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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 883 records · Page 49
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Taxonomy and Identification of Principal Foliar Nematode Species ( Aphelenchoides and Litylenchus )

Nematodes are Earth’s most numerous multicellular animals and include species that feed on bacteria, fungi, plants, insects, and animals. Foliar nematodes are mostly pathogens of ornamental crops in greenhouses, nurseries, forest trees, and field crops. Nematode identification has traditionally relied on morphological and anatomical characters using light microscopy and, in some cases, scanning electron microscopy (SEM). This review focuses on morphometrical and brief molecular details and key characteristics of some of the most widely distributed and economically important foliar nematodes that can aid in their identification. Aphelenchoides genus includes some of the most widely distributed nematodes that can cause crop damages and losses to agricultural, horticultural, and forestry crops. Morphological details of the most common species of Aphelenchoides (A. besseyi, A. bicaudatus, A. fragariae, A. ritzemabosi) are given with brief molecular details, including distribution, identification, conclusion, and future directions, as well as an updated list of the nominal species with its synonyms. Litylenchus is a relatively new genus described in 2011 and includes two species and one subspecies. Species included in the Litylenchus are important emerging foliar pathogens parasitizing trees and bushes, especially beech trees in the United States of America. Brief morphological details of all Litylenchus species are provided.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1974

The atomic nature of polymer-metal interactions in adhesion, friction and wear

The adhesion, friction, and wear behavior of the solid polymers PTFE and polyimide in contact with various metals were studied using field ion microscopy, Auger emission spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Results indicate that the polymers will transfer to a clean tungsten surface on simple tough contact, forming a chemical bond. With PTFE, it is hypothesized that the bonding is of the carbon to the metal surface, while with the polyimide, both oxygen and carbon bonding to the tungsten surface are possible. In sliding contact, the friction process itself can initiate polymer film formation. The formation of such films has been suggested as a form of extreme pressure lubrication.

Buckley, D. H.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Structure and properties of solid surfaces

Difficulties in experimental studies of crystalline surfaces are related to the fact that surface atoms have an intrinsic tendency to react with their environment. A second problem is connected with the effective thickness of surfaces, which ranges from one to several atom layers. The phenomenology of surface interactions with gases are considered, taking into account physical adsorption, chemisorption, and the oxidation of surfaces. Studies of the surface structure are discussed, giving attention to field emission microscopy, field-ion microscopy, electron diffraction techniques, Auger spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, electron probe microanalysis, ion microprobe methods, and low-energy backscattering spectroscopy. Investigations of semiconductor surfaces are also described.

Gatos, H. C.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Hot Hydrogen Testing of Refractory Metals and Ceramics

The objective of this investigation is to develop a technique with which refractory metal carbide samples can be exposed to hydrogen containing gases at high temperatures, and to use various microstructural and analytical techniques to determine the chemical and rate processes involved in hydrogen degradation in these materials. Five types of carbides were examined including WC, NbC, HfC, ZrC, and TaC. The ceramics were purchased and were all monolithic in nature. The temperature range investigated was from 850 to 1600 C with a hydrogen pressure of one atmosphere. Control experiments, in vacuum, were also conducted for comparison so that the net effects due to hydrogen could be isolated. The samples were analyzed prior to and after exposure. Gas samples were collected in selected experiments and analyzed using gas chromography. Characterization of the resulting microstructure after exposure to hydrogen was conducted using optical microscopy, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and weight change. The ceramics were purchased and were all monolithic in nature. It was found that all samples lost weight after exposure, both in hydrogen and vacuum. Results from the microstructure analyses show that the degradation processes are different among the five types of ceramics involved. In addition, the apparent activation energy for the degradation process is a function of temperature even within the same material. This indicates that there are more than one mechanism involved in each material, and that the mechanisms are temperature dependent.

