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At least 379 records · Page 21
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Impacts Analyses Supporting the National Environmental Policy Act Environmental Assessment for the Resumption of Transient Testing Program

This document contains the analysis details and summary of analyses conducted to evaluate the environmental impacts for the Resumption of Transient Fuel and Materials Testing Program. It provides an assessment of the impacts for the two action alternatives being evaluated in the environmental assessment. These alternatives are (1) resumption of transient testing using the Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and (2) conducting transient testing using the Annular Core Research Reactor (ACRR) at Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico (SNL/NM). Analyses are provided for radiologic emissions, other air emissions, soil contamination, and groundwater contamination that could occur (1) during normal operations, (2) as a result of accidents in one of the facilities, and (3) during transport. It does not include an assessment of the biotic, cultural resources, waste generation, or other impacts that could result from the resumption of transient testing. Analyses were conducted by technical professionals at INL and SNL/NM as noted throughout this report. The analyses are based on bounding radionuclide inventories, with the same inventories used for test materials by both alternatives and different inventories for the TREAT Reactor and ACRR. An upper value on the number of tests was assumed, with a test frequency determined by the realistic turn-around times required between experiments. The estimates provided for impacts during normal operations are based on historical emission rates and projected usage rates; therefore, they are bounding. Estimated doses for members of the public, collocated workers, and facility workers that could be incurred as a result of an accident are very conservative. They do not credit safety systems or administrative procedures (such as evacuation plans or use of personal protective equipment) that could be used to limit worker doses. Doses estimated for transportation are conservative and are based on transport of the bounding radiologic inventory that will be contained in any given test. The transportation analysis assumes all transports will contain the bounding inventory.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
NASA NTRS1973

Compatibility tests of materials for a lithium-cooled space power reactor concept

Materials for a lithium-cooled space power reactor concept must be chemically compatible for up to 50,000 hr at high temperature. Capsule tests at 1040 C (1900 F) were made of material combinations of prime interest: T-111 in direct contact with uranium mononitride (UN), Un in vacuum separated from T-111 by tungsten wire, UN with various oxygen impurity levels enclosed in tungsten wire lithium-filled T-111 capsules, and TZM and lithium together in T-111 capsules. All combinations were compatible for over 2800 hr except for T-111 in direct contact with UN.

Sinclair, J. H.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Infrared Database for Process Support Materials

Process support materials' compatibility with cleaning processes is critical to ensure final hardware cleanliness and that performance requirements are met. Previous discovery of potential contaminants in process materials shows the need for incoming materials testing and establishment of a process materials database. The Contamination Control Team of the Materials, Processes, and Manufacturing (MP&M) Department at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has initiated the development of such an infrared (IR) database, called the MSFC Process Materials IR database, of the common process support materials used at MSFC. These process support materials include solvents, wiper cloths, gloves, bagging materials, etc. Testing includes evaluation of the potential of gloves, wiper cloths, and other items to transfer contamination to handled articles in the absence of solvent exposure, and the potential for solvent exposure to induce material degradation. This Technical Memorandum (TM) summarizes the initial testing completed through December 2002. It is anticipated that additional testing will be conducted with updates provided in future TMs.Materials were analyzed using two different IR techniques: (1) Dry transference and (2) liquid extraction testing. The first of these techniques utilized the Nicolet Magna 750 IR spectrometer outfitted with a horizontal attenuated total reflectance (HATR) crystal accessory. The region from 650 to 4,000 wave numbers was analyzed, and 50 scans were performed per IR spectrum. A dry transference test was conducted by applying each sample with hand pressure to the HATR crystal to first obtain a spectrum of the parent material. The material was then removed from the HATR crystal and analyzed to determine the presence of any residues. If volatile, liquid samples were examined both prior to and following evaporation.The second technique was to perform an extraction test with each sample in five different solvents.Once the scans were complete for both the dry transference and the extraction tests, the residue from each scan was interpreted.

