation is calling for insulation design criteria that is adequate to provide elevated levels of power density, power dynamics and reliability. Increasing voltage levels are expected to cause accelerated intrinsic and extrinsic aging effects which will not be easily predictable at the design stage due to a lack of suitable modeling. Designing reliable insulation systems would require finding solutions able to control accelerated aging due to an unpredictable increase of intrinsic stresses and the onset of extrinsic stresses as partial discharges. This paper proposes the concept of reliability redundancy for the insulation design of aerospace electrical asset components, which is also validated at lower-than-standard atmospheric pressure. The principle is that extrinsic-aging-free design might be achieved upon determining the aging stress or abnormal service stresses distribution and being sure that aging will not generate conditions that can incept extrinsic aging (partial discharges) during operation life. However, such information is never, in practice, fully available to insulation system designers. Hence, especially in critical applications such as electrified aircraft, aerospace, and combat ships a further level of reliability should be added to a partial-discharge-free design, which can consist of the use of corona-resistant materials and/or of life models able to consider the accelerated aging effect of partial discharges (or any other type of extrinsic-accelerated aging factor). Innovative life modeling considering both extrinsic and intrinsic aging stresses, insulating material testing to estimate model parameters, and a metric for quantifying the extent of corona (or partial discharge) resistance can lead to establishing feasibility and limit conditions for optimized or fully reliability-redundant design. It is shown in the paper that if an extrinsic-aging-free design is not feasible, and it is therefore replaced by a redundant design, a further level of reliability redundancy can be provided by effective condition monitoring plans.

Montanari, Gian Carlo↗
DOE OSTI2022

Ultra-rapid, physics-based development pathway for reactor-relevant RF antenna materials

This paper presents a rapid, atomistically-informed, experimental development pathway for fusion reactor-relevant radio frequency (RF) antenna materials in the Cu-Cr-(Nb,Al,Zr) composition system, with the goal of improving upon GRCop-84. RF antennas in a tokamak fusion reactor will face a unique set of challenges as both structural and functional materials. The desired material must simultaneously achieve and maintain high electrical conductivity, high strength, high thermal conductivity, resist high temperatures, possess low nuclear activation, and incur low damage due to neutron bombardment. The GRCop-84 alloy serves as a starting point for iterative improvement, with the desire to reduce or eliminate Nb from the material to minimize nuclear activation. The rapid development pathway makes use of a multi-target combinatorial thick film sputtering process to produce full ternary phase diagrams on a Si wafer substrate. Transient grating spectroscopy (TGS), a laser-ultrasonic method, will determine spatially-varying thermo-elastic properties, while four terminal electrical conductivity measurements will map out the best per- forming regions of the sample for in-depth study at larger length scales. High energy proton and self-ion irradiation emulates the effects of neutron damage on the thermal/electric properties. With rapid turnaround time (∼days) in terms of mapping radiation damage-induced material property changes in the full ternary system, these techniques allow rapid iteration towards an optimal material, testing hundreds of nearby compositions in the time it took to test one. Focused testing of larger, single composition samples (produced in an arc furnace or by laser sintering) provides data on structural and high power RF properties, and validates our thick-film based workflow.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Update on the United States Advanced Ultra-Supercritical Program with Full Scale Component Fabrication to Develop Utility Scale Power Plants with 760°C Steam Temperature

Following the successful completion of a 15-year effort to develop and test materials that would allow coal-fired power plants to be operated at advanced ultra-supercritical (A-USC) steam conditions, a United States-based consortium is presently engaged in Phase 2 of a project which includes an advanced manufacturing effort to complete US-based supply chain development for full commercial scale (800-850 MWe) A-USC components made of nickel-based alloys, components operating at up to 760°C. The project, funded under U.S. Department of Energy Award No. DE-FE0025064, falls under the US DOE overall goal to Develop cost-effective, reliable technologies to improve the efficiency of new and existing coal-fired power plants. A-USC steam cycles have the potential to improve cycle efficiency, reduce fuel costs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Current development and demonstration efforts are focused on enabling the construction of A-USC plants, operating with steam temperatures as high as 1400°F (760°C) and steam pressures up to 5000 psi (35 MPa), which can potentially increase cycle efficiencies to 47% HHV (higher heating value), or approximately 50% LHV (lower heating value), and reduce CO 2 emissions by roughly 25%, compared to today’s U.S. fleet. A-USC technology provides a lower-cost method to reduce CO 2 emissions, compared to CO 2 capture technologies, while retaining a viable coal option for owners of coal generation assets. Among the specific goals of Phase 2 of the ComTest Project are to: validate that components made from advanced nickel-based alloys can operate and perform under A-USC conditions accelerate the development of a U.S.-based supply chain for the full complement of A-USC components close the remaining gaps and reduce the risks for manufacturing components from advanced materials for commercial demonstration fabricate full-scale versions of selected key components made of nickel-based alloys validate a qualified U.S. supply chain, to provide greater cost certainty for components obtain American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) code approval for new materials, components and processes Additional benefit: Manufacturing technology will be applicable to other advanced fossil energy high temperature cycles, and can support increased flexibility of existing power plants The ComTest project is managed by Energy Industries of Ohio, and technically directed by the Electric Power Research Institute, Inc., with General Electric designing the A-USC components. As stated earlier, the current phase of the effort is primarily funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, through the National Energy Technology Laboratory. This presentation outlines the motivation for the project, explains the project’s structure and schedule, and provides some of the technical details on the design of the ComTest components.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2020

