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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 1,279 records · Page 71
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2004

Defect Clustering and Nano-phase Structure Characterization of Multicomponent Rare Earth-Oxide-Doped Zirconia-Yttria Thermal Barrier Coatings

Advanced thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) have been developed by incorporating multicomponent rare earth oxide dopants into zirconia-based thermal barrier coatings to promote the creation of the thermodynamically stable, immobile oxide defect clusters and/or nanophases within the coating systems. In this paper, the defect clusters, induced by Nd, Gd, and Yb rare earth dopants in the zirconia-yttria thermal barrier coatings, were characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The TEM lattice imaging, selected area diffraction (SAD), and electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) analyses demonstrated that the extensive nanoscale rare earth dopant segregation exists in the plasma-sprayed and electron-physical-vapor-deposited (EB PVD) thermal barrier coatings. The nanoscale concentration heterogeneity and the resulting large lattice distortion promoted the formation of parallel and rotational defective lattice clusters in the coating systems. The presence of the 5-to 100-nm-sized defect clusters and nanophases is believed to be responsible for the significant reduction of thermal conductivity, improved sintering resistance, and long-term high temperature stability of the advanced thermal barrier coating systems.

Zhu, Dongming↗
NASA NTRS2001

Coriolis-force-induced trajectory and endpoint deviations in the reaching movements of labyrinthine-defective subjects

When reaching movements are made during passive constant velocity body rotation, inertial Coriolis accelerations are generated that displace both movement paths and endpoints in their direction. These findings directly contradict equilibrium point theories of movement control. However, it has been argued that these movement errors relate to subjects sensing their body rotation through continuing vestibular activity and making corrective movements. In the present study, we evaluated the reaching movements of five labyrinthine-defective subjects (lacking both semicircular canal and otolith function) who cannot sense passive body rotation in the dark and five age-matched, normal control subjects. Each pointed 40 times in complete darkness to the location of a just extinguished visual target before, during, and after constant velocity rotation at 10 rpm in the center of a fully enclosed slow rotation room. All subjects, including the normal controls, always felt completely stationary when making their movements. During rotation, both groups initially showed large deviations of their movement paths and endpoints in the direction of the transient Coriolis forces generated by their movements. With additional per-rotation movements, both groups showed complete adaptation of movement curvature (restoration of straight-line reaches) during rotation. The labyrinthine-defective subjects, however, failed to regain fully accurate movement endpoints after 40 reaches, unlike the control subjects who did so within 11 reaches. Postrotation, both groups' movements initially had mirror image curvatures to their initial per-rotation reaches; the endpoint aftereffects were significantly different from prerotation baseline for the control subjects but not for the labyrinthine-defective subjects reflecting the smaller amount of endpoint adaptation they achieved during rotation. The labyrinthine-defective subjects' movements had significantly lower peak velocity, higher peak elevation, lower terminal velocity, and a more vertical touchdown than those of the control subjects. Thus the way their reaches terminated denied them the somatosensory contact cues necessary for full endpoint adaptation. These findings fully contradict equilibrium point theories of movement control. They emphasize the importance of contact cues in adaptive movement control and indicate that movement errors generated by Coriolis perturbations of limb movements reveal characteristics of motor planning and adaptation in both healthy and clinical populations.

NASA Discipline Neuroscience↗
NASA NTRS2006

An Automated Classification Technique for Detecting Defects in Battery Cells

Battery cell defect classification is primarily done manually by a human conducting a visual inspection to determine if the battery cell is acceptable for a particular use or device. Human visual inspection is a time consuming task when compared to an inspection process conducted by a machine vision system. Human inspection is also subject to human error and fatigue over time. We present a machine vision technique that can be used to automatically identify defective sections of battery cells via a morphological feature-based classifier using an adaptive two-dimensional fast Fourier transformation technique. The initial area of interest is automatically classified as either an anode or cathode cell view as well as classified as an acceptable or a defective battery cell. Each battery cell is labeled and cataloged for comparison and analysis. The result is the implementation of an automated machine vision technique that provides a highly repeatable and reproducible method of identifying and quantifying defects in battery cells.

