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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

SURFACE FINISHING AND ELECTROLESS NICKEL PLATING OF ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURED (AM) METAL COMPONENTS

This study investigates the application of electroless nickel deposition on additively manufactured stainless steel samples. Current additive manufacturing (AM) technologies produce metal components with a rough surface. Rough surfaces generally exhibit fatigue characteristics, increasing the probability of initiating a crack or fracture to the printed part. For this reason, the direct use of as-produced parts in a finished product cannot be actualized, which presents a challenge. Post-processing of the AM parts is therefore required to smoothen the surface. This study analyzes chempolish (CP) and electropolish (EP) surface finishing techniques for post-processing AM stainless steel components CP has a great advantage in creating uniform, smooth surfaces regardless of size or part geometry EP creates an extremely smooth surface, which reduces the surface roughness to the sub-micrometer level. In this study, we also investigate nickel deposition on EP, CP, and as-built AM components using electroless nickel solutions. Electroless nickel plating is a method of alloy treatment designed to increase manufactured component's hardness and surface resistance to the unrelenting environment. The electroless nickel plating process is more straightforward than its counterpart electroplating.. We use low-phosphorus (2-5% P), medium-phosphorus (6-9% P), and high-phosphorus (10-13% P). These Ni deposition experiments were optimized using the L9 Taguchi design of experiments (TDOE), which compromises the prosperous content in the solution, surface finish, plane of the geometry, and bath temperature. The pre-and post-processed surface of the AM parts was characterized by KEYENCE Digital MicroscopeVHX-7000 and Phenom XL Desktop SEM. The experimental results show that electroless nickel deposition produces uniform Ni coating on the additively manufactured components up to 20 μm per hour. Mechanical properties of as-built and Ni coated AM samples were analyzed by applying a standard 10 N scratch test. Nickel coated AM samples were up to two times scratch resistant compared to the as-built samples. This study suggests electroless nickel plating is a robust viable option for surface hardening and finishing AM components for various applications and operating conditions.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, fatigue, chempol↗
DOE OSTI2023

Quantifying Volume Change in Porous Electrodes via the Multi-Species, Multi-Reaction Model

Automotive manufacturers are working to improve individual cell and overall pack design by increasing their performance, durability, and range, while reducing cost; and active material volume change is one of the more complex aspects that needs to be considered during this process. As the time from initial design to manufacture of electric vehicles is decreased, design work that used to rely solely on testing needs to be supplemented or replaced by virtual methods. As electrochemical engineers drive battery and system design using model-based methods, the need for coupled electrochemical/mechanical models that take into account the active material change utilizing physics based or semi-empirical approaches is necessary. In this study, we illustrated the applicability of a mechano-electrochemical coupled modeling method considering the multi-species, multi-reaction model as popularized by Verbrugge and Baker. To do this, validation tests were conducted using a computer-controlled press apparatus that can control the press displacement and press force with precision. The coupled MSMR volume change model was developed and its applicability to graphite and NMC cells was illustrated. The increased accuracy of the model considering the coupled MSMR volume change approach shows in the importance of accounting for individual gallery volume change behavior on cell level predictions.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
NASA NTRS1994

Integrating Design and Manufacturing for a High Speed Civil Transport Wing

The aerospace industry is currently addressing the problem of integrating design and manufacturing. Because of the difficulties associated with using conventional, procedural techniques and algorithms, it is the authors' belief that the only feasible way to integrate the two concepts is with the development of an appropriate Knowledge-Based System (KBS). The authors propose a methodology for an aircraft producibility assessment, including a KBS, that addresses both procedural and heuristic aspects of integrating design and manufacturing of a High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) wing. The HSCT was chosen as the focus of this investigation since it is a current NASA/aerospace industry initiative full of technological challenges involving many disciplines. The paper gives a brief background of selected previous supersonic transport studies followed by descriptions of key relevant design and manufacturing methodologies. Georgia Tech's Concurrent Engineering/Integrated Product and Process Development methodology is discussed with reference to this proposed conceptual producibility assessment. Evaluation criteria are presented that relate pertinent product and process parameters to overall product producibility. In addition, the authors' integration methodology and reasons for selecting a KBS to integrate design and manufacturing are presented in this paper. Finally, a proposed KBS is given, as well as statements of future work and overall investigation objectives.

