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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 451 records · Page 25
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Carbon-efficient conversion of natural gas and natural-gas condensates to chemical products and intermediate feedstocks via catalytic metal–organic framework (MOF) chemistry

The net-zero carbon emission scenario of stopping hydrocarbon use as fuel is unlikely to end the extraction of fossil hydrocarbons. Remaining will be a sizable need for hydrocarbons as feedstocks for commodity chemicals destined for transformation into polymers, manufacturing-relevant intermediates, and value-added chemicals. Historically, the primary feedstock source has been oil. Over the past dozen years, however, fracking-based extraction of shale-trapped natural gas from known enormous reserves, in North America, has resulted in feedstock sourcing instead from wet shale gas. This shift has transformed the catalytic chemistry of commodity chemical manufacturing. In this paper, following a brief discussion of the merits and limitations of crystallographically well-defined metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) as model catalysts and catalyst-supports, we examined their applications for understanding and potentially enabling carbon-economical, catalytic transformation of C 1 , C 2 , C 3 , and C 4 components of natural gas to desirable commodity chemicals, intermediates, or model compounds.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Discovery and implementation of a novel pathway for n-butanol production via 2-oxoglutarate

Background: One of the European Union directives indicates that 10% of all fuels must be bio-synthesized by 2020. In this regard, biobutanol—natively produced by clostridial strains—poses as a promising alternative biofuel. One possible approach to overcome the difculties of the industrial exploration of the native producers is the expression of more suitable pathways in robust microorganisms such as Escherichia coli. The enumeration of novel pathways is a powerful tool, allowing to identify non-obvious combinations of enzymes to produce a target compound. Results: This work describes the in silico driven design of E. coli strains able to produce butanol via 2-oxoglutarate by a novel pathway. This butanol pathway was generated by a hypergraph algorithm and selected from an initial set of 105,954 diferent routes by successively applying diferent flters, such as stoichiometric feasibility, size and novelty. The implementation of this pathway involved seven catalytic steps and required the insertion of nine heterologous genes from various sources in E. coli distributed in three plasmids. Expressing butanol genes in E. coli K12 and cultivation in High-Density Medium formulation seem to favor butanol accumulation via the 2-oxoglutarate pathway. The maximum butanol titer obtained was 85±1 mg L-1 by cultivating the cells in bioreactors. Conclusions: In this work, we were able to successfully translate the computational analysis into in vivo applications, designing novel strains of E. coli able to produce n-butanol via an innovative pathway. Our results demonstrate that enumeration algorithms can broad the spectrum of butanol producing pathways. This validation encourages further research to other target compounds.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
NASA NTRS1942

Control of Torsional Vibrations by Pendulum Masses

Various versions of pendulum masses have been developed abroad within the past few years by means of which resonant vibrations of rotating shafts can be eliminated at a given tuning. They are already successfully employed on radial engines in the form of pendulous counterweights. Compared with the commonly known torsional vibration dampers, the pendulum masses have the advantage of being structurally very simple, requiring no internal damping and being capable of completely eliminating certain vibrations. Unexplained, so far, remains the problem of behavior of pendulum masses in other critical zones to which they are not tuned, their dynamic behavior at some tuning other than in resonance, and their effect within a compound vibration system and at simultaneous application of several differently tuned pendulous masses. These problems are analyzed in the present report. The results constitute an enlargement of the scope of application of pendulum masses, especially for in-line engines. Among other things it is found that the natural frequency of a system can be raised by means of a correspondingly tuned pendulum mass. The formulas necessary for the design of any practical version are developed, and a pendulum mass having two different natural frequencies simultaneously is described.