McDowell, Mark↗
NASA NTRS2011

Convergence of Defect-Correction and Multigrid Iterations for Inviscid Flows

Convergence of multigrid and defect-correction iterations is comprehensively studied within different incompressible and compressible inviscid regimes on high-density grids. Good smoothing properties of the defect-correction relaxation have been shown using both a modified Fourier analysis and a more general idealized-coarse-grid analysis. Single-grid defect correction alone has some slowly converging iterations on grids of medium density. The convergence is especially slow for near-sonic flows and for very low compressible Mach numbers. Additionally, the fast asymptotic convergence seen on medium density grids deteriorates on high-density grids. Certain downstream-boundary modes are very slowly damped on high-density grids. Multigrid scheme accelerates convergence of the slow defect-correction iterations to the extent determined by the coarse-grid correction. The two-level asymptotic convergence rates are stable and significantly below one in most of the regions but slow convergence is noted for near-sonic and very low-Mach compressible flows. Multigrid solver has been applied to the NACA 0012 airfoil and to different flow regimes, such as near-tangency and stagnation. Certain convergence difficulties have been encountered within stagnation regions. Nonetheless, for the airfoil flow, with a sharp trailing-edge, residuals were fast converging for a subcritical flow on a sequence of grids. For supercritical flow, residuals converged slower on some intermediate grids than on the finest grid or the two coarsest grids.

Diskin, Boris↗
NASA NTRS2015

Detection of CFRP Composite Manufacturing Defects Using a Guided Wave Approach

NASA Langley Research Center is investigating a guided-wave based defect detection technique for as-fabricated carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites. This technique will be extended to perform in-process cure monitoring, defect detection and size determination, and ultimately a closed-loop process control to maximize composite part quality and consistency. The overall objective of this work is to determine the capability and limitations of the proposed defect detection technique, as well as the number and types of sensors needed to identify the size, type, and location of the predominant types of manufacturing defects associated with laminate layup and cure. This includes, porosity, gaps, overlaps, through-the-thickness fiber waviness, and in-plane fiber waviness. The present study focuses on detection of the porosity formed from variations in the matrix curing process, and on local overlaps intentionally introduced during layup of the prepreg. By terminating the cycle prematurely, three 24-ply unidirectional composite panels were manufactured such that each subsequent panel had a higher final degree of cure, and lower level of porosity. It was demonstrated that the group velocity, normal to the fiber direction, of a guided wave mode increased by 5.52 percent from the first panel to the second panel and 1.26 percent from the second panel to the third panel. Therefore, group velocity was utilized as a metric for degree of cure and porosity measurements. A fully non-contact guided wave hybrid system composed of an air-coupled transducer and a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) was used for the detection and size determination of an overlap By transforming the plate response from the time-space domain to the frequency-wavenumber domain, the total wavefield was then separated into the incident and backscatter waves. The overlap region was accurately imaged by using a zero-lag cross-correlation (ZLCC) imaging condition, implying the incident and backscattered waves are in phase over the overlap boundaries.

Hudson, Tyler B.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Origins of Line Defects in Self-Reacting Friction Stir Welds and Their Impact on Weld Quality

Friction stir welding (FSWing) is a solid state joining technique which reduces the occurrence of typical defects formed in fusion welds, especially of highly alloyed metals. Although the process is robust for aluminum alloys, occasional reductions in the strength of FSWs have been observed. Shortly after the NASA-MSFC implemented a variation of FSW called self-reacting (SR), low strength properties were observed. At that time, this reduction in strength was attributed to a line defect. At that time, the limited data suggested that the line defect was related to the accumulation of native oxides that form on the weld lands and faying surfaces. Through a series of improved cleaning methods, tool redesign, and process parameter modifications, the reduction in the strength of the SR-FSWs was eliminated. As more data has been collected, the occasional reduction in the strength of SR-FSW still occurs. These occasional reductions indicate a need to reexamine the underlying causes. This study builds off a series of self reacting (SR)-FSWs that were made in 3 different thickness panels of AA2219 (0.95, 1.27 and 1.56 cm) at 2 different weld pitches. A bead on plate SR-FSW was also made in the 1.56 cm thick panel to understand the contribution of the former faying surfaces. Copper tracer studies were used to understand the flow lines associated with the weld tool used. The quality of the SR-FSWs was evaluated from tensile testing at room temperature. Reductions in the tensile strength were observed in some weldments, primarily at higher weld pitch or tool rotations. This study explores possible correlations between line defects and the reduction of strength in SR-FSWs. Results from this study will assist in a better understand of the mechanisms responsible for reduced tensile strength and provide methodology for minimizing their occurrence.

