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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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1973

Arc melting and homogenization of ZrC and ZrC + B alloys

A description is given of the methods used to arc-melt and to homogenize near-stoichiometric ZrC and ZrC-boron alloys, giving attention to the oxygen contamination problem. The starting material for the carbide preparation was ZrC powder with an average particle size of 4.6 micron. Pellets weighing approximately 3 g each were prepared at room temperature from the powder by the use of an isostatic press operated at 50,000 psi. These pellets were individually melted in an arc furnace containing a static atmosphere of purified argon. A graphite resistance furnace was used for the homogenization process.

Darolia, R.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Revisiting W–ZrC interfaces: A first principles study

We investigate W–ZrC interfaces using first-principles calculations based on the density functional theory. There have been theoretical and experimental studies exploring W–ZrC interfaces, however, the debate regarding the most stable interface continues to persist. In this study, we systematically simulated various W–ZrC interfaces merging W and ZrC surfaces with different orientations. Subsequently, we evaluated their stabilities and explained the corresponding stabilities in terms of the nature of bonding and charge-transfer processes at the interface. We find ZrC(111)–W(110) is the most stable interface with higher adhesive energy than the other interfaces. The additional stability associated with the ZrC(111)–W(110) results from significant interface reconstruction. Three layers of W and ZrC adjacent to the interface are involved in the charge-transfer process leading to stronger ionic bonds in ZrC(111)–W(110) as compared to the other potential candidate: ZrC(100)–W(100). The C and W atoms are found to be displaced from their symmetric position during the reconstruction process at the interface to facilitate stronger bonds with shorter W–C and W–Zr bonds in ZrC(111)–W(110) as compared to ZrC(100)–W(100). This leads to stronger covalent bonds in ZrC(111)–W(110) than that in ZrC(100)–W(100). Therefore, we conclude that the stronger covalent and ionic forces in ZrC(111)–W(110) than those in ZrC(100)–W(100) are responsible for making ZrC(111)–W(110) to be the most stable interface. In conclusion, this study addresses the long-standing question of the most stable W–ZrC interface and derives a number of implications for other W-transition metal carbide interfaces which are potential candidates for improving the mechanical properties of plasma facing materials.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Additive Manufacture of Porous ZrC for NTP In-Core Insulators

Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) requires the use of in-core insulators to manage to thermal environment between high temperature fuel elements and lower temperature structural components. The unforgiving in-core operating conditions severely limit potential material candidates. Zirconium Carbide (ZrC) is a promising candidate due to a high melting temperature, high compressive strength, hardness, wear resistance, hydrogen compatibility, and low neutron absorption cross sections. However, fully dense ZrC is not an insulator but it has been found that the thermal conductivity of ZrC decreases by increasing porosity to approximately 60 % theoretical density (%TD). Previous methods for generating porous ZrC were difficult, expensive, and time consuming. Binder jet additive manufacture (AM) can print ceramic materials to near net shape. Binder jet AM is not utilized in many applications due to an inherently low post-sintering density on the order of 60 %TD. For this specific application the inherent lower density is leveraged as an advantage in production porous ZrC in order to control the thermal conductivity. A feasibility study was conducted to investigate binder jet AM parameter development for ZrC, heat treatment optimization (burn-out and sinter), microstructural characterization, mechanical testing, and thermal testing to generate near-net shape ZrC components with ~60 %TD with the desired thermal conductivity and mechanical strength.