Bennett, K. E.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Comparison of animal and human blood for in vitro dynamic thrombogenicity testing of biomaterials

Abstract Background To determine suitable alternatives to human blood for in vitro dynamic thrombogenicity testing of biomaterials, four different animal blood sources (ovine, bovine, and porcine blood from live donors, and abattoir porcine blood) were compared to fresh human blood. Methods To account for blood coagulability differences between individual donors and species, each blood pool was heparinized to a donor‐specific concentration immediately before testing in a dynamic flow loop system. The target heparin level was established using a static thrombosis pre‐test. For dynamic testing, whole blood was recirculated at room temperature for 1 h at 200 ml/min through a flow loop containing a single test material. Four materials with varying thrombotic potentials were investigated: latex (positive control), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) (negative control), silicone (intermediate thrombotic potential), and high‐density polyethylene (HDPE) (historically thromboresistant). Thrombus weight and surface area coverage on the test materials were quantified, along with platelet count reduction in the blood. Results While donor‐specific heparin levels varied substantially from 0.6 U/ml to 7.0 U/ml among the different blood sources, each source was able to differentiate between the thrombogenic latex and the thromboresistant PTFE and HDPE materials ( p < 0.05). However, only donor ovine and bovine blood were sensitive enough to differentiate an increased response for the intermediate thrombotic silicone material compared to PTFE and HDPE. Conclusions These results demonstrated that multiple animal blood sources (particularly donor ovine and bovine blood) may be suitable alternatives to fresh human blood for dynamic thrombogenicity testing when appropriate control materials and donor‐specific anticoagulation levels are used.

Engineering↗
DOE OSTI2015

Compaction in optical fibres and fibre Bragg gratings under nuclear reactor high neutron and gamma fluence

In the framework of the development by CEA and SCK.CEN of a Fabry Perot Sensor (FPS) able to measure dimensional changes in Material Testing Reactor (MTR), the first goal of the SAKE 1 (Smirnof extention - Additional Key-tests on Elongation of glass fibres) irradiation was to measure the linear compaction of single mode fibres under high fast neutron fluence. Indeed, the compaction of the fibre which forms one side of the Fabry Perot cavity, may in particular cause a noticeable measurement error. An accurate quantification of this effect is then required to predict the radiation-induced drift and optimize the sensor design. To achieve this, an innovative approach was used. Approximately seventy uncoated fibre tips (length: 30 to 50 mm) have been prepared from several different fibre samples and were installed in the SCK.CEN BR2 reactor (Mol Belgium). After 22 days of irradiation a total fast (E > 1 MeV) fluence of 3 to 5x10{sup 19} n{sub fast}/cm{sup 2}, depending on the sample location, was accumulated. The temperature during irradiation was 291 deg. C, which is not far from the condition of the intended FPS use. A precise measurement of each fibre tip length was made before the irradiation and compared to the post irradiation measurement highlighting a decrease of the fibres' length corresponding to about 0.25% of linear compaction. The amplitude of the changes is independent of the capsule, which could mean that the compaction effect saturates even at the lowest considered fluence. In the prospect of performing distributed temperature measurement in MTR, several fibre Bragg gratings written using a femtosecond laser have been also irradiated. All the gratings were written in radiation hardened fibres, and underwent an additional treatment with a procedure enhancing their resistance to ionizing radiations. A special mounting made it possible to test the reflection and the transmission of the gratings on fibre samples cut down to 30 to 50 mm. The comparison of measurements made before and after the irradiation, at the same temperature, allowed us to measure the loss in reflectivity as well as the Bragg wavelength drift. The results are quite promising for some of the investigated gratings. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2015

The 14 MeV Neutron Irradiation Facility in MARIA Reactor

The MARIA reactor with thermal neutron flux density up to 3x10{sup 14} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} and a number of vertical channels is well suited to material testing by thermal neutron treatment. Beside of that some fast neutron irradiation facilities are operated in MARIA reactor as well. One of them is thermal to 14 MeV neutron converter launched in 2014. It is especially devoted to fusion devices material testing irradiation. The ITER and DEMO research thermonuclear facilities are to be run using the deuterium - tritium fusion reaction. Fast neutrons (of energy approximately 14 MeV) resulting from the reaction are essential to carry away the released thermonuclear energy and to breed tritium. However, constructional materials of which thermonuclear reactors are to be built must be specially selected to survive intense fluxes of fast neutrons. Strong sources of 14 MeV neutrons are needed if research on resistance of candidate materials to such fluxes is to be carried out effectively. Nuclear reactor-based converter capable to convert thermal neutrons into 14 MeV fast neutrons may be used to that purpose. The converter based on two stage nuclear reaction on lithium-6 and deuterium compounds leading to 14 MeV neutron production. The reaction chain is begun by thermal neutron capture by lithium-6 nucleus resulted in triton release. The neutron and triton transport calculations have been therefore carried-out to estimate the thermal to 14 MeV neutron conversion efficiency and optimize converter construction. The usable irradiation space of ca. 60 cm{sup 3} has been obtained. The released energy have been calculated. Heat transport has been asses to ensure proper device cooling. A set of thermocouples has been installed in converter to monitor its temperature distribution on-line. Influence of converter on reactor operation has been studied. Safety analyses of steady states and transients have been done. Performed calculations and analyses allow designing the converter and formulate its operation limits and conditions. During first tested operation of the converter the 14 MeV neutron flux density was estimated to 10{sup 9} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1}, whereas fast fission neutrons inside converter achieved 10{sup 12} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1}, and thermal neutrons were reduced down to 109 cm-2 s-1. Taking into account the feasibility of almost incessant converter operation for a number of months, its arisen as one of the most powerful (in terms of fluence), currently available 14 MeV neutron source. Such a converter currently under operation in the MARIA reactor core will be presented. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Distinguishing Research Reactor Fuels Using Neutron Multiplicity - 25615