Stieglitz, Albert↗
DOE OSTI2016

Predictive Engineering Tools for Novel Fuels

This project was funded through the Campus Executive Fellowship at University of California (UC) Berkeley, and had two principal aims. First, it sought to explore predictive tools for estimating fuel properties based on molecular structure, with the goal of identifying promising candidates for new fuels to be synthesized. Second, it sought to investigate the possibility of increasing engine efficiency by substituting air for a working fluid with higher efficiency potential employed in a closed loop, namely a mixture of argon and oxygen. In pursuing the predictive tool for novel fuels, a new model was built that proved to be highly predictive of autoignition characteristics for a wide variety of hydrocarbons, esters, ethers and alcohols, and reasonably predictive for furan and tetrahydrofuran compounds, the target class of novel fuels. Obtaining more “training data” for the model improved its predictive capabilities, and further reductions in the uncertainty of the predictions would be possible with more training data. In investigating the concept of a closed-loop engine cycle using an argon-oxygen working fluid, substantial progress was made. Initial engineering models were built showing the feasibility of the concept; numerous collaborations were formed with industry and academic partners; external funding was secured from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to build a dedicated engine platform for research; and this engine platform was designed and constructed. Experimental work and associated modeling studies will take place in late 2016 and early 2017.

10 SYNTHETIC FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Towards additive manufacturing of magnetocaloric working materials

The feasibility of three-dimensional printing via the Directed Energy Deposition (DED) technique is demonstrated for the ferromagnetic AlFe 2 B 2 (aka 1-2-2) compound, which shows promise as a working material for room-temperature magnetocaloric devices. Like many intermetallic materials, the 1-2-2 compound is brittle at room temperature; not only is it difficult to synthesize from the melt, it is challenging to form it into useful geometries necessary for effective heat transfer in magnetocaloric devices. Using Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS TM ) synthesis from two powder precursors, AlB 2 and Fe, samples of simple (rod) and complex (honeycomb) architectures were successfully synthesized. Furthermore, the phase constitution and distribution, magnetic transition temperature, and saturation magnetization determined for the LENS TM -synthesized rod sample are all similar to those obtained for 1-2-2 materials made by conventional casting. Further, the measured magnetic entropy change, as determined from Maxwell's Relations applied to magnetic data, indicates that the magnetocaloric response of the annealed LENS TM -printed rod samples are comparable to those of the 1-2-2 compounds made by conventional techniques. These results confirm that complex magnetofunctional shapes, which are needed for efficient energy conversion in magnetocaloric devices, can be rapidly fabricated from the AlFe 2 B 2 compound.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Extended defects in GaAs/GaAs 1-x Sb x /GaAs (001) heterostructures

The atomic-scale structure of extended defects in GaAs/GaAs 1-x Sb x /GaAs (001) heterostructures has been characterized using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy. The defect located at the tensile-strained GaAs(cap)/GaAs 0.34 Sb 0.66 interface had no edge component in the projection plane and is identified as either a dissociated screw dislocation or a partial dislocation dipole. The associated intrinsic stacking fault is bounded by two 30° Shockley partial dislocations of opposite sign. Another defect, located at the compressively-strained GaAs 0.91 Sb 0.09 /GaAs(substrate) interface, is identified as a dissociated 90° dislocation. The associated intrinsic stacking fault is bounded by a 30° Shockley partial dislocation and a partial dislocation with a Burgers vector of either or , where a is the lattice constant. Unpaired atomic columns observed at the cores of the 30° Shockley partial dislocations indicate that both defects belong primarily to the glide set.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2010

Modeling of leachate generation from MSW landfills by a 2-dimensional 2-domain approach

The flow of water through Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) landfills is highly non-uniform and dominated by preferential pathways. Thus, concepts to simulate landfill behavior require that a heterogeneous flow regime is considered. Recent models are based on a 2-domain approach, differentiating between channel domain with high hydraulic conductivity, and matrix domain of slow water movement with high water retention capacity. These models focus on the mathematical description of rapid water flow in channel domain. The present paper highlights the importance of water exchange between the two domains, and expands the 1-dimensional, 2-domain flow model by taking into account water flows in two dimensions. A flow field consisting of a vertical path (channel domain) surrounded by the waste mass (matrix domain) is defined using the software HYDRUS-2D. When the new model is calibrated using data sets from a MSW-landfill site the predicted leachate generation corresponds well with the observed leachate discharge. An overall model efficiency in terms of r{sup 2} of 0.76 was determined for a simulation period of almost 4 years. The results confirm that water in landfills follows a preferential path way characterized by high permeability (K{sub s} = 300 m/d) and zero retention capacity, while the bulk of the landfill (matrix domain) is characterized by low permeability (K{sub s} = 0.1 m/d) and high retention capacity. The most sensitive parameters of the model are the hydraulic conductivities of the channel domain and the matrix domain, and the anisotropy of the matrix domain.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2018

