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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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NASA NTRS2003

The Effect of Tungsten and Niobium Additions on Disk Alloy CH98

Gas turbine engines for future subsonic transports will probably have higher pressure ratios which will require nickelbase superalloy disks with 1300 F to 1400 F temperature capability. Several advanced disk alloys are being developed to fill this need. One of these, CH98, is a promising candidate for gas turbine engines and is being studied in NASA's AST Program. For AST applications, compressor/turbine disks must withstand temperatures of 1300 F for several hundred hours over the life of the engine. Additions of the refractory elements tungsten and niobium to CH98 could improve tensile and creep properties, however, the impact on high temperature fatigue crack growth is uncertain. In this paper, these three key properties, tensile, 0.2 percent creep, and fatigue crack growth of CH98 with and without tungsten and niobium additions will be assessed at l300 F.

Gayda, John↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Metal Additive Manufacturing for Spaceflight

Metal additive manufacturing (AM) is changing how complex aerospace parts are being designed and manufactured for rocket engines and launch vehicles. NASA has been leading AM efforts since the late 2000’s to mature specialty alloys for AM, advance AM processes, develop standards and infuse AM into rocket engines and the commercial supply chain. There are many types of AM processes and alloys in-use and this presentation will provide an overview of how NASA is applying these for rocket engines and the potential opportunities for AM in the future.

Additive Manufacturing↗
NASA NTRS1994

The effect of fabrication on corrosion in aluminum 2195: Environmental and microstructural considerations

Aluminum alloys containing lithium are particularly attractive to the aerospace structural designer. Lithium's density is only 0.53 g/cc, thus an addition of one weight percent lithium not only increases yield strength, but decreases the density by almost three percent while increasing the modulus by over six percent. The fact that lithium improves these physical properties simultaneously has led to intense study and development of the alloy system. Heretofore, problems in large scale alloy production have retarded commercial development. During the last fifteen years, advances in production technology have rekindled interest in Al-Li alloys, and aluminum suppliers have developed many candidate aerospace materials. However, if these alloys are to be employed successfully, a more complete understanding of their nonequilibrium metallurgy is required. Peel and Starke have each pointed out that an understanding of the weldability of these alloys is a critical step in their implementation. This study addresses the critical lack of information on the environmental compatibility of welded Al 2195 components. Corrosion data for these systems is incomplete, particularly for welded materials exposed to sea water or sea water condensate.

Walsh, Daniel W.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Advanced Technology Development for Stirling Convertors

A high-efficiency Stirling Radioisotope Generator (SRG) for use on potential NASA Space Science missions is being developed by the Department of Energy, Lockheed Martin, Stirling Technology Company, and NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). These missions may include providing spacecraft onboard electric power for deep space missions or power for unmanned Mars rovers. GRC is also developing advanced technology for Stirling convertors, aimed at substantially improving the specific power and efficiency of the convertor and the overall power system. Performance and mass improvement goals have been established for second- and thirdgeneration Stirling radioisotope power systems. Multiple efforts are underway to achieve these goals, both in-house at GRC and under various grants and contracts. The status and results to date for these efforts will be discussed in this paper. Cleveland State University (CSU) is developing a multi-dimensional Stirling computational fluid dynamics code, capable of modeling complete convertors. A 2-D version of the code is now operational, and validation efforts at both CSU and the University of Minnesota are complementing the code development. A screening of advanced superalloy, refractory metal alloy, and ceramic materials has been completed, and materials have been selected for creep and joining characterization as part of developing a high-temperature heater head. A breadboard characterization is underway for an advanced controller using power electronics for active power factor control with a goal of eliminating the heavy tuning capacitors that are typically needed to achieve near unity power factors. Key Stirling developments just initiated under recent NRA (NASA Research Announcement) awards will also be discussed. These include a lightweight convertor to be developed by Sunpower Inc. and an advanced microfabricated regenerator to be done by CSU.

