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Pair of reports discusses long-term environmental tests of glassfiber/epoxy composite pressure vessels. Strength diminishes during long exposure to environment. Since such data necessary for accurate design of long-life structures such as pressure vessels, NASA Lewis Research Center built outdoor test stand in 1973. Test stand maintains system under constant pressure loading without frequent intervention of personnel.
The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard E606-80 is the most often used recommended testing practice for low-cycle-fatigue (LCF) testing in the United States. The standard was first adopted in 1977 for LCF testing at room temperature and was modified in 1980 to include high-temperature testing practices. Current activity within ASTM is aimed at extending the E606-80 recommended practices to LCF under thermomechanical conditions, LCF in high-pressure hydrogen, and LCF in metal-matrix composite materials. Interlaboratory testing programs conducted to generate a technical base for modifying E606-80 for the aforementioned LCF test types are discussed.
This project targeted advanced low NOx combustion for advanced gas turbines capable of 65%, or greater, efficiency in combined cycle application. This technology advancement has further potential to benefit gas turbines used in coal based IGCC applications with pre-combustion carbon capture and hydrogen as the resulting fuel. The program developed and synthesized the most advanced combustion system capable of achieving low NOX emissions up to turbine inlet temperatures of 3100F while also supporting the load-following needs of a modern grid. The combustion system contributes to the overall gas turbine efficiency goal by setting the maximum cycle temperature achievable for a given NOX level and by minimizing the through-combustor air flow pressure drop. Focus areas for this project targeted maximizing the turbine inlet temperature entitlement, as constrained by emissions considerations. The design also minimized parasitic air flow pressure drop by using advanced cooling techniques and performance materials selections and by minimizing hot surface area. These two technology objectives (maximum, emissions-compliant cycle temperature and minimum air flow pressure drop) were integrated into a prototype design. The primarily analytical project sought to identify the most promising technologies to meet these objectives. Additional critical “jugular” data were obtained from multi-tube mixer tests to realize the potential of leveraging “micro flames” for minimizing overall hot surface area. This data was used, in conjunction with an understanding of advanced material and cooling design technologies, to analytically develop multiple design concepts. Phase I focused on in-depth engineering analysis and design, with minimal supporting laboratory testing to enable a selection of the top three combustion architectures for achieving these overall objectives. Phase II of the program developed the selected design through a combination of sub-scale testing and analytical efforts. Early tests included a cold-flow cascade to establish aerodynamic performance characteristics and a sub-scale fired test at GE Global Research in Niskayuna, NY, to establish cooling and heat transfer characteristics in conjunction with combustion performance. The data from these tests validated the analytical models to ultimately design a full-scale, test article to evaluate at prototypical pressure and temperature conditions at GE Gas Power’s Gas Turbine Technology Laboratory in Greenville, SC. GE Gas Power also developed, tested, and recommended a suitable seal design to be applied to the unique features of the combustor. To assess the technology challenges from prospective future production of the combustor from a ceramic matrix composite material, screening tests of Environmental Barrier Coatings were completed.
A carbon dioxide gasdynamic laser was operated over a range of reservoir pressure and temperature, test-gas mixture, and nozzle geometry. A significant result is the dominant influence of nozzle geometry on laser power at high pressure. High reservoir pressure can be effectively utilized to increase laser power if nozzle geometry is chosen to efficiently freeze the test gas. Maximum power density increased from 3.3 W/cu cm of optical cavity volume for an inefficient nozzle to 83.4 W/cu cm at 115 atm for a more efficient nozzle. Variation in the composition of the test gas also caused large changes in laser power output. Most notable is the influence of the catalyst (helium or water vapor) that was used to depopulate the lower vibrational state of the carbon dioxide. Water caused an extreme deterioration of laser power at high pressure (100 atm), whereas, at low pressure the laser for the two catalysts approached similar values. It appears that at high pressure the depopulation of the upper laser level of the carbon dioxide by the water predominates over the lower state depopulation, thus destroying the inversion.
The effects of thermal and pressure cycling on the fatigue performance of carbon-carbon composites, and the influence of mission cycling on these effects, were investigated by subjecting both virgin and mission-cycled two-dimensional specimens of SiC-coated carbon-carbon composites to fatigue tests, conducted at room temperature in three-point bending, with a stress ratio of 0.2 and a frequency of 1 Hz. It was found that the fatigue strength of C-C composites is high (about 90 percent of the ultimate flexural strength), but decreased with the mission cycling. The lowering of the fatigue strength with mission cycling is attributed to the increase in interfacial bond strength due to thermal and pressure cycling of the material. The already high sensitivity of C-C composites to stress during cyclic loading increases further with the amount of mission cycling. Results of NDE suggest that the damage growth in virgin C-C, in the high-cycle range, is slow at the initial stage of the cyclic life, but propagates rapidly after certain threshold cycles of the fatigue life.