Update on the United States Advanced Ultra-Supercritical Program with Full Scale Component Fabrication to Develop Utility Scale Power Plants with 760°C Steam Temperature

Following the successful completion of a 15-year effort to develop and test materials that would allow coal-fired power plants to be operated at advanced ultra-supercritical (A-USC) steam conditions, a United States-based consortium is presently engaged in Phase 2 of a project which includes an advanced manufacturing effort to complete US-based supply chain development for full commercial scale (800-850 MWe) A-USC components made of nickel-based alloys, components operating at up to 760°C. The project, funded under U.S. Department of Energy Award No. DE-FE0025064, falls under the US DOE overall goal to Develop cost-effective, reliable technologies to improve the efficiency of new and existing coal-fired power plants. A-USC steam cycles have the potential to improve cycle efficiency, reduce fuel costs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Current development and demonstration efforts are focused on enabling the construction of A-USC plants, operating with steam temperatures as high as 1400°F (760°C) and steam pressures up to 5000 psi (35 MPa), which can potentially increase cycle efficiencies to 47% HHV (higher heating value), or approximately 50% LHV (lower heating value), and reduce CO 2 emissions by roughly 25%, compared to today’s U.S. fleet. A-USC technology provides a lower-cost method to reduce CO 2 emissions, compared to CO 2 capture technologies, while retaining a viable coal option for owners of coal generation assets. Among the specific goals of Phase 2 of the ComTest Project are to: validate that components made from advanced nickel-based alloys can operate and perform under A-USC conditions accelerate the development of a U.S.-based supply chain for the full complement of A-USC components close the remaining gaps and reduce the risks for manufacturing components from advanced materials for commercial demonstration fabricate full-scale versions of selected key components made of nickel-based alloys validate a qualified U.S. supply chain, to provide greater cost certainty for components obtain American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) code approval for new materials, components and processes Additional benefit: Manufacturing technology will be applicable to other advanced fossil energy high temperature cycles, and can support increased flexibility of existing power plants The ComTest project is managed by Energy Industries of Ohio, and technically directed by the Electric Power Research Institute, Inc., with General Electric designing the A-USC components. As stated earlier, the current phase of the effort is primarily funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, through the National Energy Technology Laboratory. This presentation outlines the motivation for the project, explains the project’s structure and schedule, and provides some of the technical details on the design of the ComTest components.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2022

PLN-6268 Yttrium Hydride Post Irradiation Examination Plan

The overarching goal of the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) microreactor program is to develop technologies for the deployment of civilian microreactors by stakeholders1. Microreactors are expressed as advanced transportable nuclear reactors operating at low power (<20MWth) but high temperatures (>600°C), as well as plug-and-play and inherently safe designs. One prerequisite of a microreactor is the compactness, so that a truck can transport the reactor under safe conditions with the current road infrastructure1,2. The compactness of these reactors likely can be attainable by use of solid components for the essentials of the nuclear core, such as fuel, core heat removal components, reflectors, and moderators. Among these essentials, where fuel enrichment must remain < 20% to meet High Assay Low Enrichment Uranium criteria (HALEU), the largest contribution to the compactness is offered by use of solid moderators which benefit from light atomic weight elements, such as hydrogen, carbon, and beryllium2. Among these, hydrogen-bearing materials, such as metal hydrides, are superior to other options from the lowest critical mass standpoint. Noting that, factors other than critical mass should be considered for a specific reactor design. Yttrium- or zirconium-based metal hydrides have been down-selected due to their neutronic performance. In addition to the neutronic perspective, maintaining hydrogen within the metal hydride is important at the high operating temperatures proposed by advanced reactors. Yttrium hydride (YHx) is, therefore, a proposed moderator material that offers better hydrogen retention at higher operating temperatures than zirconium hydrides due to higher retention and thermal stability of hydrogen in the metal3. The irradiated materials properties of metal hydrides, in this case YHx, must be assessed for the qualification of these moderators. Material testing and inspection processes must illustrate that the effects of dimensional and property changes on thermophysical and mechanical properties do not cause any significant changes on the microreactor safety, and the moderating power is maintained within design limits. Thus, the effect of irradiation on the thermophysical and mechanical properties must be determined. This post-irradiation examination (PIE) plan specifically aims to determine these properties for YHx following Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) irradiation.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Evaluations of Silicon Carbide Temperature Monitors