Thieme, Lanny G.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Study on effects of powder and flake chemistry and morphology on the properties of Al-Cu-Mg-X-X-X powder metallurgy advanced aluminum alloys

A study was conducted: (1) to develop rapid solidification processed (RSP) dispersoid-containing Al-3Cu-2Li-1Mg-0.2Zr alloys as substitutes for titanium alloys and commercial 2XXX aluminum alloys for service to at least 150 C; and (2) to develop RSP Al-4Li-Cu-Mg-Zr alloys as substitutes for high-strength commercial 7XXX alloys in ambient-temperature applications. RSP Al-3Cu-2Li-1Mg-0.2Zr alloys have density-normalized yield stresses at 150 C up to 52% larger than that of 2124-T851 and up to 30% larger than that of Ti-6Al-4V. Strength at 150 C in these alloys is provided by thermally stable delta' (Al3Li), T1 (Al2LiCu), and S' (Al2CuMg) precipitates. Density-normalized yield stresses of RSP Al-3Cu-2Li-1Mg-0.2Zr alloys are up to 100% larger than that of 2124-T851 and equivalent to that of Al-8Fe-4Ce at 260 C. Strength in the RSP alloys at 260 C is provided by incoherent dispersoids and subboundary constituent particles such as T1 and S. The RSP alloys are attractive substitutes in less than or = 100-h exposures for 2xxx and Al-4Fe-Ce alloys up to 260 C and for titanium alloys up to 150 C. RSP Al-4Li-Cu-Mg-Zr alloys have ambient-temperature yield and ultimate tensile stresses similar to that of 7050-T7651, and are 14% less dense. RSP Al-4Li-0.5Cu-1.5Mg-0.2Zr has a 20% higher specific yield stress, 40% higher specific elastic modulus, and superior corrosion resistance compared to the properties of 7050-T7651. Strength in the Al-4Li-Cu-Mg-Zr alloy class is primarily provided by the substructure and delta' precipitates and is independent of Cu:Mg ratio. Improvements in fracture toughness and transverse-orientation properties in both alloy classes depend on improved melt practices to eliminate oxide inclusions which are incorporated into the consolidated forms.

Meschter, P. J.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Electronic materials high-T(sub c) superconductivity polymers and composites structural materials surface science and catalysts industry participation

The fifth year of the Center for Advanced Materials was marked primarily by the significant scientific accomplishments of the research programs. The Electronics Materials program continued its work on the growth and characterization of gallium arsenide crystals, and the development of theories to understand the nature and distribution of defects in the crystals. The High Tc Superconductivity Program continued to make significant contributions to the field in theoretical and experimental work on both bulk materials and thin films and devices. The Ceramic Processing group developed a new technique for cladding YBCO superconductors for high current applications in work with the Electric Power Research Institute. The Polymers and Composites program published a number of important studies involving atomistic simulations of polymer surfaces with excellent correlations to experimental results. The new Enzymatic Synthesis of Materials project produced its first fluorinated polymers and successfully began engineering enzymes designed for materials synthesis. The structural Materials Program continued work on novel alloys, development of processing methods for advanced ceramics, and characterization of mechanical properties of these materials, including the newly documented characterization of cyclic fatigue crack propagation behavior in toughened ceramics. Finally, the Surface Science and Catalysis program made significant contributions to the understanding of microporous catalysts and the nature of surface structures and interface compounds.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1973

Environmental protection to 922K (1200 F) for titanium alloys

Evaluations are presented of potential coating systems for protection of titanium alloys from hot-salt stress-corrosion up to temperatures of 755 K (900 F) and from oxidation embrittlement up to temperature of 922 K (1200 F). Diffusion type coatings containing Si, Al, Cr, Ni or Fe as single coating elements or in various combinations were evaluated for oxidation protection, hot-salt stress-corrosion (HSSC) resistance, effects on tensile properties, fatigue properties, erosion resistance and ballistic impact resistance on an alpha and beta phase titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-2Mo). All of the coatings investigated demonstrated excellent oxidation protectiveness, but none of the coatings provided protection from hot-salt stress-corrosion. Experimental results indicated that both the aluminide and silicide types of coatings actually decreased the HSSC resistance of the substrate alloy. The types of coatings which have typically been used for oxidation protection of refractory metals and nickel base superalloys are not suitable for titanium alloys because they increase the susceptibility to hot-salt stress-corrosion, and that entirely new coating concepts must be developed for titanium alloy protection in advanced turbine engines.

Groves, M. T.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Progress in advanced high temperature turbine materials, coatings, and technology

Several NASA-sponsored benefit-cost studies have shown that very substantial benefits can be obtained by increasing material capability for aircraft gas turbines. Prealloyed powder processing holds promise for providing superalloys with increased strength for turbine disk applications. The developement of advanced powder metallurgy disk alloys must be based on a design of optimum processing and heat treating procedures. Materials considered for high temperature application include oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloys, directionally solidified superalloys, ceramics, directionally solidified eutectics, materials combining the high strength of a gamma prime strengthened alloy with the elevated temperature strength of an ODS, and composites. Attention is also given to the use of high pressure turbine seals, approaches for promoting environmental protection, and turbine cooling technology.