xxing9703/PAVE

Untargeted metabolomics can detect more than 10 000 peaks in a single LC–MS run. The correspondence between these peaks and metabolites, however, remains unclear. Here, we introduce a Peak Annotation and Verification Engine (PAVE) for annotating untargeted microbial metabolomics data. The workflow involves growing cells in 13C and 15N isotope-labeled media to identify peaks from biological compounds and their carbon and nitrogen atom counts. Improved deisotoping and deadducting are enabled by algorithms that integrate positive mode, negative mode, and labeling data. To distinguish metabolites and their fragments, PAVE experimentally measures the response of each peak to weak in-source collision induced dissociation, which increases the peak intensity for fragments while decreasing it for their parent ions. The molecular formulas of the putative metabolites are then assigned based on database searching using both m/z and C/N atom counts. Application of this procedure to Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherichia coli revealed that more than 80% of peaks do not label, i.e., are environmental contaminants. More than 70% of the biological peaks are isotopic variants, adducts, fragments, or mass spectrometry artifacts yielding ∼2000 apparent metabolites across the two organisms. About 650 match to a known metabolite formula based on m/z and C/N atom counts, with 220 assigned structures based on MS/MS and/or retention time to match to authenticated standards. Thus, PAVE enables systematic annotation of LC–MS metabolomics data with only ∼4% of peaks annotated as apparent metabolites.

Xing, Xi↗
DOE OSTI2023

Evaluation of Equiatomic CrMnFeCoNiCu System and Subsequent Derivation of a Non-Equiatomic MnFeCoNiCu Alloy

Investigation into non-equiatomic high-entropy alloys has grown in recent years due to questions about the role of entropy stabilization in forming single-phase solid solutions. Non-equiatomic alloys have been shown to retain the outstanding mechanical properties exhibited by their equiatomic counterparts and even improve electrical, thermal, and magnetic properties, albeit with relaxed composition bounds. However, much remains to understand the processing–structure–property relationships in all classes of so-called high-entropy alloys (HEAs). Here, we are motivated by the natural phenomena of crystal growth and equilibrium conditions to introduce a method of HEA development where controlled processing conditions determine the most probable and stable composition. This is demonstrated by cooling an equiatomic CrMnFeCoNiCu alloy from the melt steadily over 3 days (cooling rate ~4 °C/h). The result is an alloy containing large Cr-rich precipitates and an almost Cr-free matrix exhibiting compositions within the MnFeCoNiCu system (with trace amounts of Cr). From this juncture, it is argued that the most stable composition is within the CrMnFeCoNiCu system rather than the CrMnFeCoNi system. With further optimization and evaluation, a unique non-equiatomic alloy, Mn 17 Fe 21 Co 24 Ni 24 Cu 14 , is derived. The alloy solidifies and recrystallizes into a single-phase face-centered cubic (FCC) polycrystal. In addition to possible applications where Invar is currently utilized, this alloy can be used in fundamental studies that contrast its behavior with its equiatomic counterpart and shed light on the development of HEAs.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1984

Fatigue and fracture: Overview

A brief overview of the status of the fatigue and fracture programs is given. The programs involve the development of appropriate analytic material behavior models for cyclic stress-strain-temperature-time/cyclic crack initiation, and cyclic crack propagation. The underlying thrust of these programs is the development and verification of workable engineering methods for the calculation, in advance of service, of the local cyclic stress-strain response at the critical life governing location in hot section compounds, and the resultant crack initiation and crack growth lifetimes.

