Relaxation processes and glass transition of confined polymer melts: A molecular dynamics simulation of 1,4-polybutadiene between graphite walls.

PubMed

Solar, M; Binder, K; Paul, W

2017-05-28

Molecular dynamics simulations of a chemically realistic model for 1,4-polybutadiene in a thin film geometry confined by two graphite walls are presented. Previous work on melts in the bulk has shown that the model faithfully reproduces static and dynamic properties of the real material over a wide temperature range. The present work studies how these properties change due to nano-confinement. The focus is on orientational correlations observable in nuclear magnetic resonance experiments and on the local intermediate incoherent neutron scattering function, F s (q z , z, t), for distances z from the graphite walls in the range of a few nanometers. Temperatures from about 2T g down to about 1.15T g , where T g is the glass transition temperature in the bulk, are studied. It is shown that weakly attractive forces between the wall atoms and the monomers suffice to effectively bind a polymer coil that is near the wall. For a wide regime of temperatures, the Arrhenius-like adsorption/desorption kinetics of the monomers is the slowest process, while very close to T g the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann-like α-relaxation takes over. The α-process is modified only for z≤1.2 nm due to the density changes near the walls, less than expected from studies of coarse-grained (bead-spring-type) models. The weakness of the surface effects on the glass transition in this case is attributed to the interplay of density changes near the wall with the torsional potential. A brief discussion of pertinent experiments is given.

Creating high yield water soluble luminescent graphene quantum dots via exfoliating and disintegrating carbon nanotubes and graphite flakes.

PubMed

Lin, Liangxu; Zhang, Shaowei

2012-10-21

We have developed an effective method to exfoliate and disintegrate multi-walled carbon nanotubes and graphite flakes. With this technique, high yield production of luminescent graphene quantum dots with high quantum yield and low oxidization can be achieved.

Comparative inhalation toxicity of multi-wall carbon nanotubes, graphene, graphite nanoplatelets and low surface carbon black.

PubMed

Ma-Hock, Lan; Strauss, Volker; Treumann, Silke; Küttler, Karin; Wohlleben, Wendel; Hofmann, Thomas; Gröters, Sibylle; Wiench, Karin; van Ravenzwaay, Bennard; Landsiedel, Robert

2013-06-17

Carbon nanotubes, graphene, graphite nanoplatelets and carbon black are seemingly chemically identical carbon-based nano-materials with broad technological applications. Carbon nanotubes and carbon black possess different inhalation toxicities, whereas little is known about graphene and graphite nanoplatelets. In order to compare the inhalation toxicity of the mentioned carbon-based nanomaterials, male Wistar rats were exposed head-nose to atmospheres of the respective materials for 6 hours per day on 5 consecutive days. Target concentrations were 0.1, 0.5, or 2.5 mg/m3 for multi-wall carbon nanotubes and 0.5, 2.5, or 10 mg/m3 for graphene, graphite nanoplatelets and low-surface carbon black. Toxicity was determined after end of exposure and after three-week recovery using broncho-alveolar lavage fluid and microscopic examinations of the entire respiratory tract. No adverse effects were observed after inhalation exposure to 10 mg/m3 graphite nanoplatelets or relatively low specific surface area carbon black. Increases of lavage markers indicative for inflammatory processes started at exposure concentration of 0.5 mg/m3 for multi-wall carbon nanotubes and 10 mg/m3 for graphene. Consistent with the changes in lavage fluid, microgranulomas were observed at 2.5 mg/m3 multi-wall carbon nanotubes and 10 mg/m3 graphene. In order to evaluate volumetric loading of the lung as the key parameter driving the toxicity, deposited particle volume was calculated, taking into account different methods to determine the agglomerate density. However, the calculated volumetric load did not correlate to the toxicity, nor did the particle surface burden of the lung. The inhalation toxicity of the investigated carbon-based materials is likely to be a complex interaction of several parameters. Until the properties which govern the toxicity are identified, testing by short-term inhalation is the best option to identify hazardous properties in order to avoid unsafe applications or select safer alternatives for a given application.

An Electron Microscopy Study of Graphite Growth in Nodular Cast Irons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laffont, L.; Jday, R.; Lacaze, J.

2018-04-01

Growth of graphite during solidification and high-temperature solid-state transformation has been investigated in samples cut out from a thin-wall casting which solidified partly in the stable (iron-graphite) and partly in the metastable (iron-cementite) systems. Transmission electron microscopy has been used to characterize graphite nodules in as-cast state and in samples having been fully graphitized at various temperatures in the austenite field. Nodules in the as-cast material show a twofold structure characterized by an inner zone where graphite is disoriented and an outer zone where it is well crystallized. In heat-treated samples, graphite nodules consist of well-crystallized sectors radiating from the nucleus. These observations suggest that the disoriented zone appears because of mechanical deformation when the liquid contracts during its solidification in the metastable system. During heat-treatment, the graphite in this zone recrystallizes. In turn, it can be concluded that nodular graphite growth mechanism is the same during solidification and solid-state transformation.

Molecular Dynamics Simulations of the Thermal Conductivity of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Osman, M.; Srivastava, Deepak; Govindan,T. R. (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have very attractive electronic, mechanical. and thermal properties. Recently, measurements of thermal conductivity in single wall CNT mats showed estimated thermal conductivity magnitudes ranging from 17.5 to 58 W/cm-K at room temperature. which are better than bulk graphite. The cylinderical symmetry of CNT leads to large thermal conductivity along the tube axis, additionally, unlike graphite. CNTs can be made into ropes that can be used as heat conducting pipes for nanoscale applications. The thermal conductivity of several single wall carbon nanotubes has been calculated over temperature range from l00 K to 600 K using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics using Tersoff-Brenner potential for C-C interactions. Thermal conductivity of single wall CNTs shows a peaking behavior as a function of temperature. Dependence of the peak position on the chirality and radius of the tube will be discussed and explained in this presentation.

SIMPLIFIED SODIUM GRAPHITE REACTOR SYSTEM

DOEpatents

Dickinson, R.W.

1963-03-01

This patent relates to a nuclear power reactor comprising a reactor vessel, shielding means positioned at the top of said vessel, means sealing said reactor vessel to said shielding means, said vessel containing a quantity of sodium, a core tank, unclad graphite moderator disposed in said tank, means including a plurality of process tubes traversing said tank for isolating said graphite from said sodium, fuel elements positioned in said process tubes, said core tank being supported in spaced relation to the walls and bottom of said reactor vessel and below the level of said sodium, neutron shielding means positioned adjacent said core tank between said core tank and the walls of said vessel, said neutron shielding means defining an annuiar volume adjacent the inside wall of said reactor vessel, inlet plenum means below said core tank for providing a passage between said annular volume and said process tubes, heat exchanger means removably supported from the first-named shielding means and positioned in said annular volume, and means for circulating said sodium over said neutron shielding means down through said heat exchanger, across said inlet plenum and upward through said process tubes, said last-named means including electromagnetic pumps located outside said vessel and supported on said vessel wall between said heat exchanger means and said inlet plenum means. (AEC)

Metallic Wall Hall Thrusters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goebel, Dan Michael (Inventor); Hofer, Richard Robert (Inventor); Mikellides, Ioannis G. (Inventor)

2016-01-01

A Hall thruster apparatus having walls constructed from a conductive material, such as graphite, and having magnetic shielding of the walls from the ionized plasma has been demonstrated to operate with nearly the same efficiency as a conventional non-magnetically shielded design using insulators as wall components. The new design is believed to provide the potential of higher power and uniform operation over the operating life of a thruster device.

Metallic Wall Hall Thrusters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goebel, Dan Michael (Inventor); Hofer, Richard Robert (Inventor); Mikellides, Ioannis G. (Inventor)

2018-01-01

A Hall thruster apparatus having walls constructed from a conductive material, such as graphite, and having magnetic shielding of the walls from the ionized plasma has been demonstrated to operate with nearly the same efficiency as a conventional nonmagnetically shielded design using insulators as wall components. The new design is believed to provide the potential of higher power and uniform operation over the operating life of a thruster device.

Evidence for using Monte Carlo calculated wall attenuation and scatter correction factors for three styles of graphite-walled ion chamber.

PubMed

McCaffrey, J P; Mainegra-Hing, E; Kawrakow, I; Shortt, K R; Rogers, D W O

2004-06-21

The basic equation for establishing a 60Co air-kerma standard based on a cavity ionization chamber includes a wall correction term that corrects for the attenuation and scatter of photons in the chamber wall. For over a decade, the validity of the wall correction terms determined by extrapolation methods (K(w)K(cep)) has been strongly challenged by Monte Carlo (MC) calculation methods (K(wall)). Using the linear extrapolation method with experimental data, K(w)K(cep) was determined in this study for three different styles of primary-standard-grade graphite ionization chamber: cylindrical, spherical and plane-parallel. For measurements taken with the same 60Co source, the air-kerma rates for these three chambers, determined using extrapolated K(w)K(cep) values, differed by up to 2%. The MC code 'EGSnrc' was used to calculate the values of K(wall) for these three chambers. Use of the calculated K(wall) values gave air-kerma rates that agreed within 0.3%. The accuracy of this code was affirmed by its reliability in modelling the complex structure of the response curve obtained by rotation of the non-rotationally symmetric plane-parallel chamber. These results demonstrate that the linear extrapolation technique leads to errors in the determination of air-kerma.

Tungsten Deposition on Graphite using Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, Uttam; Chauhan, Sachin S.; Sharma, Jayshree; Sanyasi, A. K.; Ghosh, J.; Choudhary, K. K.; Ghosh, S. K.

2016-10-01

The tokamak concept is the frontrunner for achieving controlled thermonuclear reaction on earth, an environment friendly way to solve future energy crisis. Although much progress has been made in controlling the heated fusion plasmas (temperature ∼ 150 million degrees) in tokamaks, technological issues related to plasma wall interaction topic still need focused attention. In future, reactor grade tokamak operational scenarios, the reactor wall and target plates are expected to experience a heat load of 10 MW/m2 and even more during the unfortunate events of ELM's and disruptions. Tungsten remains a suitable choice for the wall and target plates. It can withstand high temperatures, its ductile to brittle temperature is fairly low and it has low sputtering yield and low fuel retention capabilities. However, it is difficult to machine tungsten and hence usages of tungsten coated surfaces are mostly desirable. To produce tungsten coated graphite tiles for the above-mentioned purpose, a coating reactor has been designed, developed and made operational at the SVITS, Indore. Tungsten coating on graphite has been attempted and successfully carried out by using radio frequency induced plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (rf -PECVD) for the first time in India. Tungsten hexa-fluoride has been used as a pre-cursor gas. Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) clearly showed the presence of tungsten coating on the graphite samples. This paper presents the details of successful operation and achievement of tungsten coating in the reactor at SVITS.

Boron-doped few-walled carbon nanotubes: novel synthesis and properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Preston, Colin; Song, Da; Taillon, Josh; Cumings, John; Hu, Liangbing

2016-11-01

Few-walled carbon nanotubes offer a unique marriage of graphitic quality and robustness to ink-processing; however, doping procedures that may alter the band structure of these few-walled nanotubes are still lacking. This report introduces a novel solution-injected chemical vapor deposition growth process to fabricate the first boron-doped few-walled carbon nanotubes (B-FWNTs) reported in literature, which may have extensive applications in battery devices. A comprehensive characterization of the as-grown B-FWNTs confirms successful boron substitution in the graphitic lattice, and reveals varying growth parameters impact the structural properties of B-FWNT yield. An investigation into the optimal growth purification parameters and ink-making procedures was also conducted. This study introduces the first process technique to successfully grow intrinsically p-doped FWNTs, and provides the first investigation into the impact factors of the growth parameters, purification steps, and ink-making processes on the structural properties of the B-FWNTs and the electrical properties of the resulting spray-coated thin-film electrodes.

Catalytic membranes for fuel cells

DOEpatents

Liu, Di-Jia [Naperville, IL; Yang, Junbing [Bolingbrook, IL; Wang, Xiaoping [Naperville, IL

2011-04-19

A fuel cell of the present invention comprises a cathode and an anode, one or both of the anode and the cathode including a catalyst comprising a bundle of longitudinally aligned graphitic carbon nanotubes including a catalytically active transition metal incorporated longitudinally and atomically distributed throughout the graphitic carbon walls of said nanotubes. The nanotubes also include nitrogen atoms and/or ions chemically bonded to the graphitic carbon and to the transition metal. Preferably, the transition metal comprises at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Fe, Co, Ni, Mn, and Cr.

Comparative inhalation toxicity of multi-wall carbon nanotubes, graphene, graphite nanoplatelets and low surface carbon black

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Carbon nanotubes, graphene, graphite nanoplatelets and carbon black are seemingly chemically identical carbon-based nano-materials with broad technological applications. Carbon nanotubes and carbon black possess different inhalation toxicities, whereas little is known about graphene and graphite nanoplatelets. Methods In order to compare the inhalation toxicity of the mentioned carbon-based nanomaterials, male Wistar rats were exposed head-nose to atmospheres of the respective materials for 6 hours per day on 5 consecutive days. Target concentrations were 0.1, 0.5, or 2.5 mg/m3 for multi-wall carbon nanotubes and 0.5, 2.5, or 10 mg/m3 for graphene, graphite nanoplatelets and low-surface carbon black. Toxicity was determined after end of exposure and after three-week recovery using broncho-alveolar lavage fluid and microscopic examinations of the entire respiratory tract. Results No adverse effects were observed after inhalation exposure to 10 mg/m3 graphite nanoplatelets or relatively low specific surface area carbon black. Increases of lavage markers indicative for inflammatory processes started at exposure concentration of 0.5 mg/m3 for multi-wall carbon nanotubes and 10 mg/m3 for graphene. Consistent with the changes in lavage fluid, microgranulomas were observed at 2.5 mg/m3 multi-wall carbon nanotubes and 10 mg/m3 graphene. In order to evaluate volumetric loading of the lung as the key parameter driving the toxicity, deposited particle volume was calculated, taking into account different methods to determine the agglomerate density. However, the calculated volumetric load did not correlate to the toxicity, nor did the particle surface burden of the lung. Conclusions The inhalation toxicity of the investigated carbon-based materials is likely to be a complex interaction of several parameters. Until the properties which govern the toxicity are identified, testing by short-term inhalation is the best option to identify hazardous properties in order to avoid unsafe applications or select safer alternatives for a given application. PMID:23773277

Molecular dynamics investigation of separation of hydrogen sulfide from acidic gas mixtures inside metal-doped graphite micropores.

PubMed

Huang, Pei-Hsing

2015-09-21

The separation of poisonous compounds from various process fluids has long been highly intractable, motivating the present study on the dynamic separation of H2S in acidic-gas-mixture-filled micropores. The molecular dynamics approach, coupled with the isothermal-isochoric ensemble, was used to model the molecular interactions and adsorption of H2S/CO2/CO/H2O mixtures inside metal-doped graphite slits. Due to the difference in the adsorption characteristics between the two distinct adsorbent materials, the metal dopant in the graphitic micropores leads to competitive adsorption, i.e. the Au and graphite walls compete to capture free adsorbates. The effects of competitive adsorption, coupled with changes in the gas temperature, concentration, constituent ratio and slit width on the constituent separation of mixtures were systematically studied. The molecule-wall binding energies calculated in this work (those of H2S, H2O and CO on Au walls and those of H2O, CO and CO2 on graphite walls) show good agreement with those obtained using density functional theory (DFT) and experimental results. The z-directional self-diffusivities (Dz) for adsorbates inside the slit ranged from 10(-9) to 10(-7) m(2) s(-1) as the temperature was increased from 10 to 500 K. The values are comparable with those for a typical microporous fluid (10(-8)-10(-9) m(2) s(-1) in a condensed phase and 10(-6)-10(-7) m(2) s(-1) in the gaseous state). The formation of H-bonding networks and hydrates of H2S is disadvantageous for the separation of mixtures. The results indicate that H2S can be efficiently separated from acidic gas mixtures onto the Au(111) surface by (i) reducing the mole fraction of H2S and H2O in the mixtures, (ii) raising the gas temperature to the high temperature limit (≥400 K), and (iii) lowering the slit width to below the threshold dimension (≤23.26 Å).

Temperature Dependence of Power Reflectivity of the First-Wall Materials in the Synchrotron Radiation Range

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takada, Noriharu; Nagatsu, Masaaki; Shimada, Michiya

1995-07-01

The temperature dependence of power reflectivity in the synchrotron radiation range was measured for candidate first-wall materials of the fusion reactor, such as B4C-coated isotropic graphite, C/C composite material, silicon carbide (SiC), tungsten (W), molybdenum (Mo) and SUS-316. The measurements were carried out using a vacuum vessel with a pressure of about 3 mTorr to avoid oxidation. Distinct temperature dependence of reflectivity was observed only for B4C-coated isotropic graphite. For the other materials, power reflectivities were insensitive to temperature in the range from 300 K to ˜900 K. Theoretical analysis of the results is also presented.

Design of a tokamak fusion reactor first wall armor against neutral beam impingement

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Myers, R.A.

1977-12-01

The maximum temperatures and thermal stresses are calculated for various first wall design proposals, using both analytical solutions and the TRUMP and SAP IV Computer Codes. Beam parameters, such as pulse time, cycle time, and beam power, are varied. It is found that uncooled plates should be adequate for near-term devices, while cooled protection will be necessary for fusion power reactors. Graphite and tungsten are selected for analysis because of their desirable characteristics. Graphite allows for higher heat fluxes compared to tungsten for similar pulse times. Anticipated erosion (due to surface effects) and plasma impurity fraction are estimated. Neutron irradiationmore » damage is also discussed. Neutron irradiation damage (rather than erosion, fatigue, or creep) is estimated to be the lifetime-limiting factor on the lifetime of the component in fusion power reactors. It is found that the use of tungsten in fusion power reactors, when directly exposed to the plasma, will cause serious plasma impurity problems; graphite should not present such an impurity problem.« less

Single-Wall Carbon Nanotube Anodes for Lithium Cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hepp, Aloysius F.; Raffaelle, Ryne; Gennett, Tom; Kumta, Prashant; Maranchi, Jeff; Heben, Mike

2006-01-01

In recent experiments, highly purified batches of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have shown promise as superior alternatives to the graphitic carbon-black anode materials heretofore used in rechargeable thin-film lithium power cells. The basic idea underlying the experiments is that relative to a given mass of graphitic carbon-black anode material, an equal mass of SWCNTs can be expected to have greater lithium-storage and charge/discharge capacities. The reason for this expectation is that whereas the microstructure and nanostructure of a graphitic carbon black is such as to make most of the interior of the material inaccessible for intercalation of lithium, a batch of SWCNTs can be made to have a much more open microstructure and nanostructure, such that most of the interior of the material is accessible for intercalation of lithium. Moreover, the greater accessibility of SWCNT structures can be expected to translate to greater mobilities for ion-exchange processes and, hence, an ability to sustain greater charge and discharge current densities.

Process for making silicon from halosilanes and halosilicons

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Levin, Harry (Inventor)

1988-01-01

A reactor apparatus (10) adapted for continuously producing molten, solar grade purity elemental silicon by thermal reaction of a suitable precursor gas, such as silane (SiH.sub.4), is disclosed. The reactor apparatus (10) includes an elongated reactor body (32) having graphite or carbon walls which are heated to a temperature exceeding the melting temperature of silicon. The precursor gas enters the reactor body (32) through an efficiently cooled inlet tube assembly (22) and a relatively thin carbon or graphite septum (44). The septum (44), being in contact on one side with the cooled inlet (22) and the heated interior of the reactor (32) on the other side, provides a sharp temperature gradient for the precursor gas entering the reactor (32) and renders the operation of the inlet tube assembly (22) substantially free of clogging. The precursor gas flows in the reactor (32) in a substantially smooth, substantially axial manner. Liquid silicon formed in the initial stages of the thermal reaction reacts with the graphite or carbon walls to provide a silicon carbide coating on the walls. The silicon carbide coated reactor is highly adapted for prolonged use for production of highly pure solar grade silicon. Liquid silicon (20) produced in the reactor apparatus (10) may be used directly in a Czochralski or other crystal shaping equipment.

Process for making silicon

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Levin, Harry (Inventor)

1987-01-01

A reactor apparatus (10) adapted for continuously producing molten, solar grade purity elemental silicon by thermal reaction of a suitable precursor gas, such as silane (SiH.sub.4), is disclosed. The reactor apparatus (10) includes an elongated reactor body (32) having graphite or carbon walls which are heated to a temperature exceeding the melting temperature of silicon. The precursor gas enters the reactor body (32) through an efficiently cooled inlet tube assembly (22) and a relatively thin carbon or graphite septum (44). The septum (44), being in contact on one side with the cooled inlet (22) and the heated interior of the reactor (32) on the other side, provides a sharp temperature gradient for the precursor gas entering the reactor (32) and renders the operation of the inlet tube assembly (22) substantially free of clogging. The precursor gas flows in the reactor (32) in a substantially smooth, substantially axial manner. Liquid silicon formed in the initial stages of the thermal reaction reacts with the graphite or carbon walls to provide a silicon carbide coating on the walls. The silicon carbide coated reactor is highly adapted for prolonged use for production of highly pure solar grade silicon. Liquid silicon (20) produced in the reactor apparatus (10) may be used directly in a Czochralski or other crystal shaping equipment.

Surface Superstructure of Carbon Nanotubes on Highly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite Annealed at Elevated Temperatures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

An, Bai; Fukuyama, Seiji; Yokogawa, Kiyoshi; Yoshimura, Masamichi

1998-06-01

Carbon nanotubes deposited on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) are annealed in ultra high vacuum. The effect of annealing temperature on the surface morphology of the carbon nanotubes on HOPG is examined by scanning tunneling microscopy. The ring-like surface superstructure of (\\sqrt {3}× \\sqrt {3})R30° of graphite is found on the carbon nanotubes annealed above 1593 K. The tips of the carbon nanotubes are destroyed and the stacking misarrangement between the upper and the lower walls of the tube join with HOPG resulting in the superstructure.

Selecting the Best Graphite for Long-Life, High-Energy Li-Ion Batteries

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mao, Chengyu; Wood, Marissa; David, Lamuel Abraham

Here, most lithium-ion batteries still rely on intercalation-type graphite materials for anodes, so it is important to consider their role in full cells for applications in electric vehicles. Here, we systematically evaluate the chemical and physical properties of six commercially-available natural and synthetic graphites to establish which factors have the greatest impact on the cycling stability of full cells with nickel-rich LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2 (NMC811) cathodes. Electrochemical data and post-mortem characterization explain the origin of capacity fade. The NMC811 cathode shows large irreversible capacity loss and impedance growth, accounting for much of full cell degradation. However, six graphite anodes demonstrate significant differencesmore » with respect to structural change, surface area, impedance growth, and SEI chemistry, which impact overall capacity retention. We found long cycle life correlated most strongly with stable graphite crystallite size. In addition, graphites with lower surface area generally had higher coulombic efficiencies during formation cycles, which led to more stable long-term cycling. The best graphite screened here enables a capacity retention around 90% in full pouch cells over extensive long-term cycling compared to only 82% for cells with the lowest performing graphite. The results show that optimal graphite selection improves cycling stability of high energy lithium-ion cells.« less

Selecting the Best Graphite for Long-Life, High-Energy Li-Ion Batteries

DOE PAGES

Mao, Chengyu; Wood, Marissa; David, Lamuel Abraham; ...

2018-06-16

Here, most lithium-ion batteries still rely on intercalation-type graphite materials for anodes, so it is important to consider their role in full cells for applications in electric vehicles. Here, we systematically evaluate the chemical and physical properties of six commercially-available natural and synthetic graphites to establish which factors have the greatest impact on the cycling stability of full cells with nickel-rich LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2 (NMC811) cathodes. Electrochemical data and post-mortem characterization explain the origin of capacity fade. The NMC811 cathode shows large irreversible capacity loss and impedance growth, accounting for much of full cell degradation. However, six graphite anodes demonstrate significant differencesmore » with respect to structural change, surface area, impedance growth, and SEI chemistry, which impact overall capacity retention. We found long cycle life correlated most strongly with stable graphite crystallite size. In addition, graphites with lower surface area generally had higher coulombic efficiencies during formation cycles, which led to more stable long-term cycling. The best graphite screened here enables a capacity retention around 90% in full pouch cells over extensive long-term cycling compared to only 82% for cells with the lowest performing graphite. The results show that optimal graphite selection improves cycling stability of high energy lithium-ion cells.« less

Modeling of surface temperature effects on mixed material migration in NSTX-U

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nichols, J. H.; Jaworski, M. A.; Schmid, K.

2016-10-01

NSTX-U will initially operate with graphite walls, periodically coated with thin lithium films to improve plasma performance. However, the spatial and temporal evolution of these films during and after plasma exposure is poorly understood. The WallDYN global mixed-material surface evolution model has recently been applied to the NSTX-U geometry to simulate the evolution of poloidally inhomogenous mixed C/Li/O plasma-facing surfaces. The WallDYN model couples local erosion and deposition processes with plasma impurity transport in a non-iterative, self-consistent manner that maintains overall material balance. Temperature-dependent sputtering of lithium has been added to WallDYN, utilizing an adatom sputtering model developed from test stand experimental data. Additionally, a simplified temperature-dependent diffusion model has been added to WallDYN so as to capture the intercalation of lithium into a graphite bulk matrix. The sensitivity of global lithium migration patterns to changes in surface temperature magnitude and distribution will be examined. The effect of intra-discharge increases in surface temperature due to plasma heating, such as those observed during NSTX Liquid Lithium Divertor experiments, will also be examined. Work supported by US DOE contract DE-AC02-09CH11466.

Conducting wall Hall thrusters in magnetic shielding and standard configurations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grimaud, Lou; Mazouffre, Stéphane

2017-07-01

Traditional Hall thrusters are fitted with boron nitride dielectric discharge channels that confine the plasma discharge. Wall properties have significant effects on the performances and stability of the thrusters. In magnetically shielded thrusters, interactions between the plasma and the walls are greatly reduced, and the potential drop responsible for ion acceleration is situated outside the channel. This opens the way to the utilization of alternative materials for the discharge channel. In this work, graphite walls are compared to BN-SiO2 walls in the 200 W magnetically shielded ISCT200-MS and the unshielded ISCT200-US Hall thrusters. The magnetically shielded thruster shows no significant change in the discharge current mean value and oscillations, while the unshielded thruster's discharge current increases by 25% and becomes noticeably less stable. The electric field profile is also investigated through laser spectroscopy, and no significant difference is recorded between the ceramic and graphite cases for the shielded thruster. The unshielded thruster, on the other hand, has its acceleration region shifted 15% of the channel length downstream. Lastly, the plume profile is measured with planar probes fitted with guard rings. Once again the material wall has little influence on the plume characteristics in the shielded thruster, while the unshielded one is significantly affected.

Construction of 3D nanostructure hierarchical porous graphitic carbons by charge-induced self-assembly and nanocrystal-assisted catalytic graphitization for supercapacitors.

PubMed

Ma, Fangwei; Ma, Di; Wu, Guang; Geng, Weidan; Shao, Jinqiu; Song, Shijiao; Wan, Jiafeng; Qiu, Jieshan

2016-05-10

A smart and sustainable strategy based on charge-induced self-assembly and nanocrystal-assisted catalytic graphitization is explored for the efficient construction of 3D nanostructure hierarchical porous graphitic carbons from the pectin biopolymer. The electrostatic interaction between the negatively charged pectin chains and magnesium ions plays a crucial role in the formation of 3D architectures. The 3D HPGCs possess a three-dimensional carbon framework with a hierarchical porous structure, flake-like graphitic carbon walls and high surface area (1320 m(2) g(-1)). The 3D HPGCs show an outstanding specific capacitance of 274 F g(-1) and excellent rate capability with a high capacitance retention of 85% at a high current density of 50 A g(-1) for supercapacitor electrodes. This strategy provided a novel approach to effectively construct 3D porous carbon nanostructures from biopolymers.

Comparison of hand laid-up tape and filament wound composite cylinders and panels with and without impact damage

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jegley, Dawn C.; Lopez, Osvaldo F.

1991-01-01

Experimentally determined axial compressive failure loads, strains and failure modes of composite flat panels and cylinders are presented. A comparison of two types of filament wound flat graphite-epoxy panels indicates that the winding pattern can influence structural response. A comparison of hand laid-up tape and filament wound composite cylinders indicates that fabrication method may not significantly influence the failure mode or average failure strain of thick-walled (radius-to-thickness ratio less than 15) graphite-epoxy cylinders. The interaction of manufacturing-induced features (fiber cross-overs) and low-speed impact damage for graphite-epoxy specimens is also presented. Filament would flat panels with many fiber cross-overs exhibited lower failure strains than filament wound panels without fiber cross-overs for all impact speeds examined. Graphite-thermoplastic cylinders exhibited a significantly different failure mode from the graphite-epoxy cylinders.

Process development and fabrication of space station type aluminum-clad graphite epoxy struts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ring, L. R.

1990-01-01

The manufacture of aluminum-clad graphite epoxy struts, designed for application to the Space Station truss structure, is described. The strut requirements are identified, and the strut material selection rationale is discussed. The manufacturing procedure is described, and shop documents describing the details are included. Dry graphite fiber, Pitch-75, is pulled between two concentric aluminum tubes. Epoxy resin is then injected and cured. After reduction of the aluminum wall thickness by chemical milling the end fittings are bonded on the tubes. A discussion of the characteristics of the manufactured struts, i.e., geometry, weight, and any anomalies of the individual struts is included.

76 FR 12325 - Small Diameter Graphite Electrodes From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Results of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-07

... Group). 26 Haimen Shuguang Carbon Industry Co., Ltd. 27 Handan Hanbo Material Co., Ltd. 28 Hebei Long Great Wall Electrode Co., Ltd. (aka Chang Cheng Chang Electrode Co., Ltd. and Laishui Long Great Wall... Inner Mongolia Xinghe County Hongyuan Electrical Carbon Factory. 35 Jiang Long Carbon. 36 Jiangsu Yafei...

NEUTRONIC REACTORS

DOEpatents

Wigner, E.P.

1960-11-22

A nuclear reactor is described wherein horizontal rods of thermal- neutron-fissionable material are disposed in a body of heavy water and extend through and are supported by spaced parallel walls of graphite.

Raman studies of single-walled carbon nanotubes synthesized by pulsed laser ablation at room temperature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dixit, Saurabh; Shukla, A. K.

2018-06-01

In this article, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are synthesized at room temperature using pulsed laser ablation of ferrocene mixed graphitic target. Radial breathing mode (RBM) reveals the presence of semiconducting SWCNTs of multiple diameters. Quantum confinement model is developed for Raman line-shape of G - feature. It is invoked here that G-feature is the manifestation of TO phonons in the semiconducting SWCNTs. Disorder in the SWCNTs is studied here as a function of the concentration of ferrocene in the graphitic target using X-ray diffraction analysis, oscillator strength of G - feature and D mode and Raman line-shape model of G - feature. Furthermore, phonon softening of G - feature of semiconducting SWCNTs is observed as a function of the diameter of nanotube.

Analysis of granular flow in a pebble-bed nuclear reactor.

PubMed

Rycroft, Chris H; Grest, Gary S; Landry, James W; Bazant, Martin Z

2006-08-01

Pebble-bed nuclear reactor technology, which is currently being revived around the world, raises fundamental questions about dense granular flow in silos. A typical reactor core is composed of graphite fuel pebbles, which drain very slowly in a continuous refueling process. Pebble flow is poorly understood and not easily accessible to experiments, and yet it has a major impact on reactor physics. To address this problem, we perform full-scale, discrete-element simulations in realistic geometries, with up to 440,000 frictional, viscoelastic 6-cm-diam spheres draining in a cylindrical vessel of diameter 3.5m and height 10 m with bottom funnels angled at 30 degrees or 60 degrees. We also simulate a bidisperse core with a dynamic central column of smaller graphite moderator pebbles and show that little mixing occurs down to a 1:2 diameter ratio. We analyze the mean velocity, diffusion and mixing, local ordering and porosity (from Voronoi volumes), the residence-time distribution, and the effects of wall friction and discuss implications for reactor design and the basic physics of granular flow.

Carbon Nanotubes Growth by CVD on Graphite Fibers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhu, Shen; Su, Ching-Hua; Cochrane, J. C.; Lehoczky, S. L.; Muntele, I.; Ila, D.; Curreri, Peter A. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Due to the superior electrical and mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes (CNT), synthesizing CNT on various substances for electronics devices and reinforced composites have been engaged in many efforts for applications. This presentation will illustrate CNT synthesized on graphite fibers by thermal CVD. On the fiber surface, iron nanoparticles as catalysts for CNT growth are coated. The growth temperature ranges from 600 to 1000 C and the pressure ranges from 100 Torr to one atmosphere. Methane and hydrogen gases with methane content of 10% to 100% are used for the CNT synthesis. At high growth temperatures (greater than or equal to 900 C), the rapid inter-diffusion of the transition metal iron on the graphite surface results in the rough fiber surface without any CNT grown on it. When the growth temperature is relative low (650-800 C), CNT with catalytic particles on the nanotube top ends are fabricated on the graphite surface. (Methane and hydrogen gases with methane content of 10% to 100% are used for the CNT synthesis.) (By measuring the samples) Using micro Raman spectroscopy in the breath mode region, single-walled or multi-walled CNT (MWCNT), depending on growth concentrations, are found. Morphology, length and diameter of these MWCNT are determined by scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The detailed results of syntheses and characterizations will be discussed in the presentation.

The graphite deposit at Borrowdale (UK): A catastrophic mineralizing event associated with Ordovician magmatism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ortega, L.; Millward, D.; Luque, F. J.; Barrenechea, J. F.; Beyssac, O.; Huizenga, J.-M.; Rodas, M.; Clarke, S. M.

2010-04-01

The volcanic-hosted graphite deposit at Borrowdale in Cumbria, UK, was formed through precipitation from C-O-H fluids. The δ 13C data indicate that carbon was incorporated into the mineralizing fluids by assimilation of carbonaceous metapelites of the Skiddaw Group by andesite magmas of the Borrowdale Volcanic Group. The graphite mineralization occurred as the fluids migrated upwards through normal conjugate fractures forming the main subvertical pipe-like bodies. The mineralizing fluids evolved from CO 2-CH 4-H 2O mixtures (XCO 2 = 0.6-0.8) to CH 4-H 2O mixtures. Coevally with graphite deposition, the andesite and dioritic wall rocks adjacent to the veins were intensely hydrothermally altered to a propylitic assemblage. The initial graphite precipitation was probably triggered by the earliest hydration reactions in the volcanic host rocks. During the main mineralization stage, graphite precipitated along the pipe-like bodies due to CO 2 → C + O 2. This agrees with the isotopic data which indicate that the first graphite morphologies crystallizing from the fluid (cryptocrystalline aggregates) are isotopically lighter than those crystallizing later (flakes). Late chlorite-graphite veins were formed from CH 4-enriched fluids following the reaction CH 4 + O 2 → C + 2H 2O, producing the successive precipitation of isotopically lighter graphite morphologies. Thus, as mineralization proceeded, water-generating reactions were involved in graphite precipitation, further favouring the propylitic alteration. The structural features of the pipe-like mineralized bodies as well as the isotopic homogeneity of graphite suggest that the mineralization occurred in a very short period of time.

Global modelling of plasma-wall interaction in reversed field pinches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bagatin, M.; Costa, S.; Ortolani, S.

