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Results for “Irradiation Damage”

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 307 records · Page 17
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1991

Burst annealing of high temperature GaAs solar cells

One of the major limitations of solar cells in space power systems is their vulnerability to radiation damage. One solution to this problem is to periodically heat the cells to anneal the radiation damage. Annealing was demonstrated with silicon cells. The obstacle to annealing of GaAs cells was their susceptibility to thermal damage at the temperatures required to completely anneal the radiation damage. GaAs cells with high temperature contacts and encapsulation were developed. The cells tested are designed for concentrator use at 30 suns AMO. The circular active area is 2.5 mm in diameter for an area of 0.05 sq cm. Typical one sun AMO efficiency of these cells is over 18 percent. The cells were demonstrated to be resistant to damage after thermal excursions in excess of 600 C. This high temperature tolerance should allow these cells to survive the annealing of radiation damage. A limited set of experiments were devised to investigate the feasibility of annealing these high temperature cells. The effect of repeated cycles of electron and proton irradiation was tested. The damage mechanisms were analyzed. Limitations in annealing recovery suggested improvements in cell design for more complete recovery. These preliminary experiments also indicate the need for further study to isolate damage mechanisms. The primary objective of the experiments was to demonstrate and quantify the annealing behavior of high temperature GaAs cells. Secondary objectives were to measure the radiation degradation and to determine the effect of repeated irradiation and anneal cycles.

Brothers, P. R.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Genomic and Phenotypic Predictors of Human Ex Vivo Sensitivity to Simulated Deep Space Radiation

High-linear energy transfer (LET) ionizing radiation is a major health hazard for astronauts who will be exposed to galactic cosmic rays during upcoming lunar and Mars missions. Predicting and mitigating this risk requires understanding the factors underlying individual radiation sensitivity. We started to address this challenge by identifying the genomic and phenotypic associations with sensitivity to low and high-LET ionizing radiation ex vivo in over 750 healthy human donors. We exposed primary human blood mononuclear cells to simulated galactic cosmic ray components: 350 MeV/n 28Si, 350 MeV/n 40Ar and 600 MeV/n 56Fe particles, at 1.1 and 3 particles/100 sq.m fluences, as well as 0.1 Gy and 1 Gy doses of gamma rays, and analyzed the outcomes at 4 and 24 hours post-irradiation. We quantified DNA damage and repair responses based on 53BP1+ radiation-induced foci formation, together with oxidative stress and changes in secreted factors including immune cytokines and exosomes. We also analyzed phenotypic associations with spontaneous DNA repair foci at baseline prior to irradiation. We identified an increase in spontaneous DNA repair associated with age and latent viral infection, and observed that human spontaneous DNA repair foci at baseline can serve as a negative predictor of DNA repair and immunoregulatory cytokine production after irradiation. Furthermore, we observed a wide variability of subject- and LET-dependent radiation responses, with radiation-induced DNA repair foci increasing by dose and LET, and high-LET particle radiation resulting in more residual DNA damage compared to low-LET particles and gamma rays. We have developed multiple metrics to quantify human radiosensitivity across the spectrum of conditions. Here we present their dependence on radiation quality and phenotypic variables, including an age-dependent decrease in DNA repair after irradiation, and genomic associations with radiosensitivity based on low-coverage whole genome sequencing. We anticipate that our work will pave the way for understanding the spectrum of human radiosensitivity and identifying targets for countermeasure development to reduce DNA and cellular damage and radiation carcinogenesis during deep space exploration.

GWAS↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Genomic and phenotypic predictors of human ex vivo sensitivity to simulated deep space radiation

High-linear energy transfer (LET) ionizing radiation is a major health hazard for astronauts who will be exposed to galactic cosmic rays during upcoming lunar and Mars missions. Predicting and mitigating this risk requires understanding the factors underlying individual radiation sensitivity. We started to address this challenge by identifying the genomic and phenotypic associations with sensitivity to low and high-LET ionizing radiation ex vivo in over 750 healthy human donors. We exposed primary human blood mononuclear cells to simulated galactic cosmic ray components: 350MeV/n (28)Si, 350MeV/n (40)Ar and 600MeV/n (56)Fe particles, at 1.1 and 3 particles/100µm^(2) fluences, as well as 0.1 Gy and 1 Gy doses of gamma rays, and analyzed the outcomes at 4 and 24 hours post-irradiation. We quantified DNA damage and repair responses based on 53BP1^(+) radiation-induced foci formation, together with oxidative stress and changes in secreted factors including immune cytokines and exosomes. We also analyzed phenotypic associations with spontaneous DNA repair foci at baseline prior to irradiation. We identified an increase in spontaneous DNA repair associated with age and latent viral infection, and observed that human spontaneous DNA repair foci at baseline can serve as a negative predictor of DNA repair and immunoregulatory cytokine production after irradiation. Furthermore, we observed a wide variability of subject- and LET-dependent radiation responses, with radiation-induced DNA repair foci increasing by dose and LET, and high-LET particle radiation resulting in more residual DNA damage compared to low-LET particles and gamma rays. We have developed multiple metrics to quantify human radiosensitivity across the spectrum of conditions. Here we present their dependence on radiation quality and phenotypic variables, including an age-dependent decrease in DNA repair after irradiation, and genomic associations with radiosensitivity based on low-coverage whole genome sequencing. We anticipate that our work will pave the way for understanding the spectrum of human radiosensitivity and identifying targets for countermeasure development to reduce DNA and cellular damage and radiation carcinogenesis during deep space exploration.