Neutron measurements are one of the reliable means of interrogation of fissile material. Neutron measurements are used for total counting (pure metal fissile samples) or counting coincidence/multiplicity (for impure fissile samples). Various flavors of neutron measurement are used routinely by the IAEA to determine the fissile mass of an unknown sample. The objective of this work is to design an experiment to distinguish the two different fuel types using neutron multiplicity method. The design of experiment is performed using Monte Carlo N- Particle (MCNP) transport code. General Electric (GE) designed 1-MWt pool-type research reactor at UMass Lowell (UMLRR) uses Materials Testing Reactor (MTR) plate-type fuel consisting of 19 full and 2 partial fuel assemblies, controlled by four boron control blades and one regulating control rod. Two different fuel types are available at the UMLRR facility. In 2008, UMass Lowell obtained slightly burnt fuel assemblies from the decommissioned WPI research reactor. The simulation results discussed in this paper show that within the limits of statistical error, the single and double moments for the WPI and UMLRR fuels can be measured. The two fuels have very similar composition and enrichments resulting in very similar neutron multiplicity moments. This implies that neutron multiplicity measurements alone would not be sufficient to distinguish between the two fuel types at low burnups. The change in the observed single-double ratio between each fuel type is less than 6 % which falls below the uncertainty in the efficiency of the JCC71 slab detectors. The neutron signature from low burnup and low enriched uranium fuel are not strong, however, these can be measured under low background and long measurement times. This would be an important consideration in designing the experiments and parallel gamma measurements will also be planned. (authors)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
NASA NTRS1987

The effects of gas mixtures on ion engine erosion and performance

Erosion measurements were performed on a modified J-series 30 cm ion engine operating on xenon propellant. Erosion data was obtained by measuring the trench depth etched into masked polished metal samples for test durations of up to 24 hours. The data indicates that erosion is greatest at the cathode side of the baffle, with tantalum being the material with the least erosion of all materials tested. There is a clear indication of a significant reduction in erosion of all materials tested when nitrogen is added to the propellant. The technique used in these experiments requires test samples which are extremely smooth and flat.

Garner, Charles E.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Analysis of the three-point-bend test for materials with unequal tension and compression properties

Structural resins have moduli and strengths which are different in tension and compression. The three-point-bend test is used extensively in their characterization. An investigation is performed to derive all the equations needed for the analysis and test data reduction of the three-point-bend test. The governing equations are derived using well-known linear structural mechanics principles and are represented graphically. The stress concentration effects in the vicinity of the load point are investigated, and failure stress and failure initiation are examined.

Chamis, C. C.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Arc jet tests of RSI materials: Screening and comparative evaluation

Cyclic convective heating test results show that all surface insulation materials tested exhibit a wide range of surface emittance and catalytic activity depending on their surface coatings. Coatings have a significant effect on the overall material response depending on boundary layer characteristics.

Schaefer, J. W.↗
DOE OSTI2012

Quantifying and Addressing the DOE Material Reactivity Requirements with Analysis and Testing of Hydrogen Storage Materials & Systems

The objective of this project is to examine safety aspects of candidate hydrogen storage materials and systems being developed in the DOE Hydrogen Program. As a result of this effort, the general DOE safety target will be given useful meaning by establishing a link between the characteristics of new storage materials and the satisfaction of safety criteria. This will be accomplished through the development and application of formal risk analysis methods, standardized materials testing, chemical reactivity characterization, novel risk mitigation approaches and subscale system demonstration. The project also will collaborate with other DOE and international activities in materials based hydrogen storage safety to provide a larger, highly coordinated effort.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2025