Halford, G. R.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Valiant 'Zero-Valent' Effort Restores Contaminated Grounds

Dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) are chemical compounds that can contaminate soil and groundwater to the point of irreparability. These substances are only slightly soluble in water, and are much denser than water. Because of their solubility, DNAPLs form separate liquid phases in groundwater, and because of their density, DNAPLs sink in aquifers instead of floating at the water table, making it extremely difficult to detect their presence. If left untreated in the ground, they can taint fresh water sources. Common DNAPLs include chlorinated hydrocarbon compounds such as carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, tetrachloroethylene, and trichloroethylene. Trichloroethylene was used during the early days of the Space Program, as a solvent for flushing rocket engines, and for metal cleaning and degreasing of equipment, electronics, and heavy machinery. As a result, areas of Cape Canaveral s Launch Complex 34, the site of several historic Saturn rocket launches occurring from 1959 to 1968, were polluted with chlorinated DNAPLs. Through the direction and guidance of Dr. Jacqueline Quinn, an environmental engineer in the Spaceport Engineering and Technology Directorate at NASA s Kennedy Space Center, a biodegradable environmental cleanup technology was developed to reductively dechlorinate DNAPL sources in polluted water at Launch Complex 34. It was important for Kennedy to nip this problem in the bud, in light of the fact that the Space Center is also a National Wildlife Refuge, home to thousands of shorebirds, endangered sea turtles and eagles, manatees, alligators, and diverse habitats that include brackish marshes and salt water estuaries. The success in remediating this historic launch site has led to numerous commercial applications that are restoring the health of our environmental surroundings.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2019

Nitrogen-dependent coordination of cell cycle, quiescence and TAG accumulation in Chlamydomonas

Abstract Microalgae hold great promises as sustainable cellular factories for the production of alternative fuels, feeds, and biopharmaceuticals for human health. While the biorefinery approach for fuels along with the coproduction of high-value compounds with industrial, therapeutic, or nutraceutical applications have the potential to make algal biofuels more economically viable, a number of challenges continue to hamper algal production systems at all levels. One such hurdle includes the metabolic trade-off often observed between the increased yields of desired products, such as triacylglycerols (TAG), and the growth of an organism. Initial genetic engineering strategies to improve lipid productivity in microalgae, which focused on overproducing the enzymes involved in fatty acid and TAG biosynthesis or inactivating competing carbon (C) metabolism, have seen some successes albeit at the cost of often greatly reduced biomass. Emergent approaches that aim at modifying the dynamics of entire metabolic pathways by engineering of pertinent transcription factors or signaling networks appear to have successfully achieved a balance between growth and neutral lipid accumulation. However, the biological knowledge of key signaling networks and molecular components linking these two processes is still incomplete in photosynthetic eukaryotes, making it difficult to optimize metabolic engineering strategies for microalgae. Here, we focus on nitrogen (N) starvation of the model green microalga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii , to present the current understanding of the nutrient-dependent switch between proliferation and quiescence, and the drastic reprogramming of metabolism that results in the storage of C compounds following N starvation. We discuss the potential components mediating the transcriptional repression of cell cycle genes and the establishment of quiescence in Chlamydomonas, and highlight the importance of signaling pathways such as those governed by the target of rapamycin (TOR) and sucrose nonfermenting-related (SnRK) kinases in the coordination of metabolic status with cellular growth. A better understanding of how the cell division cycle is regulated in response to nutrient scarcity and of the signaling pathways linking cellular growth to energy and lipid homeostasis, is essential to improve the prospects of biofuels and biomass production in microalgae.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2025

First-Principles-Based Study of the Decomposition of Phenol and Hydroquinone on Pt(111) Combined with Quantitative Information from XPS Spectra to Address the Impact of Coverage and Number of Hydroxyl Functional Groups

A combined first-principles-based and experimental X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy approach was used to investigate the thermal decomposition of two model biofuel compounds, phenol and hydroquinone, on Pt(111) at both low and high coverages. The DFT-based approach yields adsorption geometries and energies, activation barriers and core-level binding energy shifts for C 1s and O 1s. Increasing the coverage in the theoretical model leads to slight shifts in core-level binding energies─toward higher values for C 1s and lower values for O 1s. It also alters the energy profiles of the decomposition reaction pathway, resulting in weaker adsorption energies and changes in both reaction and activation barriers. At low temperatures, we observe a multilayer for phenol and hydroquinone upon adsorption, with desorption occurring at 200 and 270 K, respectively. Following desorption of the multilayer, decomposition proceeds via initial O–H bond scission, followed by two parallel pathways involving either C–H or C–C bond scission, whereby in the case of phenol C–H bond scission occurs first. Here, we further provide characteristic core level binding energies by theoretical calculations that are subsequently used in experimental analyses, establishing a reference database for key spectra of phenolic functionalities applicable to a range of catalytic reactions.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2018

