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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 91 records · Page 5

Fast-response cup anemometer features cosine response

Six-cup, low-inertia anemometer combines high resolution and fast response with a unique ability to sense only the horizontal component of the winds fluctuating rapidly in three dimensions. Cup assemblies are fabricated of expanded polystyrene plastic.

Frenzen, P.↗

Phenolic cutter for machining foam insulation

Pre-pregged fiber glass is an efficient abrasive for machining polystyrene and polyurethane foams. It bonds easily to any cutter base made of aluminum, steel, or phenolic, is inexpensive, and is readily available.

Blair, T. A.↗

Inexpensive, large-diameter, radar tracking and calibration spheres

Plastic models of polystyrene beads are produced to within 0.02 cm accuracy, in various diameters designed to meet exact requirements of particular radar system frequency spectrum. They are inexpensive and do not require special handling imposed on metal spheres.

Holdren, R. H.↗

Photoemissive coating

Polystyrene coating is applied to holographic storage tube substrate via glow discharge polymerization in an inert environment. After deposition of styrene coating, antimony and then cesium are added to produce photoemissive layer. Technique is utilized in preparing perfectly organized polymeric films useful as single-crystal membranes.

Gange, R. A.↗

Services provided in support of the planetary quarantine requirements of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The efficiency of a biodetection grinder, used to recover buried contamination, was tested using spacecraft components and laminated polystyrene strips containing Bacillus subtilis var. niger spores. The surfaces were decontaminated before tests. Results are given in tabular form. Tables are also given for heat resistance of bacteria spores, prevalence of bacteria in spacecraft before launch, and the types of bacteria found in Apollo 15 spacecraft components and command modules.

Favero, M. S.↗

Craters formed in mineral dust by hypervelocity microparticles.

As a simulation of erosion processes on the lunar surface, impact craters were formed in dust targets by 2- to 5-micron-diameter polystyrene spheres with velocities between 2.5 and 12 km/sec. For weakly cohesive, thick targets of basalt dust with a maximum grain size comparable to the projectile diameter, the craters had an average projectile-to-diameter diameter ratio of 25, and the displaced mass was 3 orders of magnitude greater than the projectile mass. In a simulation of the effect of a dust covering on lunar rocks, a layer of cohesive, fine-grained basalt dust with a thickness nearly twice the projectile diameter protected a glass substrate from damage, but an area about 50 times the cross-sectional area of the projectile was cleared of all but a few grains. Impact damage was produced in glass under a thinner dust layer.

Vedder, J. F.↗

Viewing-angle effects in radar images

A quantitative determination of the effect of viewing angle on the detectability of topographic linears in radar imagery is presented. Variations of azimuth and aspect angles of an imaging radar antenna relative to a topographic linear were simulated using low-angle illumination of controlled linear features on polystyrene sheets. The several model surfaces represented idealized versions of surface types that may be expected in areas of geologic interest. Fourier transform spectra of the radar image simulations were obtained using a coherent-optics system. These spectra were found to correlate with a detectability factor obtained directly from the radar image simulations. Fourier transform spectra of a linear feature observed from multiple viewing angles by a K-band imaging radar were also obtained and a detectability factor was estimated which agreed closely with theoretical predictions.

Eppes, T. A.↗

Multichannel forward scattering meter for oceanography

An instrument was designed and built that measures the light scattered at several angles in the forward direction simultaneously. The instrument relies on an optical multiplexing technique for frequency encoding of the different channels suitable for detection by a single photodetector. A Mie theory computer program was used to calculate the theoretical volume scattering function for a suspension of polystyrene latex spheres. The agreement between the theoretical and experimental volume scattering functions is taken as a verification of the calibration technique used.

Mccluney, W. R.↗

Microcraters formed in glass by projectiles of various densities

An experiment was conducted investigating the effect of projectile density on the structure and size of craters in soda lime glass and fused quartz. The projectiles were spheres of polystyrene-divinylbenzene (PS-DVB), aluminum, and iron with velocities between 0.5 and 15 km/sec and diameters between 0.4 and 5 microns. The projectile densities spanned the range expected for primary and secondary particles of micrometer size at the lunar surface, and the velocities spanned the lower range of micrometeoroid velocities and the upper range of secondary projectile velocities. There are changes in crater morphology as the impact velocity increases, and the transitions occur at lower velocities for the projectiles of higher density. The sequence of morphological features of the craters found for PS-DVB impacting soda lime glass for increasing impact velocity, described in a previous work (Mandeville and Vedder, 1971), also occurs in fused quartz and in both targets with the more dense aluminum and iron projectiles. Each transition in morphology occurs at impact velocities generating a certain pressure in the target. High density projectiles require a lower velocity than low-density projectiles to generate a given shock pressure.

Vedder, J. F.↗

Flame resistant nontoxic polymer development

A number of homopolymers, copolymers, and terpolymers were synthesized employing styrene and four derivatives of diphenyl-p-styrylphosphine. The various polymeric compositions were prepared by two processes, (1) monomer bulk polymerizations and (2) substitution of preformed polydiphenyl-p-styrylphosphine. Results indicate that the majority of the compositions exhibit superior melting and flame retardant characteristics as compared to polystyrene, but are inferior in molding and film forming capability. Terpolymerization appears to result in the materials with the best overall combination of properties. Toxicological evaluation of three representative basic compositions in the form of molded washers showed that no mortalities occurred among the test animals exposed to the products of the oxidative thermal decomposition of the three materials.

Paciorek, K. L.↗

Pulse height response of an optical particle counter to monodisperse aerosols

The pulse height response of a right angle scattering optical particle counter has been investigated using monodisperse aerosols of polystyrene latex spheres, di-octyl phthalate and methylene blue. The results confirm previous measurements for the variation of mean pulse height as a function of particle diameter and show good agreement with the relative response predicted by Mie scattering theory. Measured cumulative pulse height distributions were found to fit reasonably well to a log normal distribution with a minimum geometric standard deviation of about 1.4 for particle diameters greater than about 2 micrometers. The geometric standard deviation was found to increase significantly with decreasing particle diameter.

Wilmoth, R. G.↗

Water system virus detection

A monitoring system developed to test the capability of a water recovery system to reject the passage of viruses into the recovered water is described. A nonpathogenic marker virus, bacteriophage F2, is fed into the process stream before the recovery unit and the reclaimed water is assayed for its presence. Detection of the marker virus consists of two major components, concentration and isolation of the marker virus, and detection of the marker virus. The concentration system involves adsorption of virus to cellulose acetate filters in the presence of trivalent cations and low pH with subsequent desorption of the virus using volumes of high pH buffer. The detection of the virus is performed by a passive immune agglutination test utilizing specially prepared polystyrene particles. An engineering preliminary design was performed as a parallel effort to the laboratory development of the marker virus test system. Engineering schematics and drawings of a fully functional laboratory prototype capable of zero-G operation are presented. The instrument consists of reagent pump/metering system, reagent storage containers, a filter concentrator, an incubation/detector system, and an electronic readout and control system.

Fraser, A. S.↗