Marx, William J.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Generative Design and Digital Manufacturing: Using AI and Robots to Build Lightweight Instruments

Digital Engineering technologies are transforming long-stagnant development processes by applying the tremendous advancements in Information Technology (IT) to classical engineering tasks such as design, analysis, and fabrication of space-flight instrument structures. Generative Design leverages developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cloud computing to enable a paradigm shift in the design process, allowing the engineer to focus on defining the requirements and objectives of the design while AI generates optimized designs which comply with the input requirements. Digital Manufacturing allows these complex lightweight designs to be efficiently manufactured by directly fabricating from the resulting 3D models. The development of these two Digital Engineering technologies realizes significant mass savings while simultaneously reducing structure development time from months to days. This paper describes the development of the Evolved Structures process applying these technologies to spaceflight optical instrument structures including an example demonstrating greater than 10x reduction in development time/cost and greater than 3x improvement in structural performance.

Ryan McClelland↗
DOE OSTI2024

Towards the holistic design of alloys with large language models

Large language models are very effective at solving general tasks, but can also be useful in materials design and extracting and using information from the scientific literature and unstructured corpora. For instance, in the domain of alloy design and manufacturing, they can expedite the materials design process and enable the inclusion of holistic criteria.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Targeted Adaptive Design

Modern advanced manufacturing and advanced materials design often require searches of relatively high-dimensional process control parameter spaces for settings that result in optimal structure, property, and performance parameters. The mapping from the former to the latter must be determined from noisy experiments or from expensive simulations. Here, we abstract this problem to a mathematical framework in which an unknown function from a control space to a design space must be ascertained by means of expensive noisy measurements, which locate control settings generating desired design features within specified tolerances, with quantified uncertainty. We describe targeted adaptive design (TAD), a new algorithm that performs this sampling task efficiently. TAD creates a Gaussian process surrogate model of the unknown mapping at each iterative stage, proposing a new batch of control settings to sample experimentally and optimizing the updated expected log-predictive probability density of the target design. TAD either stops upon locating a solution with uncertainties that fit inside the tolerance box or uses a measure of expected future information to determine that the search space has been exhausted with no solution. TAD thus embodies the exploration-exploitation tension in a manner that recalls, but is essentially different from, Bayesian optimization and optimal experimental design.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Smart Composite Pressure Vessels (SCPV) with Integrated Health Monitoring

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is promoting and developing more energy efficient and environmentally friendly technologies that will enable America to use less petroleum. Hydrogen fuel cells – which directly convert the chemical energy in hydrogen to electricity with only water and heat as byproducts – are a very attractive solution that can enable this to happen. To date, DOE's efforts have culminated in commercial demonstration of on-board vehicular hydrogen storage systems that can allow for a driving range of greater than 300 miles. This requires storing 5 Kgs of hydrogen onboard a light vehicle. In order to store this quantity of hydrogen, the hydrogen gas needs to be stored in a composite overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV) at a very high internal pressure. The objective of the program was to demonstrate continuous and predictable health-monitoring of composite pressure vessels. A higher confidence in the operational safety of the vessels will lead to reduced burst factor of safety imposed by regulatory standards and hence will help reduce the structural wall thickness that drives the cost of the vessel. Highly optimized Type III (metal lined) and Type IV (polymer lined) COPVs that are manufactured using filament winding process have been designed and qualified for the above mentioned application. However, the main structural component of the COPVs is carbon fiber and the high cost of carbon fiber composite in a pressure vessel is a primary challenge in reducing the cost of gaseous hydrogen storage. Continuous and remote monitoring of structural health of the COPVs as well as optimization of the strength translation of carbon fibers have the potential to allow for reduced factor of safety, thereby reduced amount of carbon and associated cost of the vessel. In the current program, the project team including Steelhead Composites (SHC), University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), Teijin Carbon America, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and LUNA designed, fabricated, and tested smart composite pressure vessels with integrated sensors. Iterative loops of design and testing using coupons, subscale STEB vessels and full size vessels proved that a new generation of high performance carbon fiber can be used for efficient design of Type 3 vessels for H2 storage. Novel analysis techniques were developed to predict the initiation and propagation of interlaminar damage inside the composite shell due to impact damage, a real threat in practical operation. Such an analysis scheme is typically not used in tank design but is an essential tool for health monitoring of composite vessels. Remote sensing of the key signatures of the tank’s operating parameters such as pressure, acceleration and humidity was demonstrated using a unique device that can wirelessly transmit and stream the data to a remote server. Fiber optic sensors were successfully integrated during fabrication of the tanks. These sensors provide a wealth of information regarding the structural health of the vessel when it is subsequently pressurized or subjected to impact damage. Excellent correlation was demonstrated between the fiber optic sensor and mechanical strain gage data, and between the measurements and analytical predictions.

