Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “SURFACE LAYER”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 469 records · Page 26
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Treatment of Magnesium Alloy for Enhanced Coating Adhesion and Corrosion Resistance

Atmospheric pressure plasma (AP) treatment, using an open-air jet of ionized CO 2 , N 2 , or air, was applied to AZ91D Mg alloy surfaces to investigate its effects on primer coating adhesion and corrosion resistance. The CO 2 and air AP treatments formed an O- and C-rich surface layer (Mg-O-C) consisting of agglomerated nanoparticles and pits with a depth of a few microns and increasing the surface roughness by 6–8 times compared with the reference 600 grit-finished surface. Then, three commercial primers, zinc phosphate (ZnP), chromate-containing epoxy, and MIL23377, were applied on the treated surfaces to evaluate the corrosion resistance associated with the coating adhesion. Microscopic analysis demonstrated stronger interlocking between the primer layer and the nano-/microrough Mg-O-C surface compared to the untreated (600 grit-finished) surfaces, indicating improved coating adhesion and corrosion resistance. Crosscut tests of the MIL23377 primer on the CO 2 and air AP-treated surfaces showed the highest level of adhesion, ASTM class 5B. Salt spray corrosion tests showed that after 8 days of exposure, the primer coatings on air AP-treated surfaces had corrosion areas that were more than four times smaller than that of the 600 grit-finished surface. The N 2 AP treatment showed similar adhesion enhancement. The preliminary operation expenses for AP treatment using CO 2 , N 2 , and air were estimated at USD 30.62, USD 35.45, and USD 29.75 (from an air cylinder)/USD 0.66 (from an air compressor) per m 2 , respectively.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1979

A model of the planetary boundary layer over a snow surface

A model of the planetary boundary layer over a snow surface has been developed. It contains the vertical heat exchange processes due to radiation, conduction, and atmospheric turbulence. Parametrization of the boundary layer is based on similarity functions developed by Hoffert and Sud (1976), which involve a dimensionless variable, dependent on boundary-layer height and a localized Monin-Obukhov length. The model also contains the atmospheric surface layer and the snowpack itself, where snowmelt and snow evaporation are calculated. The results indicate a strong dependence of surface temperatures, especially at night, on the bursts of turbulence which result from the frictional damping of surface-layer winds during periods of high stability, as described by Businger (1973). The model also shows the cooling and drying effect of the snow on the atmosphere, which may be the mechanism for air mass transformation in sub-Arctic regions.

Halberstam, I.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Fracture surface analysis in composite and titanium bonding

To understand the mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced composite materials, it is necessary to understand the mechanical properties of the matrix materials and of the reinforcing fibers. Another factor that can affect the mechanical properties of a composite material is the interaction between the fiber and the matrix. In general, composites with strong fiber matrix bonding will give higher modulus, lower toughness composites. Composites with weak bonding will have a lower modulus and more ductility. The situation becomes a bit more complex when all possibilities are examined. To be considered are the following: the properties of the surface layer on the fiber, the interactive forces between polymer and matrix, the surface roughness and porosity of the fiber, and the morphology of the matrix polymer at the fiber surface. In practice, the surface of the fibers is treated to enhance the mechanical properties of a composite. These treatments include anodization, acid etching, high temperature oxidation, and plasma oxidation, to name a few. The goal is to be able to predict the surface properties of carbon fibers treated in various ways, and then to relate surface properties to fiber matrix bonding.

Devilbiss, T. A.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Forming YBa2Cu3O7-x Superconductors On Copper Substrates

Experimental process forms layer of high-critical-temperature ceramic superconductor YBa2Cu3O7-x on surface of copper substrate. Offers possible solution to problem of finishing ceramic superconductors to required final sizes and shapes (difficult problem because these materials brittle and cannot be machined or bent). Further research necessary to evaluate superconducting qualities of surface layers and optimize process.

Mackenzie, J. Devin↗
NASA NTRS1991

High resolution electrolyte for thinning InP by anodic dissolution and its applications to EC-V profiling, defect revealing and surface passivation

An extensive experimental study was conducted using various electrolytes in an effort to find an appropriate electrolyte for anodic dissolution of InP. From the analysis of electrochemical characteristics in the dark and under different illumination levels, x ray photoelectron spectroscopy and SEM/Nomarski inspection of the surfaces, it was determined that the anodic dissolution of InP front surface layers by FAP electrolyte is a very good choice for rendering smooth surfaces, free of oxides and contaminants and with good electrical characteristics. The FAP electrolyte, based on HF, CH3COOH, and H2O2 appears to be inherently superior to previously reported electrolytes for performing accurate EC-V profiling of InP at current densities of up to 0.3 mA/sq cm. It can also be used for accurate electrochemical revealing of either precipitates or dislocation density with application to EPD mapping as a function of depth, and for defect revealing of multilayer InP structures at any depth and/or at the interfaces.