Zee, Ralph↗
NASA NTRS1993

Hot hydrogen testing of metallic turbo pump materials

The objectives of this investigation are to expose heat resistant alloys to hydrogen at elevated temperatures and to use various microstructural and analytical techniques to determine the chemical and rate process involved in degradation of these materials due to hydrogen environment. Inconel 718 and NASA-23 (wrought and cast) are candidate materials. The degradation of these materials in the presence of 1 to 5 atmospheric pressure of hydrogen from 450 C to 1100 C was examined. The hydrogen facility at Auburn University was used for this purpose. Control experiments were also conducted wherein the samples were exposed to vacuum so that a direct comparison of the results would separate the thermal contribution from the hydrogen effects. The samples were analyzed prior to and after exposure. A residual gas collection system was used to determine the gaseous species produced by any chemical reaction that may have occurred during the exposure. Analysis of this gas sample shows only the presence of H2 as expected. Analyses of the samples were conducted using optical microscopy, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and weight change. There appears to be no change in weight of the samples as a result of hydrogen exposure. In addition no visible change on the surface structure was detected. This indicates that the materials of interest do not have strong interaction with hot hydrogen. This is consistent with the microstructure results.

Zee, Ralph↗
NASA NTRS2008

Effects of Cryogenic Temperature on Fracture Toughness of Core-Shell Rubber (CSR) Toughened Epoxy Nanocomposites

This study investigated the effects of core-shell rubber (CSR) nanoparticles on the mechanical properties and fracture toughness of an epoxy resin at ambient and liquid nitrogen (LN2) temperatures. Varying amounts of Kane Ace MX130 toughening agent were added to a commercially available EPON 862/Epikure W epoxy resin. Elastic modulus was calculated using quasi-static tensile data. Fracture toughness was evaluated by the resulting breaking energy measured in Charpy impact tests conducted on an instrumented drop tower. The size and distribution of the CSR nanoparticles were characterized using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS). Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was used to study the fracture surface morphology. The addition of the CSR nanoparticles increased the breaking energy with negligible change in elastic modulus and ultimate tensile stress (UTS). At ambient temperature the breaking energy increased with increasing additions of the CSR nanoparticles, while at LN2 temperatures, it reached a maximum at 5 wt% CSR concentration. KEY WORDS: liquid nitrogen (LN2) properties, fracture toughness, core-shell rubber (CSR).

Wang, J.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Effects of Core-Shell Rubber (CSR) Nanoparticles on the Cryogenic Fracture Toughness of CSR Modified Epoxy

This study investigated the effects of core-shell rubber (CSR) nanoparticles on the mechanical properties and fracture toughness of an epoxy resin at ambient and liquid nitrogen (LN2) temperatures. Varying amounts of Kane Ace(Registered TradeMark) MX130 and Kane Ace(Registered TradeMark) MX960 toughening agent were added to a commercially available EPON 862/Epikure W epoxy resin. Elastic modulus was calculated using quasi-static tensile data. Fracture toughness was evaluated by the resulting breaking energy measured in Charpy impact tests conducted on an instrumented drop tower. The size and distribution of the CSR nanoparticles were characterized using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS). Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was used to study the fracture surface morphology. The addition of the CSR nanoparticles increased the breaking energy with negligible change in elastic modulus and ultimate tensile stress (UTS). At ambient temperature the breaking energy increased with increasing additions of the CSR nanoparticles up to 13.8wt%, while at LN2 temperatures, it reached a plateau at much lower CSR concentration.

Wang, Jun↗
NASA NTRS2012

Degradation of Spacesuit Fabrics in Low Earth Orbit

Six samples of pristine and dust-abraded outer layer spacesuit fabrics were included in the Materials International Space Station Experiment-7, in which they were exposed to the wake-side low Earth orbit environment on the International Space Station (ISS) for 18 months in order to determine whether abrasion by lunar dust increases radiation degradation. The fabric samples were characterized using optical microscopy, optical spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and tensile testing before and after exposure on the ISS. Comparison of pre- and post-flight characterizations showed that the environment darkened and reddened all six fabrics, increasing their integrated solar absorptance by 7 to 38 percent. There was a decrease in the ultimate tensile strength and elongation to failure of lunar dust abraded Apollo spacesuit fibers by a factor of four and an increase in the elastic modulus by a factor of two.

Gaier, James R.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Analysis of Particulate and Fiber Debris Samples Returned from the International Space Station

During the period of International Space Station (ISS) Increments 30 and 31, crewmember reports cited differences in the cabin environment relating to particulate matter and fiber debris compared to earlier experience as well as allergic responses to the cabin environment. It was hypothesized that a change in the cabin atmosphere's suspended particulate matter load may be responsible for the reported situation. Samples were collected and returned to ground-based laboratories for assessment. Assessments included physical classification, optical microscopy and photographic analysis, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) evaluation using energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) methods. Particular points of interest for assessing the samples were for the presence of allergens, carbon dioxide removal assembly (CDRA) zeolite dust, and FGB panel fibers. The results from the physical classification, optical microscopy and photographic analysis, and SEM EDS analysis are presented and discussed.

