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NASA NTRS1985

Implications of Convection in the Moon and the Terrestrial Planets

The early evolution of the Moon and its implications for the early evolution of the Earth was studied. The study is divided into two parts: (1) studies of core formation. Cosmochemical studies strongly favor a near-homogeneous accretion of the Earth. It is shown that core segregation probably occurred within the first 10,000 years of Earth history. It is found that dissipative heating may be a viable mechanism for core segregation if sufficiently large bodies of liquid iron can form; (2) early thermal evolution of the Earth and Moon. The energy associated with the accretion of the Earth and the segregation of the core is more than sufficient to melt the entire Earth. The increase in the mantle liquidus with depth (pressure) is the dominant effect influencing heat transfer through the magma ocean. It is found that a magma ocean with a depth of 100 km would have existed as the Earth accreted. It is concluded that this magma ocean zone refined the earth resulting in the simultaneous formation of the core and the atmosphere during accretion. The resulting mantle was a well-mixed solid with a near pyrolite composition.

Turcotte, D. L.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Two-Step Vapor/Liquid/Solid Purification

Vertical distillation system combines in single operation advantages of multiple zone refining with those of distillation. Developed specifically to load Bridgman-Stockbarger (vertical-solidification) growth ampoules with ultrapure tellurium and cadmium, system, with suitable modifications, serves as material refiner. In first phase of purification process, ampoule heated to drive off absorbed volatiles. Second phase, evaporator heated to drive off volatiles in charge. Third phase, slowly descending heater causes distillation from evaporator to growing crystal in ampoule.

Holland, L. R.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Solid-state combustion synthesis of ceramics and alloys in reduced gravity

Possible microgravity effects are explored in the combustion synthesis of ceramics and alloys from their constituent elements. Molten intermediates are typically present during the combustion process, thereby offering the chance for natural convection to take place. Numerical simulations suggest that the combustion front in concert with gravity may act as a partial zone-refinement mechanism which is attempting to sweep out porosity in the sample. Contrary to suggestions by dimensional analysis, no effects on the combustion rate are seen. An analytical model of the combustion velocity as a function of the gravitational field and the spreading rate of molten material gives the correct order of magnitude of the gravity effect as measured by centrifuge experiments.

Valone, S. M.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Three-dimensional elliptic grid generation for an F-16

A case history depicting the effort to generate a computational grid for the simulation of transonic flow about an F-16 aircraft at realistic flight conditions is presented. The flow solver for which this grid is designed is a zonal one, using the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations near the surface of the aircraft, and the Euler equations in regions removed from the aircraft. A body conforming global grid, suitable for the Euler equation, is first generated using 3-D Poisson equations having inhomogeneous terms modeled after the 2-D GRAPE code. Regions of the global grid are then designated for zonal refinement as appropriate to accurately model the flow physics. Grid spacing suitable for solution of the Navier-Stokes equations is generated in the refinement zones by simple subdivision of the given coarse grid intervals. That grid generation project is described, with particular emphasis on the global coarse grid.

Reese L. Sorenson↗

NASA NTRS1992

Growth and characterization of lead bromide crystals

Lead(II) bromide was purified by a combination of directional freezing and zone-refining methods. Differential thermal analysis of the lead bromide showed that a destructive phase transformation occurs below the melting temperature. This transformation causes extensive cracking, making it very difficult to grow a large single crystal. Energy of phase transformation for pure lead bromide was determined to be 24.67 cal/g. To circumvent this limitation, crystals were doped by silver bromide which decreased the energy of phase transformation. The addition of silver helped in achieving the size, but enhanced the inhomogeneity in the crystal. The acoustic attenuation constant was almost identical for the pure and doped (below 3000 ppm) crystals.

