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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

On the constitutive stress-strain relationships and evaluation of the softening coefficient in work hardening mechanisms

The constitutive stress-strain relationships for structural alloys, such as additively manufactured Ti- 6Al-4V, are reconstructed by assessing the form and mechanism of work hardening relationships. The stress-strain relationships are best fit using both the Hollomon and Voce expressions wherein the Voce expression well-reproduces the later stage(s) of work hardening whereas the Hollomon relationship provides a better fit just beyond the proportional limit.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Work Hardening Model of Structure in Hall-Petch Strengthening

The microstructural length scale of metals changes by orders of magnitude under extreme processing conditions producing a concurrent wide range of mechanical strength and plasticity behaviors. A unified stress-strain σε σ(ε) model is formulated that’s based on superposing the components of asymptotic-curvilinear work hardening Θσ Θ(σ) to qualify and quantify these mechanical behaviors. This approach accounts for the rapid strengthening of metals beyond the initial yield point, through extended steady-state deformation, to the structural instability. The relationship between the softening coefficients cbi c bi of the work hardening formulation Θσ Θ(σ) and strength are found to reveal the microstructural scale in the material. Specifically, the rapid decrease in the slope of the Θσ Θ(σ) curve provides a measure for microstructural size consistent with a functional Hall-Petch relationship of strength. A successful application is shown for the tensile behavior of pure aluminum microstructures that result from extreme plastic deformation by equal-channel angle pressing.

Hall-Petch strengthening↗

Unified Stress-Strain Model for Plasticity to the Structural Instability

A unified model for the work hardening Θσ Θ(σ) and stress-strain σε σ(ε) behavior is presented that accounts for deformation under tensile loading, from the onset of yielding at the proportional limit up to the ultimate strength as defined at the structural instability. The origin of this approach is based on a negative exponential formulation for an asymptotic-curvilinear work-hardening model that accounts for the rapid strengthening of metals as well as the continuation of steady-state deformation to the instability.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Model for the Softening Factor within Stages of Work Hardening

A formulation for a dimensionless coefficient c b is derived that represents a scale of microstructural softening for alloys which follow Kocks-Mecking (K-M) work hardening behavior. The variation of the true plastic strain ε p between the proportional limit σ y and the strength σ u at the instability is determined using the Considère criterion. Parameterization of the model is limited to variables expressly measured within tensile experiments. Further development is now made for the softening factor c bi through the individual and sequential stages 3 and 4 of plastic deformation during K-M work hardening Q behavior. Application is shown for tensile test results of Ti-6Al-4V made by different additively manufactured (AM) processes. It is found that the variation in plastic strain as a function of c bi produces a continuous curve representative of the alloy system. The results of data analysis indicate that Θ o3 and c b3 increase, while Θ o4 and c b4 decrease, as the total plastic strain ε p increases. Furthermore, formulations derived for K-M stages 3 and 4 enable the evaluation of other material parameters such as the activation volume ν* for the onset of plastic deformation. This activation volume is found to be near constant, at a ν*-value of 0.353±0.036 nm 3 as computed using a strain-rate sensitivity of strength exponent m of 0.014, irrespective of the AM method used to produce the Ti-6Al-4V alloy.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Surface softening in palladium nanoparticles: effects of a capping agent on vibrational properties

The presence of a capping agent (CTAB) on Pd nanoparticles produces a strong static disorder in the surface region. This results in a surface softening, which contributes to an overall increase in the Debye–Waller coefficient measured by X-ray powder diffraction. Here, molecular dynamics and density functional theory simulations show that the adsorption-induced surface disorder is strong enough to overcome the effects of nanoparticle size and shape.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Literature Review of Thermomechanical Analysis, Its Instrument Components and Applications

Thermomechanical analysis (TMA) is used to measure the dimensional changes in a sample as a function of temperature. TMA allows for several modes of analysis, with expansion and compression being the most common. TMA is based on the theory of dilatometry and relies on the fact that polymers are viscoelastic materials, possessing both viscous and elastic properties. TMA yields information about the thermal effects on a polymer such as shrinkage, expansion, softening, melting, glass transition temperature and allows for the calculation of the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), which can be useful for many applications of polymers.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Literature Review of Thermomechanical Analysis, Its Instrument Components and Applications

Thermomechanical analysis (TMA) is used to measure the dimensional changes in a sample as a function of temperature. TMA allows for several modes of analysis, with expansion and compression being the most common. TMA is based on the theory of dilatometry and relies on the fact that polymers are viscoelastic materials, possessing both viscous and elastic properties. TMA yields information about the thermal effects on a polymer such as shrinkage, expansion, softening, melting, glass transition temperature and allows for the calculation of the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), which can be useful for many applications of polymers.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Experimental Quantification of Spin–Phonon Coupling in Molecular Qubits Using Inelastic Neutron Scattering