Faur, Maria↗
NASA NTRS1999

Bursting Bubbles from Combustion of Thermoplastic Materials in Microgravity

Many thermoplastic materials in common use for a wide range of applications, including spacecraft, develop bubbles internally as they burn due to chemical reactions taking place within the bulk. These bubbles grow and migrate until they burst at the surface, forceably ejecting volatile gases and, occasionally, molten fuel. In experiments in normal gravity, Kashiwagi and Ohlemiller observed vapor jets extending a few centimeters from the surface of a radiatively heated polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) sample, with some molten material ejected into the gas phase. These physical phenomena complicated the combustion process considerably. In addition to the non-steady release of volatiles, the depth of the surface layer affected by oxygen was increased, attributed to the roughening of the surface by bursting events. The ejection of burning droplets in random directions presents a potential fire hazard unique to microgravity. In microgravity combustion experiments on nylon Velcro fasteners and on polyethylene wire insulation, the presence of bursting fuel vapor bubbles was associated with the ejection of small particles of molten fuel as well as pulsations of the flame. For the nylon fasteners, particle velocities were higher than 30 cm/sec. The droplets burned robustly until all fuel was consumed, demonstrating the potential for the spread of fire in random directions over an extended distance. The sequence of events for a bursting bubble has been photographed by Newitt et al.. As the bubble reaches the fluid surface, the outer surface forms a dome while the internal bubble pressure maintains a depression at the inner interface. Liquid drains from the dome until it breaks into a cloud of droplets on the order of a few microns in size. The bubble gases are released rapidly, generating vortices in the quiescent surroundings and transporting the tiny droplets. The depression left by the escaping gases collapses into a central jet, which rises with a high velocity and may break up, releasing one or more relatively large drops (on the order of a millimeter in these experiments). A better understanding of bubble development and bursting processes, the effects of bursting behavior on burning rate of the bulk material, and the circumstances under which large droplets are expelled, as well as their trajectories, sizes, and burning rates, is sought through computer modeling compared with experiment.

Butler, K. B.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Electrochemical Measurement of Atmospheric Corrosion

Corrosion of Shuttle thruster components in atmospheres containing high concentrations of nitrogen tetroxide (NTO) and water is an important issue in ground operations of bipropellant systems in humid locations. Measurements of the corrosivities of NTO-containing atmospheres and the responses of different materials to these atmospheres have been accomplished using an electrochemical sensor. The sensor is composed of alternating aluminum/titanium strips separated by thin insulating layers. Under high humidity conditions a thin film of water covers the surface of the sensor. Added NTO vapor reacts with the water film to form a conductive medium and establishes a galvanic cell. The current from this cell can be integrated with respect to time and related to the corrosion activity. The surface layer formed from humid air/NTO reacts in the same way as an aqueous solution of nitric acid. Nitric acid is generally considered an important agent in NTO corrosion situations. The aluminum/titanium sensor is unresponsive to dry air, responds slightly to humid air (> 75% RH), and responds strongly to the combination of humid air and NTO. The sensor response is a power function (n = 2) of the NTO concentration. The sensor does not respond to NTO in dry air. The response of other materials in this type of sensor is related to position of the material in a galvanic series in aqueous nitric acid. The concept and operation of this electrochemical corrosion measurement is being applied to other corrosive atmospheric contaminants such as hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, sulfur dioxide, and acidic aerosols.