A novel interface strengthening layer: Nanoscale AuCu super-structure formed during Au80Sn20/Cu rapid solidification soldering process

Highlights: • The nanoscale AuCu super-structure formed in Au80Sn20/Cu soldering joint. • The phase-transformation diffusion mechanism of Au80Sn20/Cu soldering process was studied. • The orientation relationship of Au80Sn20/Cu intermetallic compounds was investigated. • The interfacial strengthening mechanism of nanoscale AuCu layer was discussed. - Abstract: Phase composition and orientation of intermetallic compounds layers determine the functional and mechanical properties of solder joints. In this paper, interfacial reaction and strengthening mechanism of Au80Sn20/Cu joint by rapid solidification reflow soldering were studied. The Au80Sn20/Cu solder joint by rapid solidification reflow soldering exhibit a superior shear property, and the shear strength reaches up to 90 MPa. It is found that a new nanoscale AuCu super-structure formed in the interfacial intermetallic compounds layer, which is coherent with the [001] Cu substrate. The orientation relationship of Cu matrix/interfacial intermetallic compounds is determined to be [001]{sub Cu}∥[001]{sub AuCu}∥[ 2-bar 4 2-bar 3]{sub (AuCu){sub 5Sn}} and (200){sub Cu}∥(200){sub AuCu}∥(10 1-bar 0){sub (AuCu){sub 5Sn}}. Nanoscale AuCu super-structure influences the interface slip direction and provides interface misfit dislocation, hinder the dislocation movement, lead to the interface strengthening effect. Our finding on nanoscale AuCu super-structure formed during Au80Sn20/Cu soldering process not only sheds light on future research direction but also provides practical guidance to the engineers in solder industry.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

c-HAND: near real-time coastal flood mapping

The Texas Gulf Coast region contains significant centers of population, infrastructure, and economy and is threatened by intensifying tropical storms. The flooding from these tropical storms often has multiple compounding drivers. This characteristic presents a complex numerical problem where a simulation must consider multiple hydrologic forcings. While several procedures exist for addressing this problem numerically, they tend to be resource-intensive and cannot be conducted in near real-time. We extend GeoFlood, a reduced physics approach for fluvial flood forecasting, to rapidly predict coastal and compound fluvial-coastal inundation. This method is validated against a numerical ocean circulation model (ADCIRC) simulation of Hurricane Ike, a major coastal flooding event that happened on the Texas Gulf Coast in 2008. We show that the inundation map generated by coastal HAND (c-HAND) has reasonable agreement with the ADCIRC simulation while taking about 1.7% of the time currently needed to run ADCIRC on a supercomputer. While our model correctly predicts 99% of ADCIRC-inundated DEM cells, it also overpredicts inundated area by a factor of approximately 27%. We combine c-HAND with the GeoFlood framework for fluvial flood forecasting to create a compound fluvial-coastal inundation mapping workflow that can be run in near real-time. c-HAND's fast wall-clock time and low CPU requirements can support decision making by first response personnel. The method provides timely and convenient access to crucial information, such as the locations of flooded roads and inundated coastal areas.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2014

Band Gap Engineering and Layer-by-Layer Band Gap Mapping of Selenium-doped Molybdenum Disulfide

Ternary two-dimensional dichalcogenide alloys exhibit compositionally modulated electronic structure and hence, control of dopant concentration within each layer of these layered compounds provides a powerful way to modify their properties. The challenge then becomes quantifying and locating the dopant atoms within each layer in order to better understand and fine-tune the desired properties. Here we report the synthesis of selenium substitutionally doped molybdenum disulfide atomic layers, with a broad range of selenium concentrations, resulting in band gap modulations of over 0.2 eV. Atomic scale chemical analysis using Z-contrast imaging provides direct maps of the dopant atom distribution in individual MoS2 layers and hence a measure of the local band gaps. Furthermore, in a bilayer structure, the dopant distribution of each layer is imaged independently. We demonstrate that each layer in the bilayer contains similar doping levels, randomly distributed, providing new insights into the growth mechanism and alloying behavior in two-dimensional dichalcogenide atomic layers. The results show that growth of uniform, ternary, two-dimensional dichalcogenide alloy films with tunable electronic properties is feasible.