Electronic spin superposition states enable nanoscale sensing through their sensitivity to the local environment, yet their sensitivity to vibrational motion also limits their coherence times. In molecular spin systems, chemical tunability and atomicscale resolution are accompanied by a dense, thermally accessible phonon spectrum that introduces efficient spin relaxation pathways. Despite extensive theoretical work, there is little experimental consensus on which vibrational energies dominate spin relaxation or how molecular structure controls spin−phonon coupling (SPC). We present a fully experimental method to quantify SPC coefficients by combining temperature-dependent vibrational spectra from inelastic neutron scattering with spin relaxation rates measured by electron paramagnetic resonance. We apply this framework to two model S = 1/2 systems, copper(II) phthalocyanine (CuPc) and copper(II) octaethylporphyrin (CuOEP). Two distinct relaxation regimes emerge: below 40 K, weakly coupled lattice modes below 50 cm −1 dominate, whereas above 40 K, optical phonons above ∼185 cm −1 become thermally populated and drive relaxation with SPC coefficients nearly 3 orders of magnitude larger. Structural distortions in CuOEP that break planar symmetry soften the crystal lattice and enhance anharmonic scattering but also raise the energy of stretching modes at the molecular core where the spins reside. This redistributes vibrational energy toward the molecular periphery and out of plane, ultimately reducing SPC relative to CuPc and enabling room-temperature spin coherence in CuOEP. Although our method does not provide mode-specific SPC coefficients, it quantifies contributions from distinct spectral regions and establishes a broadly applicable, fully experimental link between crystal structure, lattice dynamics, and spin relaxation.

Lohaus, Stefan H. [California Institute of Technol↗

Electronically driven collapse of the bulk modulus in δ -plutonium

Plutonium metal exhibits an anomalously large softening of its bulk modulus at elevated temperatures that is made all the more extraordinary by the finding that it occurs irrespective of whether the thermal expansion coefficient is positive, negative, or zero—representing an extreme departure from conventional Grüneisen scaling. We show here that the cause of this softening is the compressibility of plutonium’s thermally excited electronic configurations, which has thus far not been considered in thermodynamic models. We show that when compressible electronic configurations are thermally activated, they invariably give rise to a softening of the bulk modulus regardless of the sign of their contribution to the thermal expansion. The electronically driven softening of the bulk modulus is shown to be in good agreement with elastic moduli measurements performed on the gallium-stabilized δ phase of plutonium over a range of temperatures and compositions and is shown to grow rapidly at small concentrations of gallium and at high temperatures, where it becomes extremely sensitive to hydrostatic pressure.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Feldspar-based CaO–K 2 O–Na 2 O–BaO silicate glass sealant for solid oxide fuel cells

Sealants have been widely used in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), and glass sealants have shown considerable potentials due to their low leakage rate. In this paper, we report a type of feldspar-based glass sealant, mainly composed of CaO-K 2 O-Na 2 O-BaO, with a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of 10.11×10 -6 k -1 , a glass transition temperature at 528°C, and a softening temperature at 573°C. Using this sealant to seal anode-supported SOFCs, the open-circuit voltage (OCV) remains at 1.08V after five thermal cycles and 50-hour aging at 750°C, close to the theoretical OCV value. The SEM and EDS reveal stable interface between the glass sealant and the anode, indicating excellent performance of the CaO-K 2 O-Na 2 O-BaO glass sealant for SOFC sealing applications.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Constitutive modeling of δ-phase zircaloy hydride based on strain rate dependent nanoindentation and nano-scale impact dataset

In this work, a constitutive model for zircaloy-4 embedded with δ-phase hydride rim/blister structures (δ-phase zircaloy hydride) is presented. Nanoindentation and nano-scale impact experiments were performed on the δ-hydride blisters as a function of temperature in order to obtain strain rate dependent location specific constitutive response. A power law viscoplastic constitutive model was chosen to represent the strain rate dependent behavior. The strength coefficient and the strain hardening exponent in the power law relation were found to decrease with increase in temperature indicating softening behavior at higher temperatures. The strain rate exponent remained constant with increase in temperature indicating that the rate dependent ductility does not change significantly at higher temperatures. A finite element method based model was created to analyze the failure behavior and the ductile to brittle transition in zircaloy hydride. The model predicted that fracture strength of δ-phase zircaloy hydride decreases linearly with increase in temperature.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

