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At least 37 records · Page 2

Bulk Growth of 2-6 Crystals in the Microgravity Environment of USML-1

The first United States Microgravity Laboratory Mission (USML- 1) flew in June 1992 on the Space Shuttle Columbia. An important part of this SpaceLab mission was the debut of the Crystal Growth Furnace (CGF). Of the seven samples grown in the furnace, three were bulk grown 2-6 compounds, two of a cadmium zinc telluride alloy, and one of a mercury zinc telluride alloy. Ground based results are presented, together with the results of computer simulated growths of these experimental conditions. Preliminary characterization results for the three USML-1 growth runs are also presented and the flight sample characteristics are compared to the equivalent ground truth samples. Of particular interest are the effect of the containment vessel on surface features, and especially on the nucleation, and the effect of the gravity vector on radial and axial compositional variations and stress and defect levels.

Gillies, Donald C.↗

Evaluation and control of environmental corrosion for aluminum and steel alloys

Corrosion protection systems for aerospace application and the effects of surface treatments and methods of controlling stress corrosion are evaluated. Chromate pigmented systems were found to be most effective for aluminum alloys; zinc-rich coatings gave the greatest protection to steel alloys. Various steel and aluminum alloys are rated for stress corrosion resistance.

Franklin, D. B.↗

An Evanescent Microwave Probe for Super-Resolution Nondestructive Imaging of Metals, Semiconductors, Dielectrics, Composites and Biological Specimens

Using evanescent microwaves with decay lengths determined by a combination of microwave wavelength (lambda) and waveguide termination geometry, we have imaged and mapped material non-uniformities and defects with a resolving capability of lambda/3800=79 microns at 1 GHz. In our method a microstrip quarter wavelength resonator was used to generate evanescent microwaves. We imaged materials with a wide range of conductivities. Carbon composites, dielectrics (Duroid, polymers), semiconductors (3C-SiC, polysilicon, natural diamond), metals (tungsten alloys, copper, zinc, steel), high-temperature superconductors, and botanical samples were scanned for defects, residual stresses, integrity of brazed junctions, subsurface features, areas of different film thickness and moisture content. The evanescent microwave probe is a versatile tool and it can be used to perform very fast, large scale mapping of a wide range of materials. This method of characterization compares favorably with ultrasound testing, which has a resolution of about 0.1 mm and suffers from high absorption in composite materials and poor transmission across boundaries. Eddy current methods which can have a resolution on the order of 50 microns are restricted to evaluating conducting materials. Evanescent microwave imaging, with careful choice of operating frequency and probe geometry, can have a resolution of up to 1 micron. In this method we can scan hot and moving objects, sample preparation is not required, testing is non-destructive, non-invasive and non-contact, and can be done in air, in liquid or in vacuum.

Pathak, P. S.↗

The effect of zinc additions on the environmental stability of Alloy 8090 (Al-Li-Cu-Mg-Zr)

Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) remains a problem in both Al-Li and conventional Al heat treatable alloys. It has recently been found that relatively small additions (less than or approximately 1 wt-percent) of Zn can dramatically improve the SCC performance of alloy 8090 (Al-Li-Cu-Mg-Zr). Constant load time to failure experiments using cylindrical tensile samples loaded between 30 and 85 percent of TYS indicate improvements of orders of magnitude over the baseline 8090 for the Zn-containing alloys under certain aging conditions. However, the toughnesses of the alloys were noticeably degraded due to the formation of second phase particles which primarily reside on grain and subgrain boundaries. EDS revealed that these intermetallic particles were Cu and Zn rich. The particles were present in the T3 condition and were not found to be the result of quench rate, though their size and distribution were. At 5 hours at 160 C, the alloys displayed the greatest susceptibility to SCC but by 20 hours at 160 C the alloys demonstrated markedly improved TTF lifetimes. Aging past this time did not provide separable TTF results, however, the alloy toughnesses continued to worsen. Initial examination of the alloys microstructures at 5 and 20 hours indicated some changes most notably the S' and delta' distributions. A possible model by which this may occur will be explored. Polarization experiments indicated a change in the trend of E(sub BR) and passive current density at peak aging as compared to the baseline 8090. Initial pitting experiments indicated that the primary pitting mechanism in chloride environments is one occurring at constituent (Al-Fe-Cu) particles and that the Cu and Zn rich boundary precipitates posses a breakaway potential similar to that of the matrix acting neither anodic or cathodic in the first set of aerated 3.5 w/o NaCl experiments. Future work will focus on the identification of the second phase particles, evaluation of K(sub 1SCC) and plateau da/dt via both DCB and slow strain rate techniques. A lower Zn content variant will be examined in the near future in hopes of optimizing toughness, density and SCC performance.

