Magic Molecules: Material Innovations for Lightweight, Adaptive, and Multifunctional Structures
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Misra, Ajay↗
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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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Development and production of high-altitude decelerator, lightweight low permeability brace material
Adhesive and coating material formulations and manufacturing processes for lightweight low-permeability braces for use in high altitude decelerators
Source record↗
Ablators for Human and Robotic Exploration of the Moon, Mars and Beyond
When Apollo was designed to carry astronauts safely back from the Moon, at return speeds exceeding 11 km/s, it required development of a new lightweight ablative material to protect the capsule and crew from the intense heat of entry. Soon after the Apollo program, successful Mars Viking Lander missions employed a different and much lighter ablator in more benign entry conditions. On the other hand, the Pioneer-Venus and Galileo Probe missions that followed required yet another ablative system, to manage the extreme heating at those destinations, which was like flying a ballistic missile nose tip into a thermonuclear explosion. NASA had to invent a new heat-shield concept based on the rocket nozzle and ballistic missile ablative materials. In the mid 1990's, as the Science focus returned to Mars, advances in manufacturing, testing and materials technology led to innovative lightweight ablators that enabled comet and asteroid sample return missions and facilitated large lander missions such as MSL and Mars 2020. NASA's current plans for robotic and human exploration of the Moon, Mars and beyond introduce different constraints and new expectations for ablators. Human missions to Moon and Mars, sample return missions from Mars, and exploration of Uranus and Neptune, the two planets we are yet to explore, will require ablators that can withstand extreme environments, with verifiable robustness, and with raw materials and manufacturing approaches that are sustainable in the longer term. This talk will review the history of ablators as well as current ablative TPS development that addresses the requirements for future missions to Moon, Mars and beyond.
Mars and Beyond↗
Reinforced Honeycomb Panels
New honeycomb panel structure has increased strength and stiffness with little increase in weight. Some or all of walls of honeycomb cells reinforced with honeycomb panels having smaller cells, lightweight foam, or other reinforcing material. Strong, lightweight reinforced panels used in aircraft, car and truck bodies, cabinets for equipment and appliances, and buildings.
Bhat, Balakrishna T.↗
Frictional Ignition Testing of Composite Materials
The space flight community has been investigating lightweight composite materials for use in propellant tanks for both liquid and gaseous oxygen for space flight vehicles. The use of these materials presents some risks pertaining to ignition and burning hazards in the presence of oxygen. Through hazard analysis process, some ignition mechanisms have been identified as being potentially credible. One of the ignition mechanisms was reciprocal friction; however, test data do not exist that could be used to clear or fail these types of materials as "oxygen compatible" for the reciprocal friction ignition mechanism. Therefore, testing was performed at White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) to provide data to evaluate this ignition mechanism. This paper presents the test system, approach, data results, and findings of the reciprocal friction testing performed on composite sample materials being considered for propellant tanks.
Peralta, Steve↗
Department of Physics' Involvement of the Impact Testing Project of the High Speed Civil Transport Program (HSCT)
The project involved the impact testing of a kevlar-like woven polymer material, PBO. The purpose was to determine whether this material showed any promise as a lightweight replacement material for jet engine fan containment. The currently used metal fan containment designs carry a high drag penalty due to their weight. Projectiles were fired at samples of PBO by means of a 0.5 inch diameter Helium powered gun. The Initial plan was to encase the samples inside a purpose-built steel "hot box" for heating and ricochet containment. The research associate's responsibility was to develop the data acquisition programs and techniques necessary to determine accurately the impacting projectile's velocity. Beyond this, the Research Associate's duties include any physical computations, experimental design, and data analysis necessary.
VonMeerwall, Ernst D.↗
Nickel-Based Composite Metal Foam (CMF) in Nuclear Energy Applications
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Composite Metal Foam↗
Metal-Matrix/Hollow-Ceramic-Sphere Composites
A family of metal/ceramic composite materials has been developed that are relatively inexpensive, lightweight alternatives to structural materials that are typified by beryllium, aluminum, and graphite/epoxy composites. These metal/ceramic composites were originally intended to replace beryllium (which is toxic and expensive) as a structural material for lightweight mirrors for aerospace applications. These materials also have potential utility in automotive and many other terrestrial applications in which there are requirements for lightweight materials that have high strengths and other tailorable properties as described below. The ceramic component of a material in this family consists of hollow ceramic spheres that have been formulated to be lightweight (0.5 g/cm3) and have high crush strength [40.80 ksi (.276.552 MPa)]. The hollow spheres are coated with a metal to enhance a specific performance . such as shielding against radiation (cosmic rays or x rays) or against electromagnetic interference at radio and lower frequencies, or a material to reduce the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the final composite material, and/or materials to mitigate any mismatch between the spheres and the matrix metal. Because of the high crush strength of the spheres, the initial composite workpiece can be forged or extruded into a high-strength part. The total time taken in processing from the raw ingredients to a finished part is typically 10 to 14 days depending on machining required.