The effect of irradiation on materials properties is an important field of study for materials usage in both fission and fusion systems for energy production. Neutron flux and energy spectrums are well understood; however, the irradiation temperature can be more difficult to determine. Since the early 1960s, Silicon Carbide (SiC) has been used as a passive post-irradiation temperature monitor because the irradiation defects anneal out above the irradiation temperature. Irradiation temperature is determined by measuring a property change after isochronal annealing or during a continuously monitored annealing process. There are many properties that may be measured including electrical resistivity, bulk density, dimensions, thermal diffusivity, or lattice spacing. Electrical resistivity is accepted as a robust measurement technique; however, such method is time-consuming since the steps involved must be performed in a serial manner. The use of thermal expansion from continuous dilatometry is an automated process requiring minimal setup time. As part of a Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) project, low dose silicon carbide monitors were irradiated in the BR2 material test reactor at SCK, Belgium, and were then evaluated at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) High Temperature Test Laboratory (HTTL) to determine their peak temperature achieved during irradiation. The technical significance of this work was that the monitors were irradiated to a dose that was significantly less than recommended in published literature. This paper will discuss the evaluation processes available at HTTL and the performance of the low dose silicon carbide temperature monitors.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2023

Leak Detection and Sensor Importance Within a Solvent Extraction Process Abstract

In anticipation of the Special Nuclear Material test bed (Beartooth), Idaho National Laboratory has developed a smaller, multi-sensor system for analyzing the solvent extraction process. These systems will allow for research into nuclear fuel processing operations. The multi-sensor system consists of a row of centrifugal contactors and allows for measurement sources that are not traditionally used in the solvent extraction process to be explored including temperature, vibration, acoustics, pH, color, flow, and motor current. Currently, the solvent extraction process is very labor intensive and requires vigilant operators to identify the occurrence of leaks, which can be common during startup or after any change to the system. This study aims to locate leaks using non-traditional measurement sources then to identify which signals were of greatest importance in making this classification using Local Interpretable Model-agnostic Explanations. These results can be used to help solvent extraction process operators detect leaks and to inform future test beds designers to which sensors contain relevant, actionable information in this scenario.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2020

High Temperature Irradiation Resistant Thermocouples

The High Temperature Irradiation Resistant Thermocouple (HTIR-TC) is the world’s leading temperature sensor for reactor fuel experiments and material test reactors (MTR), in general (e.g. Advanced Test Reactor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Nuclear Reactor, etc.). Recently commercialized, the HTIR-TC provides real-time centerline and fuel cladding temperature measurements of reactor fuel experiments during irradiations. This provides direct information about fuel temperatures during Gen IV reactor, small modular reactor (SMR), and microreactor vetting processes. Further, the HTIR-TC recently won the 2019 R&D100 award under category: Analytical/Test.

46 - INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AN↗
DOE OSTI2026

Combined-Accelerated Stress Testing of Photovoltaic Materials

By applying multiple environmental stresses in fieldrepresentative combinations and sequences, combined-accelerated stress testing (CAST) identifies degradation modes and failure mechanisms of photovoltaic (PV) modules and components that are missed by single stress factor accelerated testing.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Project No. 5: Evaluating Dredged Materials for Energy Storage Applications with Economic and Carbon Benefits (CRADA Final Report)