1989-04-01

The impurity production and deuterium recycling mechanisms in ETA—BETA II and RFX are firstly discussed by means of a simple model applicable to a stationary plasma interacting with the wall. This gives the time constant and the saturation values of the impurity concentration as a function of the boundary temperature and density. If the latter is sufficiently high, the impurity buildup in the main plasma becomes to some extent stabilized by the shielding effect of the edge. A self-consistent global model of the time evolution of an RFP plasma interacting with the wall is then described. The bulk and edge parameters are derived by solving the energy and particle balance equations incorporating some of the basic plasma-surface processes, such as sputtering, backscattering and desorption. The application of the model to ETA-BETA II confirms the impurity concentrations of the light and metal impurities as well as the time evolution of the average electron density found experimentally under different conditions. The model is then applied to RFX, a larger RFP experiment under construction, whose wall will be protected by a full graphite armour. The time evolution of the discharge shows that carbon sputtering could increase Zeff to ~ 4, but without affecting significantly the plasma performance.

Wall conditioning and particle control in Extrap T2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bergsåker, H.; Larsson, D.; Brunsell, P.; Möller, A.; Tramontin, L.

1997-02-01

The Extrap T2 reversed field pinch experiment is operated with the former OHTE vacuum vessel, of dimensions R = 1.24 m and a = 0.18 m and with a complete graphite liner. It is shown that a rudimentary density control can be achieved by means of frequent helium glow discharge conditioning of the wall. The standard He-GDC is well characterized and reproducible. The trapping and release of hydrogen and impurities at the wall surfaces have been studied by mass spectrometry and surface analysis. The shot to shot particle exchange between wall and plasma can be approximately accounted for.

Battery Electrode Materials with High Cycle Lifetimes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Prof. Brent Fultz

2001-06-29

In an effort to understand the capacity fade of nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) batteries, we performed a systematic study of the effects of solute additions on the cycle life of metal hydride electrodes. We also performed a series of measurements on hydrogen absorption capacities of novel carbon and graphite-based materials including graphite nanofibers and single-walled carbon nanotubes. Towards the end of this project we turned our attention to work on Li-ion cells with a focus on anode materials.

Buckling test of a 3-meter-diameter corrugated graphite-epoxy ring-stiffened cylinder

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davis, R. C.

1982-01-01

A three m diameter by three m long corrugated cylindrical shell with external stiffening rings was tested to failure by buckling. The corrugation geometry for the graphite epoxy composite cylinder wall was optimized to withstand a compressive load producing an ultimate load intensity of 157.6 kN/m without buckling. The test method used to produce the design load intensity was to mount the specimen as a cantilevered cylinder and apply a pure bending moment to the end. A load introduction problem with the specimen was solved by using the BOSOR 4 shell of revolution computer code to analyze the shell and attached loading fixtures. The cylinder test loading achieved was 101 percent of design ultimate, and the resulting mass per unit of shell wall area was 1.96 kg/sq m.

Alkaline electrochemical advanced oxidation process for chromium oxidation at graphitized multi-walled carbon nanotubes.

PubMed

Xue, Yudong; Zheng, Shili; Sun, Zhi; Zhang, Yi; Jin, Wei

2017-09-01

Alkaline electrochemical advanced oxidation processes for chromium oxidation and Cr-contaminated waste disposal were reported in this study. The highly graphitized multi-walled carbon nanotubes g-MWCNTs modified electrode was prepared for the in-situ electrochemical generation of HO 2 - . RRDE test results illustrated that g-MWCNTs exhibited much higher two-electron oxygen reduction activity than other nanocarbon materials with peak current density of 1.24 mA cm -2 , %HO 2 - of 77.0% and onset potential of -0.15 V (vs. Hg/HgO). It was originated from the highly graphitized structure and good electrical conductivity as illustrated from the Raman, XRD and EIS characterizations, respectively. Large amount of reactive oxygen species (HO 2 - and ·OH) were in-situ electro-generated from the two-electron oxygen reduction and chromium-induced alkaline electro-Fenton-like reaction. The oxidation of Cr(III) was efficiently achieved within 90 min and the conversion ratio maintained more than 95% of the original value after stability test, offering an efficient and green approach for the utilization of Cr-containing wastes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Artificially-built solid electrolyte interphase via surface-bonded vinylene carbonate derivative on graphite by molecular layer deposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chae, Seulki; Lee, Jeong Beom; Lee, Jae Gil; Lee, Tae-jin; Soon, Jiyong; Ryu, Ji Heon; Lee, Jin Seok; Oh, Seung M.

2017-12-01

Vinylene carbonate (VC) is attached in a ring-opened form on a graphite surface by molecular layer deposition (MLD) method, and its role as a solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) former is studied. When VC is added into the electrolyte solution of a graphite/LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 (LNMO) full-cell, it is reductively decomposed to form an effective SEI on the graphite electrode. However, VC in the electrolyte solution has serious adverse effects due to its poor stability against electrochemical oxidation on the LNMO positive electrode. A excessive acid generation as a result of VC oxidation is observed, causing metal dissolution from the LNMO electrode. The dissolved metal ions are plated on the graphite electrode to destroy the SEI layer, eventually causing serious capacity fading and poor Coulombic efficiency. The VC derivative on the graphite surface also forms an effective SEI layer on the graphite negative electrode via reductive decomposition. The detrimental effects on the LNMO positive electrode, however, can be avoided because the bonded VC derivative on the graphite surface cannot move to the LNMO electrode. Consequently, the graphite/LNMO full-cell fabricated with the VC-attached graphite outperforms the cells without VC or with VC in the electrolyte, in terms of Coulombic efficiency and capacity retention.

Hybrid-PIC Simulation of Backsputtered Carbon Transport in the Near-Field Plume of a Hall Thruster

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Choi, Maria; Yim, John T.; Williams, George J.; Herman, Daniel A.; Gilland, James H.

2017-01-01

Magnetic shielding has eliminated boron nitride erosion as the life limiting mechanism in a Hall thruster but has resulted in erosion of the front magnetic field pole pieces. Recent experiments show that the erosion of graphite pole covers, which are added to protect the magnetic field pole pieces, causes carbon to redeposit on other surfaces, such as boron nitride discharge channel and cathode keeper surfaces. As a part of the risk-reduction activities for AEPS thruster development, this study models transport of backsputtered carbon from the graphite front pole covers and vacuum facility walls. Fluxes, energy distributions, and redeposition rates of backsputtered carbon on the anode, discharge channel, and graphite cathode keeper surfaces are predicted.

Physicochemical characterization, and relaxometry studies of micro-graphite oxide, graphene nanoplatelets, and nanoribbons.

PubMed

Paratala, Bhavna S; Jacobson, Barry D; Kanakia, Shruti; Francis, Leonard Deepak; Sitharaman, Balaji

2012-01-01

The chemistry of high-performance magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents remains an active area of research. In this work, we demonstrate that the potassium permanganate-based oxidative chemical procedures used to synthesize graphite oxide or graphene nanoparticles leads to the confinement (intercalation) of trace amounts of Mn(2+) ions between the graphene sheets, and that these manganese intercalated graphitic and graphene structures show disparate structural, chemical and magnetic properties, and high relaxivity (up to 2 order) and distinctly different nuclear magnetic resonance dispersion profiles compared to paramagnetic chelate compounds. The results taken together with other published reports on confinement of paramagnetic metal ions within single-walled carbon nanotubes (a rolled up graphene sheet) show that confinement (encapsulation or intercalation) of paramagnetic metal ions within graphene sheets, and not the size, shape or architecture of the graphitic carbon particles is the key determinant for increasing relaxivity, and thus, identifies nano confinement of paramagnetic ions as novel general strategy to develop paramagnetic metal-ion graphitic-carbon complexes as high relaxivity MRI contrast agents.

Physicochemical Characterization, and Relaxometry Studies of Micro-Graphite Oxide, Graphene Nanoplatelets, and Nanoribbons

PubMed Central

Paratala, Bhavna S.; Jacobson, Barry D.; Kanakia, Shruti; Francis, Leonard Deepak; Sitharaman, Balaji

2012-01-01

The chemistry of high-performance magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents remains an active area of research. In this work, we demonstrate that the potassium permanganate-based oxidative chemical procedures used to synthesize graphite oxide or graphene nanoparticles leads to the confinement (intercalation) of trace amounts of Mn2+ ions between the graphene sheets, and that these manganese intercalated graphitic and graphene structures show disparate structural, chemical and magnetic properties, and high relaxivity (up to 2 order) and distinctly different nuclear magnetic resonance dispersion profiles compared to paramagnetic chelate compounds. The results taken together with other published reports on confinement of paramagnetic metal ions within single-walled carbon nanotubes (a rolled up graphene sheet) show that confinement (encapsulation or intercalation) of paramagnetic metal ions within graphene sheets, and not the size, shape or architecture of the graphitic carbon particles is the key determinant for increasing relaxivity, and thus, identifies nano confinement of paramagnetic ions as novel general strategy to develop paramagnetic metal-ion graphitic-carbon complexes as high relaxivity MRI contrast agents. PMID:22685555

Effects of chemical states of carbon on deuterium retention in carbon-containing materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oyaidzu, Makoto; Kimura, Hiromi; Nakahata, Toshihiko; Nishikawa, Yusuke; Tokitani, Masayuki; Oya, Yasuhisa; Iwakiri, Hirotomo; Yoshida, Naoaki; Okuno, Kenji

2007-08-01

Deuterium retention behavior in highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), poly-crystalline diamond, poly-crystalline SiC, sintered WC, and converted B 4C were investigated to reveal tritium behavior in re-deposition and co-deposition layers. Such layers would contain carbon, when the first wall and/or divertor were made of graphite or carbon-containing materials. Furthermore, the employment of other materials such as tungsten, and first wall conditioning such as boronization would complicate the layers. No different deuterium trapping sites due to carbon from those in HOPG were found in all the samples, where two deuterium trapping processes were observed: hot atom chemical trapping of energetic deuterium by a dangling bond of carbon and thermochemical trapping of thermalized deuterium in a constituent atom vacancy surrounded by carbons. Additionally, the latter reaction could be easily counteracted by or competed with the other deuterium trapping reactions by constituent atoms.

Promoting mechanism of N-doped single-walled carbon nanotubes for O2 dissociation and SO2 oxidation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Yanqiu; Yin, Shi; Chen, Yang; Cen, Wanglai; Li, Jianjun; Yin, Huaqiang

2018-03-01

Although heteroatom doping in carbon based catalysts have recently received intensive attentions, the role of the intrinsically porous structure of practical carbon materials and their potential synergy with doping atoms are still unclear. To investigate the complex effects, a range of N-doped single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were used to investigate their potential use for O2 dissociation and the subsequent SO2 oxidation using density functional theory. It is found that graphite N doping can synergize with the outer surface of SWCNTs to facilitate the dissociation of O2. The barrier for the dissociation on dual graphite N-doped SWCNT-(8, 8) is as low as 0.3 eV, and the subsequent SO2 oxidation is thermodynamically favorable and kinetically feasible. These results spotlight on developing promising carboncatalyst via utilization of porous gemometry and heteroatom-doping of carbon materials simultaneously.

Fabrication and characterization of tapered graphite/epoxy box beams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yen, S.-C.; Gopal, P.; Dharani, L. R.

1993-04-01

Graphite/epoxy (T300/934) prepreg is used to fabricate tapered box beams with a taper angle of 2 deg between the top and bottom walls. The prepreg is cured on a segmented steel core using a hot-press. A screw arrangement is used to apply curing pressure in the horizontal direction, while the platens of the hot-press apply pressure in the vertical direction. The inplane bending stiffness of the beam is determined by 3-point bend test and is found to be in agreement with theory.

A systematic Monte Carlo study of secondary electron fluence perturbation in clinical proton beams (70-250 MeV) for cylindrical and spherical ion chambers.

PubMed

Verhaegen, F; Palmans, H

2001-10-01

Current dosimetry protocols for clinical protons do not take into account any secondary electron fluence perturbation in ion chambers. In this work, we performed a systematic study of secondary electron fluence perturbation factors for spherical and cylindrical ion chambers in proton beams (70-250 MeV). The electron fluence perturbation factor, pe, was calculated using Monte Carlo transport of protons and secondary electrons. The influence of proton energy, cavity wall material (graphite, water, A150, PMMA, polystyrene), cavity radius, cavity wall thickness and positioning depth in water is studied. The influence of inelastic nuclear proton interactions is briefly discussed. It was found that pe depends on wall material; the largest values for pe were obtained for ion chambers with A150 walls (pe=1.009), the smallest values for graphite walls. The perturbation factor was found to be largely independent of proton energy. A slight decrease of pe with cavity radius was obtained, especially for low energy protons. The wall thickness was found to have no effect on pe in the range studied (0.025-0.1 cm). The depth of the cavity in a water phantom was also found to have an insignificant effect on pe. Based on the results in the paper for spherical and cylindrical ion chambers, a method to calculate pe for a thimble ion chamber is presented. The results presented in this paper for cylindrical and spherical ion chambers are in contradiction to the calculated electron fluence perturbation factors for planar ion chambers in the paper by Casnati et al.

Ultrastructural and geochemical characterization of Archean-Paleoproterozoic graphite particles: implications for recognizing traces of life in highly metamorphosed rocks.

PubMed

Schiffbauer, James D; Yin, Leiming; Bodnar, Robert J; Kaufman, Alan J; Meng, Fanwei; Hu, Jie; Shen, Bing; Yuan, Xunlai; Bao, Huiming; Xiao, Shuhai

2007-08-01

Abundant graphite particles occur in amphibolite-grade quartzite of the Archean-Paleoproterozoic Wutai Metamorphic Complex in the Wutaishan area of North China. Petrographic thin section observations suggest that the graphite particles occur within and between quartzite clasts and are heterogeneous in origin. Using HF maceration techniques, the Wutai graphite particles were extracted for further investigation. Laser Raman spectroscopic analysis of a population of extracted graphite discs indicated that they experienced a maximum metamorphic temperature of 513 +/- 50 degrees C, which is consistent with the metamorphic grade of the host rock and supports their indigenicity. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy revealed that the particles bear morphological features (such as hexagonal sheets of graphite crystals) related to metamorphism and crystal growth, but a small fraction of them (graphite discs) are characterized by a circular morphology, distinct marginal concentric folds, surficial wrinkles, and complex nanostructures. Ion microprobe analysis of individual graphite discs showed that their carbon isotope compositions range from -7.4 per thousand to -35.9 per thousand V-PDB (Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite), with an average of -20.3 per thousand, which is comparable to bulk analysis of extracted carbonaceous material. The range of their size, ultrastructures, and isotopic signatures suggests that the morphology and geochemistry of the Wutai graphite discs were overprinted by metamorphism and their ultimate carbon source probably had diverse origins that included abiotic processes. We considered both biotic and abiotic origins of the carbon source and graphite disc morphologies and cannot falsify the possibility that some circular graphite discs characterized by marginal folds and surficial wrinkles represent deflated, compressed, and subsequently graphitized organic-walled vesicles. Together with reports by other authors of acanthomorphic acritarchs from greenschist-amphibolite-grade metamorphic rocks, this study suggests that it is worthwhile to examine carbonaceous materials preserved in highly metamorphosed rocks for possible evidence of ancient life.

Hybrid-Particle-In-Cell Simulation of Backsputtered Carbon Transport in the Near-Field Plume of a Hall Thruster

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Choi, Maria; Yim, John T.; Williams, George J.; Herman, Daniel A.; Gilland, James H.

2018-01-01

Magnetic shielding has eliminated boron nitride erosion as the life limiting mechanism in a Hall thruster but has resulted in erosion of the front magnetic field pole pieces. Recent experiments show that the erosion of graphite pole covers, which are added to protect the magnetic field pole pieces, causes carbon to redeposit on other surfaces, such as boron nitride discharge channel and cathode keeper surfaces. As a part of the risk-reduction activities for Advanced Electric Propulsion System thruster development, this study models transport of backsputtered carbon from the graphite front pole covers and vacuum facility walls. Fluxes, energy distributions, and redeposition rates of backsputtered carbon on the anode, discharge channel, and graphite cathode keeper surfaces are predicted.

Towards vaporized molecular discrimination: a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensor system using cobalt-containing mesoporous graphitic carbon.

PubMed

Tang, Jing; Torad, Nagy L; Salunkhe, Rahul R; Yoon, Jang-Hee; Al Hossain, Md Shahriar; Dou, Shi Xue; Kim, Jung Ho; Kimura, Tatsuo; Yamauchi, Yusuke

2014-11-01

A recent study on nanoporous carbon based materials (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 2864) showed that the presence of abundant graphitized sp(2) carbon species in the frameworks led to higher affinity for aromatic hydrocarbons than their aliphatic analogues. Herein, improved understanding of the sensitive and selective detection of aromatic substances by using mesoporous carbon (MPC)-based materials, combined with a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensor system, was obtained. MPCs were synthesized by direct carbonization of mesoporous polymers prepared from resol through a soft templating approach with Pluronic F127. The carbon-based frameworks can be graphitized through the addition of a cobalt source to the precursor solution, according to the catalytic activity of the cobalt nanoparticles formed during the carbonization process. From the Raman data, the degree of the graphitization was clearly increased by increasing the cobalt content and elevating the carbonization temperature. From a QCM study, it was proved that the highly graphitized MPCs exhibited a higher affinity for aromatic hydrocarbons than their aliphatic analogues. By increasing the degree of graphitization in the carbon-based pore walls, the MPCs showed both larger adsorption uptake and faster sensor response towards toxic benzene and toluene vapors. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Growth behavior of carbon nanotubes on multilayered metal catalyst film in chemical vapor deposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cui, H.; Eres, G.; Howe, J. Y.; Puretkzy, A.; Varela, M.; Geohegan, D. B.; Lowndes, D. H.

2003-06-01

The temperature and time dependences of carbon nanotube (CNT) growth by chemical vapor deposition are studied using a multilayered Al/Fe/Mo catalyst on silicon substrates. Within the 600-1100 °C temperature range of these studies, narrower temperature ranges were determined for the growth of distinct types of aligned multi-walled CNTs and single-walled CNTs by using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. At 900 °C, in contrast to earlier work, double-walled CNTs are found more abundant than single-walled CNTs. Defects also are found to accumulate faster than the ordered graphitic structure if the growth of CNTs is extended to long durations.

Carbon nanotube: the inside story.

PubMed

Ando, Yoshinori

2010-06-01

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were serendipitously discovered as a byproduct of fullerenes by direct current (DC) arc discharge; and today this is the most-wanted material in the nanotechnology research. In this brief review, I begin with the history of the discovery of CNTs and focus on CNTs produced by arc discharge in hydrogen atmosphere, which is little explored outside my laboratory. DC arc discharge evaporation of pure graphite rod in pure hydrogen gas results in multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) of high crystallinity in the cathode deposit. As-grown MWCNTs have very narrow inner diameter. Raman spectra of these MWCNTs show high-intensity G-band, unusual high-frequency radial breathing mode at 570 cm(-1), and a new characteristic peak near 1850 cm(-1). Exciting carbon nanowires (CNWs), consisting of a linear carbon chain in the center of MWCNTs are also produced. Arc evaporation of graphite rod containing metal catalysts results in single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) in the whole chamber like macroscopic webs. Two kinds of arc method have been developed to produce SWCNTs: Arc plasma jet (APJ) and Ferrum-Hydrogen (FH) arc methods. Some new purification methods for as-produced SWCNTs are reviewed. Finally, double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) are also described.

Examination of Surface Deposits on Oldbury Reactor Core Graphite to Determine the Concentration and Distribution of 14C.

PubMed

Payne, Liam; Heard, Peter J; Scott, Thomas B

2016-01-01

Pile Grade A graphite was used as a moderator and reflector material in the first generation of UK Magnox nuclear power reactors. As all of these reactors are now shut down there is a need to examine the concentration and distribution of long lived radioisotopes, such as 14C, to aid in understanding their behaviour in a geological disposal facility. A selection of irradiated graphite samples from Oldbury reactor one were examined where it was observed that Raman spectroscopy can distinguish between underlying graphite and a surface deposit found on exposed channel wall surfaces. The concentration of 14C in this deposit was examined by sequentially oxidising the graphite samples in air at low temperatures (450°C and 600°C) to remove the deposit and then the underlying graphite. The gases produced were captured in a series of bubbler solutions that were analysed using liquid scintillation counting. It was observed that the surface deposit was relatively enriched with 14C, with samples originating lower in the reactor exhibiting a higher concentration of 14C. Oxidation at 600°C showed that the remaining graphite material consisted of two fractions of 14C, a surface associated fraction and a graphite lattice associated fraction. The results presented correlate well with previous studies on irradiated graphite that suggest there are up to three fractions of 14C; a readily releasable fraction (corresponding to that removed by oxidation at 450°C in this study), a slowly releasable fraction (removed early at 600°C in this study), and an unreleasable fraction (removed later at 600°C in this study).

Examination of Surface Deposits on Oldbury Reactor Core Graphite to Determine the Concentration and Distribution of 14C

PubMed Central

Payne, Liam; Heard, Peter J.; Scott, Thomas B.

2016-01-01

Pile Grade A graphite was used as a moderator and reflector material in the first generation of UK Magnox nuclear power reactors. As all of these reactors are now shut down there is a need to examine the concentration and distribution of long lived radioisotopes, such as 14C, to aid in understanding their behaviour in a geological disposal facility. A selection of irradiated graphite samples from Oldbury reactor one were examined where it was observed that Raman spectroscopy can distinguish between underlying graphite and a surface deposit found on exposed channel wall surfaces. The concentration of 14C in this deposit was examined by sequentially oxidising the graphite samples in air at low temperatures (450°C and 600°C) to remove the deposit and then the underlying graphite. The gases produced were captured in a series of bubbler solutions that were analysed using liquid scintillation counting. It was observed that the surface deposit was relatively enriched with 14C, with samples originating lower in the reactor exhibiting a higher concentration of 14C. Oxidation at 600°C showed that the remaining graphite material consisted of two fractions of 14C, a surface associated fraction and a graphite lattice associated fraction. The results presented correlate well with previous studies on irradiated graphite that suggest there are up to three fractions of 14C; a readily releasable fraction (corresponding to that removed by oxidation at 450°C in this study), a slowly releasable fraction (removed early at 600°C in this study), and an unreleasable fraction (removed later at 600°C in this study). PMID:27706228

Specific features of low-frequency vibrational dynamics and low-temperature heat capacity of double-walled carbon nanotubes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Avramenko, M. V.; Roshal, S. B.

2016-05-01

A continuous model has been constructed for low-frequency dynamics of a double-walled carbon nanotube. The formation of the low-frequency part of the phonon spectrum of a double-walled nanotube from phonon spectra of its constituent single-walled nanotubes has been considered in the framework of the proposed approach. The influence of the environment on the phonon spectrum of a single double-walled carbon nanotube has been analyzed. A combined method has been proposed for estimating the coefficients of the van der Waals interaction between the walls of the nanotube from the spectroscopic data and the known values of the elastic moduli of graphite. The low-temperature specific heat has been calculated for doublewalled carbon nanotubes, which in the field of applicability of the model ( T < 35 K) is substantially less than the sum of specific heats of two individual single-walled nanotubes forming it.

Static and free-vibrational response of semi-circular graphite-epoxy frames with thin-walled open sections

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Collins, J. Scott; Johnson, Eric R.

1989-01-01

Experiments were conducted to measure the three-dimensional static and free vibrational response of two graphite-epoxy, thin-walled, open section frames. The frames are semi-circular with a radius of three feet, and one specimen has an I cross section and the other has a channel cross section. The flexibility influence coefficients were measured in static tests for loads applied at midspan with the ends of the specimens clamped. Natural frequencies and modes were determined from vibrational tests for free and clamped end conditions. The experimental data is used to evaluate a new finite element which was developed specifically for the analysis of curved, thin-walled structures. The formulation of the element is based on a Vlasov-type, thin-walled, curved beam theory. The predictions from the finite element program generally correlated well with the experimental data for the symmetric I-specimen. Discrepancies in some of the data were found to be due to flexibility in the clamped end conditions. With respect to the data for the channel specimen, the correlation was less satisfactory. The finite element analysis predicted the out-of-plane response of the channel specimen reasonably well, but large discrepancies occurred between the predicted in-plane response and the experimental data. The analysis predicted a much more compliant in-plane response than was observed in the experiments.

Overview of decade-long development of plasma-facing components at ASIPP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, G.-N.; Liu, G. H.; Li, Q.; Qin, S. G.; Wang, W. J.; Shi, Y. L.; Xie, C. Y.; Chen, Z. M.; Missirlian, M.; Guilhem, D.; Richou, M.; Hirai, T.; Escourbiac, F.; Yao, D. M.; Chen, J. L.; Wang, T. J.; Bucalossi, J.; Merola, M.; Li, J. G.; EAST Team

2017-06-01

The first EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak) plasma ignited in 2006 with non-actively cooled steel plates as the plasma-facing materials and components (PFMCs) which were then upgraded into full graphite tiles bolted onto water-cooled copper heat sinks in 2008. The first wall was changed further into molybdenum alloy in 2012, while keeping the graphite for both the upper and lower divertors. With the rapid increase in heating and current driving power in EAST, the W/Cu divertor project was launched around the end of 2012, aiming at achieving actively cooled full W/Cu-PFCs for the upper divertor, with heat removal capability up to 10 MW m-2. The W/Cu upper divertor was finished in the spring of 2014, consisting of 80 cassette bodies toroidally assembled. Commissioning of the EAST upper W/Cu divertor in 2014 was unsatisfactory and then several practical measures were implemented to improve the design, welding quality and reliability, which helped us achieve successful commissioning in the 2015 Spring Campaign. In collaboration with the IO and CEA teams, we have demonstrated our technological capability to remove heat loads of 5000 cycles at 10 MW m-2 and 1000 cycles at 20 MW m-2 for the small scale monoblock mockups, and surprisingly over 300 cycles at 20 MW m-2 for the flat-tile ones. The experience and lessons we learned from batch production and commissioning are undoubtedly valuable for ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) engineering validation and tungsten-related plasma physics.

Synthesis of soluble graphite and graphene.

PubMed

Kelly, K F; Billups, W E

2013-01-15

Because of graphene's anticipated applications in electronics and its thermal, mechanical, and optical properties, many scientists and engineers are interested in this material. Graphene is an isolated layer of the π-stacked hexagonal allotrope of carbon known as graphite. The interlayer cohesive energy of graphite, or exfoliation energy, that results from van der Waals attractions over the interlayer spacing distance of 3.34 Å (61 meV/C atom) is many times weaker than the intralayer covalent bonding. Since graphene itself does not occur naturally, scientists and engineers are still learning how to isolate and manipulate individual layers of graphene. Some researchers have relied on the physical separation of the sheets, a process that can sometimes be as simple as peeling of sheets from crystalline graphite using Scotch tape. Other researchers have taken an ensemble approach, where they exploit the chemical conversion of graphite to the individual layers. The typical intermediary state is graphite oxide, which is often produced using strong oxidants under acidic conditions. Structurally, researchers hypothesize that acidic functional groups functionalize the oxidized material at the edges and a network of epoxy groups cover the sp(2)-bonded carbon network. The exfoliated material formed under these conditions can be used to form dispersions that are usually unstable. However, more importantly, irreversible defects form in the basal plane during oxidation and remain even after reduction of graphite oxide back to graphene-like material. As part of our interest in the dissolution of carbon nanomaterials, we have explored the derivatization of graphite following the same procedures that preserve the sp(2) bonding and the associated unique physical and electronic properties in the chemical processing of single-walled carbon nanotubes. In this Account, we describe efficient routes to exfoliate graphite either into graphitic nanoparticles or into graphene without resorting to oxidation. Our exfoliation process involves the intercalation of lithium into bulk graphite to yield graphene sheets reduced by the lithium. We can alkylate the resulting graphite salt reductively using solubilizing dodecyl groups. By probe microscopy, we show that these groups are attached covalently only at the graphitic edges.

Hydrogen recycling in graphite at higher fluxes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larsson, D.; Bergsåker, H.; Hedqvist, A.

Understanding hydrogen recycling is essential for particle control in fusion devices with a graphite wall. At Extrap T2 three different models have been used. A zero-dimensional (0D) recycling model reproduces the density behavior in plasma discharges as well as in helium glow discharge. A more sophisticated one-dimensional (1D) model is used along with a simple mixing model to explain the results in isotopic exchange experiments. Due to high fluxes some changes in the models were needed. In the paper, the three models are discussed and the results are compared with experimental data.

Energy-absorption capability and scalability of square cross section composite tube specimens

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Farley, Gary L.

1987-01-01

Static crushing tests were conducted on graphite/epoxy and Kevlar/epoxy square cross section tubes to study the influence of specimen geometry on the energy-absorption capability and scalability of composite materials. The tube inside width-to-wall thickness (W/t) ratio was determined to significantly affect the energy-absorption capability of composite materials. As W/t ratio decreases, the energy-absorption capability increases nonlinearly. The energy-absorption capability of Kevlar epoxy tubes was found to be geometrically scalable, but the energy-absorption capability of graphite/epoxy tubes was not geometrically scalable.

Effect of interlaminar normal stresses on the uniaxial zero-to-tension fatigue behavior of graphite/epoxy tubes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Krempl, Erhard; An, Deukman

1991-01-01

Fatigue tests conducted with and without internal pressure have been found to possess approximately the same fatigue life as (+/-45)s graphite/epoxy tubes for zero-to-tension axial load-controlled conditions on an axial torsion servohydraulic apparatus. These tests therefore cannot be considered as confirmations of the suspected detrimental effect of interlaminar tensile stresses on the fatigue performance of thin-walled tubes. The addition of 90-deg plies on both the inside and the outside is found to significantly improve the tubes' static and fatigue strengths.

Systems and methods for dismantling a nuclear reactor

DOEpatents

Heim, Robert R; Adams, Scott Ryan; Cole, Matthew Denver; Kirby, William E; Linnebur, Paul Damon

2014-10-28

Systems and methods for dismantling a nuclear reactor are described. In one aspect the system includes a remotely controlled heavy manipulator ("manipulator") operatively coupled to a support structure, and a control station in a non-contaminated portion of a workspace. The support structure provides the manipulator with top down access into a bioshield of a nuclear reactor. At least one computing device in the control station provides remote control to perform operations including: (a) dismantling, using the manipulator, a graphite moderator, concrete walls, and a ceiling of the bioshield, the manipulator being provided with automated access to all internal portions of the bioshield; (b) loading, using the manipulator, contaminated graphite blocks from the graphite core and other components from the bioshield into one or more waste containers; and (c) dispersing, using the manipulator, dust suppression and contamination fixing spray to contaminated matter.

Measurement of the ratio of hydrogen to deuterium at the KSTAR 2009 experimental campaign

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kwak, Jong-Gu; Wang, Son Jong; Kim, Sun Ho

The control of the ratio of hydrogen to the deuterium is one of the very important issues for ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) minority heating as well as the plasma wall interaction in the tokamak. The ratio of hydrogen to deuterium during the tokamak shot was deduced from the emission spectroscopy measurements during the KSTAR 2009 experimental campaign. Graphite tiles were used for the plasma facing components (PFCs) at KSTAR and its surface area exposed to the plasma was about 11 m{sup 2}. The data showed that it remained as high as around 50% during the campaign period becausemore » graphite tiles were exposed to the air for about two months and the hydrogen contents at the tiles are not fully pumped out due to the lack of baking on the PFC in the 2009 campaign. The validation of the spectroscopy method was checked by using the Zeeman effects and the ratio of hydrogen to the deuterium is compared with results from the residual gas analysis. During the tokamak shot, the ratio is low below 10% initially and saturated after around 1 s. When there is a hydrogen injection to the vessel via ion cyclotron wall conditioning and the boronization process where the carbone is used, the ratio of the hydrogen to the deuterium is increased by up to 100% and it recovers to around 50% after one day of operation. However it does not decrease below 50% at the end of the experimental campaign. It was found that the full baking on the PFC (with a high temperature and sufficient vacuum pumping) is required for the ratio control which guarantees the efficient ICRF heating at the KSTAR 2010 experimental campaign.« less

Advanced electron cyclotron heating and current drive experiments on the stellarator Wendelstein 7-X

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stange, Torsten; Laqua, Heinrich Peter; Beurskens, Marc; Bosch, Hans-Stephan; Bozhenkov, Sergey; Brakel, Rudolf; Braune, Harald; Brunner, Kai Jakob; Cappa, Alvaro; Dinklage, Andreas; Erckmann, Volker; Fuchert, Golo; Gantenbein, Gerd; Gellert, Florian; Grulke, Olaf; Hartmann, Dirk; Hirsch, Matthias; Höfel, Udo; Kasparek, Walter; Knauer, Jens; Langenberg, Andreas; Marsen, Stefan; Marushchenko, Nikolai; Moseev, Dmitry; Pablant, Novomir; Pasch, Ekkehard; Rahbarnia, Kian; Mora, Humberto Trimino; Tsujimura, Toru; Turkin, Yuriy; Wauters, Tom; Wolf, Robert

2017-10-01

During the first operational phase (OP 1.1) of Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) was the exclusive heating method and provided plasma start-up, wall conditioning, heating and current drive. Six gyrotrons were commissioned for OP1.1 and used in parallel for plasma operation with a power of up to 4.3 MW. During standard X2-heating the spatially localized power deposition with high power density allowed controlling the radial profiles of the electron temperature and the rotational transform. Even though W7-X was not fully equipped with first wall tiles and operated with a graphite limiter instead of a divertor, electron densities of n e > 3·1019 m-3 could be achieved at electron temperatures of several keV and ion temperatures above 2 keV. These plasma parameters allowed the first demonstration of a multipath O2-heating scenario, which is envisaged for safe operation near the X-cutoff-density of 1.2·1020 m-3 after full commissioning of the ECRH system in the next operation phase OP1.2.

Carbon chemistry: The high temperature syntheses and applications of nanotubes andsp-hybridized compounds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitchell, Daniel Robert

A brief introduction to carbon chemistry is given with an emphasis on the use high-temperature reactions that use carbon vapor, generated from graphite, to synthesize nano-structured materials. Laser and electric are ablation of graphite was utilized to create a variety of high carbon content materials ranging from discrete acetylenic molecules to extremely large multi-wall nanotubes. A new synthesis for large carbon nanotubes, containing 1--5 atom percent nitrogen bound into the graphite lattice, was realized by the reaction of carbon vapor, nickel/yttrium catalyst and cyanogen gas. These carbon "megatubes" were then employed as a substrate to tether a wide variety of molecules both inorganic and organic. The megatubes, in their native and derivatized states, were then assembled into simple circuits to explore their electronic transport properties. Direct fluorination was used to post-treat the surface of the multi-wall carbon nanotubes in order to alter the inherent physical and chemical properties of the tubes, as well as to serve as another route to functionalize their surfaces. Fluorine sites on the walls of the tube were allowed to react with Grignard reagents to produce nantoubes with the chosen alkyl chemically bonded to the surface. Products were characterized with techniques similar to unfluorinated tubules. Using similar carbon vaporization techniques, sp-hybridized carbon chain compounds were synthesized. Using a one-step method dicyanopolyynes were synthesized and characterized with nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectroscopy, containing up to 8 acetylenic repeat units. A two-step method was also utilized to create polyynes terminated with trifluoromethyl or nitrile radicals generated in a capacitively coupled radio frequency glow plasma discharge. A partial characterization of these products was accomplished with nuclear magnetic resonance, mass, and infrared spectroscopy techniques.