Omar Mireles↗
DOE OSTI2026

Hydrogen embrittlement and mechanical response of 304L steel with ZrC additions

While stainless steels are widely used for hydrogen storage infrastructure, they can still be vulnerable to hydrogen embrittlement justifying the need to further improve their hydrogen resiliency. Here, we investigate the potential for transition metal carbide additions to improve the hydrogen compatibility of austenitic stainless steels. ZrC nanoparticles were dispersed in contents of 0.01–10 wt% in 304 L stainless steel powder, mixed via high energy ball milling, and subsequently consolidated using direct current sintering. To assess hydrogen compatibility, the tensile properties of similarly processed 304 L without ZrC nanoparticles were compared to 304 L with the ZrC additions; both materials were evaluated prior to and after hydrogen exposure (non-charged and H-precharged, respectively). Depending upon the ZrC phase fraction, the yield strengths varied from ∼325 to 560 MPa in the non-charged condition and from ∼375 to 550 MPa in the H-precharged condition. Strain at failure varied from ∼5 to 90 % and from ∼5 to 35 % in the non-charged and hydrogen-precharged conditions, respectively. Results from stress-strain profiles demonstrate limited efficacy of ZrC as a method to mitigate hydrogen embrittlement entirely but does demonstrate the potency of ZrC inclusions as strengthening addition to 304 L alloys without a loss of ductility.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2020

W-ZrC composites prepared by reactive melt infiltration of Zr 2 Cu alloy into binder jet 3D printed WC preforms

W-ZrC composites were successfully prepared by reactive melt infiltration (RMI) of stoichiometric and excess amounts of Zr 2 Cu into sintered and un-sintered WC preforms made from binder jet 3D printing. The focus of this work was to study the conversion of reactant powders and liquid infiltrant with varying preform density and infiltrant amount by controlling the processing time to reach high conversion yield while understanding the phase composition, microstructure, and hardness. To investigate the effect of time, the reactive melt infiltration was conducted at 1400 °C for 2, 4 and 8 h in a furnace with 96% Ar - 4% H2 gas atmosphere. The increase in reaction time from 2 to 8 h increased the W and W 2 C phase contents and decreased the ZrC phase content when using sintered WC preforms. Samples prepared from un-sintered WC preforms exhibited improved reactive melt infiltration compared to sintered samples, and there was no detectable W 2 C phase and nearly full consumption of WC. Similar to sintered WC samples, the content of W and ZrC phases increased with the increase in time from 2 to 8 h. The interfaces and phases at reaction interfaces were investigated using electron diffraction analysis and S/TEM-EDS to understand material stability; the phases were identified and consistent with XRD analysis. Additionally, there was no Cu present at the interfaces. Increasing the amount of infiltrant led to better reactive melt infiltration. In general, the hardness increased with reaction time and the highest Vickers hardness was found in the W-ZrC sample formed from sintered WC reacted with excess Zr 2 Cu. Finally, this research addresses the critical comparison of sintering and RMI time and shows that by using un-sintered samples for 8 h we are able to achieve W-ZrC composites with fewer undesired phases.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS2023

Sintering Behaviors of ZrC, NbC, and TaC Mono-and Binary Carbides

Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) has undergone development as an alternate in-space propulsion system to traditional chemical propulsion methods since the 1950s. In an NTP system, the energy released from fission in the core is utilized as the heat source to directly heat a propellant for propulsion, rather than chemical combustion in a traditional rocket. NTP has many desirable capabilities including flexible mission launch dates and reduced transit times due to it’s capability for high specific impulse. One of the main challenges with NTP systems is the structural integrity of the fuel. The fuel form required in the reactor core must withstand temperatures above 2700 Kelvin. Ceramic-metallic matrix fuel, ceramic-ceramic matrix fuel, and solid solution carbide fuels are the three strongest candidates for the extreme environments. Solid solution carbides have the potential to exhibit promising behavior as a fuel form in an NTP system. Of the multiple refractory metal carbides of interest, here we focus on zirconium carbide (ZrC), niobium carbide (NbC), and tantalum carbide (TaC). ZrC, NbC, and TaC powders were consolidated in monocarbide (ZrC, NbC, and TaC) and bi-carbide (ZrC-NbC, ZrC-TaC, NbC-TaC) forms using spark plasma sintering (SPS). In addition to the pure endpoint carbides, the examined compositions of the various bi-carbides ranged from 25-75 mol%. The sintering temperatures, pressures, and hold times were varied to determine the ideal sintering conditions. Grain size analysis, Archimedes’ density, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDS) were used to determine and characterize the grain size, ideal density, porosity, phase stability, and chemical composition of each sample. The data from each sample was then used to generate a Master Sintering Curve (MSC) unique to each monocarbide or bi-carbide.