UV massive resonance from IR double copy consistency

From the perspective of effective field theory (EFT), Wilson coefficients of the low energy theory are determined by integrating out modes of the full ultraviolet (UV) theory. The spectrum can be in principle resummed if one has access to all available infrared (IR) coefficients at low energies. In this work we show that there exists a general class of consistent massive resonance double-copy (CMRDC) models where UV massive residues are reconstructed through double-copy consistency conditions between the IR Wilson coefficients of the full EFT expansion. Through a color-dual bootstrap, we find surprisingly that double-copy consistency alone introduces the kinematic factors of CMRDC models that soften high energy behavior by exponentiating color-dual contacts. This bootstrap suggests that our massive resonance paradigm is an inevitable consequence of the duality between color and kinematics, thereby providing a path towards emergent UV structure directly from the IR. We then demonstrate how CMRDC models can capture a spectrum of massive modes compatible with general multiplicity, and use Padé extrapolation to solve the inverse problem of identifying massive UV resonance from a small number of IR Wilson coefficients. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Anomalous thermoelectricity at the two-dimensional structural transition of SnSe monolayers

The thermoelectric figure of merit ZT comprises electronic and vibrational contributions that drastically change across phase transitions, and the most common theoretical ab initio approach to thermoelectricity fails to describe the evolution of ZT across finite-temperature structural transitions in its entirety. Furthermore, while the thermoelectric behavior of bulk SnSe has been extensively studied, SnSe monolayers have been experimentally realized only recently, and the existent prediction of thermoelectricity on this two-dimensional material is unreliable because it misses its structural transition altogether. SnSe monolayers (and similar GeS, GeSe, GeTe, SnS, and SnTe monolayers) experience a temperature-induced two-dimensional Pnm2 1 → P4/nmm structural transition precipitated by the softening of vibrational modes, and we describe their thermoelectric properties across the phase transition, using molecular dynamics data to inform both electronic and vibrational coefficients directly and within the same footing. Similar to recent experimental observations pointing to an overestimated ZT past the transition temperature in bulk SnSe, we find a smaller ZT on SnSe monolayers when compared to its value predicted by the standard paradigm, due to the dramatic changes in the electrical conductivity and lattice thermal conductivity as the structural transition ensues. Here, the process described here lends a strong focus to both the vibrational and electronic evolutions throughout the structural transition, and it applies to thermoelectric materials undergoing thermally driven solid-to-solid structural phase transitions in one, two, and three dimensions.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

A prediction of the thermodynamic, thermophysical, and mechanical properties of CrTaO 4 from first principles

It is reported that the self-forming CrTaO 4 oxide scale can protect refractory high-entropy alloys from oxidation, superior to Cr 2 O 3 . In this paper, the phase stability, mechanical, and thermal properties of three polymorphous phases of CrTaO 4 are systematically investigated from first-principles density functional theory calculations. The mechanical properties predicted using the strain–energy methods indicated that all three phases are mechanically stable. The temperature dependence of elastic constants and polycrystalline moduli of three phases demonstrated the thermal softening as temperature increase. The Helmholtz-free energies as a function of volume and temperature are derived from phonon dispersions within the quasi-harmonic approximation at six strained volumes. The calculated apparent bulk coefficients of thermal expansion of these three phases are evaluated, the highest value approximately 13.4× 10 –6 K –1 within a temperature range of 500–2000 K for the rutile I4 1 md phase. The lattice thermal conductivity calculated by the Debye–Callaway model suggested that the rutile type I4 1 md phase has the lowest value of approximately 2.1 W/m/K at 1800 K. The other two phases, C2/m and P2/c, exhibit higher values due to relatively lower Grüneisen parameters and larger phonon velocities. The melting point of CrTaO 4 is predicted to be between 1975 and 2449 K using ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. Finally, this work provides a comprehensive theoretical understanding of the thermodynamic, mechanical, and thermal properties for the new material CrTaO 4 and serves as an example of a viable computational design strategy for improved oxidation resistance of refractory alloys at high temperatures.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Modeling Liquid Water by Climbing up Jacob’s Ladder in Density Functional Theory Facilitated by Using Deep Neural Network Potentials