What makes lithium substituted polyacrylic acid a better binder than polyacrylic acid for silicon-graphite composite anodes?

DOE PAGES

Hays, Kevin A.; Ruther, Rose E.; Kukay, Alexander J.; ...

2018-03-04

Lithium substituted polyacrylic acid (LiPAA) has previously been demonstrated as a superior binder over polyacrylic acid (PAA) for Si anodes, but from where does this enhanced performance arise? In this paper, full cells are assembled with PAA and LiPAA based Si-graphite composite anodes that dried at temperatures from 100 °C to 200 °C. The performance of full cells containing PAA based Si-graphite anodes largely depend on the secondary drying temperature, as decomposition of the binder is correlated to increased electrode moisture and a rise in cell impedance. Full cells containing LiPAA based Si-graphite composite electrodes display better Coulombic efficiency thanmore » those with PAA, because of the electrochemical reduction of the PAA binder. This is identified by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and observed gassing during the electrochemical reaction. Finally, Coulombic losses from the PAA and Si SEI, along with depletion of the Si capacity in the anode results in progressive underutilization of the cathode and full cell capacity loss.« less

What makes lithium substituted polyacrylic acid a better binder than polyacrylic acid for silicon-graphite composite anodes?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hays, Kevin A.; Ruther, Rose E.; Kukay, Alexander J.

Lithium substituted polyacrylic acid (LiPAA) has previously been demonstrated as a superior binder over polyacrylic acid (PAA) for Si anodes, but from where does this enhanced performance arise? In this paper, full cells are assembled with PAA and LiPAA based Si-graphite composite anodes that dried at temperatures from 100 °C to 200 °C. The performance of full cells containing PAA based Si-graphite anodes largely depend on the secondary drying temperature, as decomposition of the binder is correlated to increased electrode moisture and a rise in cell impedance. Full cells containing LiPAA based Si-graphite composite electrodes display better Coulombic efficiency thanmore » those with PAA, because of the electrochemical reduction of the PAA binder. This is identified by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and observed gassing during the electrochemical reaction. Finally, Coulombic losses from the PAA and Si SEI, along with depletion of the Si capacity in the anode results in progressive underutilization of the cathode and full cell capacity loss.« less

What makes lithium substituted polyacrylic acid a better binder than polyacrylic acid for silicon-graphite composite anodes?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hays, Kevin A.; Ruther, Rose E.; Kukay, Alexander J.; Cao, Pengfei; Saito, Tomonori; Wood, David L.; Li, Jianlin

2018-04-01

Lithium substituted polyacrylic acid (LiPAA) has previously been demonstrated as a superior binder over polyacrylic acid (PAA) for Si anodes, but from where does this enhanced performance arise? In this study, full cells are assembled with PAA and LiPAA based Si-graphite composite anodes that dried at temperatures from 100 °C to 200 °C. The performance of full cells containing PAA based Si-graphite anodes largely depend on the secondary drying temperature, as decomposition of the binder is correlated to increased electrode moisture and a rise in cell impedance. Full cells containing LiPAA based Si-graphite composite electrodes display better Coulombic efficiency than those with PAA, because of the electrochemical reduction of the PAA binder. This is identified by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and observed gassing during the electrochemical reaction. Coulombic losses from the PAA and Si SEI, along with depletion of the Si capacity in the anode results in progressive underutilization of the cathode and full cell capacity loss.

Elastic torsional buckling of thin-walled composite cylinders

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marlowe, D. E.; Sushinsky, G. F.; Dexter, H. B.

1974-01-01

The elastic torsional buckling strength has been determined experimentally for thin-walled cylinders fabricated with glass/epoxy, boron/epoxy, and graphite/epoxy composite materials and composite-reinforced aluminum and titanium. Cylinders have been tested with several unidirectional-ply orientations and several cross-ply layups. Specimens were designed with diameter-to-thickness ratios of approximately 150 and 300 and in two lengths of 10 in. and 20 in. The results of these tests were compared with the buckling strengths predicted by the torsional buckling analysis of Chao.

Sensitive electrochemical detection of NADH and ethanol at low potential based on pyrocatechol violet electrodeposited on single walled carbon nanotubes-modified pencil graphite electrode.

PubMed

Zhu, Jun; Wu, Xiao-Yan; Shan, Dan; Yuan, Pei-Xin; Zhang, Xue-Ji

2014-12-01

In this work, the electrodeposition of pyrocatechol violet (PCV) was initially investigated by the electrochemical surface plasmon resonance (ESPR) technique. Subsequently, PCV was used as redox-mediator and was electrodeposited on the surface of pencil graphite electrode (PGE) modified with single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). Owing to the remarkable synergistic effect of SWCNTs and PCV, PGE/SWCNTs/PCV exhibited excellent electrocatalytic activity towards dihydronicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) oxidation at low potential (0.2V vs. SCE) with fast amperometric response (<10s), broad linear range (1.3-280 μM), good sensitivity (146.2 μA mM(-1)cm(-2)) and low detection limit (1.3 μM) at signal-to-noise ratio of 3. Thus, this PGE/SWCNTs/PCV could be further used to fabricate a sensitive and economic ethanol biosensor using alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) via a glutaraldehyde/BSA cross-linking procedure. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Purification Procedures for Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gorelik, Olga P.; Nikolaev, Pavel; Arepalli, Sivaram

2001-01-01

This report summarizes the comparison of a variety of procedures used to purify carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanotube material is produced by the arc process and laser oven process. Most of the procedures are tested using laser-grown, single-wall nanotube (SWNT) material. The material is characterized at each step of the purification procedures by using different techniques including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman, X-ray diffractometry (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The identified impurities are amorphous and graphitic carbon, catalyst particle aggregates, fullerenes, and hydrocarbons. Solvent extraction and low-temperature annealing are used to reduce the amount of volatile hydrocarbons and dissolve fullerenes. Metal catalysts and amorphous as well as graphitic carbon are oxidized by reflux in acids including HCl, HNO3 and HF and other oxidizers such as H2O2. High-temperature annealing in vacuum and in inert atmosphere helps to improve the quality of SWNTs by increasing crystallinity and reducing intercalation.

Mechanically Induced Graphite-Nanodiamonds-Phase Transformations During High-Energy Ball Milling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Eskandarany, M. Sherif

2017-05-01

Due to their unusual mechanical, chemical, physical, optical, and biological properties, nearly spherical-like nanodiamonds have received much attention as desirable advanced nanomaterials for use in a wide spectrum of applications. Although, nanodiamonds can be successfully synthesized by several approaches, applications of high temperature and/or high pressure may restrict the real applications of such strategic nanomaterials. Distinct from the current preparation approaches used for nanodiamonds preparation, here we show a new process for preparing ultrafine nanodiamonds (3-5 nm) embedded in a homogeneous amorphous-carbon matrix. Our process started from high-energy ball milling of commercial graphite powders at ambient temperature under normal atmospheric helium gas pressure. The results have demonstrated graphite-single wall carbon nanotubes-amorphous-carbon-nanodiamonds phase transformations carried out through three subsequent stages of ball milling. Based on XRD and RAMAN analyses, the percentage of nanodiamond phase + C60 (crystalline phase) produced by ball milling was approximately 81%, while the amorphous phase amount was 19%. The pressure generated on the powder together the with temperature increase upon the ball-powder-ball collision is responsible for the phase transformations occurring in graphite powders.

Effects of Propylene Carbonate Content in CsPF6-Containing Electrolytes on the Enhanced Performances of Graphite Electrode for Lithium-Ion Batteries

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zheng, Jianming; Yan, Pengfei; Cao, Ruiguo

2016-02-10

Cesium salt has been demonstrated as an efficient electrolyte additive in suppressing the lithium (Li) dendrite formation and directing the formation of an ultrathin and stable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) even in propylene carbonate (PC)-ethylene carbonate (EC)-based electrolytes. Here, we further investigate the effect of PC content in the presence of CsPF6 additive (0.05 M) on the performances of graphite electrode in Li||graphite half cells and in graphite||LiNi0.80Co0.15Al0.05O2 (NCA) full cells. It is found that the performance of graphite electrode is also affected by PC content even though CsPF6 additive is present in the electrolytes. An optimal PC content ofmore » 20% by weight in the solvent mixtures is identified. The enhanced electrochemical performance of graphite electrode is attributed to the synergistic effects of the Cs+ additive and the PC solvent. The formation of a robust, ultrathin and compact SEI layer containing lithium-enriched species on the graphite electrode, directed by Cs+, effectively suppresses the PC co-intercalation and thus prevents the graphite exfoliation. This SEI layer is only permeable for de-solvated Li+ ions and allows fast Li+ ion transport through it, which therefore largely alleviates the Li dendrite formation on graphite electrode during lithiation even at high current densities. The presence of low-melting-point PC solvent also enables the sustainable operation of the graphite||NCA full cells under a wide spectrum of temperatures. The fundamental findings of this work shed light on the importance of manipulating/maintaining the electrode/electrolyte interphasial stability in a variety of energy storage devices.« less

Low temperature simulation of subliming boundary layer flow in Jupiter atmosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, C. J.

1976-01-01

A low-temperature approximate simulation for the sublimation of a graphite heat shield under Jovian entry conditions is studied. A set of algebraic equations is derived to approximate the governing equation and boundary conditions, based on order-of-magnitude analysis. Characteristic quantities such as the wall temperature and the subliming velocity are predicted. Similarity parameters that are needed to simulate the most dominant phenomena of the Jovian entry flow are also given. An approximate simulation of the sublimation of the graphite heat shield is performed with an air-dry-ice model. The simulation with the air-dry-ice model may be carried out experimentally at a lower temperature of 3000 to 6000 K instead of the entry temperature of 14,000 K. The rate of graphite sublimation predicted by the present algebraic approximation agrees to the order of magnitude with extrapolated data. The limitations of the simulation method and its utility are discussed.

Effect of Pt and Fe catalysts in the transformation of carbon black into carbon nanotubes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asokan, Vijayshankar; Myrseth, Velaug; Kosinski, Pawel

2015-06-01

In this research carbon nanotubes and carbon nano onion-like structures were synthesized from carbon black using metal catalysts at 400 °C and 700 °C. Platinum and iron-group metals were used as catalysts for the transformation of CB into graphitized nanocarbon and the effect of both metals was compared. The synthesized products were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) and Raman spectroscopy. The characterization shows that this process is very efficient in the synthesis of high quality graphitized products from amorphous carbon black, even though the process temperature was relatively low in comparison with previous studies. Distinguished graphitic walls of the newly formed carbon nanostructures were clearly visible in the HRTEM images. Possible growth difference related to the type of catalyst used is briefly explained with the basis of electron vacancies in d-orbitals of metals.

Origin of melting point depression for rare gas solids confined in carbon pores

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Morishige, Kunimitsu, E-mail: morishi@chem.ous.ac.jp; Kataoka, Takaaki

To obtain insights into the mechanism of the melting-point depression of rare gas solids confined in crystalline carbon pores, we examined the freezing and melting behavior of Xe and Ar confined to the crystalline pores of ordered mesoporous carbons as well as compressed exfoliated graphite compared to the amorphous pores of ordered mesoporous silicas, by means of X-ray diffraction. For the Xe and Ar confined to the crystalline carbon pores, there was no appreciable thermal hysteresis between freezing and melting. Furthermore, the position of the main diffraction peak did not change appreciably on freezing and melting. This strongly suggests thatmore » the liquids confined in the carbon pores form a multilayered structure parallel to the smooth walls. For the Xe and Ar confined to the amorphous silica pores, on the other hand, the position of the main diffraction peak shifted into higher scattering angle on freezing suggested that the density of the confined solid is distinctly larger than for the confined liquid. Using compressed exfoliated graphite with carbon walls of higher crystallinity, we observed that three-dimensional (3D) microcrystals of Xe confined in the slit-shaped pores melted to leave the unmelted bilayers on the pore walls below the bulk triple point. The lattice spacing of the 3D microcrystals confined is larger by ∼0.7% than that of the bilayer next to the pore walls in the vicinity of the melting point.« less

Effects of Propylene Carbonate Content in CsPF 6 -Containing Electrolytes on the Enhanced Performances of Graphite Electrode for Lithium-Ion Batteries

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zheng, Jianming; Yan, Pengfei; Cao, Ruiguo

2016-02-15

The effects Of propylene carbonate (PC) content in CsPF6-containing electrolytes on the performances of graphite electrode in lithium half cells and in graphite parallel to LiNi0.80Co0.15Al0.05O2 (NCA) full cells are investigated. It is found that the performance of graphite electrode is significantly-affected by PC content in the CsPF6-containing electrolytes. An optimal PC content of 20% by weight in the solvent mixtures is identified. The enhanced electrochemical performance of graphite electrode can be attributed to the synergistic effects of the PC solvent and the Cs+ additive. The synergistic effects of Cs+ additive and appropriate amount of PC enable the formation ofmore » a robust, ultrathin, and compact solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer on the surface of graphite electrode, which is only permeable for desolvated Li+ ions and allows fast Li+ ion transport through it. Therefore, this SEI layer effectively suppresses the PC cointercalation and largely alleviates the Li dendrite formation on graphite electrode during lithiation even at relatively high current densities. The presence of low-melting-point PC solvent improves the sustainable operation of graphite parallel to NCA full cells under a wide temperature range. The fundamental findings also shed light On the importance of manipulating/maintaining the electrode/electrolyte interphasial stability in various energy-storage devices.« less

Promising Cell Configuration for Next-Generation Energy Storage: Li2S/Graphite Battery Enabled by a Solvate Ionic Liquid Electrolyte.

PubMed

Li, Zhe; Zhang, Shiguo; Terada, Shoshi; Ma, Xiaofeng; Ikeda, Kohei; Kamei, Yutaro; Zhang, Ce; Dokko, Kaoru; Watanabe, Masayoshi

2016-06-29

Lithium-ion sulfur batteries with a [graphite|solvate ionic liquid electrolyte|lithium sulfide (Li2S)] structure are developed to realize high performance batteries without the issue of lithium anode. Li2S has recently emerged as a promising cathode material, due to its high theoretical specific capacity of 1166 mAh/g and its great potential in the development of lithium-ion sulfur batteries with a lithium-free anode such as graphite. Unfortunately, the electrochemical Li(+) intercalation/deintercalation in graphite is highly electrolyte-selective: whereas the process works well in the carbonate electrolytes inherited from Li-ion batteries, it cannot take place in the ether electrolytes commonly used for Li-S batteries, because the cointercalation of the solvent destroys the crystalline structure of graphite. Thus, only very few studies have focused on graphite-based Li-S full cells. In this work, simple graphite-based Li-S full cells were fabricated employing electrolytes beyond the conventional carbonates, in combination with highly loaded Li2S/graphene composite cathodes (Li2S loading: 2.2 mg/cm(2)). In particular, solvate ionic liquids can act as a single-phase electrolyte simultaneously compatible with both the Li2S cathode and the graphite anode and can further improve the battery performance by suppressing the shuttle effect. Consequently, these lithium-ion sulfur batteries show a stable and reversible charge-discharge behavior, along with a very high Coulombic efficiency.

ZnO Functionalization of Surface Pre-treated Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes for Methane Sensing

EPA Science Inventory

Bare carbon nanotubes (CNTs) cannot be used to sense most gases due to poor bonding between the chemically inert graphitic surface and the different compounds CNTs are exposed to. Consequently, for gas sensing applications, functionalization of CNTs with reactive compounds is req...

Experimental high temperature carbon isotope fractionation involving graphite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kueter, N.; Schmidt, M. W.; Lilley, M. D.; Bernasconi, S. M.

2016-12-01

Graphite/carbonate carbon isotope fractionation was mainly investigated at 400- 800°C and is based on empirical calibrations, theoretical calculations and few experiments [1,2]. Own work on COH-fluid/graphite isotope fractionation shows that in experiments up to 1000oC a fluid phase is always enriched in 13C compared to coexisting graphitic carbon. The eventual kinetic isotope effect in these experiments is best displayed by the graphitic carbon being at least 3 ‰ lighter than methane. Only few experiments done in the graphite/carbonate pair dealt with higher temperatures reaching 1400°C, indicating a fractionation of up to 2 ‰ at temperatures of the Earth's mantle [2-4]. To better understand carbon isotope fractionation in crustal systems and still overcome kinetic effects, we study the graphite/carbonatite pair with piston cylinder experiments in the Na2CO3-CaCO3-CaO-COH system. Tartaric acid (C4H6O6) supplies reduced carbon, time series are performed at 10 kbar, 1300-1800°C. Initial experiments at 1300°C produce well-ordered, micron-sized graphite flakes growing attached to the capsule walls while the Na-Ca-carbonatite-melt quenches to dendritic textures. No gaseous phase was observed. Conditions well above the liquidus of the Na2CO3-CaCO3-binary lead to dissolution of the H2O from tartaric acid decomposition in the melt, any CO2-component is bound by the excess CaO to CaCO3melt while in the relatively oxidizing capsule environment any CH4-component reacts with CO2 to carbon and H2O. The graphite and the carbonatite quench are measured for their δ13C composition using a GasBench II (carbonate-dissolution in phosphoric acid) and TC/EA (residual graphite combusted in oxygen atmosphere) system coupled to a Thermo Fischer IRMS. Our results expand from the graphite-carbonate system to graphite-fluid system when adding available fluid-carbonate fractionation factors, but are also directly applicable to diamond synthesis as graphite is often found as a precursor phase in diamond-growth experiments in carbonatite systems and natural diamonds. [1] Chacko et al. (2001) Rev Min Geochem; Deines & Eggler (2009) GCA; [3] Scheele & Hoefs (1992) CMP; [4] Chacko et al. (1991) GCA

Dissolution Mediated Boron and Carbon Storage during Exhumation of HP Metapelites: Examples from New Hampshire Tourmaline-Graphite Intergrowths

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galvez, M.; Rumble, D.; Cody, G. D.; Sverjensky, D. A.

2013-12-01

The dynamic of light elements (e.g. C,B) in subduction zones is a complex process ultimately governed by variables such as P, T, fH2 and pH. Interface phenomena at scales from the outcrop to intergranular surfaces play key chemical and mechanical roles on this dynamic (e.g. Galvez et al. 2013). We report here a petrological study of hydrated borosilicate tourmaline intergrown with graphite formed at the contact between igneous intrusives and high grade micaschists in New Hampshire graphite deposits (Rumble and Hoering, 1986). Our study includes Raman scattering, SEM, microprobe analysis and thermodynamic modeling, focusing on the Franklin Pierce and Walpole outcrops. Both localities experienced HP-HT metamorphism during the Acadian orogeny as well as complex metasomatic process during exhumation. The tourmaline-graphite intergrowths are structurally localized at and around contacts between an aplite sill and micaschists - biotite-muscovite-garnet-sillimanite-plagioclase-quartz-ilmenite - (Franklin Pierce), or along shear zones (Walpole) in veins. Tourmalines are dravitic in composition (i.e. Na, Mg rich with minor vacancy and Li content 0.2/0.1 a.p.f.u) and contain multiple primary tubular mixed fluid-solid inclusions containing graphite, quartz and gaseous CO2 and CH4. Sharp optical and compositional radial zonations are observed from core to rim in sections along and perpendicular to the c-axis. Blue-green cores are enriched in Mg and Ca (1.5/0.1 a.p.f.u respectively) whereas rims are enriched in Fe, Na and Ti (0.9/0.6/0.1 a.p.f.u respectively). Alternative interpretations in terms of sector zoning or compositional variability of the mineralizing fluid will be discussed. The carbonaceous material (CM) occurs primarily as flakes directly replacing biotite present in wall rocks. The structural ordering of CM, of unambiguous abiotic origin, reveals a material possessing the 3 dimensional structure of hexagonal graphite. Our results are critically compared to measurements done on other metasomatic or biogenic graphite displaying high structural ordering. Other textural habit of graphite are radiating crystals of graphite preferentially growing along crystalline planes of wall rock minerals (e.g. plagioclases) and at the interface between grain edge. We test whether a C and B(OH)3° (×As, Cu) rich acidic vapor unmixing from a salt-rich aqueous fluid exsolved from crystallizing igneous bodies can account for some geochemical and textural greisen-type metasomatic features of these outcrops. Other mechanical and geochemical processes participating in the process will be discussed. This work is direct evidence that respeciation and/or fluid-rock interaction at varying P,T,fH2,pH conditions of fluids during exhumation, as well as interaction between magmatic bodies and metasedimentary units play a key role in the cycling of light elements during exhumation. Rumble, D., III, and Hoering, T.C., 1986, Carbon isotope geochemistry of graphite vein deposits from New Hampshire, U.S.A: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 50, p. 1239-1247. Galvez ME, Beyssac O, Martinez I, Benzerara K, Chaduteau C, Malvoisin B, Malavieille J (2013) Graphite formation by carbonate reduction during subduction. Nature Geoscience 6 (6):473-477

Blowing Carbon Nanotubes to Carbon Nanobulbs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, D. S.; Zhu, Z. P.; Lu, Y.; Schlögl, R.; Weinberg, G.; Liu, Z. Y.

2004-09-01

We report the blowing of multi-walled carbon nanotubes into carbon nanobulbs. This is realized in a unique tube growth environment generated by explosive decomposition of picric acid mixed with nickel formate. The carbon spherical bulbs are characterized by large dimensions (up to 900 nm), thin walls (around 10 nm), and fully hollow cores. The walls are in graphitic structure of sp2 hybridized carbons. Bulb-tube assemblies are found as intermediate derivatives of blowing. A joint action of the filled high-pressure gases and the structural defects in the carbon nanotubes is responsible to the formation of the carbon nanobulbs. Our finding may indicate the possibility to engineer the carbon nanotubes to the designed nanostructures.

Mechanical Drawing of Gas Sensors on Paper

PubMed Central

Mirica, Katherine A.; Weis, Jonathan G.; Schnorr, Jan M.; Esser, Birgit

2012-01-01

This communication describes a simple solvent-free method for fabricating chemoresistive gas sensors on the surface of paper. The method involves mechanical abrasion of compressed powders of sensing materials on the fibers of cellulose. We illustrate this approach by depositing conductive layers of several forms of carbon (e.g., single-walled carbon nanotubes [SWCNTs], multi-walled carbon nanotubes, and graphite) on the surface of different papers (Figure 1, Figure S1). The resulting sensors based on SWCNTs are capable of detecting NH3 gas at concentrations as low as 0.5 part-per-million. PMID:23037938

Experimental-theoretical investigation of the vibration characteristics of rotating composite box beams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chandra, Ramesh; Chopra, Inderjit

1992-08-01

The objective of the study was to predict the effect of elastic couplings on the free vibration characteristics of thin-walled composite box beams and to correlate the results with experimental data. The free vibration characteristics of coupled thin-walled composite beams under rotation were determined using the Galerkin method. The theoretical results were found to be in satisfactory agreement with experimental data obtained for graphite/epoxy, kevlar/epoxy, and glass/epoxy composite beams in an in-vacuo test facility at different rotational speeds.

Rapid solar-thermal decarbonization of methane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dahl, Jaimee Kristen

Due to the ever-increasing demand for energy and the concern over the environmental impact of continuing to produce energy using current methods, there is interest in developing a hydrogen economy. Hydrogen is a desirable energy source because it is abundant in nature and burns cleanly. One method for producing hydrogen is to utilize a renewable energy source to obtain high enough temperatures to decompose a fossil fuel into its elements. This thesis work is directed at developing a solar-thermal aerosol flow reactor to dissociate methane to carbon black and hydrogen. The technology is intended as a "bridge" between current hydrogen production methods, such as conventional steam-methane reformers, and future "zero emission" technology for producing hydrogen, such as dissociating water using a renewable heating source. A solar furnace is used to heat a reactor to temperatures in excess of 2000 K. The final reactor design studied consists of three concentric vertical tubes---an outer quartz protection tube, a middle solid graphite heating tube, and an inner porous graphite reaction tube. A "fluid-wall" is created on the inside wall of the porous reaction tube in order to prevent deposition of the carbon black co-product on the reactor tube wall. The amorphous carbon black produced aids in heating the gas stream by absorbing radiation from the reactor wall. Conversions of 90% are obtained at a reactor wall temperature of 2100 K and an average residence time of 0.01 s. Computer modeling is also performed to study the gas flow and temperature profiles in the reactor as well as the kinetics of the methane dissociation reaction. The simulations indicate that there is little flow of the fluid-wall gas through the porous wall in the hot zone region, but this can be remedied by increasing the inlet temperature of the fluid-wall gas and/or increasing the tube permeability only in the hot zone region of the wall. The following expression describes the kinetics of methane dissociation in a solar-thermal fluid-wall reactor: dXdt=5.8x108 exp-155,600RT 1-X 7.2s-1. The experimental and theoretical work reported in this thesis is the groundwork that will be utilized in scaling up the reactor to produce hydrogen in distributed or centralized facilities.

Different techniques for characterizing single-walled carbon nanotube purity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuca, Neslihan; Camtakan, Zeyneb; Karatepe, Nilgün

2013-09-01

Transition-metal catalysts, fullerenes, graphitic carbon, amorphous carbon, and graphite flakes are the main impurities in carbon nanotubes. In this study, we demonstrate an easy and optimum method of cleaning SWCNTs and evaluating their purity. The purification method, which employed oxidative heat treatment followed by 6M HNO3, H2SO4, HNO3:H2SO4 and HCl acid reflux for 6h at 120°C and microwave digestion with 1.5M HNO3 for 0.5h at 210°C which was straightforward, inexpensive, and fairly effective. The purified materials were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis and nuclear techniques such as INAA, XRF and XRD.

Trapped rubber processing for advanced composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marra, P. J.

1976-01-01

Trapped rubber processing is a molding technique for composites in which precast silicone rubber is placed within a closed cavity where it thermally expands against the composite's surface supported by the vessel walls. The method has been applied by the Douglas Aircraft Company, under contract to NASA-Langley, to the design and fabrication of 10 DC-10 graphite/epoxy upper aft rudder assemblies. A three-bay development tool form mold die has been designed and manufactured, and tooling parameters have been established. Fabrication procedures include graphite layup, assembly of details in the tool, and a cure cycle. The technique has made it possible for the cocured fabrication of complex primary box structures otherwise impracticable via standard composite material processes.

The Impact of Alkaliphilic Biofilm Formation on the Release and Retention of Carbon Isotopes from Nuclear Reactor Graphite.

PubMed

Rout, S P; Payne, L; Walker, S; Scott, T; Heard, P; Eccles, H; Bond, G; Shah, P; Bills, P; Jackson, B R; Boxall, S A; Laws, A P; Charles, C; Williams, S J; Humphreys, P N

2018-03-13

14 C is an important consideration within safety assessments for proposed geological disposal facilities for radioactive wastes, since it is capable of re-entering the biosphere through the generation of 14 C bearing gases. The irradiation of graphite moderators in the UK gas-cooled nuclear power stations has led to the generation of a significant volume of 14 C-containing intermediate level wastes. Some of this 14 C is present as a carbonaceous deposit on channel wall surfaces. Within this study, the potential of biofilm growth upon irradiated and 13 C doped graphite at alkaline pH was investigated. Complex biofilms were established on both active and simulant samples. High throughput sequencing showed the biofilms to be dominated by Alcaligenes sp at pH 9.5 and Dietzia sp at pH 11.0. Surface characterisation revealed that the biofilms were limited to growth upon the graphite surface with no penetration of the deeper porosity. Biofilm formation resulted in the generation of a low porosity surface layer without the removal or modification of the surface deposits or the release of the associated 14 C/ 13 C. Our results indicated that biofilm formation upon irradiated graphite is likely to occur at the pH values studied, without any additional release of the associated 14 C.

Free vibrations of thin-walled semicircular graphite-epoxy composite frames

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carden, Huey D.; Noor, Ahmed K.; Peters, Jeanne M.

1990-01-01

A detailed study is made of the effects of variations in lamination and material parameters of thin walled composite frames on their vibrational characteristics. The structures considered are semicircular thin walled frames with I and J sections. The flanges and webs of the frames are modeled by using 2-D shell and plate finite elements. A mixed formulation is used with the fundamental unknowns consisting of both the generalized displacements and stress resultants in the frame. The frequencies and modes predicted by the 2-D finite element model are compared with those obtained from experiments, as well as with the predictions of a non-dimensional thin walled beam finite element model. A detailed study is made of the sensitivity of the vibrational response to variations in the fiber orientation, material properties of the individual layers, and boundary conditions.

Free vibrations of thin-walled semicircular graphite-epoxy composite frames

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Noor, Ahmed K.; Carden, Huey D.; Peters, Jeanne M.

1990-01-01

A detailed study is made of the effects of variations in lamination and material parameters of thin walled composite frames on their vibrational characteristics. The structures considered are semicircular thin walled frames with I and J sections. The flanges and webs of the frames are modelled by using 2-D shell and plate finite elements. A mixed formulation is used with the fundamental unknowns consisting of both the generalized displacements and stress resultants in the frames. The frequencies and modes predicted by the 2-D finite element model are compared with those obtained from experiments, as well as with the predictions of a 1-D thin walled beam finite element model. A detailed study is made of the sensitivity of the vibrational response to variations in the fiber orientation, material properties of the individual layers, and boundary conditions.

Synthesis and CO{sub 2} adsorption study of modified MOF-5 with multi-wall carbon nanotubes and expandable graphite

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ullah, Sami, E-mail: samichemist1@gmail.com, E-mail: azmibustam@petronas.com.my, E-mail: azmish@petronas.com.my, E-mail: lkhlfh@gmail.com, E-mail: hmurshid@gmail.com, E-mail: nadiariazz@gmail.com; Bustam, M. A., E-mail: samichemist1@gmail.com, E-mail: azmibustam@petronas.com.my, E-mail: azmish@petronas.com.my, E-mail: lkhlfh@gmail.com, E-mail: hmurshid@gmail.com, E-mail: nadiariazz@gmail.com; Shariff, A. M., E-mail: samichemist1@gmail.com, E-mail: azmibustam@petronas.com.my, E-mail: azmish@petronas.com.my, E-mail: lkhlfh@gmail.com, E-mail: hmurshid@gmail.com, E-mail: nadiariazz@gmail.com

2014-10-24

MOF-5 was synthesized by solvothermal method and its reactivation under anhydrous conditions. This research is conducted to investigate the effect of MOF-5 and MOF-5 modified with multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and expandable graphite (EG) on the performance of CO{sub 2} adsorption. The synthesized MOFs were characterized using Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) for surface morphology, Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for thermal stability, X-ray diffraction (XRD) for crystals plane, Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) for surface area and CO{sub 2} adsorption. The result had showed that the modified MOF-5 enhanced the CO{sub 2} adsorption compared to the pure MOF-5. The increment in the CO{submore » 2} uptake capacities of MOF materials was attributed to the decrease in the pore size and enhancement of micropore volume of MOF-5 by multi-walled carbon nanotube and EG incorporation. The BET surface area of the synthesized MOF-5@MWCNTs is more than MOF-5. The CO{sub 2} sorption capacities of MOF-5 and MOF-5@MWCNTs were observed to increase from 0.00008 to 0.00048 mol g-1 at 298 K and 1 bar. The modified MOF-5@MWCNTs resulted in the highest CO{sub 2} adsorption followed by the modified MOF-5@ EG and lastly, MOF-5.« less

Heat Transfer Performances of Pool Boiling on Metal-Graphite Composite Surfaces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, Nengli; Chao, David F.; Yang, Wen-Jei

2000-01-01

Nucleate boiling, especially near the critical heat flux (CHF), can provide excellent economy along with high efficiency of heat transfer. However, the performance of nucleate boiling may deteriorate in a reduced gravity environment and the nucleate boiling usually has a potentially dangerous characteristic in CHF regime. That is, any slight overload can result in burnout of the boiling surface because the heat transfer will suddenly move into the film-boiling regime. Therefore, enhancement of nucleate boiling heat transfer becomes more important in reduced gravity environments. Enhancing nucleate boiling and critical heat flux can be reached using micro-configured metal-graphite composites as the boiling surface. Thermocapillary force induced by temperature difference between the graphite-fiber tips and the metal matrix, which is independent of gravity, will play an important role in bubble detachment. Thus boiling heat transfer performance does not deteriorate in a reduced-gravity environment. Based on the existing experimental data, and a two-tier theoretical model, correlation formulas are derived for nucleate boiling on the copper-graphite and aluminum-graphite composite surfaces, in both the isolated and coalesced bubble regimes. Experimental studies were performed on nucleate pool boiling of pentane on cooper-graphite (Cu-Gr) and aluminum-graphite (Al-Gr) composite surfaces with various fiber volume concentrations for heat fluxes up to 35 W per square centimeter. It is revealed that a significant enhancement in boiling heat transfer performance on the composite surfaces is achieved, due to the presence of micro-graphite fibers embedded in the matrix. The onset of nucleate boiling (the isolated bubble regime) occurs at wall superheat of about 10 C for the Cu-Gr surface and 15 C for the Al-Gr surface, much lower than their respective pure metal surfaces. Transition from an isolated bubble regime to a coalesced bubble regime in boiling occurs at a superheat of about 14 C on Cu-Gr surface and 19 C on Al-Gr surface.

Development of CVD-W coatings on CuCrZr and graphite substrates with a PVD intermediate layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Jiupeng; Lian, Youyun; Lv, Yanwei; Liu, Junyong; Yu, Yang; Liu, Xiang; Yan, Binyou; Chen, Zhigang; Zhuang, Zhigang; Zhao, Ximeng; Qi, Yang

2014-12-01

In order to apply tungsten (W) coatings by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) for repairing or updating the plasma facing components (PFCs) of the first wall and divertor in existing or future tokomaks, where CuCrZr or graphite is the substrate material, an intermediate layer by physical vapor deposition (PVD) has been used to accommodate the interface stress due to the mismatch of thermal expansion or act as a diffusion barrier between the CVD-W coating and the substrate. The prepared CuCrZr/PVD-Cu/CVD-W sample with active cooling has passed thermal fatigue tests by electron beam with an absorbed power of 2.2 MW/m2, 50 s on/50 s off, for 100 cycles. Another graphite/PVD-Si/CVD-W sample without active cooling underwent thermal fatigue testing with an absorbed power density of 4.62 MW/m2, 5 s on/25 s off, for 200 cycles, and no catastrophic failure was found.

AN INSTRUMENT TO MEASURE THE ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY OF ARC PLASMA JETS

DTIC Science & Technology

The instrument was calibrated by moving aluminum or graphite rods through the transducer. By using thin-wall, stainless steel tubing, the influence ... function for the transducer was also obtained. Tests were run on two different arc plasma jet facilities. Values of s, u ranged from 0.02 to 9 megamhos per second. (Author)

Parametric Study on the Response of Compression-Loaded Composite Shells With Geometric and Material Imperfections

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hilburger, Mark W.; Starnes, James H., Jr.

2004-01-01

The results of a parametric study of the effects of initial imperfections on the buckling and postbuckling response of three unstiffened thinwalled compression-loaded graphite-epoxy cylindrical shells with different orthotropic and quasi-isotropic shell-wall laminates are presented. The imperfections considered include initial geometric shell-wall midsurface imperfections, shell-wall thickness variations, local shell-wall ply-gaps associated with the fabrication process, shell-end geometric imperfections, nonuniform applied end loads, and variations in the boundary conditions including the effects of elastic boundary conditions. A high-fidelity nonlinear shell analysis procedure that accurately accounts for the effects of these imperfections on the nonlinear responses and buckling loads of the shells is described. The analysis procedure includes a nonlinear static analysis that predicts stable response characteristics of the shells and a nonlinear transient analysis that predicts unstable response characteristics.