Gong, Yongji↗
DOE OSTI2018

Thermochemical wastewater valorization via enhanced microbial toxicity tolerance

Thermochemical (TC) biomass conversion processes such as pyrolysis and liquefaction generate considerable amounts of wastewater, which often contains highly toxic compounds that are incredibly challenging to convert via standard wastewater treatment approaches such as anaerobic digestion. These streams represent a cost for TC biorefineries, and a potential valorization opportunity, if effective conversion methods are developed. The primary challenge hindering microbial conversion of TC wastewater is toxicity. In this study, we employ a robust bacterium, Pseudomonas putida , with TC wastewater streams to demonstrate that aldehydes are the most inhibitory compounds in these streams. Proteomics, transcriptomics, and fluorescence-based immunoassays of P. putida grown in a representative wastewater stream indicate that stress results from protein damage, which we hypothesize is a primary toxicity mechanism. Constitutive overexpression of the chaperone genes, groEL, groES, and clpB, in a genome-reduced P. putida strain improves the tolerance towards multiple TC wastewater samples up to 200-fold. Moreover, the concentration ranges of TC wastewater are industrially relevant for further bioprocess development for all wastewater streams examined here, representing different TC process configurations. Furthermore, we demonstrate proof-of-concept polyhydroxyalkanoate production from the usable carbon in an exemplary TC wastewater stream. Altogether, this study demonstrates that protein quality control machinery and repair mechanisms can enable substantial gains in microbial tolerance to highly toxic substrates, including heterogeneous waste streams. When coupled to other metabolic engineering advances such as expanded substrate utilization and enhanced product accumulation, this study generally enables new strategies for biological conversion of highly-toxic, organic-rich wastewater via engineered aerobic monocultures or designer consortia.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
NASA NTRS2012

High-Temperature Shape Memory Polymers

physical conformation changes when exposed to an external stimulus, such as a change in temperature. Such materials have a permanent shape, but can be reshaped above a critical temperature and fixed into a temporary shape when cooled under stress to below the critical temperature. When reheated above the critical temperature (Tc, also sometimes called the triggering or switching temperature), the materials revert to the permanent shape. The current innovation involves a chemically treated (sulfonated, carboxylated, phosphonated, or other polar function group), high-temperature, semicrystalline thermoplastic poly(ether ether ketone) (Tg .140 C, Tm = 340 C) mix containing organometallic complexes (Zn++, Li+, or other metal, ammonium, or phosphonium salts), or high-temperature ionic liquids (e.g. hexafluorosilicate salt with 1-propyl-3- methyl imidazolium, Tm = 210 C) to form a network where dipolar or ionic interactions between the polymer and the low-molecular-weight or inorganic compound forms a complex that provides a physical crosslink. Hereafter, these compounds will be referred to as "additives". The polymer is semicrystalline, and the high-melt-point crystals provide a temporary crosslink that acts as a permanent crosslink just so long as the melting temperature is not exceeded. In this example case, the melting point is .340 C, and the shape memory critical temperature is between 150 and 250 C. PEEK is an engineering thermoplastic with a high Young fs modulus, nominally 3.6 GPa. An important aspect of the invention is the control of the PEEK functionalization (in this example, the sulfonation degree), and the thermal properties (i.e. melting point) of the additive, which determines the switching temperature. Because the compound is thermoplastic, it can be formed into the "permanent" shape by conventional plastics processing operations. In addition, the compound may be covalently cross - linked after forming the permanent shape by S-PEEK by applying ionizing radiation ( radiation, neutrons), or by chemical crosslinking to form a covalent permanent network. With respect to other shape memory polymers, this invention is novel in that it describes the use of a thermoplastic composition that can be thermally molded or solution-cast into complex "permanent" shapes, and then reheated or redissolved and recast from solution to prepare another shape. It is also unique in that the shape memory behavior is provided by a non-polymer additive.

Yoonessi, Mitra↗