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Results for “Plasma materials processing”

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 505 records · Page 28
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Data and figures for "Integrated modeling of boron powder injection for real-time plasma-facing component conditioning"

This dataset contains raw and processed data, as well as supplementary figures used in the paper titled "Integrated modeling of boron powder injection for real-time plasma-facing component conditioning." The data includes simulation results for boron transport and deposition in DIII-D tokamak scenarios, and processed plots. It provides insights into the effects of boron powder injection on plasma-facing component conditioning and surface composition.

ablative particle injection↗
NASA NTRS1989

Mercury ion thruster technology

The Mercury Ion Thruster Technology program was an investigation for improving the understanding of state-of-the-art mercury ion thrusters. Emphasis was placed on optimizing the performance and simplifying the design of the 30 cm diameter ring-cusp discharge chamber. Thruster performance was improved considerably; the baseline beam-ion production cost of the optimized configuration was reduced to Epsilon (sub i) perspective to 130 eV/ion. At a discharge propellant-utilization efficiency of 95 percent, the beam-ion production cost was reduced to about 155 eV/ion, representing a reduction of about 40 eV/ion over the corresponding value for the 30 cm diameter J-series thruster. Comprehensive Langmuir-probe surveys were obtained and compared with similar measurements for a J-series thruster. A successful volume-averaging scheme was developed to correlate thruster performance with the dominant plasma processes that prevail in the two thruster designs. The average Maxwellian electron temperature in the optimized ring-cusp design is as much as 1 eV higher than it is in the J-series thruster. Advances in ion-extraction electrode fabrication technology were made by improving materials selection criteria, hydroforming and stress-relieving tooling, and fabrications procedures. An ion-extraction performance study was conducted to assess the effect of screen aperture size on ion-optics performance and to verify the effectiveness of a beam-vectoring model for three-grid ion optics. An assessment of the technology readiness of the J-series thruster was completed, and operation of an 8 cm IAPS thruster using a simplified power processor was demonstrated.

Beattie, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Regolith-Derived Heat Shield for Planetary Body Entry and Descent System with In Situ Fabrication

In this paper we will discuss a new mass-efficient and innovative way of protecting high-mass spacecraft during planetary Entry, Descent & Landing (EDL). Heat shields fabricated in situ can provide a thermal-protection system (TPS) for spacecraft that routinely enter a planetary atmosphere. By fabricating the heat shield with space resources from regolith materials available on moons and asteroids, it is possible to avoid launching the heat-shield mass from Earth. Two regolith processing and manufacturing methods will be discussed: 1) Compression and sintering of the regolith to yield low density materials; 2) Formulations of a High-temperature silicone RTV (Room Temperature Vulcanizing) compound are used to bind regolith particles together. The overall positive results of torch flame impingement tests and plasma arc jet testing on the resulting samples will also be discussed.

Hogue, Michael D.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Unlocking the Future of Aircraft Manufacturing: The Environmental Benefits of Laser Patterning for Surface Enhancement of Aircraft-Certified Alloys

Surface protection and functional modification of aircraft-certified aluminum alloys are essential for corrosion resistance, durability, and long-term airworthiness. At the same time, increasingly restrictive environmental regulations motivate the development of alternatives to legacy wet-chemical surface treatments. This study presents an integrated assessment of ultrafast femtosecond laser surface texturing as a surface functionalization approach for Aluminum 6061 alloys within an aerospace manufacturing and sustainability context. Ultrashort-pulse laser processing enables controlled micro- and nano-scale surface topographical modification with limited thermal impact, allowing adjustment of wettability and surface functionality while preserving bulk material integrity. As a dry and contactless process, femtosecond laser treatment eliminates the use of hazardous chemicals, reduces consumable inputs, and generates minimal secondary waste. A streamlined cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment conducted in accordance with ISO 14040/14044 indicates a lower global-warming potential per functional unit compared with conventional surface treatments, including anodization, plasma-assisted coatings, and organic coating systems. Complementary qualitative analyses addressing environmental health and safety, supply-chain risk, and ESG alignment indicate potential advantages related to occupational safety, regulatory compliance, waste management, and end-of-life recyclability. The investigation is performed on planar Aluminum 6061 reference surfaces with a treated area of 25 mm 2 , providing a controlled laboratory-scale basis for analyzing process behavior, functional surface modification, and associated environmental metrics. Within this defined scope, the results support further evaluation of femtosecond laser surface texturing as a surface engineering option for future aerospace manufacturing.

corrosion resistance↗
NASA NTRS1991

Preliminary investigations into UHCRE thermal control materials

An overview is given of the initial work which has been done in the European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC) Materials and Processes Division to evaluate the effect of space environment on the thermal blankets of the Ultra-Heavy Cosmic Ray Nuclei Experiment (UHCRE). Also, an account is given of the simulation of the impacts of micrometeoroids and space debris in a spare flight thermal blanket by means of plasma gun and light gas gun acceleration facilities.

