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Results for “order‐disorder phase transitions”

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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Rheology of Foam Near the Order-Disorder Phase Transition

Foams are extremely important in a variety of industrial applications. Foams are widely used in fire-fighting applications, and are especially effective in fighting flammable liquid fires. In fact the Fire Suppression System aboard the Space Shuttle utilizes cylinders of Halon foam, which, when fired, force a rapidly expanding foam into the convoluted spaces behind instrument panels. Foams are critical in the process of enhanced oil recovery, due to their surface-active and highly viscous nature. They are also used as drilling fluids in underpressurized geologic formations. They are used as transport agents, and as trapping agents. They are also used as separation agents, where ore refinement is accomplished by froth flotation of the typically lighter and hydrophobic contaminants. The goal of the proposed investigation is the determination of the mechanical and rheological properties of foams, utilizing the microgravity environment to explore foam rheology for foams which cannot exist, or only exist for a short time, in 1g.

Holt, R. Glynn↗

Coulomb Crystallization of Charged Microspheres Levitated in a Gas Discharge Plasma

The technical topic of the project was the experimental observation of Coulomb crystallization of charged microspheres levitated in a gas discharge plasma. This suspension, sometimes termed a dusty plasma, is closely analogous to a colloidal suspension, except that it has a much faster time response, is more optically thin, and has no buoyancy forces to suspend the particles. The particles are levitated by electric fields. Through their collective Coulomb repulsions, the particles arrange themselves in a lattice with a crystalline symmetry, which undergoes an order-disorder phase transition analogous to melting when the effective temperature of the system is increased. Due to gravitational sedimentation, the particles form a thin layer in the laboratory, so that the experimental system is nearly 2D, whereas in future microgravity experiments they are expected to fill a larger volume and behave like a 3D solid or liquid. The particles are imaged using a video camera by illuminating them with a sheet of laser light. Because the suspension is optically thin, this imaging method will work as well in a 3D microgravity experiment as it does in a 2D laboratory system.

Goree, John↗

Atomistic Modeling of Surface and Bulk Properties of Cu, Pd and the Cu-Pd System

The BFS (Bozzolo-Ferrante-Smith) method for alloys is applied to the study of the Cu-Pd system. A variety of issues are analyzed and discussed, including the properties of pure Cu or Pd crystals (surface energies, surface relaxations), Pd/Cu and Cu/Pd surface alloys, segregation of Pd (or Cu) in Cu (or Pd), concentration dependence of the lattice parameter of the high temperature fcc CuPd solid solution, the formation and properties of low temperature ordered phases, and order-disorder transition temperatures. Emphasis is made on the ability of the method to describe these properties on the basis of a minimum set of BFS universal parameters that uniquely characterize the Cu-Pd system.

Bozzolo, Guillermo↗

Modeling of mechanical properties of II-VI materials

This paper reviews some new developments in the theory of alloy correlations, order-disorder transitions, and solidus phase-transition curves. It is argued that semiconductor alloys are never truly random, and the various phenomena that drive deviations from random arrangements are introduced. Likely consequences of correlations on the ability to fine-tune the lattice match of epitaxial layers to substrates, on vacancy formation, on diffusion, and on vapor-phase crystal growth are discussed. Examples are chosen for the alloys Hg(1-x)Cd(x)Te, Hg(1-x)Zn(x)Te, Cd(1-y)Zn(y)Te, and CdSe(1-y)Te(y).

Sher, A.↗

Thermodynamic properties and phase transitions in CO2 molecular clusters

The thermodynamic properties of (CO2)N molecular aggregates of size N between 2 and 13 have been investigated. These crystallites exhibit well defined orientational order-disorder rotational transitions accompanied by a structural transition into a plastic crystallite phase. In addition, they exhibit melting and disassociation transitions. It is shown that the interpretation of experimental data, based upon dimer properties, depends crucially on these results. Equilibrium structures and orientations are also given.

Etters, R. D.↗

Two-dimensional O2 adsorbed on graphite

Properties of two-dimensional O2 adsorbed on graphite are calculated in the extremely low-coverage delta region and for monolayers, with use of pattern-recognition optimization and Monte Carlo techniques. Equilibrium configurations and orientations, orientational order-disorder, melting, and dissociation transitions are predicted at various O2 densities. Phase characteristics, including a plastic crystallite phase, are compared with experiment.

Etters, R. D.↗

Phase transitions in the ordered compound TiAl and in alloys having it as a base

The combined effect of alloying and heat treatment on the order-disorder transition in TiAl of stoichiometric composition was investigated. It is concluded from the data obtained that the TiAl 1 to TiAl 2 transition is a phase transition of the second kind. A phase transition was observed in TiAl of equiatomic composition in the 450-550 C temperature range. The introduction of niobium into the ordered compound TiAl of stoichiometric composition, instead of titanium or aluminum atoms, leads to partial softening. In this case, the effect of niobium atoms on softening of the alloys was greater when the niobium was introduced in place of aluminum atoms.

Zelenkov, I. A.↗