nuclear thermal propulsion↗
NASA NTRS2023

Homogeneity Study of ZrC, NbC, and TaC Binary Carbide Fuels for the Application of Nuclear Thermal Propulsion

In alignment with NASA and DARPA goals, efforts towards Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) have increased in recent years. As progress is made, a main challenge still exists; the fuel in an NTP system must survive the extreme environment experienced during operating conditions. Three fuel forms have been studied including a ceramic-metallic matrix, a ceramic-ceramic matrix, and solid solution carbides. Solid solution carbides were studied previously as a fuel for NTP and was shown to be a promising technology; however, the programs were canceled before demonstration in an NTP engine test. Of the refractory metal carbides of interest, zirconium carbide (ZrC), niobium carbide (NbC) and tantalum carbide (TaC) were studied. ZrC, NbC, and TaC powders were consolidated in monocarbide (ZrC, NbC, TaC) and bi-carbide (ZrC-NbC, ZrC-TaC, NbC-TaC) forms using spark plasma sintering (SPS), with 50-50 mol% compositions of the bi-carbides of interest. The time and temperature conditions to achieve a completely homogeneous solid solution for the mixed carbides is of interest for NTP fuel applications, since this homogeneity is considered to be essential for this fuel form. Homogeneity is typically not achieved during sintering, as surface diffusion (predominant for sintering to near ideal density) tends to occur at lower temperatures than bulk volumetric diffusion (required for solute interdiffusion to achieve a homogeneous solid solution). High temperature isochronal annealing was performed to identify the conditions to achieve a chemically homogeneous sample. The solute interpenetration vs annealing temperature was quantified using energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDS) in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to accurately measure the phase stability and lattice parameter as a function of annealing conditions. The diffusion data from each sample was then used to determine self-diffusion coefficients for interdiffusion of the Nb, Zr, and Ta solutes and compared to existing literature values. The minimum annealing conditions to achieve complete chemical homogeneity for each carbide was determined.

nuclear thermal propulsion↗
DOE OSTI2023

Response of ZrC to swift heavy ion irradiation

Zirconium carbide (ZrC) is commonly used for energy sector research, as well as a surrogate for the proposed advanced nuclear fuel candidate uranium carbide. Here this study investigates structural modifications to nanocrystalline and microcrystalline ZrC resulting from dense electronic excitations induced by swift heavy ion exposure. Samples were irradiated with 946 MeV Au ions to various fluences up to 6 × 10 13 ions cm –2 and characterized using synchrotron-based x-ray diffraction. The evolution of the unit-cell parameter and heterogeneous microstrain were evaluated as a function of fluence and compared with those of nanocrystalline and microcrystalline CeO 2 (a surrogate for UO 2 fuel) irradiated under identical conditions. Distinct differences were observed in the radiation responses of the carbide and oxide across both grain sizes. Most notably, microcrystalline ZrC exhibits swelling characterized by two distinct regimes, which does not result in saturation at the ion fluences achieved. This contrasts with CeO 2 , which exhibits the well-documented direct-impact defect accumulation mechanism, reaching a steady-state saturation of swelling at higher fluences. Nanocrystalline CeO 2 undergoes more pronounced swelling compared with microcrystalline CeO 2 , in contrast to nanocrystalline ZrC, which exhibits only minimal unit-cell changes. These results demonstrate that swift heavy ion-induced structural changes can be quite different in carbides and oxides, which must be considered when extrapolating fission-fragment type damage in current fuels to advanced fuels.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Characterization of fusion welded ceramics in the SiC-ZrB 2 -ZrC system