Singh, N. B.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Crystal growth of ZnSe and related ternary compound semiconductors by physical vapor transport

The materials to be investigated are ZnSe and related ternary semiconducting alloys (e.g., ZnS(x)Se(1-x), ZnTe(x)Se(1-x), and Zn(1-x)Cd(x)Se). These materials are useful for opto-electronic applications such as high efficient light emitting diodes and low power threshold and high temperature lasers in the blue-green region of the visible spectrum. The recent demonstration of its optical bistable properties also makes ZnSe a possible candidate material for digital optical computers. The investigation consists of an extensive ground-based study followed by flight experimentation, and involves both experimental and theoretical work. The objectives of the ground-based work are to establish the characteristics of the crystals grown on Earth as a basis for subsequent comparative evaluations of the crystals grown in a low gravity environment and to obtain the experimental data and perform the analyses required to define the optimum parameters for the flight experiments. During the six months of the Preliminary Definition Phase, the research efforts were concentrated on the binary compound ZnSe - the purification of starting materials of Se by zone refining, the synthesis of ZnSe starting materials, the heat treatments of the starting materials, the vapor transport rate measurements, the vapor partial pressure measurements of ZnSe, the crystal growth of ZnSe by physical vapor transport, and various characterization on the grown ZnSe crystals.

Su, Ching-Hua↗

NASA NTRS1994

The behavior of unsteady thermocapillary flows

The thermocapillary-driven flow of a liquid in a shallow slot provides a simple model to explore the effects of free-surface deflection and end walls on the stability of the flow. Such an investigation may be useful in understanding the complex flow seen in processes such as the float-zone refining of single crystals. A linear stability analysis of the viscously-dominated slot flow indicates stable basic states to both tow- and three-dimensional infinitesimal disturbances for capillary numbers below 43.3. Above this capillary number steady solutions do not exist. We also discuss current work involving the development of an inertially-dominated slot-flow model using singular perturbation methods. If these flows are unstable, inertial effects would be the only possible cause of the instability.

Vrane, David R.↗

NASA NTRS1995

NiAl-based Polyphase in situ Composites in the NiAl-Ta-X (X = Cr, Mo, or V) Systems

Polyphase in situ composites were generated by directional solidification of ternary eutectics. This work was performed to discover if a balance of properties could be produced by combining the NiAl-Laves phase and the NiAl-refractory metal phase eutectics. The systems investigated were the Ni-Al-Ta-X (X = Cr, Mo, or V) alloys. Ternary eutectics were found in each of these systems and the eutectic composition, temperature, and morphology were determined. The ternary eutectic systems examined were the NiAl-NiAlTa-(Mo, Ta), NiAl-(Cr, Al) NiTa-Cr, and the NiAl-NiAlTa-V systems. Each eutectic consists of NiAl, a C14 Laves phase, and a refractory metal phase. Directional solidification was performed by containerless processing techniques in a levitation zone refiner to minimize alloy contamination. Room temperature fracture toughness of these materials was determined by a four-point bend test. Preliminary creep behavior was determined by compression tests at elevated temperatures, 1100-l400 K. Of the ternary eutectics, the one in the NiAl-Ta-Cr system was found to be the most promising. The fracture toughness of the NiAl-(Cr, Al)NiTa-Cr eutectic was intermediate between the values of the NiAl-NiAlTa eutectic and the NiAl-Cr eutectic. The creep strength of this ternary eutectic was similar to or greater than that of the NiAl-Cr eutectic.

Johnson, D. R.↗

NASA NTRS1974

Refinement of the Goloseyev catalog point coordinates in the limb zone and determination of point coordinates on the back side of the moon

Lunar photography from Zond 6 showed half the side of the moon which is not visible from the earth, and this made it possible to construct a photogrammetric grid encompassing the entire Western Hemisphere and referenced to points of the visible side, whose coordinates were taken from the Goloseyev catalog. The problem was solved using two pictures taken from approximately 9000 km above the lunar surface. The photogrammetric grid was constructed by joint statistical analysis of the measurements of both pictures and the selenographic coordinates of the catalog points. A special algorithm was developed and a program compiled realizing the maximum likelihood method which permitted working with up to 120 catalog points simultaneously.