Absorber for microwave investigation in the open space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kubacki, Roman; Smólski, Bogusław; Głuszewski, Wojciech; Przesmycki, Rafał; Rudyk, Karol

2017-04-01

In some circumstances there is a need to realize the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) investigation not in the specialized anechoic chamber but in the open space. Typical absorbers used in anechoic chamber to reduce the reflected rays from walls and floor, such as ferrite plates and graphite cones, are not suitable in the open space. In the work the investigation of the flexible absorbing material intended to the liquidation of the radiation reflected from the ground has been presented. As an absorbing material the metallic-glass with graphite was elaborated. This material was additionally exposed to the ionizing radiation in the dose of 100 kGy in the radioactive gamma source. The permittivity, permeability as well as the shielding properties have been analyzed.

Production of aluminum-silicon alloy and ferrosilicon and commercial purity aluminum by the direct reduction process. Third interim technical report, Phase C for the period 1980 July 1-1980 September 30

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bruno, M.J.

1980-10-01

Pilot reactor VSR-3 operation in the third quarter was directed to tapping molten alloy product. Modifications to the hearth region included a tapping furnace to maintain taphole temperature, a graphite ring filter to separate carbides from matal and an alumina liner to eliminate carbiding from reaction of alloy with the graphite hearth walls. Tapping was not successful, however, due to high alloy viscosity from a large concentration of carbides. Three runs were made on the pilot crystallizer to determine the effects of alloy composition, cooling rate, tamping rate, remelt temperature and rate on eutectic Al-Si yield.

Study of noise reduction characteristics of double-wall panels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Navaneethan, R.; Quayle, B.; Stevenson, S.; Graham, M.

1983-01-01

The noise reduction characteristics of general aviation type, flat, double-wall structures were investigated. The experimental study was carried out on 20-by-20 inch panels with an exposed area of 18 by 18 inches. A frequency range from 20 to 5000 Hz was covered. The experimental results, in general, follow the expected trends. At low frequencies the double-wall structures are no better than the single-wall structures. However, for depths normally used in the general aviation industry, the double-wall panels are very attractive. The graphite-spoxy skin panels have higher noise reduction at very low frequencies ( 100 Hz) than the Kevlar skin panels. But the aluminum panels have higher noise reduction in the high frequency region, due to their greater mass. Use of fiberglass insulation is not effective in the low frequency region, and at times it is even negative. But the insulation is effective in the high-frequency region. The theoretical model for predicting the transmission loss of these multilayered panels is also discussed.

Study of noise reduction characteristics of double-wall panels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Navaneethan, R.; Quayle, B.; Stevenson, S.; Graham, M.

1983-05-01

The noise reduction characteristics of general aviation type, flat, double-wall structures were investigated. The experimental study was carried out on 20-by-20 inch panels with an exposed area of 18 by 18 inches. A frequency range from 20 to 5000 Hz was covered. The experimental results, in general, follow the expected trends. At low frequencies the double-wall structures are no better than the single-wall structures. However, for depths normally used in the general aviation industry, the double-wall panels are very attractive. The graphite-spoxy skin panels have higher noise reduction at very low frequencies ( 100 Hz) than the Kevlar skin panels. But the aluminum panels have higher noise reduction in the high frequency region, due to their greater mass. Use of fiberglass insulation is not effective in the low frequency region, and at times it is even negative. But the insulation is effective in the high-frequency region. The theoretical model for predicting the transmission loss of these multilayered panels is also discussed.

Aligned carbon nanotube, graphene and graphite oxide thin films via substrate-directed rapid interfacial deposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Arcy, Julio M.; Tran, Henry D.; Stieg, Adam Z.; Gimzewski, James K.; Kaner, Richard B.

2012-05-01

A procedure for depositing thin films of carbon nanostructures is described that overcomes the limitations typically associated with solution based methods. Transparent and conductively continuous carbon coatings can be grown on virtually any type of substrate within seconds. Interfacial surface tension gradients result in directional fluid flow and film spreading at the water/oil interface. Transparent films of carbon nanostructures are produced including aligned ropes of single-walled carbon nanotubes and assemblies of single sheets of chemically converted graphene and graphite oxide. Process scale-up, layer-by-layer deposition, and a simple method for coating non-activated hydrophobic surfaces are demonstrated.A procedure for depositing thin films of carbon nanostructures is described that overcomes the limitations typically associated with solution based methods. Transparent and conductively continuous carbon coatings can be grown on virtually any type of substrate within seconds. Interfacial surface tension gradients result in directional fluid flow and film spreading at the water/oil interface. Transparent films of carbon nanostructures are produced including aligned ropes of single-walled carbon nanotubes and assemblies of single sheets of chemically converted graphene and graphite oxide. Process scale-up, layer-by-layer deposition, and a simple method for coating non-activated hydrophobic surfaces are demonstrated. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Droplet coalescence, catenoid formation, mechanism of film growth, scanning electron micrographs showing carbon nanotube alignment, flexible transparent films of SWCNTs, AFM images of a chemically converted graphene film, and SEM images of SWCNT free-standing thin films. See DOI: 10.1039/c2nr00010e

Graphite Waste Tank Cleanup and Decontamination under the Marcoule UP1 D and D Program - 13166

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Thomasset, Philippe; Chabeuf, Jean-Michel; Thiebaut, Valerie

2013-07-01

The UP1 plant in Marcoule reprocessed nearly 20,000 tons of used natural uranium gas cooled reactor fuel coming from the first generation of civil nuclear reactors in France. During more than 40 years, the decladding operations produced thousands of tons of processed waste, mainly magnesium and graphite fragments. In the absence of a French repository for the graphite waste, the graphite sludge content of the storage pits had to be retrieved and transferred into a newer and safer pit. After an extensive R and D program, the equipment and process necessary for retrieval operations were designed, built and tested. Themore » innovative process is mainly based on the use of two pumps (one to capture and the other one to transfer the sludge) working one after the other and a robotic arm mounted on a telescopic mast. A dedicated process was also set up for the removal of the biggest fragments. The retrieval of the most irradiating fragments was a challenge. Today, the first pit is totally empty and its stainless steel walls have been decontaminated using gels. In the second pit, the sludge retrieval and transfer operations have been almost completed. Most of the non-pumpable graphite fragments has been removed and transferred to a new storage pit. After more than 6 years of operations in sludge retrieval, a lot of experience was acquired from which important 'lessons learned' could be shared. (authors)« less

Study of microdosimetric energy deposition patterns in tissue-equivalent medium due to low-energy neutron fields using a graphite-walled proportional counter.

PubMed

Waker, A J; Aslam

2011-06-01

To improve radiation protection dosimetry for low-energy neutron fields encountered in nuclear power reactor environments, there is increasing interest in modeling neutron energy deposition in metrological instruments such as tissue-equivalent proportional counters (TEPCs). Along with these computational developments, there is also a need for experimental data with which to benchmark and test the results obtained from the modeling methods developed. The experimental work described in this paper is a study of the energy deposition in tissue-equivalent (TE) medium using an in-house built graphite-walled proportional counter (GPC) filled with TE gas. The GPC is a simple model of a standard TEPC because the response of the counter at these energies is almost entirely due to the neutron interactions in the sensitive volume of the counter. Energy deposition in tissue spheres of diameter 1, 2, 4 and 8 µm was measured in low-energy neutron fields below 500 keV. We have observed a continuously increasing trend in microdosimetric averages with an increase in neutron energy. The values of these averages decrease as we increase the simulated diameter at a given neutron energy. A similar trend for these microdosimetric averages has been observed for standard TEPCs and the Rossi-type, TE, spherical wall-less counter filled with propane-based TE gas in the same energy range. This implies that at the microdosimetric level, in the neutron energy range we employed in this study, the pattern of average energy deposited by starter and insider proton recoil events in the gas is similar to those generated cumulatively by crosser and stopper events originating from the counter wall plus starter and insider recoil events originating in the sensitive volume of a TEPC.

Reentry Thermal Analysis of a Generic Crew Exploration Vehicle Structure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ko, William L.; Gong, Leslie; Quinn, Robert D.

2007-01-01

Comparative studies were performed on the heat-shielding characteristics of honeycomb-core sandwich panels fabricated with different materials for possible use as wall panels for the proposed crew exploration vehicle. Graphite/epoxy sandwich panel was found to outperform aluminum sandwich panel under the same geometry due to superior heat-shielding qualities and lower material density. Also, representative reentry heat-transfer analysis was performed on the windward wall structures of a generic crew exploration vehicle. The Apollo low Earth orbit reentry trajectory was used to calculate the reentry heating rates. The generic crew exploration vehicle has a graphite/epoxy composite honeycomb sandwich exterior wall and an aluminum honeycomb sandwich interior wall, and is protected with the Apollo thermal protection system ablative material. In the thermal analysis computer program used, the TPS ablation effect was not yet included; however, the results from the nonablation heat-transfer analyses were used to develop a "virtual ablation" method to estimate the ablation heat loads and the thermal protection system recession thicknesses. Depending on the severity of the heating-rate time history, the virtual ablation period was found to last for 87 to 107 seconds and the ablation heat load was estimated to be in the range of 86 to 88 percent of the total heat load for the ablation time period. The thermal protection system recession thickness was estimated to be in the range of 0.08 to 0.11 inches. For the crew exploration vehicle zero-tilt and 18-degree-tilt stagnation points, thermal protection system thicknesses of h = {0.717, 0.733} inches were found to be adequate to keep the substructural composite sandwich temperature below the limit of 300 F.

Heating rates in furnace atomic absorption using the L'vov platform

USGS Publications Warehouse

Koirtyohann, S.R.; Giddings, R.C.; Taylor, Howard E.

1984-01-01

Heating rate profiles for the furnace tube wall, the furnace atmosphere, and a L'vov platform were established for a range of conditions in a cyclically heated graphite atomizer. The tube wall profile was made by direct observation with a recording optical pyrometer. The sodium line reversal method was used to establish the heating rate of the furnace atmosphere, and appearance temperatures for a series metals of differing volatility was used to establish platform profiles. The tube wall heating rate was nearly linear at 2240??C s- until the desired temperature was reached after which the temperature remained constant. The furnace atmosphere reached a given temperature 0.2-0.4 s later than the tube wall through most of the atomize cycle. The platform lagged the tube wall 0.5-0.8 s. Under typical operating conditions the furnace atmosphere was 100-200??C cooler than the tube wall and at nearly constant temperature when the analyte vaporized from the platform. The L'vov platform causes the cyclically heated commercial furnace to approximate the behavior of a constant temperature furnace during atomization. ?? 1984.

Comparison between the Strength Levels of Baseline Nuclear-Grade Graphite and Graphite Irradiated in AGC-2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carroll, Mark Christopher

2015-07-01

This report details the initial comparison of mechanical strength properties between the cylindrical nuclear-grade graphite specimens irradiated in the second Advanced Graphite Creep (AGC-2) experiment with the established baseline, or unirradiated, mechanical properties compiled in the Baseline Graphite Characterization program. The overall comparative analysis will describe the development of an appropriate test protocol for irradiated specimens, the execution of the mechanical tests on the AGC-2 sample population, and will further discuss the data in terms of developing an accurate irradiated property distribution in the limited amount of irradiated data by leveraging the considerably larger property datasets being captured in themore » Baseline Graphite Characterization program. Integrating information on the inherent variability in nuclear-grade graphite with more complete datasets is one of the goals of the VHTR Graphite Materials program. Between “sister” specimens, or specimens with the same geometry machined from the same sub-block of graphite from which the irradiated AGC specimens were extracted, and the Baseline datasets, a comprehensive body of data will exist that can provide both a direct and indirect indication of the full irradiated property distributions that can be expected of irradiated nuclear-grade graphite while in service in a VHTR system. While the most critical data will remain the actual irradiated property measurements, expansion of this data into accurate distributions based on the inherent variability in graphite properties will be a crucial step in qualifying graphite for nuclear use as a structural material in a VHTR environment.« less

Direct synthesis of graphitic mesoporous carbon from green phenolic resins exposed to subsequent UV and IR laser irradiations

PubMed Central

Sopronyi, Mihai; Sima, Felix; Vaulot, Cyril; Delmotte, Luc; Bahouka, Armel; Matei Ghimbeu, Camelia

2016-01-01

The design of mesoporous carbon materials with controlled textural and structural features by rapid, cost-effective and eco-friendly means is highly demanded for many fields of applications. We report herein on the fast and tailored synthesis of mesoporous carbon by UV and IR laser assisted irradiations of a solution consisting of green phenolic resins and surfactant agent. By tailoring the UV laser parameters such as energy, pulse repetition rate or exposure time carbon materials with different pore size, architecture and wall thickness were obtained. By increasing irradiation dose, the mesopore size diminishes in the favor of wall thickness while the morphology shifts from worm-like to an ordered hexagonal one. This was related to the intensification of phenolic resin cross-linking which induces the reduction of H-bonding with the template as highlighted by 13C and 1H NMR. In addition, mesoporous carbon with graphitic structure was obtained by IR laser irradiation at room temperature and in very short time periods compared to the classical long thermal treatment at very high temperatures. Therefore, the carbon texture and structure can be tuned only by playing with laser parameters, without extra chemicals, as usually required. PMID:28000781

Protective sheath for a continuous measurement thermocouple

DOEpatents

Phillippi, R.M.

1991-12-03

Disclosed is a protective thermocouple sheath of a magnesia graphite refractory material for use in continuous temperature measurements of molten metal in a metallurgical ladle and having a basic slag layer thereon. The sheath includes an elongated torpedo-shaped sheath body formed of a refractory composition and having an interior borehole extending axially therethrough and adapted to receive a thermocouple. The sheath body includes a lower end which is closed about the borehole and forms a narrow, tapered tip. The sheath body also includes a first body portion integral with the tapered tip and having a relatively constant cross section and providing a thin wall around the borehole. The sheath body also includes a second body portion having a relatively constant cross section larger than the cross section of the first body portion and providing a thicker wall around the borehole. The borehole terminates in an open end at the second body portion. The tapered tip is adapted to penetrate the slag layer and the thicker second body portion and its magnesia constituent material are adapted to withstand chemical attack thereon from the slag layer. The graphite constituent improves thermal conductivity of the refractory material and, thus, enhances the thermal responsiveness of the device. 4 figures.

Protective sheath for a continuous measurement thermocouple

DOEpatents

Phillippi, R. Michael

1991-01-01

Disclosed is a protective thermocouple sheath of a magnesia graphite refractory material for use in continuous temperature measurements of molten metal in a metallurgical ladle and having a basic slag layer thereon. The sheath includes an elongated torpedo-shaped sheath body formed of a refractory composition and having an interior borehole extending axially therethrough and adapted to receive a thermocouple. The sheath body includes a lower end which is closed about the borehole and forms a narrow, tapered tip. The sheath body also includes a first body portion integral with the tapered tip and having a relatively constant cross section and providing a thin wall around the borehole. The sheath body also includes a second body portion having a relatively constant cross section larger than the cross section of the first body portion and providing a thicker wall around the borehole. The borehole terminates in an open end at the second body portion. The tapered tip is adapted to penetrate the slag layer and the thicker second body portion and its magnesia constituent material are adapted to withstand chemical attack thereon from the slag layer. The graphite constituent improves thermal conductivity of the refractory material and, thus, enhances the thermal responsiveness of the device.

Atomic resolution Z-contrast imaging and energy loss spectroscopy of carbon nanotubes and bundles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lupini, A. R.; Chisholm, M. F.; Puretzky, A. A.; Eres, G.; Melechko, A. V.; Schaaff, G.; Lowndes, D. H.; Geohegan, D. B.; Schittenhelm, H.; Pennycook, S. J.; Wang, Y.; Smalley, R. E.

2002-03-01

Single-wall carbon nanotubes and bundles were studied by a combination of techniques, including conventional imaging and diffraction, atomic resolution Z-contrast imaging in an aberration corrected STEM and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). EELS is ideally suited for the analysis of carbon based structures because of the ability to distinguish between the different forms, specifically nanotubes, graphite, amorphous carbon and diamond. Numerous attempts were made to synthesize crystals of single walled carbon nanotubes, using both solution and vapor deposition of precursor structures directly onto TEM grids for in-situ annealing. The range of structures produced will be discussed.

Scanning gate microscopy of electronic inhomogeneities in single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hunt, Steven R.; Collins, Phillip G.

2010-03-01

The electronic properties of graphitic carbon devices are primarily determined by the contact metal and the carbon band structure. However, inhomogeneities such as substrate imperfections, surface defects, and mobile contaminants also contribute and can lead to transistor-like behaviors. We experimentally investigate this phenomena in the 1-D limit using metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) before and after the electrochemical creation of sidewall defects. While scanning gate microscopy readily identifies the defect sites, the energy-dependence of the technique allows quantitative analysis of the defects and discrimination of different defect types. This research is partly supported by the NSF (DMR 08-xxxx).

A high resolution electron microscopy investigation of curvature in carbon nanotubes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weldon, D. N.; Blau, W. J.; Zandbergen, H. W.

1995-07-01

Evidence for heptagon inclusion in multi-walled carbon nanotubes was sought in arc-produced carbon deposits. Transmission electron microscopy revealed many curved nanotubes although their relative abundance was low. Close examination of the micrographs in the regions of expected heptagon inclusion shows that the curvature is accomplished by folding or fracture of the lattice planes. This observed phenomenon contradicts the theoretical modelling studies which predict stable structures with negative curvature accomplished by heptagon/pentagon pairs. A possible explanation for curvature in single-walled tubes is presented based on a molecular mechanics geometry optimisation study of spa inclusion in a graphite sheet.

Nuclear fuel elements and method of making same

DOEpatents

Schweitzer, Donald G.

1992-01-01

A nuclear fuel element for a high temperature gas nuclear reactor that has an average operating temperature in excess of 2000.degree. C., and a method of making such a fuel element. The fuel element is characterized by having fissionable fuel material localized and stabilized within pores of a carbon or graphite member by melting the fissionable material to cause it to chemically react with the carbon walls of the pores. The fissionable fuel material is further stabilized and localized within the pores of the graphite member by providing one or more coatings of pyrolytic carbon or diamond surrounding the porous graphite member so that each layer defines a successive barrier against migration of the fissionable fuel from the pores, and so that the outermost layer of pyrolytic carbon or diamond forms a barrier between the fissionable material and the moderating gases used in an associated high temperature gas reactor. The method of the invention provides for making such new elements either as generally spherically elements, or as flexible filaments, or as other relatively small-sized fuel elements that are particularly suited for use in high temperature gas reactors.

Heating element support clip

DOEpatents

Sawyer, William C.

1995-01-01

An apparatus for supporting a heating element in a channel formed in a heater base is disclosed. A preferred embodiment includes a substantially U-shaped tantalum member. The U-shape is characterized by two substantially parallel portions of tantalum that each have an end connected to opposite ends of a base portion of tantalum. The parallel portions are each substantially perpendicular to the base portion and spaced apart a distance not larger than a width of the channel and not smaller than a width of a graphite heating element. The parallel portions each have a hole therein, and the centers of the holes define an axis that is substantially parallel to the base portion. An aluminum oxide ceramic retaining pin extends through the holes in the parallel portions and into a hole in a wall of the channel to retain the U-shaped member in the channel and to support the graphite heating element. The graphite heating element is confined by the parallel portions of tantalum, the base portion of tantalum, and the retaining pin. A tantalum tube surrounds the retaining pin between the parallel portions of tantalum.

Heating element support clip

DOEpatents

Sawyer, W.C.

1995-08-15

An apparatus for supporting a heating element in a channel formed in a heater base is disclosed. A preferred embodiment includes a substantially U-shaped tantalum member. The U-shape is characterized by two substantially parallel portions of tantalum that each have an end connected to opposite ends of a base portion of tantalum. The parallel portions are each substantially perpendicular to the base portion and spaced apart a distance not larger than a width of the channel and not smaller than a width of a graphite heating element. The parallel portions each have a hole therein, and the centers of the holes define an axis that is substantially parallel to the base portion. An aluminum oxide ceramic retaining pin extends through the holes in the parallel portions and into a hole in a wall of the channel to retain the U-shaped member in the channel and to support the graphite heating element. The graphite heating element is confined by the parallel portions of tantalum, the base portion of tantalum, and the retaining pin. A tantalum tube surrounds the retaining pin between the parallel portions of tantalum. 6 figs.

Porous graphitic carbon microtubes derived from willow catkins as a substrate of MnO2 for supercapacitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xiaohua; Zhang, Kang; Li, Hengxiang; Cao, Qing; Jin, Li'e.; Li, Ping

2017-03-01

Biomass is receiving considerable attention because of its significant advantages as a sustainable and renewable material. Willow catkins, which have a single-walled microtubular structure are used as both a template and a precursor for synthesizing porous graphitic carbon microtubes (PGCMT) induced by the simultaneous activation-graphitization of K4Fe(CN)6. In addition to providing low-resistant pathways and short ion diffusion channels, as-obtained PGCMT with tubular structure also serves as an ideal platform for anchoring MnO2. The PGCMT/MnO2 composite electrode obtained by MnO2 electrodeposition expressed excellent electrochemical performance, including a significantly enhanced specific capacitance (550.8 F g-1 for the mass of MnO2 at a current density of 2 A g-1), a high capacitance retention of 61.8% even at a high current density of 50 A g-1, and an excellent cycling stability of 89.6% capability retention after 5000 cycles. These findings offer a simple and environmentally friendly strategy for preparing advanced energy materials by utilizing the unique structure of biomass waste from nature.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ganesh, Panchapakesan; Kent, Paul R; Mochalin, Vadym N

We simulate the experimentally observed graphitization of nanodiamonds into multi-shell onion-like carbon nanostructures, also called carbon onions, at different temperatures, using reactive force fields. The simulations include long-range Coulomb and van der Waals interactions. Our results suggest that long-range interactions play a crucial role in the phase-stability and the graphitization process. Graphitization is both enthalpically and entropically driven and can hence be controlled with temperature. The outer layers of the nanodiamond have a lower kinetic barrier toward graphitization irrespective of the size of the nanodiamond and graphitize within a few-hundred picoseconds, with a large volume increase. The inner core ofmore » the nanodiamonds displays a large size-dependent kinetic barrier, and graphitizes much more slowly with abrupt jumps in the internal energy. It eventually graphitizes by releasing pressure and expands once the outer shells have graphitized. The degree of transformation at a particular temperature is thereby determined by a delicate balance between the thermal energy, long-range interactions, and the entropic/enthalpic free energy gained by graphitization. Upon full graphitization, a multi-shell carbon nanostructure appears, with a shell-shell spacing of about {approx}3.4 {angstrom} for all sizes. The shells are highly defective with predominantly five- and seven-membered rings to curve space. Larger nanodiamonds with a diameter of 4 nm can graphitize into spiral structures with a large ({approx}29-atom carbon ring) pore opening on the outermost shell. Such a large one-way channel is most attractive for a controlled insertion of molecules/ions such as Li ions, water, or ionic liquids, for increased electrochemical capacitor or battery electrode applications.« less

GAS COOLED NUCLEAR REACTORS

DOEpatents

Long, E.; Rodwell, W.

1958-06-10

A gas-cooled nuclear reactor consisting of a graphite reacting core and reflector structure supported in a containing vessel is described. A gas sealing means is included for sealing between the walls of the graphite structure and containing vessel to prevent the gas coolant by-passing the reacting core. The reacting core is a multi-sided right prismatic structure having a pair of parallel slots around its periphery. The containing vessel is cylindrical and has a rib on its internal surface which supports two continuous ring shaped flexible web members with their radially innermost ends in sealing engagement within the radially outermost portion of the slots. The core structure is supported on ball bearings. This design permits thermal expansion of the core stracture and vessel while maintainirg a peripheral seal between the tvo elements.

Multiferroic BiFeO3 thin films and nanodots grown on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite substrates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shin, Hyun Wook; Son, Jong Yeog

2017-12-01

Multiferroic BiFeO3 (BFO) thin films and nanodots are deposited on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) substrates via a pulsed laser deposition technique, where the HOPG surface has a honeycomb lattice structure made of carbon atoms, similar to graphene. A graphene/BFO/HOPG capacitor exhibited multiferroic properties, namely ferroelectricity (a residual polarization of 26.8 μC/cm2) and ferromagnetism (a residual magnetization of 1.1 × 10-5 emu). The BFO thin film had high domain wall energies and demonstrated switching time of approximately 82 ns. An 8-nm BFO nanodot showed a typical piezoelectric hysteresis loop with an effective residual piezoelectric constant of approximately 110 pm/V and exhibited two clearly separated current curves depending on the ferroelectric polarization direction.

Design development of graphite primary structures enables SSTO success

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biagiotti, V. A.; Yahiro, J. S.; Suh, Daniel E.; Hodges, Eric R.; Prior, Donald J.

1997-01-01

This paper describes the development of a graphite composite wing and a graphite composite intertank primary structure for application toward Single-Stage to Orbit space vehicles such as those under development in NASA's X-33/Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Program. The trade study and designs are based on a Rockwell vertical take-off and horizontal landing (VTHL) wing-body RLV vehicle. Northrop Grumman's approach using a building block development technique is described. Composite Graphite/Bismaleimide (Gr/BMI) material characterization test results are presented. Unique intertank and wing composite subcomponent test article designs are described and test results to date are presented. Wing and intertank Full Scale Section Test Article (FSTA) objectives and designs are outlined. Trade studies, supporting building block testing, and FSTA demonstrations combine to develop graphite primary structure composite technology that enables developing X-33/RLV design programs to meet critical SSTO structural weight and operations performance criteria.

Direct laser writing of micro-supercapacitors on hydrated graphite oxide films.

PubMed

Gao, Wei; Singh, Neelam; Song, Li; Liu, Zheng; Reddy, Arava Leela Mohana; Ci, Lijie; Vajtai, Robert; Zhang, Qing; Wei, Bingqing; Ajayan, Pulickel M

2011-07-31

Microscale supercapacitors provide an important complement to batteries in a variety of applications, including portable electronics. Although they can be manufactured using a number of printing and lithography techniques, continued improvements in cost, scalability and form factor are required to realize their full potential. Here, we demonstrate the scalable fabrication of a new type of all-carbon, monolithic supercapacitor by laser reduction and patterning of graphite oxide films. We pattern both in-plane and conventional electrodes consisting of reduced graphite oxide with micrometre resolution, between which graphite oxide serves as a solid electrolyte. The substantial amounts of trapped water in the graphite oxide makes it simultaneously a good ionic conductor and an electrical insulator, allowing it to serve as both an electrolyte and an electrode separator with ion transport characteristics similar to that observed for Nafion membranes. The resulting micro-supercapacitor devices show good cyclic stability, and energy storage capacities comparable to existing thin-film supercapacitors.

Direct laser writing of micro-supercapacitors on hydrated graphite oxide films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Wei; Singh, Neelam; Song, Li; Liu, Zheng; Reddy, Arava Leela Mohana; Ci, Lijie; Vajtai, Robert; Zhang, Qing; Wei, Bingqing; Ajayan, Pulickel M.

2011-08-01

Microscale supercapacitors provide an important complement to batteries in a variety of applications, including portable electronics. Although they can be manufactured using a number of printing and lithography techniques, continued improvements in cost, scalability and form factor are required to realize their full potential. Here, we demonstrate the scalable fabrication of a new type of all-carbon, monolithic supercapacitor by laser reduction and patterning of graphite oxide films. We pattern both in-plane and conventional electrodes consisting of reduced graphite oxide with micrometre resolution, between which graphite oxide serves as a solid electrolyte. The substantial amounts of trapped water in the graphite oxide makes it simultaneously a good ionic conductor and an electrical insulator, allowing it to serve as both an electrolyte and an electrode separator with ion transport characteristics similar to that observed for Nafion membranes. The resulting micro-supercapacitor devices show good cyclic stability, and energy storage capacities comparable to existing thin-film supercapacitors.

Constructing a novel and safer energy storing system using a graphite cathode and a MoO 3 anode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gunawardhana, Nanda; Park, Gum-Jae; Dimov, Nikolay; Thapa, Arjun Kumar; Nakamura, Hiroyoshi; Wang, Hongyu; Ishihara, Tatsumi; Yoshio, Masaki

A cell employing a graphite cathode and a molybdenum (VI) oxide (MoO 3) anode is investigated as a possible energy storage device. Graphite cathode allows raising the voltage well above the cathode materials of LIBs without causing safety issues. The bottom potential of this anode is 2.0 V vs. Li/Li +, which is well above the lithium plating potential. Pulse polarization experiment reveals that no lithium deposition occurs, which further enhances the safety of the graphite/MoO 3 full cell. Charge/discharge mechanism of this system results from intercalation and de-intercalation of the PF 6 - in the cathode (KS-6) and Li + in the anode (MoO 3). This mechanism is supported by in situ X-ray diffraction data of the graphite/MoO 3 cell recorded at various states of charge.

Electrodeposition of Refractory Carbide Coatings.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-12-30

refractory carbide coatings from molten salts is described. It consists of the simultaneous reduction of the appropriate metal species dissolved in the...Electrodeposition Molden salts 20. ASSTRACT (Continue an reve.e. 0g.. It necooom wed identify bp block nu.be) A novel method for electrodepositing...respectively. Electrolysis resulted in the formation of millimeter-size crystals on the walls of the graphite crucible which served as the cathode. Analysis of

Absorption Of Crushing Energy In Square Composite Tubes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Farley, Gary L.

1992-01-01

Report describes investigation of crash-energy-absorbing capabilities of square-cross-section tubes of two matrix/fiber composite materials. Both graphite/epoxy and Kevlar/epoxy tubes crushed in progressive and stable manner. Ratio between width of cross section and thickness of wall determined to affect energy-absorption significantly. As ratio decreases, energy-absorption capability increases non-linearly. Useful in building energy-absorbing composite structures.

High Energy, Long Cycle Life Lithium-ion Batteries for PHEV Application

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Donghai; Manthiram, Arumugam; Wang, Chao-Yang

High-loading and high quality PSU Si anode has been optimized and fabricated. The electrochemical performance has been utilized. The PSU Si-graphite anode exhibits the mass loading of 5.8 mg/cm2, charge capacity of 850 mAh/ g and good cycling performance. This optimized electrode has been used for full-cell fabrication. The performance enhancement of Ni-rich materials can be achieved by a diversity of strategies. Higher Mn content and a small amount of Al doping can improve the electrochemical performance by suppressing interfacial side reactions with electrolytes, thus greatly benefiting the cyclability of the samples. Also, surface coatings of Li-rich materials and AlFmore » 3 are able to improve the performance stability of Ni-rich cathodes. One kilogram of optimized concentration-gradient LiNi 0.76Co 0.10Mn 0.14O 2 (CG) with careful control of composition, morphology and electrochemical performance was delivered to our collaborators. The sample achieved an initial specific capacity close to 190 mA h g -1 at C/10 rate and 180 mA h g -1 at C/3 rate as well as good cyclability in pouch full cells with a 4.4 V upper cut-off voltage at room temperature. Electrolyte additive with Si-N skeleton forms a less resistant SEI on the surface of silicon anode (from PSU) as evidenced by the evolution of the impedance at various lithiation/de-lithiation stages and the cycling data The prelithiation result demonstrates a solution processing method to achieve large area, uniform SLMP coating on well-made anode surface for the prelithiation of lithium-ion batteries. The prelithiation effect with this method is applied both in graphite half cells, graphite/NMC full cells, SiO half cells, SiO/NMC full cells, Si-Graphite half cells and Si-Graphite/NMC full cells with improvements in cycle performance and higher first cycle coulombic efficiency than their corresponding cells without SLMP prelithiation. As to the full cell fabrication and test, full pouch cells with high capacity of 2.2 Ah and 1.2 Ah have been fabricated and delivered. The cells show great uniformity and good cycling performance. The prelithiation method effectively compensate the loss in the first cycle. The cell with high energy density and long-cycle life has been achieved.« less

Investigating interfacial contact configuration and behavior of single-walled carbon nanotube-based nanodevice with atomistic simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cui, Jianlei; Zhang, Jianwei; He, Xiaoqiao; Mei, Xuesong; Wang, Wenjun; Yang, Xinju; Xie, Hui; Yang, Lijun; Wang, Yang

2017-03-01

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), including single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs), are considered to be the promising candidates for next-generation interconnects with excellent physical and chemical properties ranging from ultrahigh mechanical strength, to electrical properties, to thermal conductivity, to optical properties, etc. To further study the interfacial contact configurations of SWNT-based nanodevice with a 13.56-Å diameter, the corresponding simulations are carried out with the molecular dynamic method. The nanotube collapses dramatically into the surface with the complete collapse on the Au/Ag/graphite electrode surface and slight distortion on the Si/SiO2 substrate surface, respectively. The related dominant mechanism is studied and explained. Meanwhile, the interfacial contact configuration and behavior, depended on other factors, are also analyzed in this article.

Analysis of the plasma-wall interaction in the Heliotron E device

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Motojima, O.; Mizuuchi, T.; Besshou, S.; Iiyoshi, A.; Uo, K.; Yamashina, T.; Mohri, M.; Satake, T.; Hashiba, M.; Amemiya, S.; Miwa, H.

1984-12-01

The plasma-wall interaction (PWI) of the currentless plasmas with temperature To, Tio ≤ 1.1 keV, density N¯e = (2-10)× 1013/cm3, and volume-averaged beta value of β$¯≤ 2% was investigated. We have observed that PWI took place mainly where the divertor field line intersected the chamber wall (called divertor traces). Boundary plasmas were measured with electrostatic probes, which showed the presence of the divertor region with the parameters in the range of Ned = 1010-1011/cm3 and Ted = 10-50 eV. Surface analysis techniques (ESCA, AES, and RBS) were applied to analyze the surface probes (Si, graphite and stainless steel) and the test pieces (SiC, TiC, and stainless steel), which were irradiated by plasmas for short and long times respectively.

Cage-Type Highly Graphitic Porous Carbon-Co3O4 Polyhedron as the Cathode of Lithium-Oxygen Batteries.

PubMed

Tang, Jing; Wu, Shichao; Wang, Tao; Gong, Hao; Zhang, Huabin; Alshehri, Saad M; Ahamad, Tansir; Zhou, Haoshen; Yamauchi, Yusuke

2016-02-03

A novel cage-type highly graphitic porous carbon-Co3O4 (GPC-Co3O4) polyhedron was designed and successfully prepared for the first time by executing a two-step annealing of core-shell structured metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). The low graphitic carbon cores were selectively removed during the secondary annealing in air atmospheres, leaving the interior voids due to their lower thermal stability compared with the graphitic carbon shells. Inspired by the unique properties of the cage-type GPC-Co3O4 polyhedron, GPC-Co3O4 was assembled as an oxygen electrode for a rechargeable Li-O2 battery without the additional conductive agent. The efficient generation of Li2O2 during discharging and the reversible decomposition of Li2O2 during charging were clearly observed by XRD patterns and SEM images. The GPC-Co3O4 polyhedron integrates the beneficial properties, including high electronic conductivity, the rigid cage-type structure consisting of the mesoporous walls and interior void space, as well as the uniformly embedded catalytically active Co3O4 nanoparticles. As a result, the GPC-Co3O4 cathode displays a low charge overpotential of 0.58 V, a good rate capability, and a long cycle life in a Li-O2 battery.