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) is committed to supporting the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) through its VISION2030 strategic plan. As a clean energy provider, NYPA is seeking to demonstrate leadership in every aspect of its business by taking a comprehensive approach to sustainability management and integrating sustainability principles into day-to-day decision-making. This effort includes planning for climate resilience through projects that mitigate climate risk in our operations and prioritize climate opportunities in our investments. Canal Corporation, a subsidiary of NYPA, is charged with maintaining minimum water depths for navigation in the Cayuga-Seneca, Champlain, Erie and Oswego Canals. In order to do so, an average volume of 280,000 cubic yards of sediment is dredged annually and held in Upland Disposal Sites (UDS) permitted by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). The required on-land storage at UDSes are nearing capacity, and disposal opportunities are costly, both economically and environmentally. Novel energy storage technology developed by NREL provides an opportunity for meeting NYPA's need to find reuse options for dredged materials and commitment to providing clean reliable energy. This would also support NYPA's goal of developing 300 MW of utility scale storage and enabling 150 MW of distributed storage by 2030. NREL will consult NYPA on the environmental and economic impact of reusing dredged materials as useful commodities such as energy storage media, construction sand or industrial uses. Test and material characterization methods will be based on current NREL storage material characterization approaches. NREL worked with NYPA on sample preparation, material testing, test results analysis. Test and material characterization methods were based on current NREL storage material characterization approaches. The team analyzed the environmental and economic impact of reusing dredged materials as useful commodities such as energy storage media, construction sand or industrial uses. The test and analysis works have achieved the project goal in characterizing NYPA dredging materials and verifying their various uses including construction sand and thermal energy storage media. Uses of dredging materials as useful materials will bring economic and environmental benefits and avoid disposal costs.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2024

INSTRUMENTATION FOR IN-CORE REAL-TIME MECHANICAL TESTING OF STRUCTURAL MATERIALS (INCREASE) PROJECT

Idaho National Laboratory (INL), in collaboration with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Nuclear Regulatory Commission, French Atomic and Alternative Energies Commission (CEA), Joint Research Centre, Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group, and Research Center Rez, is the operating agent of the In-Core Real-Time Mechanical Testing of Structural Materials (INCREASE) joint experimental program (JEEP) project that operates within the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA)’s Framework for Irradiation Experiments (FIDES-II) program. The first objective of the INCREASE project is to design a shared capsule that can house a variety of in-core mechanical testing instrumentation for enabling smart irradiation experiments. The second objective is to collect in core stress relaxation data pertaining to high priority stainless steel (SS) materials under light water reactor conditions with target temperature of 340°C +/-20°C and a minimum neutron damage of 2 displacement per atom (dpa). The INCREASE project will be demonstrated in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Nuclear Research Reactor (MITR).

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

TEAMER Technical Support for Aquantis (Materials) (Final Report)

The Aquantis Tidal Power Tug is a unique synthesis of best-available technologies and materials configured as a novel spar vessel to create an optimal platform for tidal stream energy conversion. The Power Tug utilizes an upstream-facing horizontal, 2-bladed rotor. To drive down capital costs and extend life, Aquantis proposes to employ new materials for the blades that are both less expensive than current state-of-the-art materials and are potentially better suited for survival in a submerged, seawater environment. Coupons from a novel geopolymer material will be tested in a load frame to characterize material properties. The Requestor is requesting technical assistance for evaluating mechanical properties of a novel geopolymer material for application in tidal stream energy conversion systems. This work will establish characteristic properties of a geopolymer material under dry and saturated conditions through material coupon testing. Material coupons will be tested to characterize properties including: a) Tensile strength, b) Compression strength, c) Flexural strength, d) Modulus of elasticity, e) Fatigue strength at varying load levels. The types of material tests performed will be guided by characteristics required to validate material properties for use in full-scale structures. Characterization of material properties that consider the demands of a full-scale structure is a necessary step in research and development that can enable the use of geopolymer materials in tidal stream energy conversion systems.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗
DOE OSTI2025

Dataset of tensile properties for sub-sized specimens of nuclear structural materials

Mechanical testing with sub-sized specimens plays an important role in the nuclear industry, facilitating tests in confined experimental spaces with lower irradiation levels and accelerating the qualification of new materials. The reduced size of specimens results in different material behavior at the microscale, mesoscale, and macroscale, in comparison to standard-sized specimens, which is referred to as the “specimen size effect.” Although analytical models have been proposed to correlate the properties of sub-sized specimens to standard-sized specimens, these models lack broad applicability across different materials and testing conditions. The objective of this study is to create the first large public dataset of tensile properties for sub-sized specimens used in nuclear structural materials. We performed an extensive literature review of relevant publications and extracted over 1,000 tensile testing records comprising 55 columns including material type and composition, manufacturing information, irradiation conditions, specimen dimensions, and tensile properties. The dataset can serve as a valuable resource to investigate the specimen size effect and develop computational methods to correlate the tensile properties of sub-sized specimens.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