Krasikov, V. A.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Adaptive Finite Element Methods for Continuum Damage Modeling

The paper presents an application of adaptive finite element methods to the modeling of low-cycle continuum damage and life prediction of high-temperature components. The major objective is to provide automated and accurate modeling of damaged zones through adaptive mesh refinement and adaptive time-stepping methods. The damage modeling methodology is implemented in an usual way by embedding damage evolution in the transient nonlinear solution of elasto-viscoplastic deformation problems. This nonlinear boundary-value problem is discretized by adaptive finite element methods. The automated h-adaptive mesh refinements are driven by error indicators, based on selected principal variables in the problem (stresses, non-elastic strains, damage, etc.). In the time domain, adaptive time-stepping is used, combined with a predictor-corrector time marching algorithm. The time selection is controlled by required time accuracy. In order to take into account strong temperature dependency of material parameters, the nonlinear structural solution a coupled with thermal analyses (one-way coupling). Several test examples illustrate the importance and benefits of adaptive mesh refinements in accurate prediction of damage levels and failure time.

Min, J. B.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Semiautomatic Design Of Zonal Computational Grids

EZGrid is knowledge-based computer program semiautomatically generating zonal computational grids for use in numerical simulations of two-dimensional flows. Zoning necessary because of limitations imposed by size of available computer memory and by topological complexity of typical flow field. Complexity and amount of required memory reduced by dividing flow field into zones, within each of which computational grid refined only to extent necessary to resolve local high gradients. Developed to speed and systematize zoning.

Vogel, Alison Andrews↗

NASA NTRS2011

Thermal Protection System Imagery Inspection Management System -TIIMS

TIIMS is used during the inspection phases of every mission to provide quick visual feedback, detailed inspection data, and determination to the mission management team. This system consists of a visual Web page interface, an SQL database, and a graphical image generator. These combine to allow a user to ascertain quickly the status of the inspection process, and current determination of any problem zones. The TIIMS system allows inspection engineers to enter their determinations into a database and to link pertinent images and video to those database entries. The database then assigns criteria to each zone and tile, and via query, sends the information to a graphical image generation program. Using the official TIPS database tile positions and sizes, the graphical image generation program creates images of the current status of the orbiter, coloring zones, and tiles based on a predefined key code. These images are then displayed on a Web page using customized JAVA scripts to display the appropriate zone of the orbiter based on the location of the user's cursor. The close-up graphic and database entry for that particular zone can then be seen by selecting the zone. This page contains links into the database to access the images used by the inspection engineer when they make the determination entered into the database. Status for the inspection zones changes as determinations are refined and shown by the appropriate color code.

Goza, Sharon↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Weldability Investigation of Crack Resistant Aluminum Filler Metals Developed for Large Scale Additive Manufacturing and Industrial Welding Applications

In this study the NASA MSFC welding and manufacturing team investigated a new-age aluminum filler wire designed for welding and additive manufacturing (AM) of high strength aluminum alloys. High strength aluminum alloys are known to exhibit hot cracking and hot tearing issues during fusion welding operations. The goal of this investigation was to determine whether this new-age family of alloys can suppress the hot cracking and hot tearing issues exhibited during welding of high strength aluminum alloys and to do an initial characterization of the mechanical performance of welds created using these filler wires. This study focuses on fusion welding of aluminum alloy 6061 and compares the weldability characteristics of five aluminum filler metals and two forms of 6061 base material. The MSFC team utilized manual gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) to conduct all welding operations and carried out metallographic analysis accompanied with mechanical testing to evaluate the performance of the welds created during this study. During the study it was observed that the new-age filler wires facilitated grain refinement in the weld fusion zone and were capable of creating crack free welds in aluminum alloy 6061 while exhibiting properties that met or exceeded conventional off the shelf aluminum filler metals.