Graphite in the Bishop Tuff and its effect on postcaldera oxygen fugacity

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hildreth, Edward; Ryan-Davis, Juliet; Harlow, Benjamin

2017-01-01

Several cubic kilometers of Paleozoic graphite-bearing argillitic country rocks are present as lithic fragments in Bishop Tuff ignimbrite and fallout. The lithics were entrained by the 650 km3 of rhyolite magma that vented during the 5- to 6-day-long, caldera-forming eruption at Long Valley, California. The caldera is floored by a 350 km2 roof plate that collapsed during the eruption and consists in large part of the Paleozoic strata that provided the abundant hornfelsed metapelitic lithic clasts in the tuff. Graphite has been identified by Raman spectroscopy, electron-dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction as an irregularly dispersed component in the small fraction of Bishop Tuff pumice that is dark-colored. Carbon concentration has been determined in pumice, lithics, and wall rocks. Values of δ13C range from –21‰ to –29‰ Vienna Peedee Belemnite (VPDB) for pumice, lithics, and argillitic wall rocks, reflecting the biogenic origin of the reduced carbon in oxygen-limited black Paleozoic marine mudrocks. Carbonate contents, measured separately, are negligible in fresh pumice and lithics. Microprobe analyses of titanomagnetite-ilmenite pairs show that oxygen-fugacity values of numerous batches of postcaldera Early Rhyolite (750–640 ka; ~100 km3) are up to one log unit more reduced than those of the temperature–oxygen fugacity (T-fO2) array of the Bishop Tuff (767 ka), despite similar major-element compositions and Fe-Ti–oxide temperature ranges. All of the many batches of Early Rhyolite, which erupted episodically over an interval of ~125,000 years, yield the reduced fO2 values, indicating that reaction with graphite lowered magmatic fO2 after the caldera-forming eruption but before the first eruption of Early Rhyolite. It is inferred that reaction of postcaldera rhyolite magma with the reduced carbon in a great mass of subsided roof rocks lowered its fO2. It is suggested that comparable effects could have attended caldera collapse of other magma chambers hosted in continental sedimentary rocks.

Non-parametric wall model and methods of identifying boundary conditions for moments in gas flow equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liao, Meng; To, Quy-Dong; Léonard, Céline; Monchiet, Vincent

2018-03-01

In this paper, we use the molecular dynamics simulation method to study gas-wall boundary conditions. Discrete scattering information of gas molecules at the wall surface is obtained from collision simulations. The collision data can be used to identify the accommodation coefficients for parametric wall models such as Maxwell and Cercignani-Lampis scattering kernels. Since these scattering kernels are based on a limited number of accommodation coefficients, we adopt non-parametric statistical methods to construct the kernel to overcome these issues. Different from parametric kernels, the non-parametric kernels require no parameter (i.e. accommodation coefficients) and no predefined distribution. We also propose approaches to derive directly the Navier friction and Kapitza thermal resistance coefficients as well as other interface coefficients associated with moment equations from the non-parametric kernels. The methods are applied successfully to systems composed of CH4 or CO2 and graphite, which are of interest to the petroleum industry.

Consideration of neutral beam prompt loss in the design of a tokamak helicon antenna

DOE PAGES

Pace, D. C.; Van Zeeland, M. A.; Fishler, B.; ...

2016-08-02

Neutral beam prompt losses (injected neutrals that ionize such that their first poloidal transit intersects with the wall) can put appreciable power on the outer wall of tokamaks, and this power may damage the wall or other internal components. These prompt losses are simulated including a protruding helicon antenna installation in the DIII-D tokamak and it is determined that 160 kW of power will impact the antenna during the injection of a particular neutral beam. Protective graphite tiles are designed in response to this modeling and the wall shape of the installed antenna is precisely measured to improve the accuracymore » of these calculations. Initial experiments con rm that the antenna component temperature increases according to the amount of neutral beam energy injected into the plasma. Incorporating neutral beam prompt loss considerations into the design of this in-vessel component serves to ensure that adequate protection or cooling is provided.« less

Consideration of neutral beam prompt loss in the design of a tokamak helicon antenna

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pace, D. C.; Van Zeeland, M. A.; Fishler, B.

Neutral beam prompt losses (injected neutrals that ionize such that their first poloidal transit intersects with the wall) can put appreciable power on the outer wall of tokamaks, and this power may damage the wall or other internal components. These prompt losses are simulated including a protruding helicon antenna installation in the DIII-D tokamak and it is determined that 160 kW of power will impact the antenna during the injection of a particular neutral beam. Protective graphite tiles are designed in response to this modeling and the wall shape of the installed antenna is precisely measured to improve the accuracymore » of these calculations. Initial experiments con rm that the antenna component temperature increases according to the amount of neutral beam energy injected into the plasma. Incorporating neutral beam prompt loss considerations into the design of this in-vessel component serves to ensure that adequate protection or cooling is provided.« less

Formation, characterization, and dynamics of onion-like carbon structures for electrical energy storage from nanodiamonds using reactive force fields

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ganesh, P.; Kent, P. R. C.; Mochalin, V.

We simulate the experimentally observed graphitization of nanodiamonds into multi-shell onion-like carbonnanostructures, also called carbon onions, at different temperatures, using reactive force fields. The simulations include long-range Coulomb and van der Waals interactions. Our results suggest that long-range interactions play a crucial role in the phase-stability and the graphitization process. Graphitization is both enthalpically and entropically driven and can hence be controlled with temperature. The outer layers of the nanodiamond have a lower kinetic barrier toward graphitization irrespective of the size of the nanodiamond and graphitize within a few-hundred picoseconds, with a large volume increase. The inner core of themore » nanodiamonds displays a large size-dependent kinetic barrier, and graphitizes much more slowly with abrupt jumps in the internal energy. It eventually graphitizes by releasing pressure and expands once the outer shells have graphitized. The degree of transformation at a particular temperature is thereby determined by a delicate balance between the thermal energy, long-range interactions, and the entropic/enthalpic free energy gained by graphitization. Upon full graphitization, a multi-shell carbonnanostructure appears, with a shell-shell spacing of about ~3.4 Å for all sizes. The shells are highly defective with predominantly five- and seven-membered rings to curve space. Larger nanodiamonds with a diameter of 4 nm can graphitize into spiral structures with a large (~29-atom carbon ring) pore opening on the outermost shell. Such a large one-way channel is most attractive for a controlled insertion of molecules/ions such as Li ions, water, or ionic liquids, for increased electrochemical capacitor or battery electrode applications.« less

Formation, characterization and dynamics of onion like carbon structures from nanodiamonds using reactive force-fields for electrical energy storage

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kent, Paul R

We simulate the experimentally observed graphitization of nanodiamonds into multi-shell onion-like carbon nanostructures, also called carbon onions, at different temperatures, using reactive force fields. The simulations include long-range Coulomb and van der Waals interactions. Our results suggest that long-range interactions play a crucial role in the phase-stability and the graphitization process. Graphitization is both enthalpically and entropically driven and can hence be controlled with temperature. The outer layers of the nanodiamond have a lower kinetic barrier toward graphitization irrespective of the size of the nanodiamond and graphitize within a few-hundred picoseconds, with a large volume increase. The inner core ofmore » the nanodiamonds displays a large size-dependent kinetic barrier, and graphitizes much more slowly with abrupt jumps in the internal energy. It eventually graphitizes by releasing pressure and expands once the outer shells have graphitized. The degree of transformation at a particular temperature is thereby determined by a delicate balance between the thermal energy, long-range interactions, and the entropic/enthalpic free energy gained by graphitization. Upon full graphitization, a multi-shell carbon nanostructure appears, with a shell-shell spacing of about {approx}3.4 {angstrom} for all sizes. The shells are highly defective with predominantly five- and seven-membered rings to curve space. Larger nanodiamonds with a diameter of 4 nm can graphitize into spiral structures with a large ({approx}29-atom carbon ring) pore opening on the outermost shell. Such a large one-way channel is most attractive for a controlled insertion of molecules/ions such as Li ions, water, or ionic liquids, for increased electrochemical capacitor or battery electrode applications.« less

Ab Initio Theory of Dynamical Core-Hole Screening in Graphite from X-Ray Absorption Spectra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wessely, O.; Katsnelson, M. I.; Eriksson, O.

2005-04-01

We have implemented the effect of dynamical core-hole screening, as given by Mahan, Nozières, and De Dominicis, in a first-principles based method and applied the theory to the x-ray absorption (XA) spectrum of graphite. It turns out that two of the conspicuous peaks of graphite are well described, both regarding the position, shape, and relative intensity, whereas one peak is absent in the theory. Only by incorporation of both excitonic and delocalized processes can a full account of the experimental spectrum be obtained theoretically, and we interpret the XA spectrum in graphite to be the result of a well screened and a poor screened process, much in the same way as is done for core level x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

Optical excitation of carbon nanotubes drives stoichiometric reaction with diazonium salts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Powell, Lyndsey; Piao, Yanmei; Wang, Yuhuang; YuHuang Wang Research Group Team

Covalent chemistry is known to lack the precision required to tailor the physical properties of carbon nanostructures. Here we show that, for the first time, light can be used to drive a typically inefficient reaction with single-walled carbon nanotubes in a more stoichiometric fashion. Specifically, our experimental results suggest that light can enhance the reaction rate of diazonium salt with carbon nanotubes by as much as 35-fold, making possible stoichiometric control of the covalent bonding of a functional group to the sp2 carbon lattice. This light-controlled reaction paves the way for the possibility of highly selective and precise chemistry on single-walled carbon nanotubes and other graphitic nanostructures.

Characterization of Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Polypropylene-Based Composites for Fuel Cell Bipolar Plates and Development of Educational Tools in Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lopez Gaxiola, Daniel

2011-01-01

In this project we developed conductive thermoplastic resins by adding varying amounts of three different carbon fillers: carbon black (CB), synthetic graphite (SG) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) to a polypropylene matrix for application as fuel cell bipolar plates. This component of fuel cells provides mechanical support to the stack,…

Comparison of tokamak behaviour with tungsten and low-Z plasma facing materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Philipps, V.; Neu, R.; Rapp, J.; Samm, U.; Tokar, M.; Tanabe, T.; Rubel, M.

2000-12-01

Graphite wall materials are used in present day fusion devices in order to optimize plasma core performance and to enable access to a large operational space. A large physics database exists for operation with these plasma facing materials, which also indicate their use in future devices with extended burn times. The radiation from carbon impurities in the edge and divertor regions strongly helps to reduce the peak power loads on the strike areas, but carbon radiation also supports the formation of MARFE instabilities which can hinder access to high densities. The main concerns with graphite are associated with its strong chemical affinity to hydrogen, which leads to chemical erosion and to the formation of hydrogen-rich carbon layers. These layers can store a significant fraction of the total tritium fuel, which might prevent the use of these materials in future tritium devices. High-Z plasma facing materials are much more advantageous in this sense, but these advantages compete with the strong poisoning of the plasma if they enter the plasma core. New promising experiences have been obtained with high-Z wall materials in several devices, about which a survey is given in this paper and which also addresses open questions for future research and development work.

Assembly & Metrology of First Wall Components of SST-1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parekh, Tejas; Santra, Prosenjit; Biswas, Prabal; Patel, Hiteshkumar; Paravastu, Yuvakiran; Jaiswal, Snehal; Chauhan, Pradeep; Babu, Gattu Ramesh; A, Arun Prakash; Bhavsar, Dhaval; Raval, Dilip C.; Khan, Ziauddin; Pradhan, Subrata

2017-04-01

First Wall Components (FWC) of SST-1 tokamak, which are in the immediate vicinity of plasma comprises of limiters, divertors, baffles, passive stabilizers are designed to operate long duration (1000 s) discharges of elongated plasma. All FWC consists of a copper alloy heat sink modules with SS cooling tubes brazed onto it, graphite tiles acting as armour material facing the plasma, and are mounted to the vacuum vessels with suitable Inconel support structures at ring & port locations. The FWC are very recently assembled and commissioned successfully inside the vacuum vessel of SST-1 undergoing a meticulous planning of assembly sequence, quality checks at every stage of the assembly process. This paper will present the metrology aspects & procedure of each FWC, both outside the vacuum vessel, and inside the vessel, assembly tolerances, tools, equipment and jig/fixtures, used at each stage of assembly, starting from location of support bases on vessel rings, fixing of copper modules on support structures, around 3800 graphite tile mounting on 136 copper modules with proper tightening torques, till final toroidal and poloidal geometry of the in-vessel components are obtained within acceptable limits, also ensuring electrical continuity of passive stabilizers to form a closed saddle loop, electrical isolation of passive stabilizers from vacuum vessel.

Controllable Self-Assembly of Micro-Nanostructured Si-Embedded Graphite/Graphene Composite Anode for High-Performance Li-Ion Batteries.

PubMed

Lin, Ning; Xu, Tianjun; Li, Tieqiang; Han, Ying; Qian, Yitai

2017-11-15

Si-containing graphite-based composites are considered as promising high-capacity anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Here, a controllable and scalable self-assembly strategy is developed to produce micro-nanostructured graphite/Si/reduced graphene oxides composite (SGG). The self-assembly procedure is realized by the hydrogen bond interaction between acylamino-modified graphite and graphene oxides (GO); Si nanoparticles are in situ embedded between graphite and GO sheets uniformly. This architecture is able to overcome the incompatibility between Si nanoparticles and microsized graphite. Accordingly, the as-prepared SGG anode (Si 8 wt %) delivers a reversible Li-storage capacity of 572 mAh g -1 at 0.2 C, 502.2 mAh g -1 after 600 cycles at 0.8 C with a retention of 92%, and a capacity retention of 64% even at 10 C. The impressive electrochemical properties are ascribed to the stable architecture and three-dimensional conductive network constructed by graphite and graphene sheets, which can accommodate the huge volume change of Si, keep the conductive contact and structural integrity, and suppress side reactions with electrolyte. Additionally, the full-cell (LiFePO 4 cathode/SGG anode) delivers a specific capacity of 550 mAh g -1 with a working potential beyond 3.0 V.

Design development of graphite primary structures enables SSTO success

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Biagiotti, V.A.; Yahiro, J.S.; Suh, D.E.

1997-01-01

This paper describes the development of a graphite composite wing and a graphite composite intertank primary structure for application toward Single-Stage to Orbit space vehicles such as those under development in NASA{close_quote}s X-33/Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Program. The trade study and designs are based on a Rockwell vertical take-off and horizontal landing (VTHL) wing-body RLV vehicle. Northrop Grumman{close_quote}s approach using a building block development technique is described. Composite Graphite/Bismaleimide (Gr/BMI) material characterization test results are presented. Unique intertank and wing composite subcomponent test article designs are described and test results to date are presented. Wing and intertank Full Scale Sectionmore » Test Article (FSTA) objectives and designs are outlined. Trade studies, supporting building block testing, and FSTA demonstrations combine to develop graphite primary structure composite technology that enables developing X-33/RLV design programs to meet critical SSTO structural weight and operations performance criteria. {copyright} {ital 1997 American Institute of Physics.}« less

Growth behavior of carbon nanotubes on multilayered metal catalyst film (Al/Fe/Mo) in chemical vapor deposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cui, H.; Eres, G.; Howe, J. Y.; Puretzky, A.; Varela, M.; Geohegan, D. B.; Lowndes, D. H.

2003-03-01

The temperature- and time- dependences of carbon nanotube (CNT) growth by chemical vapor deposition are studied using a multilayered Al/Fe/Mo catalyst on silicon substrates. Within the 600 - 1100 ^oC temperature range in these studies, narrower temperature ranges were determined for the growth of aligned multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). Aligned MWCNT growth is favored at lower temperatures ( ˜700 ^oC). At 900 ^oC, in contrast to earlier work, double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) are found more abundant than SWCNTs. At further elevated temperature, highly defective carbon structures are produced. Defects also are found to accumulate faster than the ordered graphitic structure if the growth of CNTs is extended to long growth durations. Atomic force microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy are used to characterize the catalyst and various types of CNTs.

Brazed graphite/refractory metal composites for first-wall protection elements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Šmid, I.; Croessmann, C. D.; Salmonson, J. C.; Whitley, J. B.; Kny, E.; Reheis, N.; Kneringer, G.; Nickel, H.

1991-03-01

The peak surface heat flux deposition on divertor elements of near term fusion devices is expected to exceed 10 MW/m 2. The needed reliability of brazed plasma interactive components, particularly under abnormal operating conditions with peak surface temperatures well beyond 1000°C, makes refractory metallic substrates and brazes with a high melting point very attractive. TZM, a high temperature alloy of molybdenum, and isotropic graphite, materials very closely matched in their thermal expansion, were brazed with four high-temperature brazes. The brazes used were Zr, 90Ni/10Ti, 90Cu/10Ti and 70Ag/27Cu/3Ti (nominal composition prior to brazing, wt%). The resulting composite tiles of 50 × 50 mm2 with a TZM thickness of 5 mm and a graphite thickness of 10 mm have been tested in high heat flux simulation for their thermal fatigue properties. Up to 600 loading cycles were carried out with an average heat flux of 10 MW/m 2 for 0.5 s pulses. The maximum surface temperature was 1100°C. In support of the experiment, the thermal response and temperature gradients of the samples were investigated using a finite element model.

Hydrogen storage in graphite nanofibers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Park, C.; Tan, C.D.; Hidalgo, R.

1998-08-01

Graphite nanofibers (GNF) are a type of material that is produced by the decomposition of carbon containing gases over metal catalyst particles at temperatures around 600 C. These molecularly engineered structures consist of graphene sheets perfectly arranged in a parallel, perpendicular or at angle orientation with respect to the fiber axis. The most important feature of the material is that only edges are exposed. Such an arrangement imparts the material with unique properties for gas adsorption because the evenly separated layers constitute the most ordered set of nanopores that can accommodate an adsorbate in the most efficient manner. In addition,more » the non-rigid pore walls can also expand so as to accommodate hydrogen in a multilayer conformation. Of the many varieties of structures that can be produced the authors have discovered that when gram quantities of a selected number of GNF are exposed to hydrogen at pressures of {approximately} 2,000 psi, they are capable of adsorbing and storing up to 40 wt% of hydrogen. It is believed that a strong interaction is established between hydrogen and the delocalized p-electrons present in the graphite layers and therefore a new type of chemistry is occurring within these confined structures.« less

Carbon nanopipettes and microtubes for electrochemical sensing and microfluidics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mani, Radhika C.; Bhimarasetti, Gopinath; Lowe, Randall; Sunkara, Mahendra K.

2004-12-01

We present the synthesis of two novel morphologies for carbon tubular structures: Nanopipettes and Micropipes. The synthesis procedures for both these structures are both unique and different from each other and the conventional methods used for carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanopipettes, open at both ends, are made up of a central nanotube (~10-20 nm) surrounded by helical sheets of graphite. Thus nanopipettes have an outer conical structure, with a base size of about a micron, that narrows down to about 10-20 nm at the tip. Due to their unique morphology, the outer walls of the nanopipettes continuously expose edge planes of graphite, giving a very stable and reversible electrochemical response for detecting neurological compounds such as dopamine. The synthesis of carbon nanopipettes is based on high temperature nucleation and growth of carbon nanotubes under conditions of hydrogen etching during growth. Carbon micropipes, on the other hand, are tubular structures whose internal diameters range from a few nanometers to a few microns with a constant wall thickness of 10-20 nm. In addition to tuning the internal diameters, the conical angles of these structures could also be changed during synthesis. Due to their larger inner diameters and thin walls, both the straight and conical micro-tubular structures are suitable for microfluidic devices such as throttle valves, micro-reactors, and distribution channels. The synthesis of carbon micro-tubular structures is based on the wetting behavior of gallium with carbon during growth. The contact angle between gallium and the carbon wall determines the conical angle of the structure. By varying the contact angle, one can alter the conical angles from 400 to -150, and synthesize straight tubes using different N2/O2 dosing compositions. An 'n-step' dosing sequence at various stages of growth resulted in 'n-staged' morphologies for carbon micro-tubular structures such as funnels, tube-on-cone, Y-junctions and dumbbells.

Graphite/epoxy composite adapters for the Space Shuttle/Centaur vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kasper, Harold J.; Ring, Darryl S.

1990-01-01

The decision to launch various NASA satellite and Air Force spacecraft from the Space Shuttle created the need for a high-energy upper stage capable of being deployed from the cargo bay. Two redesigned versions of the Centaur vehicle which employed a graphite/epoxy composite material for the forward and aft adapters were selected. Since this was the first time a graphite/epoxy material was used for Centaur major structural components, the development of the adapters was a major effort. An overview of the composite adapter designs, subcomponent design evaluation test results, and composite adapter test results from a full-scale vehicle structural test is presented.

Stress analysis and failure of an internally pressurized composite-jacketed steel cylinder

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, Peter C. T.

1992-01-01

This paper presents a nonlinear stress analysis of a thick-walled compound tube subjected to internal pressure. The compound tube is constructed of a steel liner and a graphite-bismaleimide outer shell. Analytical expressions for the stresses, strains, and displacements are derived for all loading ranges up to failure. Numerical results for the stresses and the maximum value that the compound tube can contain without failure are presented.

Finite Element and Molecular Dynamics Modeling and Simulation of Thermal Properties

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-06-01

dots represent the experimental results of the normalized conductivity data ke/kf (ke is κ of the composite, kf is κ of the fluid) CNT in oil ...individual Single Walled Nanotube to four centimeters in length. [4] 6 Carbon based materials, in-plane pyrolytic graphite and diamonds, have the...conductivity of nanocomposites has not yet been achieved. A 2001 experiment studied the thermal conductivity of oil with CNT in suspension. The results

Temperature and flow fields in samples heated in monoellipsoidal mirror furnaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rivas, D.; Haya, R.

The temperature field in samples heated in monoellipsoidal mirror furnaces will be analyzed. The radiation heat exchange between the sample and the mirror is formulated analytically, taking into account multiple reflections at the mirror. It will be shown that the effect of these multiple reflections in the heating process is quite important, and, as a consequence, the effect of the mirror reflectance in the temperature field is quite strong. The conduction-radiation model will be used to simulate the heating process in the floating-zone technique in microgravity conditions; important parameters like the Marangoni number (that drives the thermocapillary flow in the melt), and the temperature gradient at the melt-crystal interface will be estimated. The model will be validated comparing with experimental data. The case of samples mounted in a wall-free configuration (as in the MAXUS-4 programme) will be also considered. Application to the case of compound samples (graphite-silicon-graphite) will be made; the melting of the silicon part and the surface temperature distribution in the melt will be analyzed. Of special interest is the temperature difference between the two graphite rods that hold the silicon part, since it drives the thermocapillary flow in the melt. This thermocapillary flow will be studied, after coupling the previous model with the convective effects. The possibility of counterbalancing this flow by the controlled vibration of the graphite rods will be studied as well. Numerical results show that suppressing the thermocapillary flow can be accomplished quite effectively.

Wall Conditioning Characterization in NSTX-U

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caron, D.; Soukhanovskii, V.; Scotti, F.; Weller, M.

2016-10-01

Impurities in tokamak plasmas can lead to disruptive instabilities due to radiative energy loss which impede access to high-confinements mode. One source of impurities in NSTX-U are water molecules trapped in graphite plasma facing components (PFCs), which make up the walls and divertors. Hydrogen and oxygen impurities are released into the plasma due to plasma surface interactions. Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and visible spectrometers are used in conjunction with a residual gas analyzer (RGA) to characterize the source and amount of released impurities. A high resolution visible spectrometer measured H/D Balmer- α intensity ratio on the inner wall, the upper and lower divertors, and provided a hydrogen time history for shot-to-shot trends. The RGA provided partial pressure trends of masses 2 (H2) , 16 (O2) , and 18 (H2O). Trends of O VIII and C VI spectral line intensities from the core plasma were obtained from the EUV spectrometer. The trends are correlated with wall conditioning, namely helium glow discharge cleaning and boronization. Using these trends, impurity content monitoring and recommendations for wall conditioning can be implemented. Work supported by DOE under Contracts DE-AC52-07NA27344 and DE-AC02-09CH11466.

KSC-08pd3867

NASA Image and Video Library

2008-11-07

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, assembly is underway for the Taurus XL rocket that will launch NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory, or OCO, spacecraft. In the foreground at left is the boattail; behind it is the Stage 0 Castor 120 motor. At right near the wall (from left) are the Stage 1 and Stage 2 motors, the avionics shelf and the Stage 3 motor. The graphite/epoxy boattail structure provides the transition from the smaller diameter of the Stage 2 motor to the larger diameter of the avionics skirt. The avionics skirt, also a graphite/epoxy structure, supports the avionics shelf and carries the primary structural loads from the fairing and payload cone. The aluminum avionics shelf supports the third stage avionics. The OCO is a new Earth-orbiting mission sponsored by NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder Program. The launch of OCO is targeted for January. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB

Exposure to Carbon Nanotube Material: Assessment of Nanotube Cytotoxicity Using Human Keratinocyte Cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shvedova, Anna A.; Castranova, Vincent; Kisin, Elena R.; Schwegler-Berry, Diane; Murray, Ashley R.; Gandelsman, Vadim Z.; Maynard, Andrew; Baron, Paul

2003-01-01

Carbon nanotubes are new members of carbon allotropes similar to fullerenes and graphite. Because of their unique electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties, carbon nanotubes are important for novel applications in the electronics, aerospace, and computer industries. Exposure to graphite and carbon materials has been associated with increased incidence of skin diseases, such as carbon fiber dermatitis, hyperkeratosis, and naevi. We investigated adverse effects of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) using a cell culture of immortalized human epidermal keratinocytes (HaCaT). After 18 h of exposure of HaCaT to SWCNT, oxidative stress and cellular toxicity were indicated by formation of free radicals, accumulation of peroxidative products, antioxidant depletion, and loss of cell viability. Exposure to SWCNT also resulted in ultrastructural and morphological changes in cultured skin cells. These data indicate that dermal exposure to unrefined SWCNT may lead to dermal toxicity due to accelerated oxidative stress in the skin of exposed workers.

Research Technology

NASA Image and Video Library

1998-01-01

Engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama, are working with industry partners to develop a new generation of more cost-efficient space vehicles. Lightweight fuel tanks and components under development will be the critical elements in tomorrow's reusable launch vehicles and will tremendously curb the costs of getting to space. In this photo, Tom DeLay, a materials processes engineer for MSFC, uses a new graphite epoxy technology to create lightweight cryogenic fuel lines for futuristic reusable launch vehicles. He is wrapping a water-soluble mandrel, or mold, with a graphite fabric coated with an epoxy resin. Once wrapped, the pipe will be vacuum-bagged and autoclave-cured. The disposable mold will be removed to reveal a thin-walled fuel line. In addition to being much lighter and stronger than metal, this material won't expand or contract as much in the extreme temperatures encountered by launch vehicles.

Chemometric study of Maya Blue from the voltammetry of microparticles approach.

PubMed

Doménech, Antonio; Doménech-Carbó, María Teresa; de Agredos Pascual, María Luisa Vazquez

2007-04-01

The use of the voltammetry of microparticles at paraffin-impregnated graphite electrodes allows for the characterization of different types of Maya Blue (MB) used in wall paintings from different archaeological sites of Campeche and YucatAn (Mexico). Using voltammetric signals for electron-transfer processes involving palygorskite-associated indigo and quinone functionalities generated by scratching the graphite surface, voltammograms provide information on the composition and texture of MB samples. Application of hierarchical cluster analysis and other chemometric methods allows us to characterize samples from different archaeological sites and to distinguish between samples proceeding from different chronological periods. Comparison between microscopic, spectroscopic, and electrochemical examination of genuine MB samples and synthetic specimens indicated that the preparation procedure of the pigment evolved in time via successive steps anticipating modern synthetic procedures, namely, hybrid organic-inorganic synthesis, temperature control of chemical reactivity, and template-like synthesis.

Biaxial fatigue loading of notched composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Francis, P. H.; Walrath, D. E.; Sims, D. F.; Weed, D. N.

1977-01-01

Thin-walled, 2.54-cm diameter tubular specimens of graphite/epoxy were fatigue cycled in combinations of axial, torsional, and internal pressure loading. Two different four-ply layup configurations were tested: (0-90)s and (+ or- 45)s; each tube contained a 0.48-cm diameter circular hole penetrating one wall midway along the tube length. S-N curves were developed to characterize fatigue behavior under pure axial, torsional, or internal pressure loading, as well as combined loading fatigue. A theory was developed based on a plane stress model which enabled the S-N curve for combined stress states to be predicted from the S-N data for the uniaxial loading modes. Correlation of the theory with the experimental data proved to be remarkably good.

Experimental investigation on the thermal performance of heat storage walls coupled with active solar systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Chunyu; You, Shijun; Zhu, Chunying; Yu, Wei

2016-12-01

This paper presents an experimental investigation of the performance of a system combining a low-temperature water wall radiant heating system and phase change energy storage technology with an active solar system. This system uses a thermal storage wall that is designed with multilayer thermal storage plates. The heat storage material is expanded graphite that absorbs a mixture of capric acid and lauric acid. An experiment is performed to study the actual effect. The following are studied under winter conditions: (1) the temperature of the radiation wall surface, (2) the melting status of the thermal storage material in the internal plate, (3) the density of the heat flux, and (4) the temperature distribution of the indoor space. The results reveal that the room temperature is controlled between 16 and 20 °C, and the thermal storage wall meets the heating and temperature requirements. The following are also studied under summer conditions: (1) the internal relationship between the indoor temperature distribution and the heat transfer within the regenerative plates during the day and (2) the relationship between the outlet air temperature and inlet air temperature in the thermal storage wall in cooling mode at night. The results indicate that the indoor temperature is approximately 27 °C, which satisfies the summer air-conditioning requirements.

Electronic structure of multi-walled carbon fullerenes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doore, Keith; Cook, Matthew; Clausen, Eric; Lukashev, Pavel V.; Kidd, Tim E.; Stollenwerk, Andrew J.

2017-02-01

Despite an enormous amount of research on carbon based nanostructures, relatively little is known about the electronic structure of multi-walled carbon fullerenes, also known as carbon onions. In part, this is due to the very high computational expense involved in estimating electronic structure of large molecules. At the same time, experimentally, the exact crystal structure of the carbon onion is usually unknown, and therefore one relies on qualitative arguments only. In this work we present the results of a computational study on a series of multi-walled fullerenes and compare their electronic structures to experimental data. Experimentally, the carbon onions were fabricated using ultrasonic agitation of isopropanol alcohol and deposited onto the surface of highly ordered pyrolytic graphite using a drop cast method. Scanning tunneling microscopy images indicate that the carbon onions produced using this technique are ellipsoidal with dimensions on the order of 10 nm. The majority of differential tunneling spectra acquired on individual carbon onions are similar to that of graphite with the addition of molecular-like peaks, indicating that these particles span the transition between molecules and bulk crystals. A smaller, yet sizable number exhibited a semiconducting gap between the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) levels. These results are compared with the electronic structure of different carbon onion configurations calculated using first-principles. Similar to the experimental results, the majority of these configurations are metallic with a minority behaving as semiconductors. Analysis of the configurations investigated here reveals that each carbon onion exhibiting an energy band gap consisted only of non-metallic fullerene layers, indicating that the interlayer interaction is not significant enough to affect the total density of states in these structures.

High performance sulfur graphite full cell for next generation sulfur Li-ion battery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Yunwen; Momma, Toshiyuki; Yokoshima, Tokihiko; Nara, Hiroki; Osaka, Tetsuya

2018-06-01

Sulfur (S) Li-ion battery which use the metallic Li free anode is deemed as a promising solution to conquer the hazards originating from Li metal. However, stable cycling performance and low production price of the S Li-ion battery still remain challenging. Here, we propose a S-LixC full cell system by paring a S cathode and a pre-lithiated graphite anode which is cheap and commercially available. It shows stable cycling performance with a capacity around 1300 mAh (g-S)-1 at 0.2 C-rate and 1000 mAh (g-S)-1 at 0.5 C-rate. In addition, 0.1% per cycle capacity fading rate with a capacity retention of 880 mAh (g-S)-1 after 400 cycles at 0.2 C-rate has been achieved. The pre-formed solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer on the pre-lithaited graphite anode largely contributes to the high capacity performance. Notably, a 10-times-enlarged scale of S-LixC laminate type full cell has been assembled with high capacity performance (around 1000 mAh (g-S)-1) even after high rate cycling.

Global transport of light elements boron and carbon in the full-W ASDEX Upgrade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

ASDEX Upgrade Team; Hakola, A.; Likonen, J.; Koivuranta, S.; Krieger, K.; Mayer, M.; Neu, R.; Rohde, V.; Sugiyama, K.

2011-08-01

Transport of carbon and boron has been investigated in the full-W ASDEX Upgrade after experimental campaigns with (2008) and without (2007) boronizations. For this purpose, poloidal deposition profiles of the two elements on tungsten and graphite regions of lower-divertor tiles have been determined. Carbon is mainly deposited in the inner divertor - 80-90% of the determined 12C and 13C inventories on W - while boron shows a much more symmetric deposition profile. In the unboronized machine, the boron inventories are a factor of 10 smaller than in the boronized case and result from residual boron atoms left in the torus prior to the 2007 campaign. Both carbon and boron are deposited more efficiently and/or show less erosion on graphite than on tungsten, particularly in the outer divertor. For 13C, the difference is 10-100 in favor of graphite. This is most probably caused by a higher re-erosion from tungsten surfaces.

Visualizing the chemistry and structure dynamics in lithium-ion batteries by in-situ neutron diffraction

PubMed Central

Wang, Xun-Li; An, Ke; Cai, Lu; Feng, Zhili; Nagler, Stephen E.; Daniel, Claus; Rhodes, Kevin J.; Stoica, Alexandru D.; Skorpenske, Harley D.; Liang, Chengdu; Zhang, Wei; Kim, Joon; Qi, Yue; Harris, Stephen J.

2012-01-01

We report an in-situ neutron diffraction study of a large format pouch battery cell. The succession of Li-Graphite intercalation phases was fully captured under an 1C charge-discharge condition (i.e., charge to full capacity in 1 hour). However, the lithiation and dilithiation pathways are distinctively different and, unlike in slowing charging experiments with which the Li-Graphite phase diagram was established, no LiC24 phase was found during charge at 1C rate. Approximately 75 mol. % of the graphite converts to LiC6 at full charge, and a lattice dilation as large as 4% was observed during a charge-discharge cycle. Our work demonstrates the potential of in-situ, time and spatially resolved neutron diffraction study of the dynamic chemical and structural changes in “real-world” batteries under realistic cycling conditions, which should provide microscopic insights on degradation and the important role of diffusion kinetics in energy storage materials. PMID:23087812

High-Fidelity Buckling Analysis of Composite Cylinders Using the STAGS Finite Element Code

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hilburger, Mark W.

2014-01-01

Results from previous shell buckling studies are presented that illustrate some of the unique and powerful capabilities in the STAGS finite element analysis code that have made it an indispensable tool in structures research at NASA over the past few decades. In particular, prototypical results from the development and validation of high-fidelity buckling simulations are presented for several unstiffened thin-walled compression-loaded graphite-epoxy cylindrical shells along with a discussion on the specific methods and user-defined subroutines in STAGS that are used to carry out the high-fidelity simulations. These simulations accurately account for the effects of geometric shell-wall imperfections, shell-wall thickness variations, local shell-wall ply-gaps associated with the fabrication process, shell-end geometric imperfections, nonuniform applied end loads, and elastic boundary conditions. The analysis procedure uses a combination of nonlinear quasi-static and transient dynamic solution algorithms to predict the prebuckling and unstable collapse response characteristics of the cylinders. Finally, the use of high-fidelity models in the development of analysis-based shell-buckling knockdown (design) factors is demonstrated.