Various SiC-ZrB 2 -ZrC ceramics were joined by fusion welding to determine the maximum silicon carbide content that could be joined. Commercial powders were hot pressed, machined, and preheated to 1450 °C before joining with a tungsten inert gas welding torch at 160–200 A. Resulting welds were cross-sectioned and analyzed to determine which compositions were weldable and to characterize microstructural evolution in welded samples. As compositions approached the ternary eutectic, the welds had smaller SiC grains and exhibited better weldability. Penetration depth of welds was controlled by a combination of current input and welding speed. Here, the ternary eutectic in the system was found at 36.9 ± 1.3 vol% SiC, 42.7 ± 1.5 vol% ZrB 2 , and 20.4 ± 1.9 vol% ZrC and its melting temperature was 2330 ± 23 °C. A ternary phase diagram for the SiC-ZrB 2 -ZrC was constructed and proposed via microstructural analysis of arc melted pellets on binary joins between each binary eutectic and the ternary eutectic in the system.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Characterization of fluidized bed chemical vapor deposition ZrC coatings on PyC/YSZ kernels deposited under differing conditions

In this study, coated fuel particle architectures with ZrC coatings are candidate fuels for advanced power reactors and space nuclear propulsion (SNP) concepts. Owing to its relevance to SNP, the composition, microstructure, and mechanical properties of eight ZrC coatings prepared by fluidized bed chemical vapor deposition were evaluated. Evaluation by SEM and EBSD showed that all grains were columnar. Across the various examined samples, minor axis diameters varied between 0.3 and 1.1 μm, and major axis diameters varied between 0.4 and 2.3 μm. Major and minor diameters increased with thickness particularly at higher deposition temperatures in which the major grain axis (from an ellipse fit to the grain shape) increased by 2.5 μm over the entire coating. Coatings with higher reactive gas flows and Zr/C concentrations closer to 1 were observed to contain nanocrystalline graphite deposits. Reactive gas flow doubling led to increases in coating thickness from around 10–15 μm to around 22–27 μm.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
NASA NTRS2017

Optical Properties of Ar Ions Irradiated Nanocrystalline ZrC and ZrN Thin Films

Thin nanocrystalline ZrC and ZrN films (less than 400 nanometers), grown on (100) Si substrates at a substrate temperature of 500 degrees Centigrade by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique, were irradiated by 800 kiloelectronvolts Ar ion irradiation with fluences from 1 times 10(sup 14) atoms per square centimeter up to 2 times 10(sup 15) atoms per square centimeter. Optical reflectance data, acquired from as-deposited and irradiated films, in the range of 500-50000 per centimeter (0.06–6 electronvolts), was used to assess the effect of irradiation on the optical and electronic properties. Both in ZrC and ZrN films we observed that irradiation affects the optical properties of the films mostly at low frequencies, which is dominated by the free carriers response. In both materials, we found a significant reduction in the free carriers scattering rate, i.e. possible increase in mobility, at higher irradiation flux. This is consistent with our previous findings that irradiation affects the crystallite size and the micro-strain, but it does not induce major structural changes.

ZrN↗
DOE OSTI2023

The effect of powder feedstock and heat treatment on the thermal and mechanical properties of binder jet printed ZrC

In this study, zirconium carbide (ZrC) disks were fabricated using binder jet printing to study the effect of powder feedstock, print parameters, and heat treatment on flowability and final materials properties. A median volumetric particle size smaller than 10 μm was shown to cause the powder to stop flowing during printing. Disks were printed using ZrC with suitable flowability and then heat-treated at temperatures between 1800°C and 2200°C for 1 or 5h. The density, part shrinkage, thermal diffusivity, and fracture strength all increased with increasing temperature and time. The heat-treated disks were then heated to 2200°C for 5h and the properties converged for disks of the same particle size, indicating the hottest temperature and longest time of exposure dictates the final properties. Lastly, it was shown that larger particles produce lower density materials with worse thermal diffusivity, most likely because of poor connectivity between particles after heat treatment.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Mechanical properties of fusion welded ceramics in the $\mathrm{SiC-ZrB}$ 2 and $\mathrm{SiC-ZrB}$ 2 -$\mathrm{ZrC}$ systems