Kilmer, Raymond J.↗

Use of steel and tantalum apparatus for molten Cd-Mg-Zn alloys

Steel and tantalum apparatus contains various ternary alloys of cadmium, zinc, and magnesium used in pyrochemical processes for the recovery of uranium-base reactor fuels. These materials exhibit good corrosion resistance at the high temperatures necessary for fuel separation in liquid metal-molten salt solvents.

Bennett, G. A.↗

Skylab experiments on metals

The Skylab Materials Processing Facility is described. Eight experiments on metal processing under near-zero-gravity conditions were performed in this facility. Three of these involved metals and procedures of potential application to fabrication in space. A Multipurpose electric furnace within the Materials Processing Facility was employed to heat three ampoules of samples for each of the other five experiments. These five investigations cover diffusion versus convection rates in molten zinc, several immiscible alloy compositions, a whisker-reinforced silver-based composite, heat treating of porous silver samples, and a copper-aluminum eutectic.

Lundquist, C. A.↗

Orbital Processing of High-Quality Zn-Alloyed CdTe Compound Semiconductors

The objective of this research is to investigate the influences of gravitationally-dependent phenomena (hydrostatic and buoyant) on the growth and quality of doped and alloyed Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride (CdZnTe) crystals grown by the modified seeded Bridgman-Stockbarger technique. It is hypothesized that the damping of the gravitationally-dependent buoyancy convection will substantially enhance chemical homogeneity and the near-elimination of hydrostatic pressure will enable significant reduction in defect (dislocations and twins) density.

Larson, David J., Jr.↗

Galvanic corrosion reduced in aluminum fabrications

Titanium alloy fasteners dipped at zinc chromate primer are installed while wet in protective coated aluminum panels to reduce galvanic corrosion. Moisture tight seals at fastener points are also provided.

Source record↗

InGaAsP/InP laser development for single-mode, high-data-rate communications

Materials studies as well as general and specific device development were carried out in the InGaAsP system. A comparison was made of three standard methods of evaluating substrate quality by means of dislocation studies. A cause of reduced yield of good wafers, the pullover of melt from one bin to the next, has been analyzed. Difficulties with reproducible zinc acceptor doping have been traced to segregation of zinc in the In/Zn alloy used for the doping source. Using EBIC measurments, the pn junction was shown to drift in location depending on factors not always under control. An analysis of contact structures by SIMS showed that the depth to which the sintered Au/Zn contact penetrates into the structure is typically 0.13 microns, or well within the cap layer and out of the p-type cladding and thus not deleterious to laser prformance. The problem of single-mode laser development was investigated and it was shown to be related to the growth habit over four different possible substrate configurations. The fabrication of constricted double heterojunctions, mesa stripe buried heterostructures, and buried heterostructures was discussed, and measurements were presented on the device properties of single-mode buried heterostructure lasers. Results include single spectral line emission at 3 mW and a threshold current of 60 mA.

Ladany, I.↗

The effects of zinc addition on the environmental stability of Al-Li alloys

It was found that relatively small addition of Zn can improve the stress corrosion cracking (SCC) resistance of Al-Li alloys. However, the mechanism by which this is accomplished is unclear. The role that Zn plays in altering the behavior of Alloy 8090 is investigated. Early results suggest that Zn additions increase the volume fraction of delta(Al3Li) precipitation and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) on these alloys confirms this. The four alloys studied each had initial compositions lying in the 8090 window and had varying amounts of Zn added to them. Alloy 8090, like other Al-Li alloys, displays a delta' precipitate free zone (PFZ) upon artificial aging along the grain and subgrain boundaries. However Zn additions greatly decreased or eliminated a delta' PFZ after 100 hours at 160 C. This implies that the subgrain boundary precipitation kinetics are being altered and suppressed. Furthermore, there appears to be a window of Zn concentration above which a delta ' PFZ can reappear with the nucleation and growth of a currently unidentified precipitate on the boundaries. Polarization experiments were performed and the results presented. The experiments were performed in deaerated 3.5 w/o NaCl in both as received (T3) condition and at peak aging of 100 hours at 160 C. The aging profile was determined via Vickers Hardness tests.

Kilmer, Raymond J.↗