Schneider, Judy↗
NASA NTRS2016

Ultrasonic NDE Simulation for Composite Manufacturing Defects

The increased use of composites in aerospace components is expected to continue into the future. The large scale use of composites in aerospace necessitates the development of composite-appropriate nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods to quantitatively characterize defects in as-manufactured parts and damage incurred during or post manufacturing. Ultrasonic techniques are one of the most common approaches for defect/damage detection in composite materials. One key technical challenge area included in NASA's Advanced Composite's Project is to develop optimized rapid inspection methods for composite materials. Common manufacturing defects in carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites include fiber waviness (in-plane and out-of-plane), porosity, and disbonds; among others. This paper is an overview of ongoing work to develop ultrasonic wavefield based methods for characterizing manufacturing waviness defects. The paper describes the development and implementation of a custom ultrasound simulation tool that is used to model ultrasonic wave interaction with in-plane fiber waviness (also known as marcelling). Wavefield data processing methods are applied to the simulation data to explore possible routes for quantitative defect characterization.

Leckey, Cara A. C.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Complex Intergrowths of Non-Stoichiometric Defect-Structured Hibonite and Al-Rich Spinel in an Allende Ca-Al-Rich Inclusion

Hibonite is a primary ultra-refractory mineral occurring in many Ca-Al-rich inclusions (CAIs) and is predicted to condense as the second major phase from a cooling gas of solar composition. Our previous microstructural studies of hibonite in carbonaceous chondrites revealed its unique microstructures consisting of numerous defects that contain Mg-enriched, wider spinel blocks in stoichiometric hibonite. Han, J. et al. [2 items] demonstrated experimentally that defect-structured hibonites can grow easily in the presence of minor Mg and are kinetically more stable than equilibrium assemblages predicted by thermodynamic calculations. However, a thermo-dynamic vs. structural stability of defect-structured hibonite relative to other early-condensed Al-rich phases such as corundum, grossite, and spinel remains poorly constrained. Here, we present the results of atomic resolution TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy) imaging of hibonite in a compact Type A CAI in the Allende CV3 chondrite in order to better understand the crystal structure and chemistry of defect-structured hibonite and its associated Al-rich phases, especially non-stoichiometric, Al-rich spinel, in the context of the formation of first refractory solids in the early solar nebula.

Han, J.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Experimental Calibration of a Numerical Model of Prepreg Tack for Predicting AFP Process Related Defects

Wrinkles, puckers, and fiber bridging are among the major defects encountered in the Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) process, and are all different manifestations of fiber misalignment. The main driver for these defects are the residual stresses introduced in the tow during the deposition stage by the AFP head. In contrast, the tack between the deposited tape and the substrate is the resisting force against the formation of such defects. Tack may be defined as the ability of a material to form a bond immediately on contact with another surface. Tack is a very complex phenomenon that is influenced by a variety of process parameters including temperature, head pressure and speed, as well as degree of cure, moisture content, and surface roughness A physics-based modeling framework for simulation of tack was developed in this study that allows for prediction of tack response. The developed tack model is incorporated in the AFP placement modelling framework developed to simulate AFP defects.

Forghani, Alireza↗
NASA NTRS2023

Automated Fiber Placement Through Thickness Defect Stacking Optimization

In its 2022 commercial market outlook, Boeing forecasted an 80% increase in the global fleet through 2041 compared to 2019 pre-pandemic levels. This sharp rise in demand will drive pressure onto airframe manufacturers to ramp up production and find more efficient ways to design and manufacture airplanes. Complicating this challenge is the industry’s recent transformation from traditional metal-based airframes towards hybrid composite-metal aircraft. While composites have been used in aviation for decades, aircraft manufacturers are still struggling to design and manufacture quality parts at a high rate. Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) is one of the main manufacturing techniques used to produce large-scale composite parts. After a design has been created, a manufacturing strategy has to be developed based on the working material, part geometry, and machine capabilities. This process planning stage is essential to the AFP workflow and currently requires a high level of manual input from an experienced process planner. In an effort to automate and optimize this stage, the Computer Aided Process Planning (CAPP) module was developed. CAPP assists process planners in identifying optimal starting point location and layup strategy for each ply of a laminate. This Ply-Level Optimization (PLO) phase operates on the quantification of ply quality through predictable geometry-based defects such as gaps, overlaps, angle deviation, and steering. As you move from PLO to Laminate-Level Optimization (LLO) the design space grows exponentially, emphasizing the need for automated optimization. The work presented in this thesis expands CAPP’s functionality by comparing the planned fiber paths through the thickness of the laminate to mitigate stacked area defects and achieve an optimal laminate-level manufacturing strategy. Within CAPP, predicted gap and overlap defects are imported from Vericut Composites Programming (VCP) and then discretized to streamline the through-thickness comparison. Two objective functions are used to score different combinations of ply layup strategies based on defect stacking both globally and locally. Four combinatorial optimization algorithms were coupled with these objective functions to investigate the laminate-level manufacturing strategy design space and converge on the optimal plan. These algorithms were evaluated based on accuracy and efficiency through virtual testing on a complex tool surface. A separate LLO approach was developed to achieve near-optimal laminates in significantly less time. The end result is a software package which greatly reduces the required input from process planners, shortening the design-build cycle time and improving part quality.

