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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 253 records · Page 14

Hot-pressed 6 LiInSe 2 for use as a ceramic radiation detector

Lithium based chalcogenides have many uses in the nuclear science field. 6 LiInSe 2 (or LISe) has been researched extensively because of its ability to operate in both scintillator and semiconductor modes. Here, this makes it useful in applications including nuclear material detection for national security, space applications, and medical imaging. In some applications growth and fabrication costs are of concern, as it takes upwards of 40 days to synthesize a charge, grow a crystal and fabricate a detector. Ceramics are a solution for this long route of preparation. This research shows that using a 6 LiInSe 2 ceramic instead of a single crystal significantly decreases the time required to make a detector. In the present work, ceramic wafers can be formed using a mechanical press equipped with a heating attachment. The resulting ceramic wafer performs very similar to a slow-growth single crystal when used in the scintillator mode.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Theoretical and experimental investigation of matrix effects observed in emission spectra of binary mixtures of sodium and copper and magnesium and copper pressed powders

Here, the goal of this work was to investigate the matrix effect of copper in the presence of sodium or magnesium in a laser-induced plasma. Varying amounts of copper were mixed and pressed with a constant amount of sodium or magnesium and a stearic acid binder. Experimental parameters such as delay time and laser pulse energy were varied to observe trends in the emission intensity of the Na I 588.99 nm, Na I 589.59 nm, Mg I 277.98 nm, and Mg II 279.08 nm lines. Experimental observations are supported by theoretical calculations and modeling that show the Na I and Mg I emission intensities increase in the presence of copper while the Mg II line intensity decreases due to the increase in electron density (Ne) of the plasma when copper is added. Lastly, the increase in electron density changes the population of the atomic species within the plasma through an increase in recombination of ions with electrons, shifting the populations toward more neutral states, providing an explanation for the observed matrix effects found in these, and many previous, studies.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

One dimensional shock initiation of hot isostatically pressed composition B

Twelve one dimensional shock experiments have been carried out on the UK isostatically pressed Composition B (59.5% RDX, 39.5% TNT, 1% wax) comprising of seven sustained pulse experiments and three short shock experiments using the embedded gauge technique at the Los Alamos National Laboratory gas gun facility. The evolution of the reactive growth at and behind the shock front has been measured along with the run to detonation distance. Two low pressure experiments have also been carried out to obtain non-reactive equation of state data. These data have been used to create the Pop plot and Hugoniot states for the UK Comp B. The shock initiation behavior of the UK Comp B has been compared to that of the equivalent US composition. The reactive growth shows a feature that was observed in the US composition in which the wave profiles display a high level of pre-detonation noise. This was hypothesized to be due to a piezoelectric effect in the RDX crystals. The results of these experiments have shown that this effect may be localized in the ε phase at shock pressures in the region of 4.15 GPa and above.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Shock to detonation transition of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) initially pressed to 1.65 g/cm 3

A novel set of experiments and reactive flow modeling of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) is presented. In this work, the specific phenomenon of shock to detonation transition is examined, where an initial, relatively weak shock is propagated into pressed PETN powder at 1.65 g/cm 3 and the subsequent buildup to detonation is observed experimentally. These experiments, in conjunction with reactant and products’ equations of state, are utilized for building reactive flow models.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Vented and sealed cookoff of powdered and pressed ε-CL-20

In this work, we have completed a series of vented and sealed cookoff experiments of the ε-polymorph of CL-20 in our Sandia Instrumented Thermal Ignition (SITI) apparatus using both powder and pressed pellets at nominal densities of 313 ± 8 kg/m 3 and 1030 ± 4 kg/m 3 , respectively. The boundary temperature of our aluminum confinement cylinder was ramped in 10 minutes from room temperature to a prescribed set-point temperature ranging between 448 nd 468 K and held at the set-point temperature until ignition. A universal cookoff model (UCM) has been calibrated using the ε-CL-20 SITI data to predict pressurization and thermal ignition of ε-CL-20. The ignition model was validated by using one-dimensional time-to-explosion (ODTX) ignition data from a different laboratory. We found that a thirtyfold increase in the reaction rates due to liquefaction at 520 K could explain the high temperature ODTX cookoff data. The model gives a plausible explanation of why melting is important in fast cookoff events involving CL-20. Our model also gives support to 520 K as the liquefaction point of CL-20, which has different values in the literature.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

The Press and Pulse of Climate Change: Extreme Events in the Colorado River Basin