DeArmond, Anna H.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Concept of Dynamic Heat Insulation for Rotating Detonation Engines

This work introduces a new class of materials concept to dynamically reduce instantaneous heat fluxes in Rotating Detonation Engine (RDE) combustor chamber walls. The high-frequency and high-amplitude surface heat fluxes observed in RDEs arise from large instantaneous temperature differences between the detonation shockwave and chamber wall surface. These temperature gradients drive substantial energy loss and reduce the chamber gas pressure, ultimately limiting the cycle’s thermodynamic efficiency. This work introduces a concept for dynamically insulating the combustion chamber surfaces using surface layers or coatings with low thermal time scale. With such coatings, the surface temperature may follow the fluctuations of the cyclic detonation wave temperature, thus reducing the instantaneous heat flux therefore cycle-mean heat flux. To analyze these cyclic thermal phenomena, a one-dimensional analytical conduction solver was utilized with the capability to handle multilayered structures. Parametric modeling was performed using transient heat flux boundary conditions representative of a hydrogen–air RDE across a broad range of coating thermal properties and engine conditions. The coating effectiveness scaled with the product of thermal time constant and detonation wave frequency and the results were non-dimensionalized to guide future materials development. This strategy may offer benefits in increasing material survivability, reducing cooling requirements, and enhancing pressure gain.

heat transfer↗
NASA NTRS1974

Surface pressure fluctuations in hypersonic turbulent boundary layers

The surface pressure fluctuations on a flat plate model at hypersonic Mach numbers of 5.2, 7.4 and 10.4 with an attached turbulent boundary layer were measured using flush mounted small piezoelectric sensors. A high frequency resolution of the pressure field was achieved using specially designed small piezoelectric sensors that had a good frequency response well above 300 KHz. The RMS pressures and non-dimensional energy spectra for all above Mach numbers are presented. The convective velocities, obtained from space time correlation considerations are equal to 0.7 U sub infinity. The results indicate the RMS pressures vary from 5 to 25 percent of the mean static pressures. The ratios of RMS pressure to dynamic pressure are less than the universally accepted subsonic value of 6 x 10/3. The ratio decreases in value as the Mach number or the dynamic pressure is increased. The ratio of RMS pressure to wall shear for Mach number 7.4 satisfies one smaller than or equal to p/tau sub w smaller than or equal to three.

Raman, K. R.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Surface pressure fluctuations in hypersonic turbulent boundary layers.

The surface pressure fluctuations on a flat-plate model at hypersonic Mach numbers of 5.2, 7.4, and 10.4 with an attached turbulent boundary layer were measured using flush-mounted small piezoelectric sensors. A high-frequency resolution of the pressure field was achieved using specially designed small piezoelectric sensors. The rms pressures and nondimensional energy spectra for all above Mach numbers are presented. The convective velocities, obtained from space-time correlation considerations are equal to 0.7 of the free-stream velocity. The results indicate that the rms pressures vary from 5 to 25% of the mean static pressures. The ratios of rms pressure to dynamic pressure are less than the universally accepted subsonic value of .006. The ratio decreases in value as the Mach number or the dynamic pressure is increased.

Raman, K. R.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Spaceborne radar subsurface imaging in hyperarid regions

Imaging data acquired with the Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR-A) over the hyperarid region of Egypt/Sudan clearly show surface penetration through the sand cover. Even though absorption does occur in the sand layer, surface refraction leads to a steeper incidence angle at the sand/bedrock interface resulting in a stronger backscatter. A simple backscatter model shows that for a low-loss thin sand layer the presence of the covering layer enhances the capability to image the subsurface interface, particularly at large incidence angles and HH polarization.

Elachi, C.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Abundance of mercury in regolith of the Sea of Fertility, Sea of Tranquillity, and Ocean of Storms

The direct determination of mercury by the atomic fluorescent method is described, involving the pulsed thermal atomization of powdered samples when the mercury is vaporized in argon at normal pressure. An increase in the mercury abundance in the regolith of the surficial layer with decrease in grain size and with variation in depth was noted, from 6 minus 1 million the surficial layer to 9 minus 1 million percent at a depth of about 30 cm. It is shown that in conditions simulating lunar day, at temperatures of 130-150 C up to 15 to 20 percent of the mercury is vaporized from a 2 mg regolith weighed sample, and thus the hypothesis is advanced that mercury is adsorbed by the surface layers of the lunar surface material during lunar night and desorbed during lunar day. The assumption is advanced that there exists a meridional mercury wind between subsolar region of the moon (heater) and the polar regions (cooler).

Belyayev, Y. I.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Synchronously Deployable Truss

Double-layered truss structure compactly packaged and sychronously deployed. Synchronously deployable truss constructed of two surface layers of struts, arranged in triangles, connected by "tripods" of equal-length core struts. Mechanism powered by passive spring and damped by hydraulic-damping cylinder. When released, spring drives slider linked to core and surface struts. Variety of truss geometries, including curved structures, comtemplated.