Characterizing plant cell wall derived oligosaccharides using hydrophilic interaction chromatography with mass spectrometry detection.

PubMed

Leijdekkers, A G M; Sanders, M G; Schols, H A; Gruppen, H

2011-12-23

Analysis of complex mixtures of plant cell wall derived oligosaccharides is still challenging and multiple analytical techniques are often required for separation and characterization of these mixtures. In this work it is demonstrated that hydrophilic interaction chromatography coupled with evaporative light scattering and mass spectrometry detection (HILIC-ELSD-MS(n)) is a valuable tool for identification of a wide range of neutral and acidic cell wall derived oligosaccharides. The separation potential for acidic oligosaccharides observed with HILIC is much better compared to other existing techniques, like capillary electrophoresis, reversed phase and porous-graphitized carbon chromatography. Important structural information, such as presence of methyl esters and acetyl groups, is retained during analysis. Separation of acidic oligosaccharides with equal charge yet with different degrees of polymerization can be obtained. The efficient coupling of HILIC with ELSD and MS(n)-detection enables characterization and quantification of many different oligosaccharide structures present in complex mixtures. This makes HILIC-ELSD-MS(n) a versatile and powerful additional technique in plant cell wall analysis. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of segmented electrode length on the performances of Hall thruster

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duan, Ping; Chen, Long; Liu, Guangrui; Bian, Xingyu; Yin, Yan

2016-09-01

The influences of the low-emissive graphite segmented electrode placed near the channel exit on the discharge characteristics of Hall thruster are studied using the particle-in-cell method. A two-dimensional physical model is established according to the Hall thruster discharge channel configuration. The effects of electrode length on potential, ion density, electron temperature, ionization rate and discharge current are investigated. It is found that, with the increasing of segmented electrode length, the equipotential lines bend towards the channel exit, and approximately parallel to the wall at the channel surface, radial velocity and radial flow of ions are increased, and the electron temperature is also enhanced. Due to the conductive characteristic of electrodes, the radial electric field and the axial electron conductivity near the wall are enhanced, and the probability of the electron-atom ionization is reduced, which leads to the degradation of ionization rate in discharge channel. However, the interaction between electrons and the wall enhances the near wall conductivity, therefore the discharge current grows along with the segmented electrode length, and the performance of the thruster is also affected.

Modelling of hydrogen conditioning, retention and release in Tore Supra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grisolia, C.; Horton, L. D.; Ehrenberg, J. K.

1995-04-01

A model based on a local mixing model has been previously developed at JET to explain the recovery of tritium after the first PTE experiment. This model is extended by a 0D plasma particle balance model and is applied to data from Tore Supra wall saturation experiments. With only two free parameters, representing the diffusion of hydrogen atoms and the volume recombination process between hydrogen atoms into molecules, the model can reproduce experimental data. The time evolution of the after-shot outgassing and the integral amount of particles recovered after the shot (assuming 13 m 2 of interacting surfaces between plasma and walls) are in good agreement with the experimental observations. The same set of parameters allows the model to simulate after-shot outgassing of five consecutive discharges. However, the model fails to predict the observed saturation of the walls by the plasma. Results from helium glow discharge (HeGD) can only be partially described. Good agreement with the experimental hydrogen release and its time evolution during HeGD is observed, but the model fails to describe the stability of a saturated graphite wall.

On the thermodynamic path enabling a room-temperature, laser-assisted graphite to nanodiamond transformation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gorrini, F.; Cazzanelli, M.; Bazzanella, N.; Edla, R.; Gemmi, M.; Cappello, V.; David, J.; Dorigoni, C.; Bifone, A.; Miotello, A.

2016-10-01

Nanodiamonds are the subject of active research for their potential applications in nano-magnetometry, quantum optics, bioimaging and water cleaning processes. Here, we present a novel thermodynamic model that describes a graphite-liquid-diamond route for the synthesis of nanodiamonds. Its robustness is proved via the production of nanodiamonds powders at room-temperature and standard atmospheric pressure by pulsed laser ablation of pyrolytic graphite in water. The aqueous environment provides a confinement mechanism that promotes diamond nucleation and growth, and a biologically compatible medium for suspension of nanodiamonds. Moreover, we introduce a facile physico-chemical method that does not require harsh chemical or temperature conditions to remove the graphitic byproducts of the laser ablation process. A full characterization of the nanodiamonds by electron and Raman spectroscopies is reported. Our model is also corroborated by comparison with experimental data from the literature.

Medical clip

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baucom, R. M. (Inventor)

1983-01-01

An X-ray transparent and biological inert medical clip for treating aneurisms and the like is described. A graphite reinforced composite film is molded into a unitary structure having a pair of hourglass-like cavities hinged together with a pair of jaws for grasping the aneurism extending from the wall of one cavity. A silicone rubber pellet is disposed in the other cavity to exert a spring force through the hinge area to normally bias the jaws into contact with each other.

Toroidal midplane neutral beam armor and plasma limiter

DOEpatents

Kugel, Henry W.; Hand Jr, Samuel W.; Ksayian, Haig

1986-02-04

For use in a tokamak fusion reactor having a midplane magnetic coil on the inner wall of an evacuated toriodal chamber within which a neutral beam heated, fusing plasma is magnetically confined, a neutral beam armor shield and plasma limiter is provided on the inner wall of the toroidal chamber to shield the midplane coil from neutral beam shine-thru and plasma deposition. The armor shield/plasma limiter forms a semicircular enclosure around the midplane coil with the outer surface of the armor shield/plasma limiter shaped to match, as closely as practical, the inner limiting magnetic flux surface of the toroidally confined, indented, bean-shaped plasma. The armor shield/plasma limiter includes a plurality of semicircular graphite plates each having a pair of coupled upper and lower sections with each plate positioned in intimate contact with an adjacent plate on each side thereof so as to form a closed, planar structure around the entire outer periphery of the circular midplane coil. The upper and lower plate sections are adapted for coupling to heat sensing thermocouples and to a circulating water conduit system for cooling the armor shield/plasma limiter.The inner center portion of each graphite plate is adapted to receive and enclose a section of a circular diagnostic magnetic flux loop so as to minimize the power from the plasma confinement chamber incident upon the flux loop.

Toroidal midplane neutral beam armor and plasma limiter

DOEpatents

Kugel, Henry W.; Hand, Jr, Samuel W.; Ksayian, Haig

1986-01-01

For use in a tokamak fusion reactor having a midplane magnetic coil on the inner wall of an evacuated toriodal chamber within which a neutral beam heated, fusing plasma is magnetically confined, a neutral beam armor shield and plasma limiter is provided on the inner wall of the toroidal chamber to shield the midplane coil from neutral beam shine-thru and plasma deposition. The armor shield/plasma limiter forms a semicircular enclosure around the midplane coil with the outer surface of the armor shield/plasma limiter shaped to match, as closely as practical, the inner limiting magnetic flux surface of the toroidally confined, indented, bean-shaped plasma. The armor shield/plasma limiter includes a plurality of semicircular graphite plates each having a pair of coupled upper and lower sections with each plate positioned in intimate contact with an adjacent plate on each side thereof so as to form a closed, planar structure around the entire outer periphery of the circular midplane coil. The upper and lower plate sections are adapted for coupling to heat sensing thermocouples and to a circulating water conduit system for cooling the armor shield/plasma limiter.The inner center portion of each graphite plate is adapted to receive and enclose a section of a circular diagnostic magnetic flux loop so as to minimize the power from the plasma confinement chamber incident upon the flux loop.

Damage tolerance in filament-wound graphite/epoxy pressure vessels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Simon, William E.; Ngueyen, Vinh D.; Chenna, Ravi K.

1995-01-01

Graphite/epoxy composites are extensively used in the aerospace and sporting goods industries due to their superior engineering properties compared to those of metals. However, graphite/epoxy is extremely susceptible to impact damage which can cause considerable and sometimes undetected reduction in strength. An inelastic impact model was developed to predict damage due to low-velocity impact. A transient dynamic finite element formulation was used in conjunction with the 3D Tsai-Wu failure criterion to determine and incorporate failure in the materials during impact. Material degradation can be adjusted from no degradation to partial degradation to full degradation. The developed software is based on an object-oriented implementation framework called Extensible Implementation Framework for Finite Elements (EIFFE).

On the origin of the Neoproterozoic Peresopolis graphite deposit, Paraguay Belt, Brazil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manoel, Talitta Nunes; Dexheimer Leite, Jayme Alfredo

2018-07-01

The Peresopolis graphite deposit is located northeast of Brasilândia Town in Mato Grosso State (Brazil). It consists of an 1800 m long, 200 m wide low-crystallinity graphite-bearing tabular layer that trends ENE and dips 65°ESE. The deposit is hosted in carbonaceous phyllites, which along with basal metadiamictites and upper metarenites make up the upper unit (Coxipó Formation) of the Cuiabá Group in the late Cryogenian to Cambrian Paraguay Belt (ca. 650-500Ma). The carbonaceous phyllites show a mineral assemblage consisting mostly of graphite-quartz-muscovite-albite and pyrite and dolomite to a lesser extent; alteration minerals include tosudite and kaolinite. XRD analysis confirmed the gangue material and defined the graphite as low-order crystallinity. Carbon isotope data for graphite ore returned a light and very restricted range of δ13Corg between -29 and -28‰ suggesting organic matter as the source of carbon. One hundred and sixty measurements of Raman graphite spectrum returned a well-fit between full width at half maximum parameter (FWHM) which allowed its use as a geothermometer. Resulting temperatures are in the range between 285 and 300 °C ± 30 °C, indicating low-to very-low metamorphic conditions for transformation of organic matter into amorphous graphite. The deposition of the organic matter should have taken place in an outer slope of a glaciomarine system and its transformation into the ore occurred because of deformation and low-grade metamorphism related to the development of the Neoproterozoic Brasiliano/Pan-African Orogeny (850-500Ma).

Pyrolytic Carbon Coatings on Aligned Carbon Nanotube Assemblies and Fabrication of Advanced Carbon Nanotube/Carbon Composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faraji, Shaghayegh

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a technique used to create a pyrolytic carbon (PyC) matrix around fibrous preforms in carbon/carbon (C/C) composites. Due to difficulties in producing three-dimensional carbon nanotube (CNT) assemblies, use of nanotubes in CVD fabricated CNT/C composites is limited. This dissertation describes efforts to: 1) Study the microstructure of PyC deposited on CNTs in order to understand the effect of microstructure and morphology of carbon coatings on graphitization behavior of CNT/PyC composites. This understanding helped to suggest a new approach for controlled radial growth of CNTs. 2) Evaluate the properties of CNT/PyC structures as a novel form of CNT assemblies with resilient, anisotropic and tunable properties. PyC was deposited on aligned sheets of nanotubes, drawn from spinnable CNT arras, using CVD of acetylene gas. At longer deposition times, the microstructure of PyC changed from laminar turbostratic carbon to a disordered carbon. For samples with short PyC deposition times (up to 30 minutes), deposited carbon layer rearranged during graphitization treatment and resulted in a crystalline structure where the coating and original tube walls could not be easily differentiated. In contrast, in samples with longer carbon deposition durations, carbon layers close to the surface of the coating remained disordered even after graphitization thermal treatment. Understanding the effect of PyC microstructure transition on graphitization behavior of CNT/PyC composites was used to develop a new method for controlled radial growth of CNTs. Carbon coated aligned CNT sheets were graphitized after each short (20 minutes) carbon deposition cycle. This prevented development of disorder carbon during subsequent PyC deposition cycles. Using cyclic-graphitization method, thick PyC coating layers were successfully graphitized into a crystalline structure that could not be differentiated from the original nanotube walls. This resulted into radial growth of CNTs, from 40 to 100 nm. Infiltration of PyC into stacked layered sheets of aligned CNTs produced resilient foam-like materials that exhibited complete recovery from 90% compressive strain. PyC coated the junctions between nanotubes and also increased their surface roughness. These changes were assumed to be responsible for the resiliency of the, once inelastic, assembly of nanotubes. While nanotubes' alignment resulted in anisotropic properties of the foams, variation in PyC infiltration duration was used to tune the foams' properties. Further investigation into properties of these foams showed promising results for their application as pressure/strain sensor and selective liquid absorbers for oil spill clean ups. Finally, CNT foams were used as novel substrates for growth of secondary nanotube assemblies. In order to achieve that, foams were first coated with alumina buffer layers using atomic layer deposition (ALD) method. New nanotubes were further grown inside the foams by CVD of acetylene over iron nano-particles. Super low density and highly porous structure of the foams allowed for diffusion of catalyst along with growth gasses into their bulk, which resulted in growth of secondary nanotubes throughout the thickness of the foams. The thickness of the alumina buffer layer was shown to influence CNT nucleation density and growth uniformity across the thickness of the foams. Compressive mechanical testing of the foams showed an order of magnitude increase in compression strength after secondary CNT growth.

Damage, crack growth and fracture characteristics of nuclear grade graphite using the Double Torsion technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Becker, T. H.; Marrow, T. J.; Tait, R. B.

2011-07-01

The crack initiation and propagation characteristics of two medium grained polygranular graphites, nuclear block graphite (NBG10) and Gilsocarbon (GCMB grade) graphite, have been studied using the Double Torsion (DT) technique. The DT technique allows stable crack propagation and easy crack tip observation of such brittle materials. The linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) methodology of the DT technique was adapted for elastic-plastic fracture mechanics (EPFM) in conjunction with a methodology for directly calculating the J-integral from in-plane displacement fields (JMAN) to account for the non-linearity of graphite deformation. The full field surface displacement measurement techniques of electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI) and digital image correlation (DIC) were used to observe and measure crack initiation and propagation. Significant micro-cracking in the fracture process zone (FPZ) was observed as well as crack bridging in the wake of the crack tip. The R-curve behaviour was measured to determine the critical J-integral for crack propagation in both materials. Micro-cracks tended to nucleate at pores, causing deflection of the crack path. Rising R-curve behaviour was observed, which is attributed to the formation of the FPZ, while crack bridging and distributed micro-cracks are responsible for the increase in fracture resistance. Each contributes around 50% of the irreversible energy dissipation in both graphites.

The Effect of Compressive Loading on the Fatigue Lifetime of Graphite/ Epoxy Laminates

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-10-01

Un-notched 11 3 Specimen Configuration, Notched 12 4 Location of Thickness and Width Measurements 14 5 Overall View of Composite Compression Test...Grips in Universal Testing Machine 24 8 Specimen Positioning Device 26 9 "Full-Fixity" Apparatus, Showing Auxiliary Platens 26 10 Specimen and Restraint...the accumu- lation of a statistically significant data base. * IA previous research study [11 showed that graphite/epoxy composites under constant

Three-dimensional graphitized carbon nanovesicles for high-performance supercapacitors based on ionic liquids.

PubMed

Peng, Chengxin; Wen, Zubiao; Qin, Yao; Schmidt-Mende, Lukas; Li, Chongzhong; Yang, Shihe; Shi, Donglu; Yang, Jinhu

2014-03-01

Three-dimensional nanoporous carbon with interconnected vesicle-like pores (1.5-4.2 nm) has been prepared through a low-cost, template-free approach from petroleum coke precursor by KOH activation. It is found that the thin pore walls are highly graphitized and consist of only three to four layers of graphene, which endows the material with an unusually high specific surface area (2933 m(2)  g(-1) ) and good conductivity. With such unique structural characteristics, if used as supercapacitor electrodes in ionic liquid (IL) electrolytes, the graphitized carbon nanovesicle (GCNV) material displays superior performance, such as high energy densities up to 145.9 Wh kg(-1) and a high combined energy-power delivery, and an energy density of 97.6 Wh kg(-1) can be charged in 47 s at 60 °C. This demonstrates that the energy output of the GCNV-based supercapacitors is comparable to that of batteries, and the power output is one order of magnitude higher. Moreover, the synergistic effect of the GCNVs and the IL electrolyte on the extraordinary performance of the GCNV supercapacitors has been analyzed and discussed. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Electronic-property dependent interactions between tetracycline and graphene nanomaterials in aqueous solution.

PubMed

He, Lin; Liu, Fei-Fei; Zhao, Mengyao; Qi, Zhen; Sun, Xuefei; Afzal, Muhammad Zaheer; Sun, Xiaomin; Li, Yanhui; Hao, Jingcheng; Wang, Shuguang

2018-04-01

Understanding the interactions between graphene nanomaterials (GNMs) and antibiotics in aqueous solution is critical to both the engineering applications of GNMs and the assessment of their potential impact on the fate and transport of antibiotics in the aquatic environment. In this study, adsorption of one common antibiotic, tetracycline, by graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) was examined with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and graphite as comparison. The results showed that the tetracycline adsorption capacity by the four selected carbonaceous materials on the unit mass basis followed an order of GO>RGO>MWCNTs>graphite. Upon normalization by surface area, graphite, RGO and MWCNTs had almost the same high tetracycline adsorption affinity while GO exhibited the lowest. We proposed π-electron-property dependent interaction mechanisms to explain the observed different adsorption behaviors. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggested that the oxygen-containing functional groups on GO surface reduced its π-electron-donating ability, and thus decreased the π-based interactions between tetracycline and GO surface. Comparison of adsorption efficiency at different pH indicated that electrostatic interaction also played an important role in tetracycline-GO interactions. Site energy analysis confirmed a highly heterogeneous distribution of the binding sites and strong tetracycline binding affinity of GO surface. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Inelastic X-ray Scattering Studies of Plasmons in Carbon Nanotubes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Upton, M. H.; Casa, D.; Gog, T.; Misewich, J.; Hill, J. P.; Lowndes, D.; Eres, G.

2006-03-01

We report preliminary inelastic x-ray scattering measurements of the plasmon dispersions in oriented multi- and single- walled carbon nanotubes (M- and S- WCNT) and compare them to the plasmon dispersion in graphite. Two plasmon bands are observed dispersing along the nanotubes' axes: the π and π+σ plasmon bands. The π+σ plasmon band exhibits an apparent systematic variation in energy. Specifically, it has a lower energy in MWCNT than in graphite, and a still lower energy in SWCNT. The energy of the π+σ plasmon band is determined by the plasma frequency of the material, which is proportional to the square root of the electron density. We postulate that the energy shift is a result of a surface effect -- the electron wave function extends past the surface, lowering the average electron density in the bulk. The higher surface-to-volume ratio of the mostly SW sample would then lower the plasmon frequency with respect to the MWCNT sample and graphite. Thus, the systematic variation in plasmon frequency may be explained by a lowering of the net electron density by the surfaces in S- and M-WCNT. Work performed at BNL and the Advanced Photon Source was supported by the US DOE under contracts No. DE-AC02-98CH10886 and No. W-31-109-Eng-38 respectively.

Effects of potential models on the adsorption of ethane and ethylene on graphitized thermal carbon black. Study of two-dimensional critical temperature and isosteric heat versus loading.

PubMed

Do, D D; Do, H D

2004-12-07

Adsorption of ethylene and ethane on graphitized thermal carbon black and in slit pores whose walls are composed of graphene layers is studied in detail to investigate the packing efficiency, the two-dimensional critical temperature, and the variation of the isosteric heat of adsorption with loading and temperature. Here we used a Monte Carlo simulation method with a grand canonical Monte Carlo ensemble. A number of two-center Lennard-Jones (LJ) potential models are investigated to study the impact of the choice of potential models in the description of adsorption behavior. We chose two 2C-LJ potential models in our investigation of the (i) UA-TraPPE-LJ model of Martin and Siepmann for ethane and Wick et al. for ethylene and (ii) AUA4-LJ model of Ungerer et al. for ethane and Bourasseau et al. for ethylene. These models are used to study the adsorption of ethane and ethylene on graphitized thermal carbon black. It is found that the solid-fluid binary interaction parameter is a function of adsorbate and temperature, and the adsorption isotherms and heat of adsorption are well described by both the UA-TraPPE and AUA models, although the UA-TraPPE model performs slightly better. However, the local distributions predicted by these two models are slightly different. These two models are used to explore the two-dimensional condensation for the graphitized thermal carbon black, and these values are 110 K for ethylene and 120 K for ethane.

Simulation of gas adsorption on a surface and in slit pores with grand canonical and canonical kinetic Monte Carlo methods.

PubMed

Ustinov, E A; Do, D D

2012-08-21

We present for the first time in the literature a new scheme of kinetic Monte Carlo method applied on a grand canonical ensemble, which we call hereafter GC-kMC. It was shown recently that the kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC) scheme is a very effective tool for the analysis of equilibrium systems. It had been applied in a canonical ensemble to describe vapor-liquid equilibrium of argon over a wide range of temperatures, gas adsorption on a graphite open surface and in graphitic slit pores. However, in spite of the conformity of canonical and grand canonical ensembles, the latter is more relevant in the correct description of open systems; for example, the hysteresis loop observed in adsorption of gases in pores under sub-critical conditions can only be described with a grand canonical ensemble. Therefore, the present paper is aimed at an extension of the kMC to open systems. The developed GC-kMC was proved to be consistent with the results obtained with the canonical kMC (C-kMC) for argon adsorption on a graphite surface at 77 K and in graphitic slit pores at 87.3 K. We showed that in slit micropores the hexagonal packing in the layers adjacent to the pore walls is observed at high loadings even at temperatures above the triple point of the bulk phase. The potential and applicability of the GC-kMC are further shown with the correct description of the heat of adsorption and the pressure tensor of the adsorbed phase.

Changes in the U.S. Primary Standards for the Air Kerma From Gamma-Ray Beams

PubMed Central

Seltzer, Stephen M.; Bergstrom, Paul M.

2003-01-01

Monte Carlo photon-electron transport calculations have been done to derive new wall corrections for the six NBS-NIST standard graphite-wall, air-ionization cavity chambers that serve as the U.S. national primary standard for air kerma (and exposure) for gamma rays from 60Co, 137Cs, and 192Ir sources. The data developed for and from these calculations have also been used to refine a number of other factors affecting the standards. The largest changes are due to the new wall corrections, and the total changes are +0.87 % to +1.11 % (depending on the chamber) for 60Co beams, +0.64 % to +1.07 % (depending on the chamber) for 137Cs beams, and −0.06 % for the single chamber used in the measurement of the standardized 192Ir source. The primary standards for air kerma will be adjusted in the near future to reflect the changes in factors described in this work. PMID:27413615

Changes in the U.S. Primary Standards for the Air Kerma From Gamma-Ray Beams.

PubMed

Seltzer, Stephen M; Bergstrom, Paul M

2003-01-01

Monte Carlo photon-electron transport calculations have been done to derive new wall corrections for the six NBS-NIST standard graphite-wall, air-ionization cavity chambers that serve as the U.S. national primary standard for air kerma (and exposure) for gamma rays from (60)Co, (137)Cs, and (192)Ir sources. The data developed for and from these calculations have also been used to refine a number of other factors affecting the standards. The largest changes are due to the new wall corrections, and the total changes are +0.87 % to +1.11 % (depending on the chamber) for (60)Co beams, +0.64 % to +1.07 % (depending on the chamber) for (137)Cs beams, and -0.06 % for the single chamber used in the measurement of the standardized (192)Ir source. The primary standards for air kerma will be adjusted in the near future to reflect the changes in factors described in this work.

Adhesion energy of single wall carbon nanotube loops on various substrates

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Tianjun; Department of Physics, Shaoxing University, 508 Huancheng West Rd., Shaoxing 312000; Ayari, Anthony

2015-04-28

The physics of adhesion of one-dimensional nano structures such as nanotubes, nano wires, and biopolymers on different substrates is of great interest for the study of biological adhesion and the development of nano electronics and nano mechanics. In this paper, we present force spectroscopy experiments of individual single wall carbon nanotube loops using a home-made interferometric atomic force microscope. Characteristic force plateaus during the peeling process allow the quantitative measurement of the adhesion energy per unit length on various substrates: graphite, mica, platinum, gold, and silicon. Moreover, using a time-frequency analysis of the deflection of the cantilever, we estimate themore » dynamic stiffness of the contact, providing more information on the nanotube configurations and its intrinsic mechanical properties.« less

Biaxial fatigue loading of notched composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Francis, P. H.; Walrath, D. E.; Sims, D. F.; Weed, D. N.

1977-01-01

Thin walled, 2.54-cm (1-in.) diameter tubular specimens of T300/934 graphite/epoxy were fabricated and fatigue cycled in combinations of axial, torsional, and internal pressure loading. Two different four-ply layup configurations were tested: (0/90)S and (+ or - 45)S; all tubes contained a 0.48-cm (3/16-in.) diameter circular hole penetrating one wall midway along the tube length. S-N curves were developed to characterize fatigue behavior under pure axial, torsional, or internal pressure loading, as well as combined loading fatigue. A theory was developed based on the Hill plane stress model which enabled the S-N curve for combined stress states to be predicted from the S-N data for the uniaxial loading modes. Correlation of the theory with the experimental data proved to be remarkably good.

Recapturing Graphite-Based Fuel Element Technology for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Trammell, Michael P; Jolly, Brian C; Miller, James Henry

ORNL is currently recapturing graphite based fuel forms for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP). This effort involves research and development on materials selection, extrusion, and coating processes to produce fuel elements representative of historical ROVER and NERVA fuel. Initially, lab scale specimens were fabricated using surrogate oxides to develop processing parameters that could be applied to full length NTP fuel elements. Progress toward understanding the effect of these processing parameters on surrogate fuel microstructure is presented.

Pile construction

DOEpatents

Johnson, Alfred A.; Carleton, John T.

1978-05-02

A graphite-moderated, water-cooled nuclear reactor including graphite blocks disposed in transverse alternate layers, one set of alternate layers consisting of alternate full size blocks and smaller blocks through which cooling tubes containing fuel extend, said smaller blocks consisting alternately of tube bearing blocks and support block, the support blocks being smaller than the tube bearing blocks, the aperture of each support block being tapered so as to provide the tube extending therethrough with a narrow region of support while being elsewhere spaced therefrom.

Investigation of Glutaric Anhydride as an Electrolyte Additive for Graphite/LiNi 0.5 Mn 0.3 Co 0.2 O 2 Full Cells

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Peebles, Cameron; He, Meinan; Feng, Zhenxing

The effects of glutaric anhydride (GA) as an electrolyte additive for graphite/LiNi0.5Mn0.3Co0.2O2 full cells operating between 3.0-4.4 V were investigated. Linear scan voltammetry (LSV) revealed that GA preferentially oxidized prior to the carbonate-based electrolyte while Li/graphite half cells revealed that GA can suppress electrolyte decomposition on the graphite electrode giving rise to the bifunctional nature of this additive. The addition of both 0.5 and 1.0 wt% of GA into the carbonate-based electrolyte resulted in superior cycling performance compared to the baseline electrolyte as demonstrated by the slight increase in initial capacities and significant increases in capacity retention over 117 cyclesmore » at C/3. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) showed that while the overall impedance of the GA containing cells was higher than the cells with the baseline electrolyte the change in impedance between post-formation and post-cycling was smallest for the cells containing GA. Additionally, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis confirmed that GA decomposed on the cathode surface leading to an increase in oxygen-containing species, a decrease in LiF species and a simultaneous increase in LixPOyFz species. (C) 2016 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.« less

Highly Flexible and Planar Supercapacitors Using Graphite Flakes/Polypyrrole in Polymer Lapping Film.

PubMed

Raj, C Justin; Kim, Byung Chul; Cho, Won-Je; Lee, Won-gil; Jung, Sang-Don; Kim, Yong Hee; Park, Sang Yeop; Yu, Kook Hyun

2015-06-24

Flexible supercapacitor electrodes have been fabricated by simple fabrication technique using graphite nanoflakes on polymer lapping films as flexible substrate. An additional thin layer of conducting polymer polypyrrole over the electrode improved the surface conductivity and exhibited excellent electrochemical performances. Such capacitor films showed better energy density and power density with a maximum capacitance value of 37 mF cm(-2) in a half cell configuration using 1 M H2SO4 electrolyte, 23 mF cm(-2) in full cell, and 6 mF cm(-2) as planar cell configuration using poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/phosphoric acid (H3PO4) solid state electrolyte. Moreover, the graphite nanoflakes/polypyrrole over polymer lapping film demonstrated good flexibility and cyclic stability.

Basic experiments during loss of vacuum event (LOVE) in fusion experimental reactor

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ogawa, Masuro; Kunugi, Tomoaki; Seki, Yasushi

If a loss of vacuum event (LOVE) occurs due to damage of the vacuum vessel of a nuclear fusion experimental reactor, some chemical reactions such as a graphic oxidation and a buoyancy-driven exchange flow take place after equalization of the gas pressure between the inside and outside of the vacuum vessel. The graphite oxidation would generate inflammable carbon monoxide and release tritium retained in the graphite. The exchange flow through the breaches may transport the carbon monoxide and tritium out of the vacuum vessel. To add confidence to the safety evaluations and analyses, it is important to grasp the basicmore » phenomena such as the exchange flow and the graphite oxidation. Experiments of the exchange flow and the graphite oxidation were carried out to obtain the exchange flow rate and the rate constant for the carbon monoxide combustion, respectively. These experimental results were compared with existing correlations. The authors plan a scaled-model test and a full-scale model test for the LOVE.« less

Design, fabrication, and test of a graphite/epoxy metering truss. [as applied to the LST

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oken, S.; Skoumal, D. E.

1975-01-01

A graphite/epoxy metering truss as applied to the large space telescope was investigated. A full-scale truss was designed, fabricated and tested. Tests included static limit loadings, a modal survey and thermal-vacuum distortion evaluation. The most critical requirement was the demonstration of the dimensional stability provided by the graphite/epoxy truss concept. Crucial to the attainment of this objective was the ability to make very sophisticated thermal growth measurements which was provided by a seven beam laser interferometer. The design of the basic truss elements were tuned to provide the high degree of dimensional stability and stiffness required by the truss. The struts and spider assembly were fabricated with Fiberite's AS/934 and HMS/934 broadgoods. The rings utilized T300 graphite fabricate with the same materials. The predicted performance of the truss was developed using the NASTRAN program. These results showed conformance with the critical stiffness and thermal distortion requirements and correlated well with the test results.

Electrochemical and impedance investigation of the effect of lithium malonate on the performance of natural graphite electrodes in lithium-ion batteries

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sun, Xiao-Guang; Dai, Sheng

2010-01-01

Lithium malonate (LM) was coated on the surface of a natural graphite (NG) electrode, which was then tested as the negative electrode in the electrolytes of 0.9 M LiPF6/EC-PC-DMC (1/1/3, by weight) and 1.0 M LiBF4/EC-PC-DMC (1/1/3, by weight) under a current density of 0.075 mA cm-2. LM was also used as an additive to the electrolyte of 1.0 M LiPF6/EC-DMC-DEC (1/1/1, by volume) and tested on a bare graphite electrode. It was found that both the surface coating and the additive approach were effective in improving first charge discharge capacity and coulomb efficiency. Electrochemical impedance spectra showed that themore » decreased interfacial impedance was coupled with improved coulomb efficiency of the cells using coated graphite electrodes. Cyclic voltammograms (CVs) on fresh bare and coated natural graphite electrodes confirmed that all the improvement in the half-cell performance was due to the suppression of the solvent decomposition through the surface modification with LM. The CV data also showed that the carbonate electrolyte with LM as the additive was not stable against oxidation, which resulted in lower capacity of the full cell with commercial graphite and LiCoO2 electrodes.« less

Effects of Boron and Graphite Uncertainty in Fuel for TREAT Simulations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vaughn, Kyle; Mausolff, Zander; Gonzalez, Esteban

Advanced modeling techniques and current computational capacity make full core TREAT simulations possible, with the goal of such simulations to understand the pre-test core and minimize the number of required calibrations. But, in order to simulate TREAT with a high degree of precision the reactor materials and geometry must also be modeled with a high degree of precision. This paper examines how uncertainty in the reported values of boron and graphite have an effect on simulations of TREAT.

Global modeling of wall material migration following boronization in NSTX-U

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nichols, J. H.; Jaworski, M. A.; Skinner, C. H.; Bedoya, F.; Scotti, F.; Soukhanovskii, V. A.; Schmid, K.

2017-10-01

NSTX-U operated in 2016 with graphite plasma facing components, periodically conditioned with boron to improve plasma performance. Following each boronization, spectroscopic diagnostics generally observed a decrease in oxygen influx from the walls, and an in-vacuo material probe (MAPP) observed a corresponding decrease in surface oxygen concentration at the lower divertor. However, oxygen levels tended to return to a pre-boronization state following repeated plasma exposure. This behavior is interpretively modeled using the WallDYN mixed-material migration code, which couples local erosion and deposition processes with plasma impurity transport in a non-iterative, self-consistent manner that maintains overall material balance. A spatially inhomogenous model of the thin films produced by the boronization process is presented. Plasma backgrounds representative of NSTX-U conditions are reconstructed from a combination of NSTX-U and NSTX datasets. Low-power NSTX-U fiducial discharges, which led to less apparent surface degradation than normal operations, are also modeled with WallDYN. Likely mechanisms driving the observed evolution of surface oxygen are examined, as well as remaining discrepancies between model and experiment and potential improvements to the model. Work supported by US DOE contract DE-AC02-09CH11466.

Study on the influences of ionization region material arrangement on Hall thruster channel discharge characteristics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiang, HU; Ping, DUAN; Jilei, SONG; Wenqing, LI; Long, CHEN; Xingyu, BIAN

2018-02-01

There exists strong interaction between the plasma and channel wall in the Hall thruster, which greatly affects the discharge performance of the thruster. In this paper, a two-dimensional physical model is established based on the actual size of an Aton P70 Hall thruster discharge channel. The particle-in-cell simulation method is applied to study the influences of segmented low emissive graphite electrode biased with anode voltage on the discharge characteristics of the Hall thruster channel. The influences of segmented electrode placed at the ionization region on electric potential, ion number density, electron temperature, ionization rate, discharge current and specific impulse are discussed. The results show that, when segmented electrode is placed at the ionization region, the axial length of the acceleration region is shortened, the equipotential lines tend to be vertical with wall at the acceleration region, thus radial velocity of ions is reduced along with the wall corrosion. The axial position of the maximal electron temperature moves towards the exit with the expansion of ionization region. Furthermore, the electron-wall collision frequency and ionization rate also increase, the discharge current decreases and the specific impulse of the Hall thruster is slightly enhanced.

Evaluation of flawed composite structural components under static and cyclic loading. [fatigue life of graphite-epoxy composite materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Porter, T. R.

1979-01-01

The effects of initial defects on the fatigue and fracture response of graphite-epoxy composite laminates are presented. The structural laminates investigated were a typical angle ply laminate, a polar/hoop wound pressure vessel laminate, and a typical engine fan blade laminate. Defects investigated were full and half penetration circular holes, full and half penetration slits, and countersink holes. The effects of the defect size and type on the static fracture strength, fatigue performance, and residual static strength are shown as well as the results of loadings on damage propagation in composite laminates. The data obtained were used to define proof test levels as a qualification procedure in composite structure subjected to cyclic loading.