Six filament-wound, composite spar-shell fan blades were impact tested in a whirligig relative to foreign object damage resulting from ingestion of birds into the fan blades of a QCSEE-type engine. Four of the blades were tested by injecting a simulated two pound bird into the path of the rotating blade and two were tested by injecting a starling into the path of the blade.
Out-of-plane tensile tests of a woven fabric carbon-carbon composite were performed in a scanning electron microscope equipped with a tensile stage and a videotape recording system. The composite was prepared from T-300 8-harness satin graphite fabric and a phenolic resin. The (0/90/0/90/0 sub 1/2) sub 2 laminate, with a Theta describing the orientation of the warp fibers of the fabric, was cured at 160 C and pyrolized at 871 C. This was followed by four cycles of resin impregnation, curing, and pyrolysis. A micrograph of the cross section of the composite is presented. Inspection of the specimen fracture surface revealed that the filaments had no residual matrix bonded to them. Further inspection revealed that the fracture was interlaminar in nature. Failure occurred where filaments of adjacent plies had the same orientation. Thus it is postulated that improvement in transverse tensile strength of 2-D carbon-carbon depends on the improvement of the filament-matrix bond strength.
A health monitoring approach is investigated for hydrokinetic turbine blade applications. In-service monitoring is critical due to the difficult environment for blade inspection and the cost of inspection downtime. Composite blade designs have advantages that include long life in marine environments and great control over mechanical properties. Experimental strain characteristics are determined for static loads and free-vibration loads. These experiments are designed to simulate the dynamic characteristics of hydrokinetic turbine blades. Carbon/epoxy symmetric composite laminates are manufactured using an autoclave process. Four-layer composite beams, eight-layer composite beams, and two-dimensional eight-layer composite blades are instrumented for strain. Experimental results for strain measurements from electrical resistance gages are validated with theoretical characteristics obtained from in-house finite-element analysis for all sample cases. These preliminary tests on the composite samples show good correlation between experimental and finite-element strain results. A health monitoring system is proposed in which damage to a composite structure, e.g. delamination and fiber breakage, causes changes in the strain signature behavior. The system is based on embedded strain sensors and embedded motes in which strain information is demodulated for wireless transmission. In-service monitoring is critical due to the difficult environment for blade inspection and the cost of inspection downtime. Composite blade designs provide a medium for embedding sensors into the blades for in-situ health monitoring. The major challenge with in-situ health monitoring is transmission of sensor signals from the remote rotating reference frame of the blade to the system monitoring station. In the presented work, a novel system for relaying in-situ blade health measurements in hydrokinetic systems is described and demonstrated. An ultrasonic communication system is used to transmit sensor data underwater from the rotating frame of the blade to a fixed relay station. Data are then broadcast via radio waves to a remote monitoring station. Results indicate that the assembled system can transmit simulated sensor data with an accuracy of ±5% at a maximum sampling rate of 500 samples/sec. A power investigation of the transmitter within the blade shows that continuous max-sampling operation is only possible for short durations (~days), and is limited due to the capacity of the battery power source. However, intermittent sampling, with long periods between samples, allows for the system to last for very long durations (~years). Finally, because the data transmission system can operate at a high sampling rate for short durations or at a lower sampling rate/higher duty cycle for long durations, it is well-suited for short-term prototype and environmental testing, as well as long-term commercially-deployed hydrokinetic machines.
Compression testing of modern composite materials is affected by the manner in which the compressive load is introduced. Two such effects are investigated: (1) the constrained edge effect which prevents transverse expansion and is common to all compression testing in which the specimen is gripped in the fixture; and (2) nonuniform gripping which induces bending into the specimen. An analytical model capable of quantifying these foregoing effects was developed which is based upon the principle of minimum complementary energy. For pure compression, the stresses are approximated by Fourier series. For pure bending, the stresses are approximated by Legendre polynomials.