Freche, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS2024

Extreme Temperature Additively Manufactured GRX-810 Alloy Development and Hot-fire Testing for Liquid Rocket Engines

Additive manufacturing (AM) has revolutionized component design for liquid rocket engines by offering rapid manufacturing capabilities. This has led to significant opportunities for development and flight programs in the propulsion industry, resulting in cost and schedule savings, as well as performance improvements through new designs and alloy development. A noteworthy example is the GRX-810 oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloy, which was specifically developed for extreme temperatures. This Ni-Co-Cr based alloy was created using integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) techniques to focus on a new class of materials with exceptional temperature and oxidation-resistant properties. The GRX-810 alloy utilizes AM processes to incorporate nano-scale yttria particles throughout its microstructure, resulting in remarkable enhancements. Compared to traditional Nickel-based superalloys, the GRX-810 alloy offers a two-fold increase in tensile strength, 1,000-fold better creep properties, and two-fold improvement in oxidation resistance. NASA successfully demonstrated the development and manufacturing of components using the GRX-810 alloy through laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) and laser powder directed energy deposition (LP-DED) processes. Extensive efforts were made to model, evaluate metallurgical properties, develop heat treatment processes, characterize the microstructure, and determine mechanical properties. The GRX-810 alloy was specifically designed for aerospace applications, including liquid rocket engine injectors, preburners, turbines, and hot-section components, capable of withstanding temperatures up to 1,100 °C. The objective of this alloy development is to bridge the temperature gap between traditional Nickel-based superalloys and refractory alloys. This paper provides a comprehensive comparison of the GRX-810 alloy with other aerospace alloys, discussing its microstructure, mechanical properties, processing advancements, component development, and hot-fire testing results. The ultimate goal of this development was to elevate the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the GRX-810 alloy, enabling its integration into NASA and commercial aerospace applications.

GRX-810↗
NASA NTRS2024

Extreme Temperature Additively Manufactured GRX-810 Alloy Development and Hot-fire Testing for Liquid Rocket Engines

Additive manufacturing (AM) has revolutionized component design for liquid rocket engines by offering rapid manufacturing capabilities. This has led to significant opportunities for development and flight programs in the propulsion industry, resulting in cost and schedule savings, as well as performance improvements through new designs and alloy development. A noteworthy example is the GRX-810 oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloy, which was specifically developed for extreme temperatures. This Ni-Co-Cr based alloy was created using integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) techniques to focus on a new class of materials with exceptional temperature and oxidation-resistant properties. The GRX-810 alloy utilizes AM processes to incorporate nano-scale yttria particles throughout its microstructure, resulting in remarkable enhancements. Compared to traditional Nickel-based superalloys, the GRX-810 alloy offers a two-fold increase in tensile strength, 1,000-fold better creep properties, and two-fold improvement in oxidation resistance. NASA successfully demonstrated the development and manufacturing of components using the GRX-810 alloy through laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) and laser powder directed energy deposition (LP-DED) processes. Extensive efforts were made to model, evaluate metallurgical properties, develop heat treatment processes, characterize the microstructure, and determine mechanical properties. The GRX-810 alloy was specifically designed for aerospace applications, including liquid rocket engine injectors, preburners, turbines, and hot-section components, capable of withstanding temperatures up to 1,100 °C. The objective of this alloy development is to bridge the temperature gap between traditional Nickel-based superalloys and refractory alloys. This paper provides a comprehensive comparison of the GRX-810 alloy with other aerospace alloys, discussing its microstructure, mechanical properties, processing advancements, component development, and hot-fire testing results. The ultimate goal of this development was to elevate the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the GRX-810 alloy, enabling its integration into NASA and commercial aerospace applications.