Welding↗

NASA NTRS1981

The reduction, verification and interpretation of Magsat magnetic data over Canada

Magnetic anomalies of lithospheric origin are weak at Magsat altitudes (20 to 30 nT at most), and are easily masked by much larger effects caused by field-aligned and other currents at high latitudes. Most of Canada lies under the influence of ionospheric currents in the auroral zone and polar cap. A more refined selection of quiet Magsat data allowed a revised scalar magnetic anomaly map of the whole region north of about 40 deg N latitude. Very preliminary vector anomaly maps and absolute vector component maps were derived. The scalar magnitudes show great promise for mapping the total force and anomaly fields. The Z vector data also appear to be good. The horizontal X and Y vector data are seriously contaminated with external fields and maybe other effects.

Coles, R. L.↗

NASA NTRS1995

The Grain Structure of Castings: Some Aspects of Modelling

The efficacy of the modelling of the solidification of castings is typically tested against observed cooling curves and the final grain structures and sizes. Without thermo solutal convection, equiaxed grain formation is promoted by introduction of heterogeneous substrates into the melt, as grain refiners. With efficient thermo solutal convection, dendrite fragments from the mushy zone can act as an intrinsic source of equiaxed grains and resort to grain refining additions is unnecessary. The mechanisms of dendrite fragmentation and transport of these fragments are briefly considered.

Hellawell, A.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Development of a Combined Cohesive and Virtual Crack-Closure Technique Approach to Represent R-Curves

Resistance curve (R-curve) effects due to fiber bridging, crack migration, and other blunting mechanisms are common in composite laminates. These mechanisms can dramatically increase the resistance to crack propagation but can be challenging to simulate. Delamination with R-curves can be analyzed using cohesive zone modeling (CZM) or the virtual crack closure technique (VCCT). Large fracture process zones can be simulated with CZM, but they require highly refined meshes. Coarser meshes can be used with VCCT, but this method is only applicable to small fracture process zones with R-curves defined as functions of position. Therefore, a technique with the computational efficiency of VCCT and the natural ability of cohesive elements to represent large fracture process zones is desirable. An approach is proposed that starts as a CZM in which the cohesive traction separation law (TSL) is separated into high-strength (HS) and low-strength (LS) components. The HS part, which is responsible for the mesh requirements of the CZM analysis, is replaced by VCCT. The combined method is evaluated by analyzing the response of double cantilevered beam specimens. Two specimen layup configurations, [0/90/90/0] 3s and [0/90/90/0] 9s , are evaluated. The R-curve response from each configuration is determined and applied to the constitutive properties of models built with CZM and with VCCT. The results and computational efficiency of the CZM, VCCT, and combined approaches are compared. The results are indicative that a combined cohesive/VCCT approach can enable progressive failure analyses to retain the computational efficiency of VCCT with the ability of the cohesive elements to capture R-curve effects.

Virtual Crack-Closure Technique↗

NASA NTRS1969

Generation of sonic power during welding

Generation of intense sonic and ultrasonic power in the weld zone, close to the puddle, reduces the porosity and refinement of the grain. The ac induction brazing power supply is modified with long cables for deliberate addition of resistance to that circuit. The concept is extensible to the molding of metals and plastics.

Mc Campbell, W. M.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Flare parameters for the 7 September, 1973 two-ribbon flare

A study is made of the relative importance of the various energy loss mechanisms for the long-decay event of September 7, 1973, using spectral scans in the 400 A-1335 A range. This spectral range contains many of the important electron density and temperature diagnostic line ratios for the solar transition zone. Earlier analyses of the flare energy budget are refined, using more detailed emission measure curves and density diagnostics. The constant pressure assumptions used in both coronal loop models and in the interpretation of observations in terms of flare energetics are examined. It is found that much of the upper transition region emission originates in cooling loops. Radiative losses are found to dominate.

Doyle, J. G.↗