This past year has been one of great accomplishment for the propulsion element of NASA's High Speed Research (HSR) Program. The HSR Program is a NASA/industry partnership to develop the high-risk/high-payoff airframe and propulsion technologies applicable to a second-generation supersonic commercial transport, or High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT). The propulsion element, which also involves industry partners, is managed by the NASA Lewis Research Center. These technologies will contribute greatly to U.S. industry's ability to make an informed product launch decision for an HSCT vehicle. Specific NASA Lewis accomplishments in 1997 include: 1. Small-scale combustor sector tests conducted in Lewis' Engine Research Building contributed to the evolution of approaches to developing a combustor with ultralow NOx emissions. 2. Components were tested in Lewis' CE-9 facility (in Lewis' Engine Research Building) to assess the performance of candidate ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials in this realistic combustion environment. Test results were promising, and acceptable levels of structural durability were demonstrated for the ceramic matrix composite material tested. Ceramic matrix composites continue to show great promise for use in HSCT combustor liners. 3. Engine emissions tests in Lewis' Propulsion Systems Laboratory provided insight into other classes of emissions (e.g., particulates and aerosols) which will be important to control in HSCT propulsion system designs. 4. Small-scale nozzle tests conducted in Lewis' Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory are contributing to the design of a low-noise, high-performance mixer/ejector nozzle configuration for HSCT engines. Over 18,000 hours of durability testing were completed in Lewis' materials laboratories to evaluate superalloy and g-titanium aluminide performance for HSCT nozzle applications. A two-dimensional supersonic inlet concept was tested in Lewis' 10- by 10-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel. The extensive database and the knowledge gained contributed to the selection of a two-dimensional inlet as the preferred inlet concept for the HSR Program.
Uniaxial compression tests were performed on off-axis coupon specimens of unidirectional AS4/APC-2 thermoplastic composite at various temperatures. The elasto-plastic and strength properties of AS4/APC-2 composite were characterized with respect to temperature variation by using a one-parameter orthotropic plasticity model and a one-parameter failure criterion. Experimental results show that the orthotropic plastic behavior can be characterized quite well using the plasticity model, and the matrix-dominant compressive strengths can be predicted very accurately by the one-parameter failure criterion.
The principal objective of the work reported here was to develop and identify HLW glass compositions that maximize waste processing rates for the aluminum limted waste composition specified by ORP while maintaining high waste loadings and acceptable glass properties. This was accomplished through a combination of crucible-scale tests, confirmation tests on the DM100 melter system, and demonstration at pilot scale (DM1200). The DM100-BL unit was selected for these tests since it was used previously with the HLW waste streams evaluated in this study, was used for tests on HLW glass compositions to support subsequent tests on the HLW Pilot Melter, conduct tests to determine the effect of various glass properties (viscosity and conductivity) and oxide concentrations on glass production rates with HLW feed streams, and to assess the volatility of cesium and technetium during the vitrification of an HLW AZ-102 composition.
Determination of equilibrium molecular structures is an essential ingredient in predicting spectroscopic parameters that help in identifying molecular carriers of microwave transitions. Here, in this study, the performance of two different ab initio composite approaches for obtaining equilibrium structures, “energy scheme” and “geometry scheme,” is explored and compared to semi-experimental equilibrium structures. This study is performed for a set of 11 molecules which includes diatomics, linear triatomics, and a few non-linear molecules. The ab initio calculations were performed using three tiers of composite chemical recipes. The current results show that as the overall rigor of calculation is increased, the semi-experimental and the ab initio numbers agree to within 0.0003 Å for all molecules in the test set. The composite approach based on correcting the potential energy surface (energy scheme) and the one based on correcting the geometry directly (geometry scheme) show excellent agreement with each other. This work represents a step toward development of efficient and highly accurate procedures for computing ab initio equilibrium structures.
Molten fluoride salts have attracted considerable attention because of their desirable thermophysical properties that lead to superior heat transfer. Recently, fluoride salts are being considered as coolants in the fluoride salt-cooled high temperature reactors (FHRs). The successes of the molten salt reactor experiment (MSRE) program in 1950's-70's at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has also driven the pursuit of molten salt nuclear reactor as one of the lead next generation nuclear reactor concepts. Unlike MSRE where the uranium fuel was dissolved in the molten fluoride salt, the FHR concept is expected to use molten salt (2LiF-BeF{sub 2}, FLiBe) only as coolant in conjunction with solid TRISO fuel particles immersed in the molten salt. One of the important challenges in FHR development is corrosion of structural materials in high-temperature molten 2LiF-BeF{sub 2} (FLiBe) salt. Currently, 316 stainless steel (nominal composition: Fe-12Ni-17Cr-2.5Mo-1Si-2Mn-0.03C) and Hastelloy N (nominal composition: Ni-7Cr-16Mo-5Fe-1Si-0.8Mn) are deemed as promising candidate alloys for the construction of some of the structural components of FHR. 316 stainless steel is ASME code certified for high temperatures (up to 760 deg. C) applications. Hastelloy N has been shown to have outstanding corrosion resistance in molten FLiBe but present code certification data limit the use of this alloy to only about 704 deg. C. Modifications of Hastelloy N with higher creep strength are presently being developed at ORNL. Other materials such graphite, SiC/SiCf and C/Cf composites, are also considered for structural applications in the FHR. The presence of these multiple materials in a molten FLiBe salt medium can further exacerbate and complicate corrosion effects. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the corrosion behavior of these materials in molten FLiBe salt. The corrosion behavior of Hastelloy N, 316 stainless steel, and CVD SiC and two types of SiC-SiC{sub f} composites have been tested in molten FLiBe salt at 700 deg. C. When tested in metal-lined crucibles both Hastelloy N and 316 stainless steel showed very good corrosion resistance. Samples tested in graphite crucibles showed greater propensity for corrosion and carburization was observed in the near surface regions of the alloys. CVD SiC showed outstanding corrosion resistance. However, the two SiC-SiC{sub f} composites exhibited corrosion attack implying that the manufacturing process may play a role in the corrosion of these composites. (authors)
Purpose: A novel patient-specific intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) QA system, 3DVH software and mapcheck 2, purports to be able to use diode array-measured beam doses and the patient's DICOM RT plan, structure set, and dose files to predict the delivered 3D dose distribution in the patient for comparison to the treatment planning system (TPS) calculated doses. In this study, the composite dose to an ion chamber and film in phantom predicted by the 3DVH and mapcheck 2 system is compared to the actual measured chamber and film doses. If validated in this context, then 3DVH can be used to perform an equivalent dose analysis as that obtained with film dosimetry and ion chamber-based composite IMRT QA. This is important for those losing their ability to perform film dosimetry for true composite IMRT QA and provides a measure of confidence in the accuracy of 3DVH 3D dose calculations which may replace phantom-based IMRT QA. Methods: The dosimetric results from 15 consecutive patient-specific IMRT QA tests performed by composite field irradiation of ion chamber and EDR2 film in a solid water phantom were compared to the predicted doses for those virtual detectors based on the calculated 3D dose by the 3DVH software using mapcheck 2 measured doses of each beam within each plan. For each of the 15 cases, immediately after performing the ion chamber plus film measurements, the mapcheck 2 was used to measure the dose for each beam of the plan. The dose to the volume of the virtual ion chamber and the dose distribution in the plane of the virtual film calculated by the 3DVH software was extracted. The ratio of the measured to 3DVH or eclipse-predicted ion chamber doses was calculated. The same plane in the phantom measured using film and calculated with eclipse was exported from 3DVH and the 2D gamma metric was used to compare the relationship between the film doses and the eclipse or 3DVH predicted planar doses. Also, the 3D gamma value was calculated in the 3DVH software which compares the eclipse dose to the 3DVH predicted dose distribution. For the 2D and 3D gamma metrics, 2% dose and 2 mm distance to agreement (DTA) were used. In addition, a simple dose difference was performed using either a 2% or 3% dose difference tolerance. Results: The mean ratio {+-} standard deviation of the measured vs 3DVH or vs eclipse-predicted dose to the ion chamber was 1.013 {+-} 0.015 and 1.003 {+-} 0.012, respectively. For 3DVH vs eclipse, the mean percentage of pixels failing the 3D gamma metric was 1.2% {+-} 1.4% while the failure rate for the 2D gamma metric was 1.1% {+-} 0.9%. When either 3DVH or eclipse was compared to EDR2 film, the gamma failure rate was 2.3% {+-} 2.0% and 1.6% {+-} 1.7%, respectively. Mean dose difference failures were 9%-27% {+-} 5%-15% for 2 or 3% dose difference tolerances, depending on the combination of systems tested. No statistically significant differences were found for any of the planar dosimetric comparisons. Conclusions: 3DVH + mapcheck 2 predicts the same absolute dose, the percent of pixels failing the gamma metric, and the percent of pixels failing 2% or 3% dose difference tolerance tests as one would have obtained had one made measurements in solid water phantom using an ion chamber and coronal film instead of a diode array. This is also a necessary although not sufficient condition for validation of the accuracy of 3DVH predictions of the 3D dose using beam-by-beam measurements.
Evaluation of bond integrity of As-explosive bonded refractory/austenitic bimetal composites using tensile tests, hardness traverses, cold rolling, and metallographic analysis
Ultrasonic emission detector for adhesive bond strength determinations in stressed composite structures
Use of large-scale deployable structures (e.g., iROSA) can enable space exploration and science missions (e.g., ACS3, Solar Cruiser). Numerical models predicting behavior of deployable structures in microgravity are difficult to validate because ground testing of long, slender, and flexible booms is challenging due to the influence of Earth’s gravity. The GOALIE team is collecting data for model validation through experimental testing to increase confidence in numerical models. Redwire, Inc. provided a subscale (7 m) and a full-scale (30 m) Triangular, Rollable, and Collapsible (TRAC) boom to use for test development. Other boom designs may be tested in the future.