Extremes in temperature and precipitation are associated with damaging floods, prolonged drought, destructive wildfires, agricultural challenges, compromised human health, vulnerable infrastructure, and threatened ecosystems and species. Often, the steady and progressive trends (or presses) of rising global temperature are the central focus in how climate impacts are described. However, observations of extreme weather events (or pulses) increasingly show that the intensity, duration and/or frequency of acute events are also changing, resulting in greater impacts on communities and the environment. Describing how the influence of extreme events may shape water management in the Colorado River Basin in clear terms is critical to sound future planning and efforts to manage risk. Three scenario planning workshops in 2019 and 2020 were held as part of a Colorado River Conversations series, identifying potential impacts from multiple intersecting extreme events. Water managers identified climate-related events of concern in the Colorado River Basin that necessitate greater attention and adaptive responses. To support efforts to include consideration of climate-change-driven extremes in water management and planning, we explore the current state of knowledge at the confluence of long-term climate shifts and extreme weather in the Colorado River Basin related to the events of concern that were identified by scenario planning participants.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Hot-pressed ceramic Fe:ZnSe gain-switched laser

We report the first room temperature gain-switched Fe:ZnSe hot-pressed ceramic laser pumped by 2.94 µm radiation of mechanically Q-switched Er:YAG laser. The maximum output energy at 4.2 µm was 41 mJ at 3 Hz repetition rate and 120 ns pulse duration. The measured slope efficiency was 25% with respect to the absorbed energy. This technique could be attractive for the future development of high-energy short-pulse solid-state mid-IR systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Hot Isostatic Press Can Optimization for Aluminum Cladding of U-10Mo Reactor Fuel Plates: FY12 Final Report and FY13 Update

Currently, the proposed processing path for low enriched uranium – 10 wt. pct. molybdenum alloy (LEU-10Mo) monolithic fuel plates for high power research and test reactors includes hot isostatic pressing (HIP) to bond the aluminum cladding that encapsulates the fuel foil. Initial HIP experiments were performed at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) on approximately ¼ scale “mini” fuel plate samples using a HIP can design intended for these smaller experimental trials. These experiments showed that, with the addition of a co-rolled zirconium diffusion barrier on the LEU-10Mo alloy fuel foil, the HIP bonding process is a viable method for producing monolithic fuel plates. Further experimental trials at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) effectively scaled-up the “mini” can design to produce full-size fuel prototypic plates. This report summarizes current efforts at LANL to produce a HIP can design that is further optimized for higher volume production runs. The production-optimized HIP can design goals were determined by LANL and Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) to include maintaining or improving the quality of the fuel plates produced with the baseline scaled-up mini can design, while minimizing material usage, improving dimensional stability, easing assembly and disassembly, eliminating machining, and significantly reducing welding. The initial small-scale experiments described in this report show that a formed-can approach can achieve the goals described above. Future work includes scaling the formed-can approach to full-size fuel plates, and current progress toward this goal is also summarized here.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Coefficient of Thermal Expansion of Pressed PETN Pellets

The PETN single crystal coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) values were measured and reported by Cady in 1972 [1] over the temperature range of -160 to 100°C. Measurements were made in the (001) and (100) crystallographic directions, see Figure 1 (a replicate of Figure 1 from the Cady paper). Cady used his single-crystal data to calculate the linear CTE for a randomly-oriented multi-crystal pressing of PETN, and his values ranged from 76.5 με/°C (at 20°C) to 89.9 5 με/°C (at 90°C).

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

The mechanics of pressed-pellet separators in molten salt batteries

We present a phenomenological constitutive model that describes the macroscopic behavior of pressed-pellet materials used in molten salt batteries. Such materials include separators, cathodes, and anodes. The purpose of this model is to describe the inelastic deformation associated with the melting of a key constituent, the electrolyte. At room temperature, all constituents of these materials are solid and do not transport cations so that the battery is inert. As the battery is heated, the electrolyte, a constituent typically present in the separator and cathode, melts and conducts charge by flowing through the solid skeletons of the anode, cathode, and separator. The electrochemical circuit is closed in this hot state of the battery. The focus of this report is on the thermal-mechanical behavior of the separator, which typically exhibits the most deformation of the three pellets during the process of activating a molten salt battery. Separator materials are composed of a compressed mixture of a powdered electrolyte, an inert binder phase, and void space. When the electrolyte melts, macroscopically one observes both a change in volume and shape of the separator that depends on the applied boundary conditions during the melt transition. Although porous flow plays a critical role in the battery mechanics and electrochemistry, the focus of this report is on separator behavior under flow-free conditions in which the total mass of electrolyte is static within the pellet. Specific poromechanics effects such as capillary pressure, pressure-saturation, and electrolyte transport between layers are not considered. Instead, a phenomenological model is presented to describe all such behaviors including the melting transition of the electrolyte, loss of void space, and isochoric plasticity associated with the binder phase rearrangement. The model is appropriate for use finite element analysis under finite deformation and finite temperature change conditions. The model reasonably describes the stress dependent volume and shape change associated with dead load compression and spring-type boundary conditions; the latter is relevant in molten salt batteries. Future work will transition the model towards describing the solid skeleton of the separator in the traditional poromechanics context.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Hot Isostatic Pressing of Engineered Forms of I-AgZ