Baker, Dean M.↗
Development of lightweight graphite/polyimide honeycomb. Phase 1: Materials selection
The materials selected for the production of extremely lightweight honeycomb sandwich panels are discussed. The resin selected for the first core and face sheet fabrication was Monsanto RS6234 polyimide. The fiber selected for core manufacture was Hercules HT-S, and for face sheets, Hercules HM-S; these selections are discussed.
Poesch, J. G.↗
Composites for Advanced Drive Systems
With the desire for increased power/weight for advanced drive system configurations, the investigation of materials, like composites is being explored to determine the feasibility of integration into advanced drive systems. This area of research directly aligns with the vision of the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology (RVLT) Project, which is to enable a generation of vertical lift vehicles that can achieve aggressive goals in the areas of high speed, high efficiency, high performance, low noise, and low emissions.Composite materials are lightweight, especially when comparing to the metallic materials commonly utilized in rotorcraft drive systems. By integrating composite materials into the drive system, the potential for improvements to power/weight exists as well as other potential benefits such as reductions in vibration and/or noise. Each of these areas of potential benefit will largely influence the overall performance and reliability of future vertical lift vehicles. Prior NASA research has been performed that developed a prototype hybrid double helical bull gear which was successfully demonstrated (LaBerge, Kelsen E.; Handschuh, Robert F.; Roberts, Gary; Thorp, Scott;, 2016) and current NASA research is being performed to optimize the hybrid gear design.While the potential benefits of composite materials in vertical lift drive systems mentioned above are highly desirable, many challenges exist that need to be addressed. To address the benefits and challenges with the integration of composite materials in advanced vertical lift drive systems, the identification of advanced drive system configurations and technical challenges is required. For this project, Bell Helicopter Textron identified an advanced drive system configuration and provided conceptual designs for this advanced drive system configuration, identified technical challenges, and provided recommendations as to how those challenges can be overcome.
transmission↗
Development of a Universal Small-Satellite Payload for On-Orbit Characterization and Evaluation of Novel Radiation-Shielding Materials
There is a need for novel lightweight radiation shielding materials for small satellites operating in LEO and beyond. Current commonly used shielding materials include aluminum and polyethylene, though often no additional shielding than that provided by structure is used due to mass and dimensional constraints. New materials are being developed which may offer advantages over these current solutions. These materials include novel lightweight composites impregnated with metallic nanoparticles, chitin-derived bioplastics, and aerogel-family materials. A compact CubeSat experiment payload that allows the simultaneous testing of numerus potential shielding materials would be useful to enable material comparison and efficacy validation. An effort currently underway seeks to develop such a miniaturized modularized payload, which will enable the testing of materials in 1U CubeSat form factor modules, with each module hosting four scintillator radiation detectors arrayed behind four sample material windows exposed to space. The first proposed mission will utilize a 2U payload volume to host two test quartets enabling eight materials to be tested. Such a test platform can potentially be used as a hosted payload on a variety of spacecraft to test additional materials in the future
Luke Idziak↗
Lightweight Nonmetallic Thermal Protection Materials Technology
To fulfill President George W. Bush's "Vision for Space Exploration" (2004) - successful human and robotic missions to and from other solar system bodies in order to explore their atmospheres and surfaces - the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) must reduce the trip time, cost, and vehicle weight so that the payload and scientific experiments' capabilities can be maximized. The new project described in this paper will generate thermal protection system (TPS) product that will enable greater fidelity in mission/vehicle design trade studies, support risk reduction for material selections, assist in the optimization of vehicle weights, and provide materials and processes templates for use in the development of human-rated TPS qualification and certification plans.