Bush, H. G.↗
DOE OSTI2023

An ensemble of 48 physically perturbed model estimates of the 1/8° terrestrial water budget over the conterminous United States, 1980–2015

Terrestrial water budget (TWB) data over large domains are of high interest for various hydrological applications. Spatiotemporally continuous and physically consistent estimations of TWB rely on land surface models (LSMs). As an augmentation of the operational North American Land Data Assimilation System Phase 2 (NLDAS-2) four-LSM ensemble, this paper describes a dataset simulated from an ensemble of 48 physics configurations of the Noah LSM with multi-physics options (Noah-MP). The 48 Noah-MP physics configurations are selected to give a representative cross-section of commonly used LSMs for parameterizing runoff, atmospheric surface layer turbulence, soil moisture limitation on photosynthesis, and stomatal conductance. The dataset spans from 1980 to 2015 over the conterminous United States (CONUS) at a monthly temporal resolution and a 1/8° spatial resolution. The dataset variables include total evapotranspiration and its constituents (canopy evaporation, soil evaporation, and transpiration), runoff (the surface and subsurface components), as well as terrestrial water storage (snow water equivalent, four-layer soil water content from the surface down to 2 m, and the groundwater storage anomaly). The dataset is available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7109816. Evaluations carried out in this study and previous investigations show that the ensemble per forms well in reproducing the observed terrestrial water storage, snow water equivalent, soil moisture, and runoff. Noah-MP complements the NLDAS models well, and adding Noah-MP consistently improves the NLDAS es timations of the above variables in most areas of CONUS. Besides, the perturbed-physics ensemble facilitates the identification of model deficiencies. The parameterizations of shallow snow, spatially varying groundwater dynamics, and near-surface atmospheric turbulence should be improved in future model versions.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1980

Hybrid suction surface for turbulent boundary layer flow

A hybrid suction surface which combines favorable aspects of both uniformly porous and discrete opening suction surfaces has been evaluated experimentally for use with incompressible turbulent boundary layers. The surface consisted of an array of closely spaced slots aligned in the direction of the freestream flow. Direct drag and mean boundary layer velocity profile measurements showed that the slotted surface had nominally the same suction characteristics as a uniformly porous surface.

Wilkinson, S. P.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Joint influence of γ–irradiation and high temperature shear grinding on the IR spectra and surface–energy properties of polyethylene

The optical and surface-energy properties of polyethylene (PE) subjected to γ-irradiation and post-radiation, high temperature, shear grinding are presented. Comparison of the IR spectra of the initial and γ-irradiated PE shows that oxygen-containing groups and unsaturated bonds in the polymer macromolecules are formed and accumulate during their radiolysis in air, increasing with γ-irradiation dose. A redistribution of the products of radiation-chemical conversion on the surface of the polymer granules throughout the entire volume of the powder occurs after high-temperature shear milling to a powder as observed in the IR spectrum. Polar functional groups due to oxidation reactions are observed on the surface layer of the sample after post-radiation grinding. Furthermore, the initial polymer surface is weakly basic with an acidity parameter of -0.34. The value of the acidity parameter of the sample made of ground irradiated PE has an acidic surface with an acidity parameter of 0.65. γ irradiation of the secondary processing of PE waste with high-temperature shear grinding is a promising approach to obtain a secondary PE powder with specified parameters and different degrees of functionalization.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Mechanistic Insights Into Fatigue Life Enhancement of High‐Strength Steel via Ultrasonic Impact Treatment

In this work we explore the impact of Ultrasonic Impact Treatment (UIT) on the fatigue performance of high‐strength microalloyed steel commonly used in crankshaft applications. Building on prior observations of fatigue life improvement with UIT, this work focuses on unraveling the process–structure–performance relationships underpinning these enhancements. Microstructural analysis revealed significant grain refinement in the near‐surface layers, with deformation depth increasing at higher impact energies. This led to increased surface hardness and the development of deeper compressive residual stresses, particularly in samples treated with higher impact energy. Rotating bending fatigue testing showed a substantial improvement in fatigue life for UIT‐treated samples, with the endurance limit nearly doubling compared with untreated specimens. Fractographic analysis revealed a transition in crack initiation from surface defects in untreated samples to interior regions in UIT‐treated samples, characterized by the formation of noninclusion‐induced granular bright facets (GBFs). The observed fatigue enhancement is attributed to the synergistic effects of strain hardening and compressive residual stresses, which increase the surface crack threshold and promote interior crack initiation. This study provides new mechanistic insight into UIT‐induced fatigue resistance and interior failure behavior in high‐strength steels.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