Assessing the viability of a new subsize tensile specimen geometry for evaluation of structural nuclear and additively manufactured materials

The use of subsize specimens in nuclear materials testing has been a subject of ongoing interest due to radiation safety concerns and resource conservation needs. It is also of interest in additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D-printing, as subsize specimens can more accurately represent the behavior of the small, intricate geometries often produced using AM. A novel, extremely small geometry, called the Subsize Teeny (SST) was recently developed and is of interest for implementation. Given its extraordinarily small size and the complexities associated with subsize specimen testing, adequate vetting of this geometry is necessary to ensure data quality. Here, a variety of unirradiated nuclear structural materials were tested in the SST geometry and compared against the well-established SSJ3 geometry. In addition, two case studies implementing the SST as a screening geometry for AM materials were also conducted. The question of SST viability was found to be highly nuanced and will often be dependent on the context or application in question. It was determined, however, that the SST is a largely invalid geometry for exceptionally coarse-grained materials or in cases where the physical defect volume equals or exceeds 0.1 % or where the specimen machining parameters result in significant surface alterations. On the other hand, it was determined that the SST may be employed with confidence if the test material is nearly or totally free of physical defects, isotropic, demonstrates homogeneous plastic deformation, and possesses a fine-grained, nearly or totally homogeneous microstructure with at least twelve slip systems.

Additive manufacturing↗
DOE OSTI2014

1000–ton testing machine for cyclic fatigue tests of materials at liquid nitrogen temperatures

One of the main tasks of superconductive magnets R and D is to determine the mechanical and fatigue properties of structural materials and the critical design elements in the cryogenic temperature range. This paper describes a new facility built based on the industrial 1000-ton (10 MN) testing machine Schenk PC10.0S. Special equipment was developed to provide the mechanical and cyclic tensile fatigue tests of large-scale samples at the liquid nitrogen temperature and in a given load range. The main feature of the developed testing machine is the cryostat, in which the device converting a standard compression force of the testing machine to the tensile force affected at the test object is placed. The control system provides the remote control of the test and obtaining, processing and presentation of test data. As an example of the testing machine operation the test program and test results of the cyclic tensile fatigue tests of fullscale helium inlet sample of the PF1 coil ITER are presented.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
NASA NTRS1980

F-104 low-gravity calibration tests for materials processing in space precursory experiments

A precursory low-gravity flight experiment in an F-104 aircraft was conducted to check out the vehicle as a suitable flight test carrier for microgravity experiments. Calibration experiment verification tests in the F-104 were completed. Three flight parabolas were flown. The test data shows all the test parameters recorded by telemetry to have reasonable values. Photographic records are clear and distinct.Solidification modes were the same as those observed in other low gravity environments. The F-104 has been proven to be a useful test bed for low gravity experiments which require less than 60 seconds of low g time.

Poorman, R. M.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Orbit transfer rocket engine technology program: Oxygen materials compatibility testing

Particle impact and frictional heating tests of metals in high pressure oxygen, are conducted in support of the design of an advanced rocket engine oxygen turbopump. Materials having a wide range of thermodynamic properties including heat of combustion and thermal diffusivity were compared in their resistance to ignition and sustained burning. Copper, nickel and their alloys were found superior to iron based and stainless steel alloys. Some materials became more difficult to ignite as oxygen pressure was increased from 7 to 21 MPa (1000 to 3000 psia).

Schoenman, Leonard↗
DOE OSTI2011

Mechanical Properties of Laser Heat Treated 6 mm Thick UHSS-Steel

In this work abrasion resistant (AR) steel with a sheet thickness of 6 mm was heat treated by a 4 kW Nd:YAG and a 4 kW Yb:Yag-laser, followed by self-quenching. In the delivered condition, test material blank (B27S) is water quenched from 920 deg. C. In this condition, fully martensitic microstructure provides excellent hardness of over 500 HB. The test material is referred to AR500 from now onwards. Laser heat treatment was carried out only on top surface of the AR500 sheet: the achieved maximum temperature in the cross-section varies as a function of the depth. Consequently, the microstructure and mechanical properties differ between the surfaces and the centre of the cross-section (layered microstructure). For better understanding, all layers were tested in tensile tests. For a wide heat treatment track, the laser beam was moved by scanning. Temperatures were measured using thermographic camera and thermocouples. Laser heat treated AR500 samples were tested in hardness tests and by air bending using a press brake machine. Microstructures were studied using a light microscope and FE-SEM/SEM-EBSD. At least three kind of microstructure layers were observed: 1) Dual-Phase ferritic/martensitic (T = A{sub C1}-A{sub C3}), 2) ferritic (T{approx}A{sub C3}) and 3) bainitic/martensitic (T>A{sub C3}).