GWAS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Effects of radiation damage on the yielding and fracture of nanowires

Irradiated nanowires' strength can change with their diameter. Though damaged by radiation, defects get cleaned during loading, returning the nanowires to their pristine state. This suggests that radiation has little impact on their fracture behavior.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Genomic and Phenotypic Associations to Predict Human Sensitivity to SpaceRadiation

High-linear energy transfer (LET) ionizing radiation is a major health hazard for astronauts who will be exposed to galactic cosmic rays during upcoming lunar and Mars missions. Predicting and mitigating this risk requires understanding the factors underlying individual radiation sensitivity. We started to address this challenge by identifying the genomic and phenotypic associations with sensitivity to low and high-LET ionizing radiation ex vivo in over 750 healthy human donors. We exposed primary human blood mononuclear cells to simulated galactic cosmic ray components: 350MeV/n 28Si, 350MeV/n 40Ar and 600MeV/n 56Fe particles, at 1.1 and 3 particles/100 sq.m fluences, as well as 0.1 Gy and 1 Gy doses of gamma rays, and analyzed the outcomes at 4 and 24 hours post-irradiation. We quantified DNA damage and repair responses based on 53BP1+ radiation-induced foci formation, together with oxidative stress and changes in secreted factors including immune cytokines and exosomes. We also analyzed phenotypic associations with spontaneous DNA repair foci at baseline prior to irradiation. We identified an increase in spontaneous DNA repair associated with age and latent viral infection, and observed that human spontaneous DNA repair foci at baseline can serve as a negative predictor of DNA repair and immunoregulatory cytokine production after irradiation. Furthermore, we observed a wide variability of subject- and LET-dependent radiation responses, with radiation-induced DNA repair foci increasing by dose and LET, and high-LET particle radiation resulting in more residual DNA damage compared to low-LET particles and gamma rays. We have developed multiple metrics to quantify human radio sensitivity across the spectrum of conditions. Here we present their dependence on radiation quality and phenotypic variables, including an age-dependent decrease in DNA repair after irradiation, and genomic associations with radio sensitivity based on low-coverage whole genome sequencing. We anticipate that our work will pave the way for understanding the spectrum of human radio sensitivity and identifying targets for countermeasure development to reduce DNA and cellular damage and radiation carcinogenesis during deep space exploration.

GWAS radiation human↗
DOE OSTI2021

Caffeic acid attenuates irradiation-induced hematopoietic stem cell apoptosis through inhibiting mitochondrial damage

Highlights: • IR-induced mitochondrial damage accelerates HSC apoptosis. • CA attenuates mitochondrial damage and apoptosis of HSCs induced by IR. • CA protects against BM hematopoietic failure in mice after IR exposure. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are sensitive to ionizing radiation (IR) damage, and its injury is the primary cause of bone marrow (BM) hematopoietic failure and even death after exposure to a certain dose of IR. However, the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Here we show that mitochondrial oxidative damage, which is characterized by mitochondrial reactive oxygen species overproduction, mitochondrial membrane potential reduction and mitochondrial permeability transition pore opening, is rapidly induced in both human and mouse HSCs and directly accelerates HSC apoptosis after IR exposure. Mechanistically, 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) is induced by IR exposure and contributes to IR-induced mitochondrial oxidative damage through inducing lipid peroxidation. Intriguingly, a natural antioxidant, caffeic acid (CA), can attenuate IR-induced HSC apoptosis through suppressing 5-LOX-mediated mitochondrial oxidative damage, thus protecting against BM hematopoietic failure after IR exposure. These findings uncover a critical role for mitochondria in IR-induced HSC injury and highlight the therapeutic potential of CA in BM hematopoietic failure induced by IR.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Atomistic Modeling of Irradiation-Induced Defects and Clusters in Additively-Manufactured Austenitic Stainless Steel