08 HYDROGEN↗
NASA NTRS1972

Filament-wound graphite/epoxy rocket motor case

The fabrication procedures are described for a filament-wound rocket motor case, approximately 56 cm long x 71 cm diameter, utilizing high tensile strength graphite fibers. The process utilized Fiberite Hy-E-1330B prepreg tape which consists of Courtaulds HTS fibers in a temperature-sensitive epoxy matrix. This fabrication effort, with resultant design, material and process recommendations, substantiates the manufacturing feasibility of graphite/epoxy rocket motor cases in the 56 cm x 71 cm size range.

Humphrey, W. D.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Unified Engineering Software System

Collection of computer programs performs diverse functions in prototype engineering. NEXUS, NASA Engineering Extendible Unified Software system, is research set of computer programs designed to support full sequence of activities encountered in NASA engineering projects. Sequence spans preliminary design, design analysis, detailed design, manufacturing, assembly, and testing. Primarily addresses process of prototype engineering, task of getting single or small number of copies of product to work. Written in FORTRAN 77 and PROLOG.

Purves, L. R.↗
NASA NTRS1989

The use of COSMIC NASTRAN in an integrated conceptual design environment

Changes in both software and hardware are rapidly bringing conceptual engineering tools like finite element analysis into mainstream mechanical design. Systems that integrate all phases of the manufacturing process provide the most cost benefits. The application of programming concepts like object oriented programming allow for the encapsulation of intelligent data within the design geometry. This combined with declining cost in per seat hardware bring new alternatives to the user.

White, Gil↗
NASA NTRS1990

Advanced composites research and development for transport aircraft

This paper highlights past experiences, lessons learned, state-of-the-art and current research activities directed at providing an integrated 'affordable' data base for composite structures. Composite secondary and empennage structures are in production on several transport aircraft. The weight reduction potential of composite structures is well documented. However, the cost to develop and produce composite structures remains the major barrier to increased application of this technology to transport aircraft. Specific technology items that are being developed under the NASA Advanced Composites Technology Program are described. Materials, design concepts, structural mechanics methodology and manufacturing processes and equipment are under development or are emerging that are expected to lead to an integrated 'affordable' data base. Technology verification for the next decade is expected to require fabrication and testing of full-scale wing-box and fuselage-section components before certificatiaon can occur and production commitments can be made.

Davis, John G., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Static and fatigue testing of full-scale fuselage panels fabricated using a Therm-X(R) process

Large, curved, integrally stiffened composite panels representative of an aircraft fuselage structure were fabricated using a Therm-X process, an alternative concept to conventional two-sided hard tooling and contour vacuum bagging. Panels subsequently were tested under pure shear loading in both static and fatigue regimes to assess the adequacy of the manufacturing process, the effectiveness of damage tolerant design features co-cured with the structure, and the accuracy of finite element and closed-form predictions of postbuckling capability and failure load. Test results indicated the process yielded panels of high quality and increased damage tolerance through suppression of common failure modes such as skin-stiffener separation and frame-stiffener corner failure. Finite element analyses generally produced good predictions of postbuckled shape, and a global-local modelling technique yielded failure load predictions that were within 7% of the experimental mean.

Dinicola, Albert J.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Correlation of Structural Analysis and Test Results for the McDonnell Douglas Stitched/RFI All-Composite Wing Stub Box

The analytical and experimental results of an all-composite wing stub box are presented in this report. The wing stub box, which is representative of an inboard portion of a commercial transport high-aspect-ratio wing, was fabricated from stitched graphite-epoxy material with a Resin Film Infusion manufacturing process. The wing stub box was designed and constructed by the McDonnell Douglas Aerospace Company as part of the NASA Advanced Composites Technology program. The test article contained metallic load-introduction structures on the inboard and outboard ends of the graphite-epoxy wing stub box. The root end of the inboard load introduction structure was attached to a vertical reaction structure, and an upward load was applied to the outermost tip of the outboard load introduction structure to induce bending of the wing stub box. A finite element model was created in which the center portion of the wing-stub-box upper cover panel was modeled with a refined mesh. The refined mesh was required to represent properly the geometrically nonlinear structural behavior of the upper cover panel and to predict accurately the strains in the stringer webs of the stiffened upper cover panel. The analytical and experimental results for deflections and strains are in good agreement.