AFP↗
DOE OSTI2015

CASTING DEFECT MODELING IN AN INTEGRATED COMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS ENGINEERING APPROACH

To accelerate the introduction of new cast alloys, the simultaneous modeling and simulation of multiphysical phenomena needs to be considered in the design and optimization of mechanical properties of cast components. The required models related to casting defects, such as microporosity and hot tears, are reviewed. Three aluminum alloys are considered A356, 356 and 319. The data on calculated solidification shrinkage is presented and its effects on microporosity levels discussed. Examples are given for predicting microporosity defects and microstructure distribution for a plate casting. Models to predict fatigue life and yield stress are briefly highlighted here for the sake of completion and to illustrate how the length scales of the microstructure features as well as porosity defects are taken into account for modeling the mechanical properties. Thus, the data on casting defects, including microstructure features, is crucial for evaluating the final performance-related properties of the component. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was performed under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Nemak Inc., and Chrysler Co. for the project "High Performance Cast Aluminum Alloys for Next Generation Passenger Vehicle Engines. The author would also like to thank Amit Shyam for reviewing the paper and Andres Rodriguez of Nemak Inc. Research sponsored by the U. S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Vehicle Technologies Office, as part of the Propulsion Materials Program under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle, LLC. Part of this research was conducted through the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's High Temperature Materials Laboratory User Program, which is sponsored by the U. S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Vehicle Technologies Program.

Sabau, Adrian S↗
DOE OSTI2016

Mitigating Structural Defects in Droop-Minimizing InGaN/GaN Quantum Well Heterostructures

Modern commercial InGaN/GaN blue LEDs continue to suffer from efficiency droop, a reduction in efficiency with increasing drive current. External quantum efficiency (EQE) typically peaks at low drive currents (< 10 A cm 2 ) and drops monotonically at higher current densities, falling to <85% of the peak EQE at a drive current of 100 A cm 2 . Mitigating droop-related losses will yield tremendous gains in both luminous efficacy (lumens/W) and cost (lumens/$). Such improvements are critical for continued large-scale market penetration of LED technologies, particularly in high-power and high flux per unit area applications. However, device structures that reduce droop typically require higher indium content and are accompanied by a corresponding degradation in material quality which negates the droop improvement via enhanced Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) recombination. In this work, we use advanced characterization techniques to identify and classify structural defects in InGaN/GaN quantum well (QW) heterostructures that share features with low-droop designs. Using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (C s -STEM), we find the presence of severe well width fluctuations (WWFs) in a number of low droop device architectures. However, the presence of WWFs does not correlate strongly with external quantum efficiency nor defect densities measured via deep level optical spectroscopy (DLOS). Hence, performance losses in the heterostructures of interest are likely dominated by nanoscale point or interfacial defects rather than large-scale extended defects.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

AUTOMATING SPENT FUEL DEFECT DETECTION WITH FUSED DCVD AND GET DATA

Within the safeguards regime, spent fuel monitoring has long been implemented to verify facility declarations. As the number and size of facilities under safeguards increase, so does time spent on highly repetitive spent fuel monitoring, making it an area ripe for automation. However, due to international proliferation concerns, automation must be robust and provide estimates of confidence in the results. Cerenkov Viewing Devices (CVDs) are widely implemented for spent fuel monitoring, but their single defect detection ability is limited. In this research, we augment CVD measurements with Gamma Emission Tomographer (GET) data in order to increase defect detection above the level of either detector method individually. Here we present the development and implementation of a Bayesian data fusion algorithm for classification of individual fuel rods as defects or nondefects across two burn-up and cooling time scenarios. Results show a nearly 75% single defect detection capability with a 10% false positive rate for 17x17 PWR fuel assemblies. The Bayesian framework also enables calculation of uncertainties associated with each classification. These results also show a moderate ability to generalize across both high burn-up and short cooling times as well as low burn-up and long cooling times.