GRX-810↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Maturation of Additive Manufactured Aerospace Alloys and Development of Mechanical and Thermophysical Properties for Space Applications

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been involved in the development and maturation of metal additive manufacturing (AM) for space applications since the late 2000’s. Several efforts have focused on the understanding of AM processes through design optimization, component fabrication, material characterization, testing, standards development, and infusion into propulsion development for flight applications. NASA and partners have matured commonly used aerospace alloys from various alloy families (Nickel, Steel, Iron, Aluminum, and Titanium) and AM processes. An extensive effort has been ongoing between NASA, industry partners, and academia to complete detailed AM process and heat treatment characterization, in addition to generating temperature-dependent mechanical and thermophysical properties. This presentation highlights the characterization and property results using laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) and laser powder directed energy deposition (LP-DED) processes among various alloys. In addition to commonly used alloys, there is a need for ongoing AM optimized alloys using integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) and process development for high performance applications. The applications targeted are launch vehicles, liquid rocket engines, advanced propulsion systems, advanced power systems, and in-space propulsion with high heat fluxes, high pressure, and that utilize propellants such as hydrogen, which can degrade alloys. This presentation will also discuss some of the ongoing novel alloy development and maturation using AM for use in these harsh environments, such as GRCop-42, GRCop-84, NASA HR-1, and C-103. The results from these processes have demonstrated that AM can enable rapid development and new AM optimized alloys can yield higher performance. These alloys have undergone modeling, fundamental metallurgical evaluations, heat treatment studies, and microstructure characterization and mechanical testing campaigns. This, combined with direct application-specific component fabrication and hot-fire testing, can enable the increase of the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) through high duty-cycle testing. This presentation provides a background and overview of these various common and AM-enabled alloys and processing developments including the initial effort related to metallurgical, mechanical, and thermophysical property studies. It also covers the latest advancement in the parallel component development, hot-fire testing, and future developments for these alloys.

Additive Manufacturing↗
NASA NTRS1984

Life prediction and constitutive models for engine hot section anisotropic materials

The development of directionally solidified and single crystal alloys is perhaps the most important recent advancement in hot section materials technology. The objective is to develop knowledge that enables the designer to improve anisotropic gas turbine parts to their full potential. Two single crystal alloys selected were PWA 1480 and Alloy 185. The coatings selected were an overlay coating, PWA 286, and an aluminide diffusion coating, PWA 273. The constitutive specimens were solid and cylindrical; the fatigue specimens were hollow and cylindrical. Two thicknesses of substrate are utilized. Specimens of both thickness (0.4 and 1.5 mm) will be coated and then tested for tensile, creep, and fatigue properties.

Swanson, G. A.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Friction-Stir Welding of Aluminum For the Space Program

The Marshall Space Flight Center is developing and characterizing the friction stir welding process for the Space Shuttle and other space programs. This revolutionary process, invented and patented by The Weld Institute in England, offers tremendous advantages for joining aluminum for high performance applications. It is particularly suited for advanced aluminum-lithium alloys, such as 2195, the primary structural alloy used in the External Tank. The friction stir welding process joins metals with minimal heat input, resulting in high-strength joints with high ductility. It is a simple process to demonstrate using a common milling machine for sample parts, but relatively expensive to implement on large-scale hardware, due to the high cost of tooling needed to handle the high forging pressures characteristic of the process. Recent developments at the Marshall Space Flight Center have demonstrated friction stir welding on linear joints up to 5 meters (15 ft.), with material thickness ranging between 2.5 mm and 16.5 mm (0.100" to 0.650"). High efficiency weld joints have been produced in aluminum from the 2000, 5000, and 6000 series alloy systems. A "retractable pin tool" system was patented by MSFC that allows use of friction stir welding for joints with changing material thickness, and with less rigid tooling than previously considered. This presentation will describe the details of alloys welded to-date and technical advances under development at MSFC. These developments could have substantial benefit to industrial applications for welding aluminum.

Jones, Clyde S.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Design and Development of CubeSat Solar Array Deployment Mechanisms Using Shape Memory Alloys

The Advanced eLectrical Bus (ALBus) project is a technology demonstration mission of a 3U CubeSat with an advanced, digitally controlled electrical power system capability and the novel use of Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) technology for reliable solar array (SA) deployable mechanisms. The ALBus CubeSat deploys four SAs in addition to the body-mounted arrays on each side of the CubeSat. A goal of the mission is to utilize the SMAs being developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center to deploy these SAs. The use of SMAs allows for the ability to test and reset the flight deployment mechanism prior to flight, which reduces the risk of in orbit deployment failures common to CubeSats. As a result, an SMA-driven Retention and Release (R&R) mechanism and an SMA-driven hinge were designed, developed, and integrated for flight. This paper summarizes the development of these mechanisms, types and functionalities of the SMAs used, as well as the lessons learned throughout the process.