Quality control of FWC during assembly and commissioning in SST-1 Tokamak

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patel, Hitesh; Santra, Prosenjit; Parekh, Tejas; Biswas, Prabal; Jayswal, Snehal; Chauhan, Pradeep; Paravastu, Yuvakiran; George, Siju; Semwal, Pratibha; Thankey, Prashant; Ramesh, Gattu; Prakash, Arun; Dhanani, Kalpesh; Raval, D. C.; Khan, Ziauddin; Pradhan, Subrata

2017-04-01

First Wall Components (FWC) of SST-1 tokamak, which are in the immediate vicinity of plasma, comprises of limiters, divertors, baffles, passive stabilizers designed to operate long duration (∼1000 s) discharges of elongated plasma. All FWC consist of copper alloy heat sink modules with SS cooling tubes brazed onto it, graphite tiles acting as armour material facing the plasma, and are mounted to the vacuum vessels with suitable Inconel support structures at inter-connected ring & port locations. The FWC are very recently assembled and commissioned successfully inside the vacuum vessel of SST-1 undergoing a rigorous quality control and checks at every stage of the assembly process. This paper will present the quality control aspects and checks of FWC from commencement of assembly procedure, namely material test reports, leak testing of high temperature baked components, assembled dimensional tolerances, leak testing of all welded joints, graphite tile tightening torques, electrical continuity and electrical isolation of passive stabilizers from vacuum vessel, baking and cooling hydraulic connections inside vacuum vessel.

The effects of hydrogen proportion on the synthesis of carbon nanomaterials with gaseous detonation (deflagration) method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Tiejun; Li, Xiaojie; Lee, John H. S.; Yan, Honghao

2018-02-01

Using ferrocene, H2 and O2, Carbon nanomaterials were prepared with gaseous detonation (deflagration) method. The effects of H2 on the phase and morphology of carbon nanomaterials were studied by various proportions of H2 in the reaction. The prepared samples were characterized by x-ray diffractometer, transmission electron microscope and Raman spectrometer. The results show that hydrogen proportion has a great influence on the phase and morphology of carbon nanomaterials. The high hydrogen proportion leads to much unreacted hydrogen, which could protect the iron atom from oxidation of carbon and dilute the reactants contributing to uniform particle size. In addition, the graphitization degree of multi-walled carbon nanotubes, observed in samples with high H2 proportion, is high enough to see the lattice fringes, but the degree of graphitization of whole sample is lower than which fabricated with low H2 proportion, and it may result from the low energy generation.

Radioactivity evaluation for the KSTAR tokamak.

PubMed

Kim, Hyunduk; Lee, Hee-Seock; Hong, Sukmo; Kim, Minho; Chung, Chinwha; Kim, Changsuk

2005-01-01

The deuterium-deuterium (D-D) reaction in the KSTAR (Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research) tokamak generates neutrons with a peak yield of 2.5 x 10(16) s(-1) through a pulse operation of 300 s. Since the structure material of the tokamak is irradiated with neutrons, this environment will restrict work around and inside the tokamak from a radiation protection physics point of view after shutdown. Identification of neutron-produced radionuclides and evaluation of absorbed dose in the structure material are needed to develop a guiding principle for radiation protection. The activation level was evaluated by MCNP4C2 and an inventory code, FISPACT. The absorbed dose in the working area decreased by 4.26 x 10(-4) mrem h(-1) in the inner vessel 1.5 d after shutdown. Furthermore, tritium strongly contributes to the contamination in the graphite tile. The amount of tritium produced by neutrons was 3.03 x 10(6) Bq kg(-1) in the carbon graphite of a plasma-facing wall.

In-pile testing of ITER first wall mock-ups at relevant thermal loading conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Litunovsky, N.; Gervash, A.; Lorenzetto, P.; Mazul, I.; Melder, R.

2009-04-01

The paper describes the experimental technique and preliminary results of thermal fatigue testing of ITER first wall (FW) water-cooled mock-ups inside the core of the RBT-6 experimental fission reactor (RIAR, Dimitrovgrad, Russia). This experiment has provided simultaneous effect of neutron fluence and thermal cycling damages on the mock-ups. A PC-controlled high-temperature graphite ohmic heater was applied to provide cyclic thermal load onto the mock-ups surface. This experiment lasted for 309 effective irradiation days with a final damage level (CuCrZr) of 1 dpa in the mock-ups. About 3700 thermal cycles with a heat flux of 0.4-0.5 MW/m 2 onto the mock-ups were realized before the heater fails. Then, irradiation was continued in a non-cycling mode.

New baking system for the RFX vacuum vessel

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Collarin, P.; Luchetta, A.; Sonato, P.

A heating system based on eddy currents has been developed for the vacuum vessel of the RFX Reversed Field Pinch device. After a testing phase, carried out at low power, the final power supply system has been designed and installed. It has been used during last year to bake out the vessel and the graphite first wall up to 320{degree}C. Recently the heating system has been completed with a control system that allows for baking sessions with an automatic control of the vacuum vessel temperature and for pulse sessions with a heated first wall. After the description of the preliminarymore » analyses and tests, and of the main characteristics of the power supply and control systems, the experimental results of the baking sessions performed during last year are presented. 6 refs., 7 figs.« less

Selective growth of palladium and titanium dioxide nanostructures inside carbon nanotube membranes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hevia, Samuel; Homm, Pía; Cortes, Andrea; Núñez, Verónica; Contreras, Claudia; Vera, Jenniffer; Segura, Rodrigo

2012-06-01

Hybrid nanostructured arrays based on carbon nanotubes (CNT) and palladium or titanium dioxide materials have been synthesized using self-supported and silicon-supported anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) as nanoporous template. It is well demonstrated that carbon nanotubes can be grown using these membranes and hydrocarbon precursors that decompose at temperatures closer to 600°C without the use of a metal catalyst. In this process, carbonic fragments condensate to form stacked graphitic sheets, which adopt the shape of the pores, yielding from these moulds' multi-walled carbon nanotubes. After this process, the ends of the tubes remain open and accessible to other substances, whereas the outer walls are protected by the alumina. Taking advantage of this fact, we have performed the synthesis of palladium and titanium dioxide nanostructures selectively inside carbon nanotubes using these CNT-AAO membranes as nanoreactors.

Selective growth of palladium and titanium dioxide nanostructures inside carbon nanotube membranes.

PubMed

Hevia, Samuel; Homm, Pía; Cortes, Andrea; Núñez, Verónica; Contreras, Claudia; Vera, Jenniffer; Segura, Rodrigo

2012-06-25

Hybrid nanostructured arrays based on carbon nanotubes (CNT) and palladium or titanium dioxide materials have been synthesized using self-supported and silicon-supported anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) as nanoporous template. It is well demonstrated that carbon nanotubes can be grown using these membranes and hydrocarbon precursors that decompose at temperatures closer to 600°C without the use of a metal catalyst. In this process, carbonic fragments condensate to form stacked graphitic sheets, which adopt the shape of the pores, yielding from these moulds' multi-walled carbon nanotubes. After this process, the ends of the tubes remain open and accessible to other substances, whereas the outer walls are protected by the alumina. Taking advantage of this fact, we have performed the synthesis of palladium and titanium dioxide nanostructures selectively inside carbon nanotubes using these CNT-AAO membranes as nanoreactors.

Investigation on the Core Bypass Flow in a Very High Temperature Reactor

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hassan, Yassin

2013-10-22

Uncertainties associated with the core bypass flow are some of the key issues that directly influence the coolant mass flow distribution and magnitude, and thus the operational core temperature profiles, in the very high-temperature reactor (VHTR). Designers will attempt to configure the core geometry so the core cooling flow rate magnitude and distribution conform to the design values. The objective of this project is to study the bypass flow both experimentally and computationally. Researchers will develop experimental data using state-of-the-art particle image velocimetry in a small test facility. The team will attempt to obtain full field temperature distribution using racksmore » of thermocouples. The experimental data are intended to benchmark computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes by providing detailed information. These experimental data are urgently needed for validation of the CFD codes. The following are the project tasks: • Construct a small-scale bench-top experiment to resemble the bypass flow between the graphite blocks, varying parameters to address their impact on bypass flow. Wall roughness of the graphite block walls, spacing between the blocks, and temperature of the blocks are some of the parameters to be tested. • Perform CFD to evaluate pre- and post-test calculations and turbulence models, including sensitivity studies to achieve high accuracy. • Develop the state-of-the art large eddy simulation (LES) using appropriate subgrid modeling. • Develop models to be used in systems thermal hydraulics codes to account and estimate the bypass flows. These computer programs include, among others, RELAP3D, MELCOR, GAMMA, and GAS-NET. Actual core bypass flow rate may vary considerably from the design value. Although the uncertainty of the bypass flow rate is not known, some sources have stated that the bypass flow rates in the Fort St. Vrain reactor were between 8 and 25 percent of the total reactor mass flow rate. If bypass flow rates are on the high side, the quantity of cooling flow through the core may be considerably less than the nominal design value, causing some regions of the core to operate at temperatures in excess of the design values. These effects are postulated to lead to localized hot regions in the core that must be considered when evaluating the VHTR operational and accident scenarios.« less

Boiling on Microconfigured Composite Surfaces Enhanced

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chao, David F.

2000-01-01

Boiling heat transfer is one of the key technologies for the two-phase active thermal-control system used on space platforms, as well as for the dynamic power systems aboard the International Space Station. Because it is an effective heat transfer mode, boiling is integral to many space applications, such as heat exchangers and other cooling devices. Nucleate boiling near the critical heat flux (CHF) can transport very large thermal loads with a much smaller device and much lower pumping power than for single-phase heat exchangers. However, boiling performance sharply deteriorates in a reduced-gravity environment, and operation in the CHF regime is somewhat perilous because of the risk of burnout to the device surface. New materials called microconfigured metal-graphite composites can enhance boiling. The photomicrograph shows the microconfiguration (x3000) of the copper-graphite (Cu-Gr) surface as viewed by scanning electronic microscope. The graphite fiber tips appear as plateaus with rugged surfaces embedded in the copper matrix. It has been experimentally demonstrated that this type of material manifests excellent boiling heat transfer performance characteristics and an increased CHF. Nonisothermal surfaces were less sensitive to variations of wall superheat in the CHF regime. Because of the great difference in conductivity between the copper base and the graphite fiber, the composite surfaces have a nonisothermal surface characteristic and, therefore, will have a much larger "safe" operating region in the CHF regime. In addition, the thermocapillary forces induced by the temperature differences between the fiber tips and the metal matrix play an important role in bubble detachment, and may not be adversely affected in a reduced-gravity environment. All these factors indicate that microconfigured composites may improve the reliability and economy (dominant factors in all space applications) of various thermal components found on spacecraft during future missions.

Hypervelocity impact survivability experiments for carbonaceous impactors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bunch, T. E.; Becker, Luann; Bada, Jeffrey; Macklin, John; Radicatidibrozolo, Filippo; Fleming, R. H.; Erlichman, Jozef

1993-01-01

We performed a series of hypervelocity impact experiments using carbon-bearing impactors (diamond, graphite, fullerenes, phthalic acid crystals, and Murchison meteorite) into Al plate at velocities between 4.2 and 6.1 km/s. These tests were made to do the following: (1) determine the survivability of carbon forms and organize molecules in low hypervelocity impact; (2) characterize carbonaceous impactor residues; and (3) determine whether or not fullerenes could form from carbonaceous impactors, under our experimental conditions, or survive as impactors. An analytical protocol of field emission SEM imagery, SEM-EDX, laser Raman spectroscopy, single and 2-stage laser mass spectrometry, and laser induced fluorescence (LIF) found the following: (1) diamonds did not survive impact at 4.8 km/s, but were transformed into various forms of disordered graphite; (2) intact, well-ordered graphite impactors did survive impact at 5.9 km/sec, but were only found in the crater bottom centers; the degree of impact-induced disorder in the graphite increases outward (walls, rims, ejecta); (3) phthalic acid crystals were destroyed on impact (at 4.2 km/s, although a large proportion of phthalic acid molecules did survive impact); (4) fullerenes did not form as products of carbonaceous impactors (5.9 - 6.1 km/s, fullerene impactor molecules mostly survived impact at 5.9 km/s; and (5) two Murchison meteorite samples (launched at 4.8 and 5.9 km/s) show preservation of some higher mass polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) compared with the non-impacted sample. Each impactor type shows unique impactor residue morphologies produced at a given impact velocity. An expanded methodology is presented to announce relatively new analytical techniques together with innovative modifications to other methods that can be used to characterize small impact residues in LDEF craters, in addition to other acquired extraterrestrial samples.

Graphitic Nitrogen Triggers Red Fluorescence in Carbon Dots.

PubMed

Holá, Kateřina; Sudolská, Mária; Kalytchuk, Sergii; Nachtigallová, Dana; Rogach, Andrey L; Otyepka, Michal; Zbořil, Radek

2017-12-26

Carbon dots (CDs) are a stable and highly biocompatible fluorescent material offering great application potential in cell labeling, optical imaging, LED diodes, and optoelectronic technologies. Because their emission wavelengths provide the best tissue penetration, red-emitting CDs are of particular interest for applications in biomedical technologies. Current synthetic strategies enabling red-shifted emission include increasing the CD particle size (sp 2 domain) by a proper synthetic strategy and tuning the surface chemistry of CDs with suitable functional groups (e.g., carboxyl). Here we present an elegant route for preparing full-color CDs with well-controllable fluorescence at blue, green, yellow, or red wavelengths. The two-step procedure involves the synthesis of a full-color-emitting mixture of CDs from citric acid and urea in formamide followed by separation of the individual fluorescent fractions by column chromatography based on differences in CD charge. Red-emitting CDs, which had the most negative charge, were separated as the last fraction. The trend in the separation, surface charge, and red-shift of photoluminescence was caused by increasing amount of graphitic nitrogen in the CD structure, as was clearly proved by XPS, FT-IR, Raman spectroscopy, and DFT calculations. Importantly, graphitic nitrogen generates midgap states within the HOMO-LUMO gap of the undoped systems, resulting in significantly red-shifted light absorption that in turn gives rise to fluorescence at the low-energy end of the visible spectrum. The presented findings identify graphitic nitrogen as another crucial factor that can red-shift the CD photoluminescence.

An overview of recent physics results from NSTX

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaye, S. M.; Abrams, T.; Ahn, J.-W.; Allain, J. P.; Andre, R.; Andruczyk, D.; Barchfeld, R.; Battaglia, D.; Bhattacharjee, A.; Bedoya, F.; Bell, R. E.; Belova, E.; Berkery, J.; Berry, L.; Bertelli, N.; Beiersdorfer, P.; Bialek, J.; Bilato, R.; Boedo, J.; Bonoli, P.; Boozer, A.; Bortolon, A.; Boyer, M. D.; Boyle, D.; Brennan, D.; Breslau, J.; Brooks, J.; Buttery, R.; Capece, A.; Canik, J.; Chang, C. S.; Crocker, N.; Darrow, D.; Davis, W.; Delgado-Aparicio, L.; Diallo, A.; D'Ippolito, D.; Domier, C.; Ebrahimi, F.; Ethier, S.; Evans, T.; Ferraro, N.; Ferron, J.; Finkenthal, M.; Fonck, R.; Fredrickson, E.; Fu, G. Y.; Gates, D.; Gerhardt, S.; Glasser, A.; Gorelenkov, N.; Gorelenkova, M.; Goumiri, I.; Gray, T.; Green, D.; Guttenfelder, W.; Harvey, R.; Hassanein, A.; Heidbrink, W.; Hirooka, Y.; Hooper, E. B.; Hosea, J.; Humphreys, D.; Jaeger, E. F.; Jarboe, T.; Jardin, S.; Jaworski, M. A.; Kaita, R.; Kessel, C.; Kim, K.; Koel, B.; Kolemen, E.; Kramer, G.; Ku, S.; Kubota, S.; LaHaye, R. J.; Lao, L.; LeBlanc, B. P.; Levinton, F.; Liu, D.; Lore, J.; Lucia, M.; Luhmann, N., Jr.; Maingi, R.; Majeski, R.; Mansfield, D.; Maqueda, R.; McKee, G.; Medley, S.; Meier, E.; Menard, J.; Mueller, D.; Munsat, T.; Muscatello, C.; Myra, J.; Nelson, B.; Nichols, J.; Ono, M.; Osborne, T.; Park, J.-K.; Peebles, W.; Perkins, R.; Phillips, C.; Podesta, M.; Poli, F.; Raman, R.; Ren, Y.; Roszell, J.; Rowley, C.; Russell, D.; Ruzic, D.; Ryan, P.; Sabbagh, S. A.; Schuster, E.; Scotti, F.; Sechrest, Y.; Shaing, K.; Sizyuk, T.; Sizyuk, V.; Skinner, C.; Smith, D.; Snyder, P.; Solomon, W.; Sovenic, C.; Soukhanovskii, V.; Startsev, E.; Stotler, D.; Stratton, B.; Stutman, D.; Taylor, C.; Taylor, G.; Tritz, K.; Walker, M.; Wang, W.; Wang, Z.; White, R.; Wilson, J. R.; Wirth, B.; Wright, J.; Yuan, X.; Yuh, H.; Zakharov, L.; Zweben, S. J.

2015-10-01

The National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) is currently being upgraded to operate at twice the toroidal field and plasma current (up to 1 T and 2 MA), with a second, more tangentially aimed neutral beam (NB) for current and rotation control, allowing for pulse lengths up to 5 s. Recent NSTX physics analyses have addressed topics that will allow NSTX-Upgrade to achieve the research goals critical to a Fusion Nuclear Science Facility. These include producing stable, 100% non-inductive operation in high-performance plasmas, assessing plasma-material interface (PMI) solutions to handle the high heat loads expected in the next-step devices and exploring the unique spherical torus (ST) parameter regimes to advance predictive capability. Non-inductive operation and current profile control in NSTX-U will be facilitated by co-axial helicity injection (CHI) as well as radio frequency (RF) and NB heating. CHI studies using NIMROD indicate that the reconnection process is consistent with the 2D Sweet-Parker theory. Full-wave AORSA simulations show that RF power losses in the scrape-off layer (SOL) increase significantly for both NSTX and NSTX-U when the launched waves propagate in the SOL. Toroidal Alfvén eigenmode avalanches and higher frequency Alfvén eigenmodes can affect NB-driven current through energy loss and redistribution of fast ions. The inclusion of rotation and kinetic resonances, which depend on collisionality, is necessary for predicting experimental stability thresholds of fast growing ideal wall and resistive wall modes. Neutral beams and neoclassical toroidal viscosity generated from applied 3D fields can be used as actuators to produce rotation profiles optimized for global stability. DEGAS-2 has been used to study the dependence of gas penetration on SOL temperatures and densities for the MGI system being implemented on the Upgrade for disruption mitigation. PMI studies have focused on the effect of ELMs and 3D fields on plasma detachment and heat flux handling. Simulations indicate that snowflake and impurity seeded radiative divertors are candidates for heat flux mitigation in NSTX-U. Studies of lithium evaporation on graphite surfaces indicate that lithium increases oxygen surface concentrations on graphite, and deuterium-oxygen affinity, which increases deuterium pumping and reduces recycling. In situ and test-stand experiments of lithiated graphite and molybdenum indicate temperature-enhanced sputtering, although that test-stand studies also show the potential for heat flux reduction through lithium vapour shielding. Non-linear gyro kinetic simulations have indicated that ion transport can be enhanced by a shear-flow instability, and that non-local effects are necessary to explain the observed rapid changes in plasma turbulence. Predictive simulations have shown agreement between a microtearing-based reduced transport model and the measured electron temperatures in a microtearing unstable regime. Two Alfvén eigenmode-driven fast ion transport models have been developed and successfully benchmarked against NSTX data. Upgrade construction is moving on schedule with initial physics research operation of NSTX-U planned for mid-2015.

An overview of recent physics results from NSTX

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kaye, S. M.; Abrams, T.; Ahn, J. -W.

Currently, the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) is being upgraded to operate at twice the toroidal field and plasma current (up to 1 T and 2 MA), with a second, more tangentially aimed neutral beam (NB) for current and rotation control, allowing for pulse lengths up to 5 s. Recent NSTX physics analyses have addressed topics that will allow NSTX-Upgrade to achieve the research goals critical to a Fusion Nuclear Science Facility. These include producing stable, 100% non-inductive operation in high-performance plasmas, assessing plasma-material interface (PMI) solutions to handle the high heat loads expected in the next-step devices and exploringmore » the unique spherical torus (ST) parameter regimes to advance predictive capability. Non-inductive operation and current profile control in NSTX-U will be facilitated by co-axial helicity injection (CHI) as well as radio frequency (RF) and NB heating. CHI studies using NIMROD indicate that the reconnection process is consistent with the 2D Sweet-Parker theory. Full-wave AORSA simulations show that RF power losses in the scrape-off layer (SOL) increase significantly for both NSTX and NSTX-U when the launched waves propagate in the SOL. Moreover, Toroidal Alfven eigenmode avalanches and higher frequency Alfven eigenmodes can affect NB-driven current through energy loss and redistribution of fast ions. The inclusion of rotation and kinetic resonances, which depend on collisionality, is necessary for predicting experimental stability thresholds of fast growing ideal wall and resistive wall modes. Neutral beams and neoclassical toroidal viscosity generated from applied 3D fields can be used as actuators to produce rotation profiles optimized for global stability. DEGAS-2 has been used to study the dependence of gas penetration on SOL temperatures and densities for the MGI system being implemented on the Upgrade for disruption mitigation. PMI studies have focused on the effect of ELMs and 3D fields on plasma detachment and heat flux handling. Simulations indicate that snowflake and impurity seeded radiative divertors are candidates for heat flux mitigation in NSTX-U. Studies of lithium evaporation on graphite surfaces indicate that lithium increases oxygen surface concentrations on graphite, and deuterium-oxygen affinity, which increases deuterium pumping and reduces recycling. In situ and test-stand experiments of lithiated graphite and molybdenum indicate temperature-enhanced sputtering, although that test-stand studies also show the potential for heat flux reduction through lithium vapour shielding. Non-linear gyro kinetic simulations have indicated that ion transport can be enhanced by a shear-flow instability, and that non-local effects are necessary to explain the observed rapid changes in plasma turbulence. Predictive simulations have shown agreement between a microtearing-based reduced transport model and the measured electron temperatures in a microtearing unstable regime. Finally, two Alfven eigenmode-driven fast ion transport models have been developed and successfully benchmarked against NSTX data. Upgrade construction is moving on schedule with initial physics research operation of NSTX-U planned for mid-2015.« less

An overview of recent physics results from NSTX

DOE PAGES

Kaye, S. M.; Abrams, T.; Ahn, J. -W.; ...

2015-03-27

Currently, the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) is being upgraded to operate at twice the toroidal field and plasma current (up to 1 T and 2 MA), with a second, more tangentially aimed neutral beam (NB) for current and rotation control, allowing for pulse lengths up to 5 s. Recent NSTX physics analyses have addressed topics that will allow NSTX-Upgrade to achieve the research goals critical to a Fusion Nuclear Science Facility. These include producing stable, 100% non-inductive operation in high-performance plasmas, assessing plasma-material interface (PMI) solutions to handle the high heat loads expected in the next-step devices and exploringmore » the unique spherical torus (ST) parameter regimes to advance predictive capability. Non-inductive operation and current profile control in NSTX-U will be facilitated by co-axial helicity injection (CHI) as well as radio frequency (RF) and NB heating. CHI studies using NIMROD indicate that the reconnection process is consistent with the 2D Sweet-Parker theory. Full-wave AORSA simulations show that RF power losses in the scrape-off layer (SOL) increase significantly for both NSTX and NSTX-U when the launched waves propagate in the SOL. Moreover, Toroidal Alfven eigenmode avalanches and higher frequency Alfven eigenmodes can affect NB-driven current through energy loss and redistribution of fast ions. The inclusion of rotation and kinetic resonances, which depend on collisionality, is necessary for predicting experimental stability thresholds of fast growing ideal wall and resistive wall modes. Neutral beams and neoclassical toroidal viscosity generated from applied 3D fields can be used as actuators to produce rotation profiles optimized for global stability. DEGAS-2 has been used to study the dependence of gas penetration on SOL temperatures and densities for the MGI system being implemented on the Upgrade for disruption mitigation. PMI studies have focused on the effect of ELMs and 3D fields on plasma detachment and heat flux handling. Simulations indicate that snowflake and impurity seeded radiative divertors are candidates for heat flux mitigation in NSTX-U. Studies of lithium evaporation on graphite surfaces indicate that lithium increases oxygen surface concentrations on graphite, and deuterium-oxygen affinity, which increases deuterium pumping and reduces recycling. In situ and test-stand experiments of lithiated graphite and molybdenum indicate temperature-enhanced sputtering, although that test-stand studies also show the potential for heat flux reduction through lithium vapour shielding. Non-linear gyro kinetic simulations have indicated that ion transport can be enhanced by a shear-flow instability, and that non-local effects are necessary to explain the observed rapid changes in plasma turbulence. Predictive simulations have shown agreement between a microtearing-based reduced transport model and the measured electron temperatures in a microtearing unstable regime. Finally, two Alfven eigenmode-driven fast ion transport models have been developed and successfully benchmarked against NSTX data. Upgrade construction is moving on schedule with initial physics research operation of NSTX-U planned for mid-2015.« less

Simultaneous quantification of arginine, alanine, methionine and cysteine amino acids in supplements using a novel bioelectro-nanosensor based on CdSe quantum dot/modified carbon nanotube hollow fiber pencil graphite electrode via Taguchi method.

PubMed

Hooshmand, Sara; Es'haghi, Zarrin

2017-11-30

A number of four amino acids have been simultaneously determined at CdSe quantum dot-modified/multi-walled carbon nanotube hollow fiber pencil graphite electrode in different bodybuilding supplements. CdSe quantum dots were synthesized and applied to construct a modified carbon nanotube hollow fiber pencil graphite electrode. FT-IR, TEM, XRD and EDAX methods were applied for characterization of the synthesized CdSe QDs. The electro-oxidation of arginine (Arg), alanine (Ala), methionine (Met) and cysteine (Cys) at the surface of the modified electrode was studied. Then the Taguchi's method was applied using MINITAB 17 software to find out the optimum conditions for the amino acids determination. Under the optimized conditions, the differential pulse (DP) voltammetric peak currents of Arg, Ala, Met and Cys increased linearly with their concentrations in the ranges of 0.287-33670μM and detection limits of 0.081, 0.158, 0.094 and 0.116μM were obtained for them, respectively. Satisfactory results were achieved for calibration and validation sets. The prepared modified electrode represents a very good resolution between the voltammetric peaks of the four amino acids which makes it suitable for the detection of each in presence of others in real samples. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Effect of Carbon Nanotubes Upon Emissions From Cutting and Sanding Carbon Fiber-Epoxy Composites

PubMed Central

Heitbrink, William A.; Lo, Li-Ming

2015-01-01

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are being incorporated into structural composites to enhance material strength. During fabrication or repair activities, machining nanocomposites may release CNTs into the workplace air. An experimental study was conducted to evaluate the emissions generated by cutting and sanding on three types of epoxy-composite panels: Panel A containing graphite fibers, Panel B containing graphite fibers and carbon-based mat, and Panel C containing graphite fibers, carbon-based mat, and multi-walled CNTs. Aerosol sampling was conducted with direct-reading instruments, and filter samples were collected for measuring elemental carbon (EC) and fiber concentrations. Our study results showed that cutting Panel C with a band saw did not generate detectable emissions of fibers inspected by transmission electron microscopy but did increase the particle mass, number, and EC emission concentrations by 20% to 80% compared to Panels A and B. Sanding operation performed on two Panel C resulted in fiber emission rates of 1.9×108 and 2.8×106 fibers per second (f/s), while no free aerosol fibers were detected from sanding Panels A and B containing no CNTs. These free CNT fibers may be a health concern. However, the analysis of particle and EC concentrations from these same samples cannot clearly indicate the presence of CNTs, because extraneous aerosol generation from machining the composite epoxy material increased the mass concentrations of the EC. PMID:26478716

Chemistry of carbon nanomaterials: Uses of lithium nanotube salts in organic syntheses and functionalization of graphite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chattopadhyay, Jayanta

The effective utilization of carbon nanomaterials, such as single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and graphite, has been hindered due to difficulties (poor solubility, poly-dispersity) in processing. Therefore, a high degree of sidewall functionalization, either covalent or non-covalent, is often required to overcome these difficulties as the functionalized nanomaterials exhibit better solubility (either in organic solvents or in water), dispersity, manipulation, and processibility. This thesis presents a series of convenient and efficient organic synthetic routes to functionalize carbon nanomaterials. Carbon nanotube salts, prepared by treating SWNTs with lithium in liquid ammonia, react readily with aryl halides to yield aryl-functionalized SWNTs. These arylated SWNTs are soluble in methanol and water upon treatment with oleum. Similarly, SWNTs can be covalently functionalized by different heteroatoms (nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur). Using the reductive alkylation approach, a synthetic scheme is designed to prepare long chain carboxylic acid functionalized SWNTs [SWNTs-(RCOOH)] that can react with (1) amine-terminated polyethylene glycol (PEG) chains to yield water-soluble biocompatible PEGylated SWNTs that are likely to be useful in a variety of biomedical applications; (2) polyethyleneimine (PEI) to prepare a SWNTs-PEI based adsorbent material that shows a four-fold improvement in the adsorption capacity of carbon dioxide over commonly used materials, making it useful for regenerable carbon dioxide removal in spaceflight; (3) chemically modified SWNTs-(RCOOH) to permit covalent bonding to the nylon matrix, thus allowing the formation of nylon 6,10 and nylon 6,10/SWNTs-(RCOOH) nanocomposites. Furthermore, we find that the lithium salts of carbon nanotubes serve as a source of electrons to induce polymerization of simple alkenes and alkynes onto the surface of carbon nanotubes. In the presence of sulfide/disulfide bonds, SWNT salts can initiate the single electron transfer (SET) mechanism to functionalize carbon nanotubes with different alkyl/aryl groups. Using the reductive alkylation approach, we can also functionalize graphites by alkyl/carboxylic acid groups, making graphite soluble in organic solvents and water. Tailoring of graphite layers is also accomplished by using different metals in liquid ammonia. Finally, SWNT-epoxides/graphite epoxides are synthesized using m-CPBA. Quantification of the epoxide substituents on the nanotube/graphite surface is evaluated through the catalytic de-epoxidation reaction using MeReO 3/PPh3 as heterogeneous catalyst. In summary, the proposed covalent functionalization methods yield derivatized nanomaterials that can provide a solid platform for a number of exciting applications, ranging from material science to biomedical devices. Furthermore, the results presented in this thesis provide insight into the molecular chemistry at nano-resolution.

Lateral load performance of SIP walls with full bearing

Treesearch

Boren Yeh; Tom Skaggs; Xiping Wang; Tom Williamson

2018-01-01

The purpose of this study was to develop test data needed to characterize lateral load performance of structural insulated panel (SIP) walls with full bearing (restrained). The research program involved structural testing of 29 full-size SIP walls (8 ft tall by 8 ft long) of various configurations that bracket a range of SIP wall configurations commonly used in the...

Process of making medical clip

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baucom, R. M. (Inventor)

1984-01-01

An X-ray transparent and biologically inert medical clip for treating aneurisms and the like is disclosed, as well as a process for its production. A graphite reinforced composite film is molded into a unitary structure having a pair of hourglass-like cavities which are hinged together with a pair of jaws for grasping the aneurism extending from the wall of one cavity. A silicone rubber pellet is disposed in the other cavity to exert a spring force through the hinge area to normally bias the jaws into contact with each other.

Reproducibility of structural strength and stiffness for graphite-epoxy aircraft spoilers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Howell, W. E.; Reese, C. D.

1978-01-01

Structural strength reproducibility of graphite epoxy composite spoilers for the Boeing 737 aircraft was evaluated by statically loading fifteen spoilers to failure at conditions simulating aerodynamic loads. Spoiler strength and stiffness data were statistically modeled using a two parameter Weibull distribution function. Shape parameter values calculated for the composite spoiler strength and stiffness were within the range of corresponding shape parameter values calculated for material property data of composite laminates. This agreement showed that reproducibility of full scale component structural properties was within the reproducibility range of data from material property tests.

Charge Modulation in Graphitic Carbon Nitride as a Switchable Approach to High-Capacity Hydrogen Storage.

PubMed

Tan, Xin; Kou, Liangzhi; Tahini, Hassan A; Smith, Sean C

2015-11-01

Electrical charging of graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets (g-C4 N3 and g-C3 N4 ) is proposed as a strategy for high-capacity and electrocatalytically switchable hydrogen storage. Using first-principle calculations, we found that the adsorption energy of H2 molecules on graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets is dramatically enhanced by injecting extra electrons into the adsorbent. At full hydrogen coverage, the negatively charged graphitic carbon nitride achieves storage capacities up to 6-7 wt %. In contrast to other hydrogen storage approaches, the storage/release occurs spontaneously once extra electrons are introduced or removed, and these processes can be simply controlled by switching on/off the charging voltage. Therefore, this approach promises both facile reversibility and tunable kinetics without the need of specific catalysts. Importantly, g-C4 N3 has good electrical conductivity and high electron mobility, which can be a very good candidate for electron injection/release. These predictions may prove to be instrumental in searching for a new class of high-capacity hydrogen storage materials. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Dynamic Finite Element Predictions for Mars Sample Return Cellular Impact Test #4

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fasanella, Edwin L.; Billings, Marcus D.

2001-01-01

The nonlinear, transient dynamic finite element code, MSC.Dytran, was used to simulate an impact test of an energy absorbing Earth Entry Vehicle (EEV) that will impact without a parachute. EEVOs are designed to return materials from asteroids, comets, or planets for laboratory analysis on Earth. The EEV concept uses an energy absorbing cellular structure designed to contain and limit the acceleration of space exploration samples during Earth impact. The spherical shaped cellular structure is composed of solid hexagonal and pentagonal foam-filled cells with hybrid graphite-epoxy/Kevlar cell walls. Space samples fit inside a smaller sphere at the center of the EEVOs cellular structure. Pre-test analytical predictions were compared with the test results from a bungee accelerator. The model used to represent the foam and the proper failure criteria for the cell walls were critical in predicting the impact loads of the cellular structure. It was determined that a FOAM1 model for the foam and a 20% failure strain criteria for the cell walls gave an accurate prediction of the acceleration pulse for cellular impact.

Activated graphene as a cathode material for Li-ion hybrid supercapacitors.

PubMed

Stoller, Meryl D; Murali, Shanthi; Quarles, Neil; Zhu, Yanwu; Potts, Jeffrey R; Zhu, Xianjun; Ha, Hyung-Wook; Ruoff, Rodney S

2012-03-14

Chemically activated graphene ('activated microwave expanded graphite oxide', a-MEGO) was used as a cathode material for Li-ion hybrid supercapacitors. The performance of a-MEGO was first verified with Li-ion electrolyte in a symmetrical supercapacitor cell. Hybrid supercapacitors were then constructed with a-MEGO as the cathode and with either graphite or Li(4)Ti(5)O(12) (LTO) for the anode materials. The results show that the activated graphene material works well in a symmetrical cell with the Li-ion electrolyte with specific capacitances as high as 182 F g(-1). In a full a-MEGO/graphite hybrid cell, specific capacitances as high as 266 F g(-1) for the active materials at operating potentials of 4 V yielded gravimetric energy densities for a packaged cell of 53.2 W h kg(-1).