Safeguards, image analysis, metric learning, Data ↗
DOE OSTI2022

Frequency domain assurance criterion for defect detection in additively manufactured parts

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a very desirable manufacturing method for industries such as aerospace and automotive due to its ability to create internal features and complex geometries, however, these characteristics also present challenges for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) and defect detection. Dynamic analysis and modal analysis have shown promise for NDE and identifying flaws in AM parts. Frequency Domain Assurance Criterion (FDAC) is a method of dynamic evaluation that represents the degree of correlation between two sets of operational deflection shapes (ODS) at each spectral line. Using colormaps to display the results allows for quick and easy interpretation of parts’ similarities and differences. This method appears to show promise in identifying parts with minor defects and can be used to differentiate nominal and defective parts. This paper explores the use of FDAC on various AM parts with and without intentional defects.

Deonarain, G↗
DOE OSTI2016

Multiscale real-space quantum-mechanical tight-binding calculations of electronic structure in crystals with defects using perfectly matched layers

Graphical abstract: - Abstract: We consider the scattering of incident plane-wave electrons from a defect in a crystal modeled by the time-harmonic Schrödinger equation. While the defect potential is localized, the far-field potential is periodic, unlike standard free-space scattering problems. Previous work on the Schrödinger equation has been almost entirely in free-space conditions; a few works on crystals have been in one-dimension. We construct absorbing boundary conditions for this problem using perfectly matched layers in a tight-binding formulation. Using the example of a point defect in graphene, we examine the efficiency and convergence of the proposed absorbing boundary condition.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Mechanism of Metal Intercalation under Graphene through Small Vacancy Defects

Metal intercalation under graphene has attracted extensive experimental and theoretical research because of its capability to manipulate the electronic structure and properties of graphene. However, the pathways and mechanisms of intercalation are still not well understood. Here, we systematically investigate the intercalation process of metal atoms through graphene vacancies using first-principles calculations. We show that the energy barrier for metal atom penetration through the vacancies in graphene is small as long as the size of the vacancy is larger than a mono-vacancy. However, metal atoms are strongly bonded to the vacancy so that the detachment energy of a metal atom from the vacancy is extremely high. This inhibits the diffusion of the metal atom into the gallery beneath the surface to complete the intercalation process. On the other hand, our calculation results show that the detachment energy of a metal atom from a metal dimer at small vacancy defects is significantly reduced, making intercalation much easier. Therefore, the key step limiting the intercalation process is the detachment of the metal atoms from vacancy defects. This finding from our study provides useful insight into the defect-assisted intercalation mechanism.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Plasmonic Energetic Electrons Drive CO 2 Reduction on Defective Cu 2 O

Plasmonic photoreduction of CO 2 is valuable for decarbonization and producing value-added chemicals. However, insights into the mechanisms of this reaction remain elusive, particularly regarding the roles of structural defects and their interplay with the nonequilibrium charge carriers. Here, we report density functional theory calculations on Cu 2 O, a prototype photocatalyst, through which we investigate CO 2 reduction over three defected facets to reveal the interfacial charge transfer and bond dynamics under plasmonic excitation. We find that the activation barrier of C–O bond cleavage decreases from 3.2 to about 1 eV, assisted by oxygen vacancies, and that the remaining barrier can be further reduced or eliminated at the plasmon-excited states when Cu 2 O is integrated with plasmonic metals. The regeneration of oxygen vacancies (by H 2 to form water) on Cu 2 O to complete the catalysis cycle is feasible and not affected by the energetic electrons. Furthermore, our calculations thus show the important synergistic effect of energetic electrons and point defects to promote CO 2 reduction.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

Defect Tolerance in Methylammonium Lead Triiodide Perovskite

Photovoltaic applications of perovskite semiconductor material systems have generated considerable interest in part because of predictions that primary defect energy levels reside outside the bandgap. We present experimental evidence that this enabling material property is present in the halide-lead perovskite, CH3NH3PbI3 (MAPbI3), consistent with theoretical predictions. By performing X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, we induce and track dynamic chemical and electronic transformations in the perovskite. These data show compositional changes that begin immediately with exposure to X-ray irradiation, whereas the predominant electronic structure of the thin film on compact TiO2 appears tolerant to the formation of compensating defect pairs of VI and VMA and for a large range of I/Pb ratios. Changing film composition is correlated with a shift of the valence-band maximum only as the halide-lead ratio drops below 2.5. This delay is attributed to the invariance of MAPbI3 electronic structure to distributed defects that can significantly transform the electronic density of states only when in high concentrations.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