Levadou, Francois↗
NASA NTRS1997

Etch Profile Simulation Using Level Set Methods

Etching and deposition of materials are critical steps in semiconductor processing for device manufacturing. Both etching and deposition may have isotropic and anisotropic components, due to directional sputtering and redeposition of materials, for example. Previous attempts at modeling profile evolution have used so-called "string theory" to simulate the moving solid-gas interface between the semiconductor and the plasma. One complication of this method is that extensive de-looping schemes are required at the profile corners. We will present a 2D profile evolution simulation using level set theory to model the surface. (1) By embedding the location of the interface in a field variable, the need for de-looping schemes is eliminated and profile corners are more accurately modeled. This level set profile evolution model will calculate both isotropic and anisotropic etch and deposition rates of a substrate in low pressure (10s mTorr) plasmas, considering the incident ion energy angular distribution functions and neutral fluxes. We will present etching profiles of Si substrates in Ar/Cl2 discharges for various incident ion energies and trench geometries.

Hwang, Helen H.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Imaging the magnetic nanowire cross section and magnetic ordering within a suspended 3D artificial spin-ice

Artificial spin-ice systems are patterned arrays of magnetic nanoislands arranged into frustrated geometries and provide insight into the physics of ordering and emergence. The majority of these systems have been realized in two-dimensions, mainly due to the ease of fabrication, but with recent developments in advanced nanolithography, three-dimensional artificial spin ice (ASI) structures have become possible, providing a new paradigm in their study. Such artificially engineered 3D systems provide new opportunities in realizing tunable ground states, new domain wall topologies, monopole propagation, and advanced device concepts, such as magnetic racetrack memory. Direct imaging of 3DASI structures with magnetic force microscopy has thus far been key to probing the physics of these systems but is limited in both the depth of measurement and resolution, ultimately restricting measurement to the uppermost layers of the system. In this work, a method is developed to fabricate 3DASI lattices over an aperture using two-photon lithography, thermal evaporation, and oxygen plasma exposure, allowing the probe of element-specific structural and magnetic information using soft x-ray microscopy with x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) as magnetic contrast. The suspended polymer–permalloy lattices are found to be stable under repeated soft x-ray exposure. Analysis of the x-ray absorption signal allows the complex cross section of the magnetic nanowires to be reconstructed and demonstrates a crescent-shaped geometry. Measurement of the XMCD images after the application of an in-plane field suggests a decrease in magnetic moment on the lattice surface due to oxidation, while a measurable signal is retained on sub-lattices below the surface.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1974

The interaction of spacecraft high voltage power systems with the space plasma environment

Research work has shown that the interaction of a spacecraft and its high voltage power systems with the space plasma environment can result in harmful power loss and damage to insulators and metal surfaces. Insulator and solar panel tests were performed and flight tests are planned. High voltage power processing equipment was shown to be affected by power loss, and by transients due to plasma interactions. Power loss was determined to be roughly proportional to the square of the voltage and increases approximately as the square root of the area. Kapton, Teflon, and glass were found to be satisfactory insulating materials and it is concluded that for large space power stations should consider the effect of large pinhole currents.

Domitz, S.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Advanced indium antimonide monolithic charge coupled infrared imaging arrays

The continued process development of SiO2 insulators for use in advanced InSb monolithic charge coupled infrared imaging arrays is described. Specific investigations into the use of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited (PECVD) SiO2 as a gate insulator for InSb charge coupled devices is discussed, as are investigations of other chemical vapor deposited SiO2 materials.

Koch, T. L.↗
NASA NTRS1984

STS science and applications payloads - An evolving perspective

The present investigation is mainly concerned with a reexamination of the Spacelab payload process. The candidate missions are considered in connection with discipline payloads or laboratories. Attention is given to the Space Biomedical Laboratory (SBL), the Space Plasma Lab (SPL), the Astronomy Research Laboratory (Astro), the Shuttle High Energy Astrophysics Laboratory (SHEAL), the Shuttle Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT), the Materials Sciences Laboratory (MLS), the Environmental Observations Mission (EOM), the Shuttle Radar Lab (SRL), the International Microgravity Laboratory (IML), and the Payload of Opportunity Carrier (POOC). The POOC is a low cost means of placing experiments aboard the Shuttle in the cargo bay.

Sander, M. J.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Thermal Stir Welding: A New Solid State Welding Process

Thermal stir welding is a new welding process developed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. Thermal stir welding is similar to friction stir welding in that it joins similar or dissimilar materials without melting the parent material. However, unlike friction stir welding, the heating, stirring and forging elements of the process are all independent of each other and are separately controlled. Furthermore, the heating element of the process can be either a solid-state process (such as a thermal blanket, induction type process, etc), or, a fusion process (YG laser, plasma torch, etc.) The separation of the heating, stirring, forging elements of the process allows more degrees of freedom for greater process control. This paper introduces the mechanics of the thermal stir welding process. In addition, weld mechanical property data is presented for selected alloys as well as metallurgical analysis.