Valentine, Peter G.↗
Radiation Protection of New Lightweight Electromagnetic Interference Shielding Materials Determined
Weight savings as high as 80 percent could be achieved by simply switching from aluminum electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding covers for spacecraft power systems to EMI covers made from intercalated graphite fiber composites. Because EMI covers typically make up about one-fifth of the power system mass, this change would decrease the mass of a spacecraft power system by more than 15 percent. Intercalated graphite fibers are made by diffusing guest atoms or molecules, such as bromine, between the carbon planes of the graphite fibers. The resulting bromine-intercalated fibers have mechanical and thermal properties nearly identical to pristine graphite fibers, but their resistivity is lower by a factor of 5, giving them better electrical conductivity than stainless steel and making these composites suitable for EMI shielding.
Source record↗
Lightweight Nonmetallic Thermal Protection Materials Technology (LNTPMT) Project
Contents include the following: Exploration systems research and technology program structure. Project objective. Overview of project. Candidate thermal protection system (PS) materials. Definition of reference missions and space environments. Technical performance metrics (TPMs).Testing (types of tests). Conclusion.
Flynn, Kevin↗
Paper-Thin Plastic Film Soaks Up Sun to Create Solar Energy
A non-crystallized silicon known as amorphous silicon is the semiconductor material most frequently chosen for deposition, because it is a strong absorber of light. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, amorphous silicon absorbs solar radiation 40 times more efficiently than single-crystal silicon, and a thin film only about 1-micrometer (one one-millionth of a meter) thick containing amorphous silicon can absorb 90 percent of the usable light energy shining on it. Peak efficiency and significant reduction in the use of semiconductor and thin film materials translate directly into time and money savings for manufacturers. Thanks in part to NASA, thin film solar cells derived from amorphous silicon are gaining more and more attention in a market that has otherwise been dominated by mono- and poly-crystalline silicon cells for years. At Glenn Research Center, the Photovoltaic & Space Environments Branch conducts research focused on developing this type of thin film solar cell for space applications. Placing solar cells on thin film materials provides NASA with an attractively priced solution to fabricating other types of solar cells, given that thin film solar cells require significantly less semiconductor material to generate power. Using the super-lightweight solar materials also affords NASA the opportunity to cut down on payload weight during vehicle launches, as well as the weight of spacecraft being sent into orbit.
Source record↗
Method of manufacturing lightweight thermo-barrier material
A method of manufacturing thermal barrier structures comprising at least three dimpled cores separated by flat plate material with the outer surface of the flat plate material joined together by diffusion bonding.
Blair, Winford↗
Facesheet Delamination of Composite Sandwich Materials at Cryogenic Temperatures
The next generation of space transportation vehicles will require advances in lightweight structural materials and related design concepts to meet the increased demands on performance. One potential source for significant structural weight reduction is the replacement of traditional metallic cryogenic fuel tanks with new designs for polymeric matrix composite tanks. These new tank designs may take the form of thin-walled sandwich constructed with lightweight core and composite facesheets. Life-time durability requirements imply the materials must safely carry pressure loads, external structural loads, resist leakage and operate over an extremely wide temperature range. Aside from catastrophic events like tank wall penetration, one of the most likely scenarios for failure of a tank wall of sandwich construction is the permeation of cryogenic fluid into the sandwich core and the subsequent delamination of the sandwich facesheet due to the build-up of excessive internal pressure. The research presented in this paper was undertaken to help understand this specific problem of core to facesheet delamination in cryogenic environments and relate this data to basic mechanical properties. The experimental results presented herein provide data on the strain energy release rate (toughness) of the interface between the facesheet and the core of a composite sandwich subjected to simulated internal pressure. A unique test apparatus and associated test methods are described and the results are presented to highlight the effects of cryogenic temperature on the measured material properties.
Gates, Thomas S.↗
Controlling N speciation in solution synthesis of N-doped carbon materials
Carbon-based materials, such as graphite and its functionalized/doped derivatives, are promising lightweight layered materials for hydrogen activation and storage. Their propensity to control the thermodynamics of hydrogen binding and the kinetics of hydrogen mobility strongly depends on the speciation and the arrangement of dopants. In this study, we demonstrate precise control over dopant speciation and clustering in nitrogen-containing layered carbon materials during hydrothermal synthesis. Through extensive spectroscopic characterization and first principles simulations, we demonstrate that the formation of N-motifs can be controlled by the choice of precursor and synthesis temperature. The distinct three-dimensional architecture and porosity in graphene oxide and carbon nitride-derived materials furnish a synthetic pathway for precise control over the local and global structure of nitrogen-doped carbon materials and their activity toward the activation of molecular hydrogen.
Byun, Mi Yeon [Pacific Northwest National Laborato↗