Perry, Jay L.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Effects of N-Doping on Silicon Carbide

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a widely preferred material within many industries due to its favorable properties, most notably its low electrical resistivity at high temperatures, excellent thermal conductivity, and sturdy mechanical properties. Doping, particularly n-type doping, is shown to extremely reduce electrical resistivity, but due to structural changes within the lattice caused by interaction with thermal neutrons, it is possible that other attributes of SiC may also be affected. In addition to review of past literature and data, four-point probe testing, scanning electron microscopy, nanoindentation, strength tests, differential scanning calorimetry and laser flash analysis were used to investigate the effects of n-doping 3C ß-phase SiC. According to temperature dependent measurements, electric resistivity and thermal conductivity both declined as dopant levels increases. Dopant levels are shown to have a significant effect on the mechanical performance of SiC, with the highest dopant levels (4 x 1018 cm-3) providing a 40% decrease in elastic modulus from 420 GPa to 258 GPa and a 30% decrease in hardness from 40 GPa to 27.7 GPa. These values are still above average and doped SiC may prove valuable for nuclear applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Improving microstructures segmentation via pretraining with synthetic data

Image analysis of material microstructures through microscopy is an integral capability in the field of materials science. The topological and chemical information obtained through microscopy allow us to draw vital connections between material microstructures, properties, and processing. While scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is able to yield a considerable wealth of information interpretable by the intuition of experts, there has been considerable interest in using machine learning, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in particular, for such image analysis task. Training CNNs for an image analysis task requires a large annotated dataset. However, in many materials science applications, obtaining a large annotated dataset is cost and labor intensive. In this work, we study the use of synthetic data to enlarge the available annotated experimental data of uranium oxide. We utilize a modified Potts model to simulate uranium oxide particles with morphologies similar to those observed experimentally. We then leverage an image-to-image translation model to synthesize the simulated particles as if they are acquired with SEM. Through this process, we obtain pairs of particle images and their corresponding SEM representations, which corresponds to pairs of annotations and images. Unlike previous works, we leverage synthetic data for pretraining a CNN model prior, and finetune that model further with experimental data. We experimentally demonstrate that using synthetic data as incremental learning process benefits the overall performance compared to training a model on combined synthetic and experimental data.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Structure of thermoelectric films of higher manganese silicide on silicon according to electron microscopy data

The structural features of higher manganese-silicide films obtained by the diffusion doping of single-crystal silicon substrates with manganese vapor in a sealed cell and a flow-through quartz reactor with continuous pumping are comparatively analyzed. Scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy show that a single-phase textured film of higher manganese silicide is formed in the evacuated cell. A change in the growth conditions from steady (cell) to quasi-steady-state (reactor) leads to the formation of polycrystalline islands of higher manganese silicide with nanoscale inclusions of the manganese- monosilicide phase.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Martensitic Transformation and Magnetic Properties of the CuAl, CuAlMn, and CuAlMnZn Alloys

In the present work, the effect of alloying elements on the phase transformation which are formed by cooling effect in CuAl, CuAlMn, and CuAlMnZn (wt%) alloys are investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) characterization techniques. From SEM observations, the martensite formation with different morphologies is observed in these alloys. But the results of the scanning electron microscope investigations presented in this work have not formed the precipitates in the CuAl alloy with Mn or Zn additions. We found that magnetic saturation and coercivity values decreased with the addition of Mn and Zn elements to the CuAl alloy. The findings confirmed the variation in magnetic properties, which occurred in the result of adding different alloying elements.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Properties of Cu(In,Ga,Al)Se{sub 2} thin films fabricated by magnetron sputtering

Cu(In,Ga,Al)Se{sub 2} (CIGAS) thin films were studied as an alternative absorber layer material to Cu(In{sub x}Ga{sub 1−x})Se{sub 2}. CIGAS thin films with varying Al content were prepared by magnetron sputtering on Si(100) and soda-lime glass substrates at 350 °C, followed by postdeposition annealing at 520 °C for 5 h in vacuum. The film composition was measured by an electron probe microanalyzer while the elemental depth profiles were determined by secondary ion mass spectrometry. X-ray diffraction studies indicated that CIGAS films are single phase with chalcopyrite structure and that the (112) peak clearly shifts to higher 2θ values with increasing Al content. Scanning electron microscopy images revealed dense and well-defined grains, as well as sharp CIGAS/Si(100) interfaces for all films. Atomic force microscopy analysis indicated that the roughness of CIGAS films decreases with increasing Al content. The bandgap of CIGAS films was determined from the optical transmittance and reflectance spectra and was found to increase as Al content increased.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