Ding, R. Jeffrey↗
NASA NTRS2003

Thermal Stir Welding: A New Solid State Welding Process

Thermal stir welding is a new welding process developed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. Thermal stir welding is similar to friction stir welding in that it joins similar or dissimilar materials without melting the parent material. However, unlike friction stir welding, the heating, stirring and forging elements of the process are all independent of each other and are separately controlled. Furthermore, the heating element of the process can be either a solid-state process (such as a thermal blanket, induction type process, etc), or, a fusion process (YG laser, plasma torch, etc.) The separation of the heating, stirring, forging elements of the process allows more degrees of freedom for greater process control. This paper introduces the mechanics of the thermal stir welding process. In addition, weld mechanical property data is presented for selected alloys as well as metallurgical analysis.

Ding, R. Jeffrey↗
DOE OSTI2023

Self-consistent and detailed opacities from a non-equilibrium average-atom model

Modern density functional theory (DFT) is a powerful tool for accurately predicting self-consistent material properties such as equations of state, transport coefficients and opacities in high energy density plasmas, but it is generally restricted to conditions of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) and produces only averaged electronic states instead of detailed configurations. We propose a simple modification to the bound-state occupation factor of a DFT-based average-atom model that captures essential non-LTE effects in plasmas—including autoionization and dielectronic recombination—thus extending DFT-based models to new regimes. Finally, we then expand the self-consistent electronic orbitals of the non-LTE DFT-AA model to generate multi-configuration electronic structure and detailed opacity spectra. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Dynamic and transient processes in warm dense matter’.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Fabrication of UN-Mo CERMET Nuclear Fuel Using Advanced Manufacturing Techniques

Ceramic-metallic nuclear fuels are a candidate fuel for nuclear thermal propulsion systems due to their high heat transport properties, which are necessary in very high-temperature environments. The conventional fabrication of uranium nitride–molybdenum fuel has been thoroughly studied in the past, but modern manufacturing techniques have presented a unique opportunity for further development within this field. This work demonstrates the use of advanced manufacturing techniques to produce nuclear fuel pellets composed of uranium nitride microspheres encased in a molybdenum matrix. Binder jetting is used to print molybdenum disks that are filled with uranium nitride microspheres and afterward sintered using spark plasma sintering. Two fuel pellets were fabricated to demonstrate the methodology and to provide a baseline analysis of the effects of temperature and pressure processing conditions. Characterization of the sintered fuel pellets includes detailed microstructural analysis and thermal conductivity measurements.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Recycling and Reuse of Tungsten-Rhenium Refractory Alloy Powder for Additive Manufacturing (Quarterly Progress Report - 01 April 2023-30 June 2023)

Savannah River National Laboratory in partnership with 6K Inc is working on demonstrating laser and electron-beam powder bed additive manufacturing processes of W-24Re alloy and developing powder reconditioning (deoxidation) technology via plasma spheroidization and investigating the properties and performance of additively manufactured W-24Re components produced using both virgin and recycled powders.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

AMVOS: Additive Manufacturing Video Object Segmentation Dataset

This dataset provides labeled video frames from four additive manufacturing (AM) processes for video object segmentation (VOS) tasks. It contains 90 video segments comprising 900 individually annotated frames across five AM datasets: laser hot-wire directed energy deposition (LHW-DED), tungsten inert gas wire arc additive manufacturing (TIG-WAAM), plasma arc welding (PAW), visible-light polymer extrusion (visPolymer), and near-infrared polymer extrusion (irPolymer). Each video segment consists of 10 contiguous frames with corresponding pixel-level object instance annotations. Depending on the process, two of four object classes are labeled per frame: Melt Pool, Feed Wire, Nozzle, or Material. Raw frames are provided as .jpg files and annotations as palettized .png files. The dataset follows the directory structure of established VOS benchmarks (DAVIS, YouTube-VOS, MOSE), enabling direct integration into VOS model training and evaluation pipelines for foundation model fine-tuning, domain adaptation, or zero-shot performance benchmarking. Data was collected at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility.

Wetzel, Jon [ORNL]↗
NASA NTRS1980

High density circuit technology

Acquisition of polyimide materials for inter-metal dielectrics was obtained from three vendors, with considerable evaluation conducted on the Dupont PI2550 material. Experimental results indicate this material can be patterned using contact printing to line width far below 0.1 mils. Optimum line width is acquired using plasma etch equipment. Metal lift-off experiments on thermal evaporated films were optimized for application to sputtered deposited films. Alternate metal-lift-off experiments are proposed for future investigation. Dry processing equipment studies and future trends in VLSI fabrication techniques are on-going.

Wade, T. E.↗