cubesat↗
NASA NTRS2018

Design and Development of CubeSat Solar Array Deployment Mechanisms Using Shape Memory Alloys

The Advanced eLectrical Bus (ALBus) project is a technology demonstration mission of a 3-U CubeSat with an advanced, digitally controlled electrical power system capability and the novel use of Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) technology for reliable solar array deployable mechanisms. The ALBus cubesat has a need to deploy four solar arrays in addition to the body-mounted arrays on each side of the cubesat. A goal of the mission is to utilize the SMAs being developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center to deploy these solar arrays. The use of SMAs allows for the ability to test and reset the flight deployment mechanism prior to flight which reduces the risk of on orbit deployment failures common on cubesats. As a result, an SMA driven Retention and Release mechanism and an SMA driven hinge was designed, developed, and being prepared for flight. This paper summarized the development of these mechanisms, types and functionalities of SMAs used, and lessons learned throughout the process.

solar array deployment↗
NASA NTRS2003

Alloy Design Workbench-Surface Modeling Package Developed

NASA Glenn Research Center's Computational Materials Group has integrated a graphical user interface with in-house-developed surface modeling capabilities, with the goal of using computationally efficient atomistic simulations to aid the development of advanced aerospace materials, through the modeling of alloy surfaces, surface alloys, and segregation. The software is also ideal for modeling nanomaterials, since surface and interfacial effects can dominate material behavior and properties at this level. Through the combination of an accurate atomistic surface modeling methodology and an efficient computational engine, it is now possible to directly model these types of surface phenomenon and metallic nanostructures without a supercomputer. Fulfilling a High Operating Temperature Propulsion Components (HOTPC) project level-I milestone, a graphical user interface was created for a suite of quantum approximate atomistic materials modeling Fortran programs developed at Glenn. The resulting "Alloy Design Workbench-Surface Modeling Package" (ADW-SMP) is the combination of proven quantum approximate Bozzolo-Ferrante-Smith (BFS) algorithms (refs. 1 and 2) with a productivity-enhancing graphical front end. Written in the portable, platform independent Java programming language, the graphical user interface calls on extensively tested Fortran programs running in the background for the detailed computational tasks. Designed to run on desktop computers, the package has been deployed on PC, Mac, and SGI computer systems. The graphical user interface integrates two modes of computational materials exploration. One mode uses Monte Carlo simulations to determine lowest energy equilibrium configurations. The second approach is an interactive "what if" comparison of atomic configuration energies, designed to provide real-time insight into the underlying drivers of alloying processes.

Abel, Phillip B.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Producing Next Generation Superalloys Through Advanced Characterization and Manufacturing Techniques

NASA is currently working towards developing the next generation high temperature alloys for various aerospace and energy applications. Through advanced microscopy and computational insights, a novel atomic scale strengthening mechanism was discovered in Ni-base superalloys. This new local phase transformation strengthening technique has been successfully implemented resulting in new disk alloys with substantial improvements in creep strength over current state-of-the-art. Furthermore, additive manufacturing has been leveraged to produce dispersion strengthened (DS), multi-principal element alloys (MPEA) without the use of traditional mechanical alloying or chemical reactions. This new processing technique has successfully resulted in 99.9% dense oxide dispersion strengthened NiCoCr alloy parts. High temperature mechanical testing of the DS alloys showed significant improvements in strength and ductility over the baseline NiCoCr. As a result, this recently discovered processing route opens a new alloy design and production path that is synergistic between additive manufacturing and dispersion strengthening, possibly enabling a new generation of high-performance alloys.

Smith, Timothy M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Thermal control/oxidation resistant coatings for titanium-based alloys

Extensive research and development efforts have been expended toward development of thermal control and environmental protection coatings for NASP and generic hypersonic vehicle applications. The objective of the coatings development activities summarized here was to develop light-weight coatings for protecting advanced titanium alloys from oxidation in hypersonic vehicle applications. A number of new coating concepts have been evaluated. Coated samples were exposed to static oxidation tests at temperatures up to 1000 C using a thermogravimetric apparatus. Samples were also exposed to simulated hypersonic flight conditions for up to 10 hr to determine their thermal and chemical stability and catalytic efficiency. The emittance of samples was determined before and after exposure to simulated hypersonic flight conditions.

Clark, Ronald K.↗