Within the framework of Kohn–Sham density functional theory (DFT), the ability to provide good predictions of water properties by employing a strongly constrained and appropriately normed (SCAN) functional has been extensively demonstrated in recent years. Here, we further advance the modeling of water by building a more accurate model on the fourth rung of Jacob’s ladder with the hybrid functional, SCAN0. In particular, we carry out both classical and Feynman path-integral molecular dynamics calculations of water with the SCAN0 functional and the isobaric–isothermal ensemble. To generate the equilibrated structure of water, a deep neural network potential is trained from the atomic potential energy surface based on ab initio data obtained from SCAN0 DFT calculations. For the electronic properties of water, a separate deep neural network potential is trained by using the Deep Wannier method based on the maximally localized Wannier functions of the equilibrated trajectory at the SCAN0 level. The structural, dynamic, and electric properties of water were analyzed. The hydrogen-bond structures, density, infrared spectra, diffusion coefficients, and dielectric constants of water, in the electronic ground state, are computed by using a large simulation box and long simulation time. For the properties involving electronic excitations, we apply the GW approximation within many-body perturbation theory to calculate the quasiparticle density of states and bandgap of water. Compared to the SCAN functional, mixing exact exchange mitigates the self-interaction error in the meta-generalized-gradient approximation and further softens liquid water toward the experimental direction. For most of the water properties, the SCAN0 functional shows a systematic improvement over the SCAN functional. However, some important discrepancies remain. The H-bond network predicted by the SCAN0 functional is still slightly overstructured compared to the experimental results.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Elastic and thermodynamic properties of cerium-doped yttrium aluminum garnets

Cerium-doped yttrium aluminum garnets (Y 3-x Ce x Al 5 O 12 , Ce:YAGs) are promising yellow light-emitting components of solid-state white light-emitting diodes. Although there have been numerous studies examining the effects of Ce concentrations on the luminescent properties of Y 3-x Ce x Al 5 O 12 , the impacts of Ce dopant on the elastic and thermodynamic properties are not well understood. In this work, we used resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS) to determine the effects of Ce doping (0.025, 0.1, 1 at. %) on the elastic and thermodynamic properties of Y 3-x Ce x Al 5 O 12 . The elastic moduli calculated via the Voigt–Reuss–Hill (VRH) method demonstrated that low Ce dopant concentrations (≤0.1 at. %) induced negligible effects on the elasticity of the YAG host matrix, while a high Ce concentration (1 at. %) yielded significant softening. RUS spectral analysis and SEM images suggested that the elastic softening originated from microstructural differences induced at higher Ce dopant concentrations. Additionally, we demonstrated an increase in elastic anisotropy at higher Ce concentrations, which further elucidated the correlations between structure and elasticity of Y 3-x Ce x Al 5 O 12 . Debye temperatures ($θ_D$), heat capacities ($C_p$), and thermal conductivities ($\mathit{κ}$) were calculated for Ce:YAGs through the relations of RUS-derived parameters (sound velocities, elastic moduli) and previously determined thermal expansion coefficients. Ce:YAG was found to have a significant reduction in $θ_D$, Cp, and $\mathit{κ}$ at Ce concentrations ≥1 at. %. Lastly, extrapolation of $C_p$ and $\mathit{κ}$ to higher temperatures allowed the modeling of thermal stress experienced by Y 3-x Ce x Al 5 O 12 disks up to 1073.15 K.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Temperature-dependent elastic constants of thorium dioxide probed using time-domain Brillouin scattering

Herein we report the adiabatic elastic constants of single-crystal thorium dioxide over a temperature range of 77–350 K. Time-domain Brillouin scattering, an all-optical, non-contact picosecond ultrasonic technique, is used to generate and detect coherent acoustic phonons that propagate in the bulk perpendicular to the surface of the crystal. These coherent acoustic lattice vibrations have been monitored in two hydrothermally grown single-crystal thorium dioxide samples along the (100) and (311) crystallographic directions. The three independent elastic constants of the cubic crystal (C 11 , C 12 , and C 44 ) are determined from the measured bulk acoustic velocities. The longitudinal wave along the (100) orientation provided a direct measurement of C 11 . Measurement of C 44 and C 12 was achieved by enhancing the intensity of quasi-shear mode in a (311) oriented crystal by adjusting the polarization angle relative to the crystal axes. We find the magnitude of softening of the three elastic constants to be ~2.5% over the measured temperature range. Good agreement is found between the measured elastic constants with previously reported values at room temperature, and between the measured temperature-dependent bulk modulus with calculated values. We find that semi-empirical models capturing lattice anharmonicity adequately reproduce the observed trend. We also determine the acoustic Grüneisen anharmonicity parameter from the experimentally derived temperature-dependent bulk modulus and previously reported temperature-dependent values of volumetric thermal expansion coefficient and heat capacity. This work presents measurements of the temperature-dependent elasticity in single-crystal thorium dioxide at cryogenic temperature and provides a basis for testing ab initio theoretical models and evaluating the impact of anharmonicity on thermophysical properties.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