Mechanical properties of welded SiC-ZrB 2 and SiC-ZrB 2 -ZrC ceramics were measured up to 1700 °C. Commercial powders were hot pressed, machined into coupons, and preheated to 1600 °C before joining the ceramics using either tungsten inert gas welding or plasma arc welding. Toughness of the parent materials was 3–4 MPa*m 1/2 which decreased after welding to 2–2.5 MPa*m 1/2 . Strength of the SiC-ZrB 2 -ZrC parent material was ~700 MPa at 25 °C, ~300 MPa at 1700 °C, and retained 40–60% of this strength once welded. Strength of the SiC-ZrB2 parent material was ~600 MPa at 25 °C and 1700 °C and retained 20–30% of this strength once welded. Griffith analysis indicated that the strength in the parent materials was controlled by the size of SiC clusters while strength of welds was controlled by the size of pores in fusion zones. Therefore, removal of pores in produced fusion zones should be investigated to improve strength of future ceramic welds.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Leveraging computational thermodynamics to guide SiC-ZrC chemical vapor deposition process development

Here using the CALPHAD approach to understand zirconium carbide deposition, a series of phase equilibria were calculated from a custom thermodynamic database based on a literature source, and the equilibria were used to explore the potential chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processing space in the ZrCl 4 -CH 3 SiCl 3 -CH 4 -H 2 system as a function of pressure, temperature, and gas composition. Several gas ratios were considered. At a given ZrCl 4 :CH 3 SiCl 3 ratio within the range studied, the most important factor was found to be the ratios of CH 4 :ZrCl 4 , wherein the nature of the composition – carbide vs. silicide – could be controlled. A pure binary composition of ZrC and SiC is expected to form by increasing the initial amount of methane and decreasing the amount of hydrogen from values predicted purely based on thermodynamic equilibrium. Rietveld analysis of the x-ray diffractograms from corresponding experimental depositions confirmed that increasing the CH 4 :ZrCl 4 ratio increased the fraction of carbon-containing species (SiC, ZrC) and decreased the fraction of non-carbides (ZrSi, ZrSi 2 , etc.), as predicted from the CALPHAD results.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

High temperature nuclear data measurements of SiC, ZrC, and MgO [Slides]

Performed temperature dependent measurements of SiC and ZrC at ARCS instrument at SNS. Performed temperature dependent measurements of SiC, ZrC, and MgO at VISION instrument at SNS. Performed initial atomistic modeling of these materials using various techniques, including machine learned potentials. Future work includes temperature dependent transmission measurements of these materials, as well as improving the machine learned potentials with more training data and different machine learned frameworks.

ARCS↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Additive Manufacturing of ZrC for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Applications

Looking into the future, we are seeing that nuclear is becoming a more and more viable fuel source for space applications due to it being one of the safest energy forms, low greenhouse gas emissions, and inexpensive maintenance. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and a few others are looking at nuclear fuels in relation to space travel, specifically in the form of Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) [1]. NTP provides the answer for space travel to Mars where chemical rockets would not complete the job. A concept art of what these spacecrafts could look like is shown (Figure 1). Uranium Carbide fuel has been chosen to heat a liquid propellant for propulsion. The complex fuel geometries required by space reactors can be achieved by novel techniques fairly easily, cheaply, and safely. In this specific study, we are looking at using Zirconium Carbide (ZrC) to use as a surrogate for Uranium Carbide (UC) due to their similar behaviors under high temperatures. An ink made with ZrC will be made and will be extruded into unique, complex geometries. This is a great starting point to test additive manufacturing on these ceramics.

Additive Manufacturing↗
DOE OSTI2020

Materials Data on ZrC by Materials Project

ZrC is Halite, Rock Salt structured and crystallizes in the cubic Fm-3m space group. The structure is three-dimensional. Zr4+ is bonded to six equivalent C4- atoms to form a mixture of corner and edge-sharing ZrC6 octahedra. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles are 0°. All Zr–C bond lengths are 2.36 Å. C4- is bonded to six equivalent Zr4+ atoms to form a mixture of corner and edge-sharing CZr6 octahedra. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles are 0°.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