Understanding the progression of irradiation-induced defects in real materials and alloys requires insight into the interaction between point defects, defect clusters, and the existing microstructure. This is particularly true when it comes to additively manufactured (AM) materials with complicated microstructures and residual stresses. In this work, we employ molecular dynamics (MD) to simulate the creation of point defects via primary radiation damage modeling and point defect interactions with extended defects such as voids and dislocations using simplified but representative alloy compositions. We analyze the effect of alloying elements on the formation energies of the defect clusters and measure interactions such as sink strengths and binding energies. This study provides insight into the unique behaviors of irradiation damage in AM materials and information necessary to bridge the gap in length and time scales to connect the atomistic behavior of defects to longer length scale simulations such as cluster dynamics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1973

Proton-radiation damage in Gunn oscillators

The irradiation effects of 22 MeV protons on the electrical characteristics of GaAs continuous-wave Gunn oscillators was studied. The radio frequency power output was reduced by 3 decibels at proton fluences in the neighborhood of 1.5 x 10 to the 12th power protons/sq cm. Conductance measurements indicate that the carrier removal rate at high electric fields remained roughly 40 percent less than at low fields. Diode efficiencies of two device groups were found to be monotonically descreasing functions of fluence. Frequency modulation noise was generally unaffected by radiation, but the magnitude of the noise in the noise power spectrum increased significantly. These effects are partially accounted for, in a qualitative fashion, by a model of electron traps having field-dependent net-carrier capture rates and various response times.

Johnson, J. W.↗
NASA NTRS1998

How do tissues respond to damage at the cellular level? The role of cytokines in irradiated tissues

The capacity of ionizing radiation to affect tissue function, control tumor growth and elicit pathological sequelae has been attributed in great part to its effects on cellular DNA, which, as the transmitter of genetic information, can both register damage and perpetuate it. Nonetheless, multicellular organisms function as the result of the cooperation of many cell types. What then occurs when individual cells are damaged by ionizing radiation? Is tissue response a sum of cellular effects such as cell death and DNA damage? Or does the tissue respond as a coherent unit to the damage of its parts? In this paper, data in support of the latter model that indicate a role for cytokines, in particular transforming growth factor beta1, as critical components of extracellular signaling pathways that mediate tissue response to radiation will be reviewed. The key to manipulating the consequences of radiation exposure lies in understanding the complex interplay of events initiated at the cellular level, but acting on the tissue.

Review↗
NASA NTRS2019

Developing High-Throughput Organ-On-A-Chip Models to Investigate the Effects of Ionizing Radiation on the Central Nervous System

One of the main health risks in human space exploration is central nervous system (CNS) damage by ionizing radiation. Irradiation with simulated GCRs or their components, or high doses of low-LET radiation such as gamma rays, in animal models has been shown to cause neuronal damage together with glial cell activation and neuroinflammation and has been associated with prolonged cognitive and behavioral dysfunction. The extent of CNS damage in response to any insult, including ionizing radiation, is partially regulated by the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which enables immune cells to enter the CNS. The main cellular regulators of BBB permeability are astrocytes, which also modulate neuronal death, immune responses and oxidative stress, and thus could serve as a robust CNS-specific target for countermeasure development. However, studies on BBB permeability and astrocyte functions in regulating CNS responses to ionizing radiation have been limited, especially in human tissue/organ analogs. Therefore, we have established a high throughput 3D organ-on-a-chip system to study human CNS functions in response to ionizing radiation, with the eventual goal of adapting it to spaceflight missions. We utilized commercially available OrganoPlate system (Mimetas, Inc.) seeded with primary or induced pluripotent stem cell-derived human cells for developing 3D neuronal-astrocytic and BBB models. We investigated both immediate and delayed CNS dose responses to 0.5-1 Gy X-rays by measuring BBB permeability and morphology, and astrocyte activation. We have also quantified secreted markers of oxidative stress and cell viability. In the future, we are planning to monitor dendritic, axonal and synaptic changes in neurons, evaluate the combined exposures to simulated microgravity and ionizing radiation, and compare the responses to low and high-LET ionizing radiation. We anticipate these studies could indicate novel cellular and mechanistic targets for countermeasure developments to improve CNS functions in astronauts.