Experimental and Numerical Investigations of Cyclic Plastic Deformation of Al-Mg Alloy

In this work, low-cycle fatigue (LCF) tests are performed on as-received and solution-treated Al-Mg alloy (AA 5754). Solution heat treatment of the as-received alloy is performed at 530 °C for 2 h and then quenched in water at room temperature. The low-cycle fatigue response of the as-received and solution-treated alloy is evaluated at five different strain amplitudes from 0.2 to 0.6%. The strain rate of 0.5 × 10{sup −3} s{sup −1} is kept constant in all the LCF tests. The LCF behavior of AA 5754 is modeled by finite element method (FEM) using Chaboche kinematic hardening cyclic plasticity model. Hardening behavior or fatigue life of as-received and solution-treated alloy is successfully simulated using this model. The results obtained by FEM simulations are compared with those obtained by LCF experiments. Microstructural studies are also performed for as-received and solution-treated alloy. The fracture surfaces obtained from LCF tests are analyzed by scanning electron microscopy.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Mechanical and morphological properties of kenaf powder filled natural rubber latex foam

This research is carried out by incorporate kenaf powder with natural rubber latex (NRL) compound and is foamed to make natural rubber latex foam (NRLF) by using a well known technique called Dunlop method. Different loading of kenaf powder was added to NRL compound and was foamed to make NRLF. The tensile properties, and morphology of kenaf filled NRLF was studied. Increase in kenaf loading reduced the tensile strength and elongation at break and of a compound. Modulus at 100% elongation of the compound increased with increased in filler loading. The morphological and micro structural characterization has been performed by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM)

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Investigations on Ni-Co-Mn-Sn thin films: Effect of substrate temperature and Ar gas pressure on the martensitic transformations and exchange bias properties

We report the effect of substrate temperature (T{sub S}) and Ar gas pressure (P{sub D}) on the martensitic transformations, magnetic and exchange bias (EB) properties in Heusler type Ni-Co-Mn-Sn epitaxial thin films. Martensitic transformation temperatures and EB fields at 5 K were found to increase with increasing T{sub S}. The observed maximum EB value of 320 Oe after field cooling in the film deposited at 650 {sup ∘}C is high among the values reported for Ni-Mn-Sn thin films which is attributed to the coexistence of ferromagnetic (FM) and antiferromagnetic (AF) phases in the martensitic state. In the case of P{sub D} variation, with increase in P{sub D}, martensitic transformation temperatures were increased and a sharp transformation was observed in the film deposited at 0.06 mbar. Magnetization values at 5 K were higher for increasing P{sub D}. These observations are attributed to the compositional shift. EB effect is also present in these films. Microstructural features observed using atomic force microscopy (AFM) shows a fine twinning and reduced precipitation with increase in P{sub D}, which is also confirmed from the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. EB effects in both series were confirmed from the training effect. Target ageing effect has been observed in the films deposited before and after ninety days of time interval. This has been confirmed both on substrate temperature and Ar gas pressure variations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Ferromagnetic-to-Paramagnetic Phase Transition of MnAs Studied by Calorimetry and Magnetic Measurements

Manganese monoarsenide samples have been prepared by the sealed-ampule technique and characterized by X-ray diffraction, differential thermal analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. The hexagonal- to-orthorhombic phase transition of MnAs has been studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and magnetic measurements. The enthalpy and temperature range of the transition have been determined to be ΔH =–5.6 J/g and 312.5–319 K, respectively. The enthalpy and temperature range of the transition are influenced by the quality of the samples. The samples containing inclusions of the metastable, orthorhombic phase have a lower enthalpy and broader temperature range of the magnetostructural transformation of manganese monoarsenide. It has been demonstrated that DSC is an effective tool for assessing the quality of MnAs samples. Temperature dependences of specific magnetization and magnetic permeability for MnAs lend support to the DSC results. From these data, the Curie temperature of MnAs has been determined to be 40°C, in good agreement with previously reported data.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