Wang, John T.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Automated Finite Element Analysis of Elastically-Tailored Plates

A procedure for analyzing and designing elastically tailored composite laminates using the STAGS finite element solver has been presented. The methodology used to produce the elastic tailoring, namely computer-controlled steering of unidirectionally reinforced composite material tows, has been reduced to a handful of design parameters along with a selection of construction methods. The generality of the tow-steered ply definition provides the user a wide variety of options for laminate design, which can be automatically incorporated with any finite element model that is composed of STAGS shell elements. Furthermore, the variable stiffness parameterization is formulated so that manufacturability can be assessed during the design process, plus new ideas using tow steering concepts can be easily integrated within the general framework of the elastic tailoring definitions. Details for the necessary implementation of the tow-steering definitions within the STAGS hierarchy is provided, and the format of the ply definitions is discussed in detail to provide easy access to the elastic tailoring choices. Integration of the automated STAGS solver with laminate design software has been demonstrated, so that the large design space generated by the tow-steering options can be traversed effectively. Several design problems are presented which confirm the usefulness of the design tool as well as further establish the potential of tow-steered plies for laminate design.

Jegley, Dawn C.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Liner-less Tanks for Space Application - Design and Manufacturing Considerations

Composite pressure vessels, used extensively for gas and fuel containment in space vehicles, are generally constructed with a metallic liner, while the fiber reinforcement carries the major portion of the pressure-induced load. The design is dominated by the liner s low strain at yield since the reinforcing fibers cannot operate at their potential load-bearing capability without resorting to pre-stressing (or autofrettaging). An ultra high-efficiency pressure vessel, which operates at the optimum strain capability of the fibers, can be potentially achieved with a liner-less construction. This paper discusses the design and manufacturing challenges to be overcome in the development of such a pressure vessel. These include: (1) gas/liquid containment and permeation, (2) design and structural analysis, and (3) manufacturing process development. The paper also presents the development and validation tests on a liner-less pressure vessel developed by Kaiser Compositek Inc. (KCI). It should be noted that KCI s liner-less tank exhibits a highly controlled leak-before-burst mode. This feature results in a structure having the highest level of safety.

Jones, Brian H.↗
NASA NTRS2011

A Radiation Hard Multi-Channel Digitizer ASIC for Operation in the Harsh Jovian Environment

In 1995, the Galileo spacecraft arrived at Jupiter to conduct follow-up experiments on pathfinder Pioneer and key Voyager discoveries especially at Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. These new observations helped expand our scientific knowledge of the prominent Galilean satellites; studies revealed diversity with respect to their geology, internal structure, evolution and degree of past and present activity. Jupiter's diverse Galilean satellites, of which three are believed to harbor internal oceans, are central to understanding the habitability of icy worlds. Galileo provided for the first time compelling evidence of a near-surface global ocean on Europa. Furthermore, by understanding the Jupiter system and unraveling the history of its evolution from initial formation to the emergence of possible habitats and life, gives insight into how giant planets and their satellite systems form and evolve. Most important, new light is shed on the potential for the emergence and existence of life in icy satellite oceans. In 2009, NASA released a detailed Jupiter Europa Mission Study (EJSM) that proposed an ambitious Flagship Mission to understand more fully the satellites Europa and Ganymede within the context of the Jovian system. Key to EJSM is the NASA led Jupiter Europa Orbiter (JEO) and the ESA led Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter (JGO). JEO and JGO would execute a choreographed exploration of the Jovian system before settling into orbit around Europa and Ganymede, respectively. The National Academies Planetary Decadal Survey, 2011 has listed the NASA-led JEO as the second highest priority mission for the decade 2013-2022, and if chosen it would be launched in 2020 with arrival at Jupiter in 2025. If the JEO mission is not chosen it is anticipated that there will be opportunities in future decadal cycles. Jupiter Orbit Insertion (JOI) begins a 30-month Jovian system tour followed by nine months of science mapping after Europa Orbit Insertion (EOI) in July 2028. The orbiter will ultimately impact the surface of Europa after the mission is completed. The current JEO mission concept includes a range of instruments on the payload, to monitor dynamic phenomena (such as Io's volcanoes and Jupiters atmosphere), map the Jovian magnetosphere and its interactions with the Galilean satellites, and characterize water oceans beneath the ice shells of Europa and Ganymede. The payload includes a low mass (3.7 Kg) and low power (< 5 W) Thermal Instrument (TI) concept for measuring possible warm thermal anomalies on Europa s cold surface caused by recent (< 10,000 years) eruptive activity. Regions of anomalously high heat flow will be identified by thermal mapping using a nadir pointing, push-broom filter radiometer that provides far-IR imagery in two broad band spectral wavelength regions, 8-20 m and 20-100 m, for surface temperature measurements with better than a 2 K accuracy and a spatial resolution of 250 m/pixel obtained from a 100 Km orbit. The temperature accuracy permits a search for elevated temperatures when combined with albedo information. The spatial resolution is sufficient to resolve Europa's larger cracks and ridge axial valleys. In order to accomplish the thermal mapping, the TI uses sensitive thermopile arrays that are readout by a custom designed low-noise Multi-Channel Digitizer (MCD) ASIC that resides very close to the thermopile linear array outputs. Both the thermopile array and the MCD ASIC will need to show full functionality within the harsh Jovian radiation environment, operating at cryogenic temperatures, typically 150 K to 170 K. In the following, a radiation mitigation strategy together with a low risk Radiation-Hardened-By-Design (RHBD) methodology using commercial foundry processes is given for the design and manufacture of a MCD ASIC that will meet this challenge.