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1978

Development of fire test methods for airplane interior materials

Fire tests were conducted in a 737 airplane fuselage at NASA-JSC to characterize jet fuel fires in open steel pans (simulating post-crash fire sources and a ruptured airplane fuselage) and to characterize fires in some common combustibles (simulating in-flight fire sources). Design post-crash and in-flight fire source selections were based on these data. Large panels of airplane interior materials were exposed to closely-controlled large scale heating simulations of the two design fire sources in a Boeing fire test facility utilizing a surplused 707 fuselage section. Small samples of the same airplane materials were tested by several laboratory fire test methods. Large scale and laboratory scale data were examined for correlative factors. Published data for dangerous hazard levels in a fire environment were used as the basis for developing a method to select the most desirable material where trade-offs in heat, smoke and gaseous toxicant evolution must be considered.

Tustin, E. A.↗
NASA NTRS2003

New Active Optical Technique Developed for Measuring Low-Earth-Orbit Atomic Oxygen Erosion of Polymers

Polymers such as polyimide Kapton (DuPont) and Teflon FEP (DuPont, fluorinated ethylene propylene) are commonly used spacecraft materials because of desirable properties such as flexibility, low density, and in the case of FEP, a low solar absorptance and high thermal emittance. Polymers on the exterior of spacecraft in the low-Earth-orbit (LEO) environment are exposed to energetic atomic oxygen. Atomic oxygen reaction with polymers causes erosion, which is a threat to spacecraft performance and durability. It is, therefore, important to understand the atomic oxygen erosion yield E (the volume loss per incident oxygen atom) of polymers being considered in spacecraft design. The most common technique for determining E is a passive technique based on mass-loss measurements of samples exposed to LEO atomic oxygen during a space flight experiment. There are certain disadvantages to this technique. First, because it is passive, data are not obtained until after the flight is completed. Also, obtaining the preflight and postflight mass measurements is complicated by the fact that many polymers absorb water and, therefore, the mass change due to water absorption can affect the E data. This is particularly true for experiments that receive low atomic oxygen exposures or for samples that have a very low E. An active atomic oxygen erosion technique based on optical measurements has been developed that has certain advantages over the mass-loss technique. This in situ technique can simultaneously provide the erosion yield data on orbit and the atomic oxygen exposure fluence, which is needed for erosion yield determination. In the optical technique, either sunlight or artificial light can be used to measure the erosion of semitransparent or opaque polymers as a result of atomic oxygen attack. The technique is simple and adaptable to a rather wide range of polymers, providing that they have a sufficiently high optical absorption coefficient. If one covers a photodiode with a uniformly thick sheet of semitransparent polymer such as Kapton H polyimide, then as atomic oxygen erodes the polymer, the short-circuit current from the photodiode will increase in an exponential manner with fluence. This nonlinear response with fluence results in a lack of sensitivity for measuring low atomic oxygen fluences. However, if one uses a variable-thickness polymer or carbon sample, which is configured as shown in the preceding figure, then a linear response can be achieved for opaque materials using a parabolic well for a circular geometry detector or a V-shaped well for a rectangular-geometry detector. Variable-thickness samples can be fabricated using many thin polymer layers. For semitransparent polymers such as Kapton H polyimide, there is an initial short-circuit current that is greater than zero. This current has a slightly nonlinear dependence on atomic oxygen fluence in comparison to opaque materials such as black Kapton as shown in the graph. For this graph figure, the total thickness of Kapton H was assumed to be 0.03 cm. The photodiode short-circuit current shown in the graph was generated on the basis of preliminary measurements-a total reflectance rho of 0.0424 and an optical absorption coefficient a of 146.5 cm(sup -1). In addition to obtaining on-orbit data, the advantage of this active erosion and erosion yield measurement technique is its simplicity and reliance upon well-characterized fluence witness materials as well as a nearly linear photodiode short-circuit current dependence upon atomic oxygen fluence. The optical technique is useful for measuring either atomic oxygen fluence or erosion, depending on the information desired. To measure the atomic oxygen erosion yield of a test material, one would need to have two photodiode sensors, one for the test material and one that uses a known erosion yield material (such as Kapton) to measure the atomic oxygen fluence.

Banks, Bruce A.↗