Hot isostatic pressing (HIP) is being considered for direct conversion of 129 I-bearing materials to a radiological waste form. The removal of volatile radioactive 129 I from the off-gas of a nuclear fuel reprocessing facility will be necessary to comply with regulatory requirements regarding reprocessing facilities sited within the United States, and any iodine-containing media or solid sorbents generated by offgas abatement will require disposal. Zeolite minerals such as silver-exchanged mordenite (AgZ) have been studied as potential iodine sorbents and will contain 129 I as chemisorbed AgI. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has conducted several recent studies on the HIP of both iodine-loaded AgZ (I-AgZ) and other iodine-bearing zeolite minerals. The goal of these research efforts is to achieve a stable, highly leach resistant material that is reduced in volume as compared to bulk iodine-loaded I-AgZ. Through the use of HIP, it may be possible to achieve this with the addition of little or no additional materials (waste formers). Other goals for the process include that the waste form will be tolerant to high temperatures and pressures, not chemically hazardous, and that the process will result in minimal secondary waste generation. This document describes the preparation of 27 samples that are distinct from previous efforts in that they are prepared exclusively with an engineered form of AgZ that is manufactured using a binder. Iodine was incorporated solely by chemisorption. This base material is expected to be more representative of an operational system than were samples prepared previously with pure minerals.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Unsupervised Machine Learning for Evaluation of Aging in Explosive Pressed Pellets

This project is an evaluation of the changes in the dimensional geometry of pressed explosive powder pellets when stored for prolonged periods under unmonitored storage conditions. Through the application of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) techniques, questions to be answered by this investigation are what, if any, effect has the long-term storage of the pellets had on their physical attributes and, if changes have occurred, are the resulting differences of significant magnitude to affect the performance of the pellets. This resulting report includes a summary of the relevant background information, explanation of the SHM approach used to analyze the available data, presentation and discussion of the results, concluding remarks, and an accompanying appendix containing the MATLAB program developed for the project.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Pseudo-Hot-Isostatic Pressing (P-HIP)

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory developed a technology to produce high performance ceramic or metal with a combination of major key properties such as versatile-complicated shape, high density, uniform density distribution, and minimal amounts of starting material. The novel pseudo-hot-isostatic-pressing (P-HIP) uses graphite or boron nitride flakes as the stress transmission media to transmit stress instead of the conventional solid graphite punch. The graphite and boron nitride flakes are solid lubricants and can slide among one another to re-distribute the stress from high stress concentration area to the low stress concentration areas, resulting in a self-stress-relief action. This innovative P-HIP enables the manufacturing of complicated shapes with near-net-shape capability while minimizing the energy used and reducing waste. This is a revolutionary breakthrough to the ceramics and powder metallurgy industries.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Parametric Study for Glovebox Limit for Puck Pressing

This document aims to demonstrate the results of various parametric studies which may be applied for gloveboxes whose primary purpose is puck pressing and metal cutting. It is the responsibility of any criticality safety analyst utilizing this study to ensure the applicability of the models presented to the scenario analyzed. This technical document is written according to the requirements of NCS-AP-005.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Effect of Hot Isostatic Pressing on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Additively Manufactured Ti Alloys

A previous SAND report, SAND2020-11353 described the basic metallurgical and surface roughness properties of additively manufactured Ti-64 material made using a powder bed fusion process. As part of that work, material was post-processed using a hot isostatic press (HIP) to densify and heat treat the material. This report is meant as an addendum to the original report and to provide specific data on material processed with HIP. The main focus of this report is to show the effects of HIP on the microstructure and mechanical properties of AM Ti-64 and Ti-5553.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Powder metallurgy hot isostatic pressing - workshop report

The findings of the powder metallurgy (PM) hot isostatic pressing (HIP) workshop confirmed that the accelerated adoption of this technology requires the following action items: 1. By 2035, the HIP infrastructure must be scaled to sizes larger than 4 .0 meters for manufacturing components relevant to energy and defense industries at large. 2. The community must develop cost-effective and agile standards, qualifications, and certification pathways for these HIP parts. 3. At the same time, domestic powder production should be expanded to a wide range of metallic alloys, including Cr-Mo steels, stainless steels, and titanium- and nickel-based superalloys, as well as to emerging alloy classes in the refractory space. 4. The above initiatives can be enhanced by implementing digital modeling and controls, including AI-driven simulations, in situ monitoring, and digital twins.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Initial Testing of Promess Press Shielding

Testing of the initial design for the shielding to be added to the Promess servo press installed in TA9 0032 was completed on April 28, 2026. This shielding design did not provide satisfactory protection to either workers or equipment within the bay when tested at an explosive quantity of 82.5g. This memo details the design, testing method, and results of the test.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