Malkani, Sherina↗
DOE OSTI2023

Recent progress on understanding the temperature-dependent irradiation resistance ranking among NiFe, NiCoCr, and NiCoFeCr alloys: A review

Systematic temperature-effects investigations on damage evolution in ion-irradiated Ni-based concentrated solid-solution alloys (CSAs) are pivotal to provide reliance on their use in nuclear applications. Here, in search of the origin behind the temperature-dependent irradiation resistance ranking among equiatomic NiFe, NiCoCr and NiCoFeCr alloys, we have compared, previously experimental and theoretical published data involving ion irradiation experiments performed on these alloys with new ion channeling results from ion-irradiated NiCoFeCr at 500 K. Moreover, the current results are compared with independent theoretical calculations and relevant TEM results from literature, which allow us to suggest that the lower migration energy of vacancies in NiCoCr, as compared with those in NiFe and NiCoFeCr, is the reason behind why NiCoCr is no longer outperforming NiFe under ion irradiation above 300 K.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Radiation Damage Mitigation in FeCrAl Alloy at Sub-Recrystallization Temperatures

Traditional defect recovery methods rely on high-temperature annealing, often exceeding 750 °C for FeCrAl. In this study, we introduce electron wind force (EWF)-assisted annealing as an alternative approach to mitigate irradiation-induced defects at significantly lower temperatures. FeCrAl samples irradiated with 5 MeV Zr 2+ ions at a dose of 10 14 cm −2 were annealed using EWF at 250 °C for 60 s. We demonstrate a remarkable transformation in the irradiated microstructure, where significant increases in kernel average misorientation (KAM) and low-angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) typically indicate heightened defect density; the use of EWF annealing reversed these effects. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed these findings, showing substantial reductions in full width at half maximum (FWHM) values and a realignment of peak positions toward their original states, indicative of stress and defect recovery. To compare the effectiveness of EWF, we also conducted traditional thermal annealing at 250 °C for 7 h, which proved less effective in defect recovery as evidenced by less pronounced improvements in XRD FWHM values.

FeCrAl alloys↗
DOE OSTI2020

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) irradiated with 140 MeV protons

Here, hexagonal boron nitride was irradiated with 140 MeV protons to a fluence of ~6 10 20 p/cm 2 at T irr ~200 °C. Isotropic graphite was also irradiated alongside h-BN under similar conditions and fluence to enable direct comparison of the two similar structures. The effects of proton irradiation on dimensional stability and microstructure were studied using precision dilatometry and energy dispersive Xray diffraction techniques revealing by direct comparison to graphite that h-BN can better resist radiation damage from bombardment when irradiated with protons impinging normal to the crystallographic planes or along the crystallographic c-axis. X-ray diffraction experiments also revealed a preferred orientation of the crystallites in bulk samples near the sample surface, an orientation influenced by irradiation. Thermal studies using differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis to 740 °C, augmented by precision dilatometry, provided evidence of subtle phase transitions attributed to residual w-BN in the matrix. Irradiation appears to induce shifting of such transitions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Phase patterning of metallic glasses through superfast quenching of ion irradiation-induced thermal spikes

Amorphous metallic glasses (MGs) convert to crystalline solids upon annealing at a high temperature. Such a phase change, however, does not occur with the local melting caused by damage cascades introduced by ion irradiation, although the resulting thermal spikes can reach temperatures > 1000 K. This is because the quenching rate of the local melting zone is several orders of magnitude higher than the critical cooling rate for MG formation. Thus the amorphous structure is sustained. This mechanism increases the highest temperature at which irradiated MG sustains amorphous phase. More interestingly, if an irradiated MG is pre-annealed to form a polycrystalline structure, ion irradiation can locally convert this crystalline phase to an amorphous phase if the grains are nanometers in size and comparable to the damage cascade volume size. Combining pre-annealing and site selective ion irradiation, patterned crystalline-amorphous heterogeneous structures have been fabricated. This finding opens new doors for various applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS2013

Radiation Tests of Single Photon Avalanche Diode for Space Applications

Single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) have been recently studied as photodetectors for applications in space missions. In this presentation we report the results of radiation hardness test on large area SPAD (actual results refer to SPADs having 500 micron diameter). Dark counts rate as low as few kHz at −10 degC has been obtained for the 500 micron devices, before irradiation. We performed bulk damage and total dose radiation tests with protons and gamma-rays in order to evaluate their radiation hardness properties and their suitability for application in a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) space mission. With this aim SPAD devices have been irradiated using up to 20 krad total dose with gamma-rays and 5 krad with protons. The test performed show that large area SPADs are very sensitive to proton doses as low as 2×10(exp 8) (1 MeV eq) n/cm2 with a significant increase in dark counts rate (DCR) as well as in the manifestation of the "random telegraph signal" effect. Annealing studies at room temperature (RT) and at 80 degC have been carried out, showing a high decrease of DCR after 24-48 h at RT. Lower protons doses in the range 1-10×10(exp 7) (1 MeV eq) n/cm(exp 2) result in a lower increase of DCR suggesting that the large-area SPADs tested in this study are well suitable for application in low-inclination LEO, particularly useful for gamma-ray astrophysics.

radiation hardness↗