Aslam, Shahid↗
NASA NTRS2018

How Public Private Partnerships Enable NASA Future Space Communication Needs

The NASA Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program is responsible for providing communication and navigation services to scientific and human space exploration missions. SCaN's current Space Network provides radio frequency (RF) relay services to near Earth space missions via Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS). SCaN plans to offer a new generation of relay services beginning in 2025, including the addition of optical communications capabilities and enhanced RF capabilities. The primary drivers behind the development of these next generation relay network services are to enhance communication and navigation services with significantly reduced development and operational costs. Several approaches being considered for implementation of these services are through government owned capabilities, through commercial service providers, or a combination of the two. One approach receiving a great deal of attention is the use of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) to develop and provide capabilities or services. Utilizing Public-Private Partnerships allows NASA and commercial entities to share the investment, standards, and risks of developing and testing new or enhanced capabilities which can benefit both NASA and the commercial space communication industry. The capabilities developed under the PPP can then be used to support the growth of the commercial satellite communications industry while simultaneously being introduced into NASA operations to provide service to future NASA missions as part of the NASA Next Generation Architecture. Partnerships formed for this purpose can also serve as the basis for further NASA acquisition activities where government and industry can continue to share the cost, risk, and benefits of space communications capability development and operations. This objective is consistent with the 2010 National Space Policy stated principles: "The United States is committed to encouraging and facilitating the growth of a U.S. commercial space sector that supports U.S. needs, is globally competitive, and advances U.S. leadership in the generation of new markets and innovation-driven entrepreneurship." [1]NASA has conducted several internal studies as well as externally funded studies with industry to define the next generation space communication architecture. NASA has approached the commercial industry through a Request for Information (RFI) to define further the next generation architecture and has conducted numerous internal and external studies. The results are promising and are shaping the approach to utilize Public Private Partnership to achieve NASA's objectives while reducing costs. The commercial satellite industry has begun to deploy high performance, high throughput global satellite constellations which have the potential to provide communication services to NASA Missions. Commercial satellite manufacturers have advanced their processes to rapidly design, build, and deliver, reliable communication satellites using minimum government oversight. In this paper, we will 1) describe the NASA Next Generation Architecture, Concept of Operations (ConOps), and salient characteristics; 2) Discuss the rational of Public-Private Partnerships to achieve NASA’s next generation communication architecture; and 3) Summarize the preliminary analysis performed to date and describe the path forward.

Stegeman, James↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Moderator Considerations for Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion Systems

Nuclear reactors have the potential to provide high energy density to enable sustainable surface power and advanced propulsion methods needed for human exploration activities at the moon and mars. Current mission planning is surveying different reactor types for space power and propulsion application. Of these reactor types, the use of a moderator within the reactor can enable reduced enrichment, reduce overall fuel loadings, and minimize the critical size of the reactor compared to unmoderated reference systems. This proceeding summarizes some moderator materials identified for space reactor applications: zirconium hydride, yttrium hydride, beryllium, and beryllium oxide, and the unique design considerations inherent to surface power and nuclear thermal propulsion reactor designs. It was found that there are four key considerations during the moderator selection and design process: nuclear properties, thermophysical & mechanical properties, manufacture & readiness, and environmental compatibility. Surface power reactors can benefit from moderators which minimize overall system mass and are capable of surviving high temperature irradiation environments for years with little degradation. Nuclear thermal propulsion reactors can benefit from moderators which are capable of retaining structural integrity under multiple burns while being exposed to a wide temperature range (40 < T < 500+ K). Moderator materials which exhibit good stability under irradiation and high temperature operation, minimize fuel pitch, and are high readiness are desirable for near term implementation.

nuclear thermal propulsion↗