Reinforcement of single-walled carbon nanotube bundles by intertube bridging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kis, A.; Csányi, G.; Salvetat, J.-P.; Lee, Thien-Nga; Couteau, E.; Kulik, A. J.; Benoit, W.; Brugger, J.; Forró, L.

2004-03-01

During their production, single-walled carbon nanotubes form bundles. Owing to the weak van der Waals interaction that holds them together in the bundle, the tubes can easily slide on each other, resulting in a shear modulus comparable to that of graphite. This low shear modulus is also a major obstacle in the fabrication of macroscopic fibres composed of carbon nanotubes. Here, we have introduced stable links between neighbouring carbon nanotubes within bundles, using moderate electron-beam irradiation inside a transmission electron microscope. Concurrent measurements of the mechanical properties using an atomic force microscope show a 30-fold increase of the bending modulus, due to the formation of stable crosslinks that effectively eliminate sliding between the nanotubes. Crosslinks were modelled using first-principles calculations, showing that interstitial carbon atoms formed during irradiation in addition to carboxyl groups, can independently lead to bridge formation between neighbouring nanotubes.

Chirality correlation in double-wall carbon nanotubes as studied by electron diffraction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hirahara, Kaori; Bandow, Shunji; Kociak, Mathieu

2006-05-15

Structural correlation between two adjacent graphitic layers in double-wall carbon nanotubes (DWNTs) was systematically examined by using electron diffraction. Chiral angles and tube diameters were carefully measured, and the chiral indices of individual DWNTs were accurately determined. As a result, it was found that the interlayer distances of DWNTs were widely distributed in the range between 0.34 and 0.38 nm. Chiralities of the inner and outer tubes tended to be distributed at higher chiral angles, approaching 30 deg., for the tubes with diameter D<{approx}3 nm. On the other hand, for the tubes with D>{approx}3 nm, the chiral angles were widelymore » distributed, covering the chiral map entirely. Therefore, we consider that tubes with small diameters have a tendency to form armchair type. Correlation of chiralities between the inner and outer tubes was found to be random.« less

Mass-produced multi-walled carbon nanotubes as catalyst supports for direct methanol fuel cells.

PubMed

Jang, In Young; Park, Ki Chul; Jung, Yong Chae; Lee, Sun Hyung; Song, Sung Moo; Muramatsu, Hiroyuki; Kim, Yong Jung; Endo, Morinobu

2011-01-01

Commercially mass-produced multi-walled carbon nanotubes, i.e., VGNF (Showa Denko Co.), were applied to support materials for platinum-ruthenium (PtRu) nanoparticles as anode catalysts for direct methanol fuel cells. The original VGNFs are composed of high-crystalline graphitic shells, which hinder the favorable surface deposition of the PtRu nanoparticles that are formed via borohydride reduction. The chemical treatment of VGNFs with potassium hydroxide (KOH), however, enables highly dispersed and dense deposition of PtRu nanoparticles on the VGNF surface. This capability becomes more remarkable depending on the KOH amount. The electrochemical evaluation of the PtRu-deposited VGNF catalysts showed enhanced active surface areas and methanol oxidation, due to the high dispersion and dense deposition of the PtRu nanoparticles. The improvement of the surface deposition states of the PtRu nanoparticles was significantly due to the high surface area and mesorporous surface structure of the KOH-activated VGNFs.

Selective growth of palladium and titanium dioxide nanostructures inside carbon nanotube membranes

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Hybrid nanostructured arrays based on carbon nanotubes (CNT) and palladium or titanium dioxide materials have been synthesized using self-supported and silicon-supported anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) as nanoporous template. It is well demonstrated that carbon nanotubes can be grown using these membranes and hydrocarbon precursors that decompose at temperatures closer to 600°C without the use of a metal catalyst. In this process, carbonic fragments condensate to form stacked graphitic sheets, which adopt the shape of the pores, yielding from these moulds' multi-walled carbon nanotubes. After this process, the ends of the tubes remain open and accessible to other substances, whereas the outer walls are protected by the alumina. Taking advantage of this fact, we have performed the synthesis of palladium and titanium dioxide nanostructures selectively inside carbon nanotubes using these CNT-AAO membranes as nanoreactors. PMID:22731888

Initial results from the rebuilt EXTRAP T2R RFP device

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brunsell, P. R.; Bergsåker, H.; Cecconello, M.; Drake, J. R.; Gravestijn, R. M.; Hedqvist\\ad{2 }, A.; Malmberg, J.-A.

2001-11-01

The EXTRAP T2R thin shell reversed-field pinch (RFP) device has recently resumed operation after a major rebuild including the replacement of the graphite armour with molybdenum limiters, a fourfold increase of the shell time constant, and the replacement of the helical coil used for the toroidal field with a conventional solenoid-type coil. Wall-conditioning using hydrogen glow discharge cleaning was instrumental for successful RFP operation. Carbon was permanently removed from the walls during the first week of operation. The initial results from RFP operation with relatively low plasma currents in the range Ip = 70-100 kA are reported. RFP discharges are sustained for more than three shell times. Significant improvements in plasma parameters are observed, compared to operation before the rebuild. There is a substantial reduction in the carbon impurity level. The electron density behaviour is more shot-to-shot reproducible. The typical density is ne = 0.5-1×1019 m-3. Monitors of Hα line radiation indicate that the plasma wall interaction is more toroidally symmetric and that there is less transient gas release from the wall. The minimum loop voltage is in the range Vt = 28-35 V, corresponding to a reduction by a factor of two to three compared to the value before the rebuild.

Metal Free Graphene Oxide (GO) Nanosheets and Pristine-Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes (p-SWCNTs) Biocompatibility Investigation: A Comparative Study in Different Human Cell Lines.

PubMed

Valentini, Federica; Mari, Emanuela; Zicari, Alessandra; Calcaterra, Andrea; Talamo, Maurizio; Scioli, Maria Giovanna; Orlandi, Augusto; Mardente, Stefania

2018-04-28

The in vitro biocompatibility of Graphene Oxide (GO) nanosheets, which were obtained by the electrochemical exfoliation of graphite electrodes in an electrolytic bath containing salts, was compared with the pristine Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes (p-SWCNTs) under the same experimental conditions in different human cell lines. The cells were treated with different concentrations of GO and SWCNTs for up to 48 h. GO did not induce any significant morphological or functional modifications (demonstrating a high biocompatibility), while SWNCTs were toxic at any concentration used after a few hours of treatment. The cell viability or cytotoxicity were detected by the trypan blue assay and the lactate dehydrogenase LDH quantitative enzymatic test. The Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis demonstrated the uptake and internalization of GO sheets into cells, which was localized mainly in the cytoplasm. Different results were observed in the same cell lines treated with p-SWCNTs. TEM and CLSM (Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy) showed that the p-SWCNTs induced vacuolization in the cytoplasm, disruption of cellular architecture and damage to the nuclei. The most important result of this study is our finding of a higher GO biocompatibility compared to the p-SWCNTs in the same cell lines. This means that GO nanosheets, which are obtained by the electrochemical exfoliation of a graphite-based electrode (carried out in saline solutions or other physiological working media) could represent an eligible nanocarrier for drug delivery, gene transfection and molecular cell imaging tests.

Sacrificial bonds in stacked-cup carbon nanofibers: biomimetic toughening mechanisms for composite systems.

PubMed

Palmeri, Marc J; Putz, Karl W; Brinson, L Catherine

2010-07-27

Many natural composites, such as nacre or bone, achieve exceptional toughening enhancements through the rupture of noncovalent secondary bonds between chain segments in the organic phase. This "sacrificial bond" rupture dissipates enormous amounts of energy and reveals significant hidden lengths due to unraveling of the highly coiled macromolecules, leaving the structural integrity of their covalent backbones intact to large extensions. In this work, we present the first evidence of similar sacrificial bond mechanisms in the inorganic phase of composites using inexpensive stacked-cup carbon nanofibers (CNF), which are composed of helically coiled graphene sheets with graphitic spacing between adjacent layers. These CNFs are dispersed in a series of high-performance epoxy systems containing trifunctional and tetrafunctional resins, which are traditionally difficult to toughen in light of their highly cross-linked networks. Nonetheless, the addition of only 0.68 wt % CNF yields toughness enhancements of 43-112% for the various blends. Analysis of the relevant toughening mechanisms reveals two heretofore unseen mechanisms using sacrificial bonds that complement the observed crack deflection, rupture, and debonding/pullout that are common to many composite systems. First, embedded nanofibers can splay discretely between adjacent graphitic layers in the side walls; second, crack-bridging nanofibers can unravel continuously. Both of these mechanisms entail the dissipation of the pi-pi interactions between layers in the side walls without compromising the structural integrity of the graphene sheets. Moreover, increases in electrical conductivity of approximately 7-10 orders of magnitude were found, highlighting the multifunctionality of CNFs as reinforcements for the design of tough, inexpensive nanocomposites with improved electrical properties.

Controlling conductivity of asphalt concrete with graphite.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-08-01

Electrically conductive asphalt concrete has a huge potential for various multifunctional applications such as : self-healing, self-sensing, and deicing. In order to utilize the full spectrum of applications of electrically conductive : asphalt compo...

A comparative evaluation of in-plane shear test methods for laminated graphite-epoxy composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morton, John; Ho, Henjen

1992-01-01

The objectives were to evaluate popular shear test methods for various forms of graphite-epoxy composite materials and to determine the shear response of graphite-epoxy composites with various forms of fiber architecture. Numerical and full-field experimental stress analyses were performed on four shear test configurations for unidirectional and bidirectional graphite-epoxy laminates to assess the uniformity and purity of the shear stress (strain) fields produced in the specimen test section and to determine the material in-plane shear modulus and shear response. The test methods were the 10 deg off-axis, the +/- 45 deg tension, the Iosipescu V-notch, and a compact U-notch specimen. Specimens were prepared from AS4/3501-6 graphite-epoxy panels, instrumented with conventional strain gage rosettes and with a cross-line moire grating, and loaded in a convenient testing machine. The shear responses obtained for each test method and the two methods of specimen instrumentation were compared. In a second phase of the program the shear responses obtained from Iosipescu V-notch beam specimens were determined for woven fabric geometries of different weave and fiber architectures. Again the responses of specimens obtained from strain gage rosettes and moire interferometry were compared. Additional experiments were performed on a bidirectional cruciform specimen which was also instrumented with strain gages and a moire grating.

Balanced improvement of high performance concrete material properties with modified graphite nanomaterials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peyvandi, Amirpasha

Graphite nanomaterials offer distinct features for effective reinforcement of cementitious matrices in the pre-crack and post-crack ranges of behavior. Thoroughly dispersed and well-bonded nanomaterials provide for effective control of the size and propagation of defects (microcracks) in matrix, and also act as closely spaced barriers against diffusion of moisture and aggressive solutions into concrete. Modified graphite nanomaterials can play multi-faceted roles towards enhancing the mechanical, physical and functional attributes of concrete materials. Graphite nanoplatelets (GP) and carbon nanofibers (CNF) were chosen for use in cementitious materials. Experimental results highlighted the balanced gains in diverse engineering properties of high-performance concrete realized by introduction of graphite nanomaterials. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was used in order to gain further insight into the effects of nanomaterials on the hydration process and structure of cement hydrates. NMR exploits the magnetic properties of certain atomic nuclei, and the sensitivity of these properties to local environments to generate data which enables determination of the internal structure, reaction state, and chemical environment of molecules and bulk materials. 27 Al and 29Si NMR spectroscopy techniques were employed in order to evaluate the effects of graphite nanoplatelets on the structure of cement hydrates, and their resistance to alkali-silica reaction (ASR), chloride ion diffusion, and sulfate attack. Results of 29Si NMR spectroscopy indicated that the percent condensation of C-S-H in cementitious paste was lowered in the presence of nanoplatelets at the same age. The extent of chloride diffusion was assessed indirectly by detecting Friedel's salt as a reaction product of chloride ions with aluminum-bearing cement hydrates. Graphite nanoplatelets were found to significantly reduce the concentration of Friedel's salt at different depths after various periods of exposure to chloride solutions, pointing at the benefits of nanoplatelets towards enhancement of concrete resistance to chloride ion diffusion. It was also found that the intensity of Thaumasite, a key species marking sulfate attack on cement hydrates, was lowered with the addition of graphite nanoplatelets in concrete exposed to sulfate solutions. Experimental evaluations were conducted on scaled-up production of concrete nanocomposite in precast concrete plants. Full-scale reinforced concrete pipes and beams were produced using concrete nanocomposites. Durability and structural tests indicated that the use of graphite nanoplatelets, alone or in combination with synthetic (PVA) fibers, produced significant gains in the durability characteristics, and also benefited the structural performance of precast reinforced concrete products. The material and scaled-up structural investigations conducted in the project concluded that lower-cost graphite nanomaterials (e.g., graphite nanoplatelets) offer significant potentials as multi-functional additives capable of enhancing the barrier, durability and mechanical performance of concrete materials. The benefits of graphite nanomaterials tend to be more pronounced in higher-performance concrete materials.

Electronic and total energy properties of ternary and quaternary semiconductor compounds, alloys and superlattices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lambrecht, Walter R. L.

1992-01-01

This proposal was mainly concerned with the theoretical study of semiconductor compounds, alloys, and superlattices of interest for photovoltaic applications. In the last year (1991) a study was devoted to metal/graphite bonding in relation to use of graphite fiber reinforcement of Cu for high thermal conductivity applications. The main research topics addressed during the full period of the grant are briefly described: studies of the In-Ga-As ternary system; band-offsets at common anion and InAs/GaSb/AlSb heterojunctions; alloy theory (cluster variation method); and Cu/graphite bonding. Most of the work was described more extensively in previous yearly reports and renewal applications and in publications. The last topic is described more fully in a separate report attached. A list of publications resulting directly from this grant or from other grants but related to this work and of conference presentations is given at the end.

Electronic and total energy properties of ternary and quaternary semiconductor compounds, alloys and superlattices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lambrecht, Walter R. L.

1992-08-01

This proposal was mainly concerned with the theoretical study of semiconductor compounds, alloys, and superlattices of interest for photovoltaic applications. In the last year (1991) a study was devoted to metal/graphite bonding in relation to use of graphite fiber reinforcement of Cu for high thermal conductivity applications. The main research topics addressed during the full period of the grant are briefly described: studies of the In-Ga-As ternary system; band-offsets at common anion and InAs/GaSb/AlSb heterojunctions; alloy theory (cluster variation method); and Cu/graphite bonding. Most of the work was described more extensively in previous yearly reports and renewal applications and in publications. The last topic is described more fully in a separate report attached. A list of publications resulting directly from this grant or from other grants but related to this work and of conference presentations is given at the end.

Influence of support material on the electrocatalytic activity of nickel oxide nanoparticles for urea electro-oxidation reaction.

PubMed

Abdel Hameed, R M; Medany, Shymaa S

2018-03-01

Nickel oxide nanoparticles were deposited on different carbon supports including activated Vulcan XC-72R carbon black (NiO/AC), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (NiO/MWCNTs), graphene (NiO/Gr) and graphite (NiO/Gt) through precipitation step followed by calcination at 400 °C. To determine the crystalline structure and morphology of prepared electrocatalysts, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were employed. The electrocatalytic activity of NiO/carbon support electrocatalysts was investigated towards urea electro-oxidation reaction in NaOH solution using cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Urea oxidation peak current density was increased in the following order: NiO/AC < NiO/MWCNTs < NiO/Gr < NiO/Gt. Chronoamperometry test also showed an increased steady state oxidation current density for NiO/Gt in comparison to other electrocatalysts. The increased activity and stability of NiO/Gt electrocatalyst encourage the application of graphite as an efficient and cost-saving support to carry metal nanoparticles for urea electro-oxidation reaction. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An atomic carbon source for high temperature molecular beam epitaxy of graphene.

PubMed

Albar, J D; Summerfield, A; Cheng, T S; Davies, A; Smith, E F; Khlobystov, A N; Mellor, C J; Taniguchi, T; Watanabe, K; Foxon, C T; Eaves, L; Beton, P H; Novikov, S V

2017-07-26

We report the use of a novel atomic carbon source for the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) of graphene layers on hBN flakes and on sapphire wafers at substrate growth temperatures of ~1400 °C. The source produces a flux of predominantly atomic carbon, which diffuses through the walls of a Joule-heated tantalum tube filled with graphite powder. We demonstrate deposition of carbon on sapphire with carbon deposition rates up to 12 nm/h. Atomic force microscopy measurements reveal the formation of hexagonal moiré patterns when graphene monolayers are grown on hBN flakes. The Raman spectra of the graphene layers grown on hBN and sapphire with the sublimation carbon source and the atomic carbon source are similar, whilst the nature of the carbon aggregates is different - graphitic with the sublimation carbon source and amorphous with the atomic carbon source. At MBE growth temperatures we observe etching of the sapphire wafer surface by the flux from the atomic carbon source, which we have not observed in the MBE growth of graphene with the sublimation carbon source.

Electrical Properties of Cement-Based Composites with Carbon Nanotubes, Graphene, and Graphite Nanofibers.

PubMed

Yoo, Doo-Yeol; You, Ilhwan; Lee, Seung-Jung

2017-05-08

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the carbon-based nanomaterial type on the electrical properties of cement paste. Three different nanomaterials, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), graphite nanofibers (GNFs), and graphene (G), were incorporated into the cement paste at a volume fraction of 1%. The self-sensing capacity of the cement composites was also investigated by comparing the compressive stress/strain behaviors by evaluating the fractional change of resistivity (FCR). The electrical resistivity of the plain cement paste was slightly reduced by adding 1 vol % GNFs and G, whereas a significant decrease of the resistivity was achieved by adding 1 vol % MWCNTs. At an identical volume fraction of 1%, the composites with MWCNTs provided the best self-sensing capacity with insignificant noise, followed by the composites containing GNFs and G. Therefore, the addition of MWCNTs was considered to be the most effective to improve the self-sensing capacity of the cement paste. Finally, the composites with 1 vol % MWCNTs exhibited a gauge factor of 113.2, which is much higher than commercially available strain gauges.

Electrical Properties of Cement-Based Composites with Carbon Nanotubes, Graphene, and Graphite Nanofibers

PubMed Central

Yoo, Doo-Yeol; You, Ilhwan; Lee, Seung-Jung

2017-01-01

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the carbon-based nanomaterial type on the electrical properties of cement paste. Three different nanomaterials, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), graphite nanofibers (GNFs), and graphene (G), were incorporated into the cement paste at a volume fraction of 1%. The self-sensing capacity of the cement composites was also investigated by comparing the compressive stress/strain behaviors by evaluating the fractional change of resistivity (FCR). The electrical resistivity of the plain cement paste was slightly reduced by adding 1 vol % GNFs and G, whereas a significant decrease of the resistivity was achieved by adding 1 vol % MWCNTs. At an identical volume fraction of 1%, the composites with MWCNTs provided the best self-sensing capacity with insignificant noise, followed by the composites containing GNFs and G. Therefore, the addition of MWCNTs was considered to be the most effective to improve the self-sensing capacity of the cement paste. Finally, the composites with 1 vol % MWCNTs exhibited a gauge factor of 113.2, which is much higher than commercially available strain gauges. PMID:28481296

In situ baking method for degassing of a kicker magnet in accelerator beam line

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kamiya, Junichiro, E-mail: kamiya.junichiro@jaea.go.jp; Ogiwara, Norio; Yanagibashi, Toru

In this study, the authors propose a new in situ degassing method by which only kicker magnets in the accelerator beam line are baked out without raising the temperature of the vacuum chamber to prevent unwanted thermal expansion of the chamber. By simply installing the heater and thermal radiation shield plates between the kicker magnet and the chamber wall, most of the heat flux from the heater directs toward the kicker magnet. The result of the verification test showed that each part of the kicker magnet was heated to above the target temperature with a small rise in the vacuummore » chamber temperature. A graphite heater was selected in this application to bake-out the kicker magnet in the beam line to ensure reliability and easy maintainability of the heater. The vacuum characteristics of graphite were suitable for heater operation in the beam line. A preliminary heat-up test conducted in the accelerator beam line also showed that each part of the kicker magnet was successfully heated and that thermal expansion of the chamber was negligibly small.« less

On the Solidification and Structure Formation during Casting of Large Inserts in Ferritic Nodular Cast Iron

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tadesse, Abel; Fredriksson, Hasse

2018-06-01

The graphite nodule count and size distributions for boiling water reactor (BWR) and pressurized water reactor (PWR) inserts were investigated by taking samples at heights of 2160 and 1150 mm, respectively. In each cross section, two locations were taken into consideration for both the microstructural and solidification modeling. The numerical solidification modeling was performed in a two-dimensional model by considering the nucleation and growth in eutectic ductile cast iron. The microstructural results reveal that the nodule size and count distribution along the cross sections are different in each location for both inserts. Finer graphite nodules appear in the thinner sections and close to the mold walls. The coarser nodules are distributed mostly in the last solidified location. The simulation result indicates that the finer nodules are related to a higher cooling rate and a lower degree of microsegregation, whereas the coarser nodules are related to a lower cooling rate and a higher degree of microsegregation. The solidification time interval and the last solidifying locations in the BWR and PWR are also different.

CHAIN REACTING SYSTEM

DOEpatents

Fermi, E.; Leverett, M.C.

1958-06-01

A nuclear reactor of the gas-cooled, graphitemoderated type is described. In this design, graphite blocks are arranged in a substantially cylindrical lattice having vertically orienied coolant channels in which uranium fuel elements having through passages are disposed. The active lattice is contained within a hollow body. such as a steel shell, which, in turn, is surrounded by water and concrete shields. Helium is used as the primary coolant and is circulated under pressure through the coolant channels and fuel elements. The helium is then conveyed to heat exchangers, where its heat is used to produce steam for driving a prime mover, thence to filtering means where radioactive impurities are removed. From the filtering means the helium passes to a compressor and an after cooler and is ultimately returned to the reactor for recirculation. Control and safety rods are provided to stabilize or stop the reaction. A space is provided between the graphite lattice and the internal walls of the shell to allow for thermal expansion of the lattice during operation. This space is filled with a resilient packing, such as asbestos, to prevent the passage of helium.

A glucose bio-battery prototype based on a GDH/poly(methylene blue) bioanode and a graphite cathode with an iodide/tri-iodide redox couple.

PubMed

Wang, Jen-Yuan; Nien, Po-Chin; Chen, Chien-Hsiao; Chen, Lin-Chi; Ho, Kuo-Chuan

2012-07-01

A glucose bio-battery prototype independent of oxygen is proposed based on a glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) bioanode and a graphite cathode with an iodide/tri-iodide redox couple. At the bioanode, a NADH electrocatalyst, poly(methylene blue) (PMB), which can be easily grown on the electrode (screen-printed carbon paste electrode, SPCE) by electrodeposition, is harnessed and engineered. We find that carboxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are capable of significantly increasing the deposition amount of PMB and thus enhancing the PMB's electrocatalysis of NADH oxidation and the glucose bio-battery's performance. The choice of the iodide/tri-iodide redox couple eliminates the dependence of oxygen for this bio-battery, thus enabling the bio-battery with a constant current-output feature similar to that of the solar cells. The present glucose bio-battery prototype can attain a maximum power density of 2.4 μW/cm(2) at 25 °C. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterization of boronized graphite in NSTX-U and its effect on plasma performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bedoya, Felipe; Allain, Jean Paul; Kaita, Robert; Skinner, Charles; University of Illinois Team; Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Collaboration

2017-10-01

Plasma Facing Components (PFC) conditioning can have a crucial influence in plasma performance in tokamak machines. The National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX-U) used boronization as the main wall conditioning technique during the FY16 experimental campaign. The Materials Analysis Particle Probe (MAPP), a characterization facility, was used to investigate the surface of ATJ graphite exposed to boronization and plasma in the tokamak using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). The measurements showed that plasma induced oxidation plays a critical role in the chemical evolution of the surfaces and as a consequence in plasma performance. Additionally, ex-vessel in-situ laboratory experiments and post-mortem studies of extracted NSTX-U tiles were performed to complement the observations made with MAPP, including controlled D irradiations and XPS depth profiles. These three methodologies show congruent results where D exposures increase the oxygen concentration between 20-30%, highlighting the influence of these two species on the chemistry of the samples. USDOE Contract DE-AC02-09CH11466, USDOE Contract DE-SC0010717 and Award Number DE-SC0012890.

Fullerenes, nanotubes, and graphite as matrices for collision mechanism in secondary ion mass spectrometry: determination of cyclodextrin.

PubMed

Stupavska, Monika; Jerigova, Monika; Michalka, Miroslav; Hasko, Daniel; Szoecs, Vojtech; Velic, Dusan

2011-12-01

A technique for improving the sensitivity of high mass molecular analysis is described. Three carbon species, fullerenes, single walled carbon nanotubes, and highly ordered pyrolytic graphite are introduced as matrices for the secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis of cyclodextrin (C(42)H(70)O(35), 1134 u). The fullerene and nanotubes are deposited as single deposition, and 10, 20, or 30 deposition films and cyclodextrin is deposited on top. The cyclodextrin parent-like ions and two fragments were analyzed. A 30 deposition fullerene film enhanced the intensity of cationized cyclodextrin with Na by a factor of 37. While the C(6)H(11)O(5) fragment, corresponding to one glucopyranose unit, increased by a factor of 16. Although fragmentation on fullerene is not suppressed, the intensity is twice as low as the parent-like ion. Deprotonated cyclodextrin increases by 100× and its C(8)H(7)O fragment by 10×. While the fullerene matrix enhances secondary ion emission, the nanotubes matrix film generates a basically constant yield. Graphite gives rise to lower intensity peaks than either fullerene or nanotubes. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy provide images of the fullerene and nanotubes deposition films revealing flat and web structured surfaces, respectively. A "colliding ball" model is presented to provide a plausible physical mechanism of parent-like ion enhancement using the fullerene matrix. © American Society for Mass Spectrometry, 2011

Electrical and galvanomagnetic properties of nanoporous carbon samples impregnated with bromine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Danishevskii, A. M.; Popov, V. V.; Kyutt, R. N.; Gordeev, S. K.

2013-07-01

Nanoporous carbon samples with a large specific surface area can be filled with heavier elements or their compounds, which makes it possible to investigate the interaction of their electronic subsystems with carbon. One of the elements convenient for filling pores of carbon materials is bromine. Impregnation of nanoporous carbon samples with bromine causes the occurrence of the processes of micropore filling, monolayer adsorption, and intercalation. It has been found that samples impregnated with bromine substantially change their electrical and galvanomagnetic properties, and these changes depend on the structure of the samples. It has been shown that, if in the skeleton of a porous carbon sample there is a fraction of graphite clusters, the impregnation of the sample with bromine increases the concentration of charged carriers (holes). But when the sample has a quasi-amorphous structure, the injection of bromine into the sample leads to the appearance of a certain concentration of electrons in addition to charged mobile holes of the initial sample; i.e., the electrical conductivity becomes bipolar. In the former case, bromine molecules intercalate graphite clusters and, since bromine is an acceptor during intercalation of graphite, the hole concentration in the carbon skeleton network increases. In the latter case, bromine molecules can only be adsorbed on pore walls. As a result, the adsorption interaction between the electron shells of bromine molecules and the carbon surface leads to the formation of a donor layer near the surface and to the generation of electrons in the carbon skeleton network.

Electrode behavior RE-visited: Monitoring potential windows, capacity loss, and impedance changes in Li 1.03 (Ni 0.5Co 0.2Mn 0.3) 0.97O 2/silicon-graphite full cells

DOE PAGES

Klett, Matilda; Gilbert, James A.; Trask, Stephen E.; ...

2016-03-04

Here, the capacity and power performance of lithium-ion battery cells evolve over time. The mechanisms leading to these changes can often be identified through knowledge of electrode potentials, which contain information about electrochemical processes at the electrode-electrolyte interfaces. In this study we monitor electrode potentials within full cells containing a Li 1.03(Ni 0.5Co 0.2Mn 0.3) 0.97O 2–based (NCM523) positive electrode, a silicon-graphite negative electrode, and an LiPF6-bearing electrolyte, with and without fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) or vinylene carbonate (VC) additives. The electrode potentials are monitored with a Li-metal reference electrode (RE) positioned besides the electrode stack; changes in these potentials aremore » used to examine electrode state-of-charge (SOC) shifts, material utilization, and loss of electrochemically active material. Electrode impedances are obtained with a Li xSn RE located within the stack; the data display the effect of cell voltage and electrode SOC changes on the measured values after formation cycling and after aging. Our measurements confirm the beneficial effect of FEC and VC electrolyte additives in reducing full cell capacity loss and impedance rise after cycling in a 3.0–4.2 V range. Comparisons with data from a full cell containing a graphite-based negative highlight the consequences of including silicon in the electrode. Our observations on electrode potentials, capacity, and impedance changes on cycling are crucial to designing long-lasting, silicon-bearing, lithium-ion cells.« less

Chemical Evolution in Silicon–Graphite Composite Anodes Investigated by Vibrational Spectroscopy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ruther, Rose E.; Hays, Kevin A.; An, Seong Jin

Silicon–graphite composites are under development for the next generation of high-capacity lithium-ion anodes, and vibrational spectroscopy is a powerful tool to identify the different mechanisms that contribute to performance loss. With alloy anodes, the underlying causes of cell failure are significantly different in half-cells with lithium metal counter electrodes compared to full cells with standard cathodes. However, most studies which take advantage of vibrational spectroscopy have only examined half-cells. In this work, a combination of FTIR and Raman spectroscopy describes several factors that lead to degradation in full pouch cells with LiNi 0.5Mn 0.3Co 0.2O 2 (NMC532) cathodes. The spectroscopicmore » signatures evolve after longer term cycling compared to the initial formation cycles. Several side-reactions that consume lithium ions have clear FTIR signatures, and comparison to a library of reference compounds facilitates identification. Raman microspectroscopy combined with mapping shows that the composite anodes are not homogeneous but segregate into graphite-rich and silicon-rich phases. Lithiation does not proceed uniformly either. A basis analysis of Raman maps identifies electrochemically inactive regions of the anodes. In conclusion, the spectroscopic results presented here emphasize the importance of improving electrode processing and SEI stability to enable practical composite anodes with high silicon loadings.« less

Chemical Evolution in Silicon–Graphite Composite Anodes Investigated by Vibrational Spectroscopy

DOE PAGES

Ruther, Rose E.; Hays, Kevin A.; An, Seong Jin; ...

2018-05-24

Silicon–graphite composites are under development for the next generation of high-capacity lithium-ion anodes, and vibrational spectroscopy is a powerful tool to identify the different mechanisms that contribute to performance loss. With alloy anodes, the underlying causes of cell failure are significantly different in half-cells with lithium metal counter electrodes compared to full cells with standard cathodes. However, most studies which take advantage of vibrational spectroscopy have only examined half-cells. In this work, a combination of FTIR and Raman spectroscopy describes several factors that lead to degradation in full pouch cells with LiNi 0.5Mn 0.3Co 0.2O 2 (NMC532) cathodes. The spectroscopicmore » signatures evolve after longer term cycling compared to the initial formation cycles. Several side-reactions that consume lithium ions have clear FTIR signatures, and comparison to a library of reference compounds facilitates identification. Raman microspectroscopy combined with mapping shows that the composite anodes are not homogeneous but segregate into graphite-rich and silicon-rich phases. Lithiation does not proceed uniformly either. A basis analysis of Raman maps identifies electrochemically inactive regions of the anodes. In conclusion, the spectroscopic results presented here emphasize the importance of improving electrode processing and SEI stability to enable practical composite anodes with high silicon loadings.« less

Structural Response and Failure of a Full-Scale Stitched Graphite-Epoxy Wing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jegley, Dawn C.; Lovejoy, Andrew E.; Bush, Harold G.

2001-01-01

Analytical and experimental results of the test for an all-composite full-scale wing box are presented. The wing box is representative of a section of a 220-passenger commercial transport aircraft wing box and was designed and constructed by The Boeing Company as part of the NASA Advanced Subsonics Technology (AST) program. The semi-span wing was fabricated from a graphite-epoxy material system with cover panels and spars held together using Kevlar stitches through the thickness. No mechanical fasteners were used to hold the stiffeners to the skin of the cover panels. Tests were conducted with and without low-speed impact damage, discrete source damage and repairs. Up-bending down-bending and brake roll loading conditions were applied. The structure with nonvisible impact damage carried 97% of Design Ultimate Load prior to failure through a lower cover panel access hole. Finite element and experimental results agree for the global response of the structure.

Evaluation of the Structural Response and Failure of a Full-Scale Stitched Graphite-Epoxy Wing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jegley, Dawn C.; Bush, Harold G.; Lovejoy, Andrew E.

2001-01-01

Analytical and experimental results for an all-composite full-scale wing box are presented. The wing box is representative of a section of a 220-passenger commercial transport aircraft wing box and was designed and constructed by The Boeing Company as part of the NASA Advanced Subsonics Technology (AST) program. The semi-span wing was fabricated from a graphite-epoxy material system with cover panels and spars held together using Kevlar stitches through the thickness. No mechanical fasteners were used to hold the stiffeners to the skin of the cover panels. Tests were conducted with and without low-speed impact damage, discrete source damage and repairs. Upbending, down-bending and brake roll loading conditions were applied. The structure with nonvisible impact damage carried 97% of Design Ultimate Load prior to failure through a lower cover panel access hole. Finite element and experimental results agree for the global response of the structure.

Laser inertial fusion-based energy: Neutronic design aspects of a hybrid fusion-fission nuclear energy system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kramer, Kevin James

This study investigates the neutronics design aspects of a hybrid fusion-fission energy system called the Laser Fusion-Fission Hybrid (LFFH). A LFFH combines current Laser Inertial Confinement fusion technology with that of advanced fission reactor technology to produce a system that eliminates many of the negative aspects of pure fusion or pure fission systems. When examining the LFFH energy mission, a significant portion of the United States and world energy production could be supplied by LFFH plants. The LFFH engine described utilizes a central fusion chamber surrounded by multiple layers of multiplying and moderating media. These layers, or blankets, include coolant plenums, a beryllium (Be) multiplier layer, a fertile fission blanket and a graphite-pebble reflector. Each layer is separated by perforated oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) ferritic steel walls. The central fusion chamber is surrounded by an ODS ferritic steel first wall. The first wall is coated with 250-500 mum of tungsten to mitigate x-ray damage. The first wall is cooled by Li17Pb83 eutectic, chosen for its neutron multiplication and good heat transfer properties. The Li17Pb 83 flows in a jacket around the first wall to an extraction plenum. The main coolant injection plenum is immediately behind the Li17Pb83, separated from the Li17Pb83 by a solid ODS wall. This main system coolant is the molten salt flibe (2LiF-BeF2), chosen for beneficial neutronics and heat transfer properties. The use of flibe enables both fusion fuel production (tritium) and neutron moderation and multiplication for the fission blanket. A Be pebble (1 cm diameter) multiplier layer surrounds the coolant injection plenum and the coolant flows radially through perforated walls across the bed. Outside the Be layer, a fission fuel layer comprised of depleted uranium contained in Tristructural-isotropic (TRISO) fuel particles having a packing fraction of 20% in 2 cm diameter fuel pebbles. The fission blanket is cooled by the same radial flibe flow that travels through perforated ODS walls to the reflector blanket. This reflector blanket is 75 cm thick comprised of 2 cm diameter graphite pebbles cooled by flibe. The flibe extraction plenum surrounds the reflector bed. Detailed neutronics designs studies are performed to arrive at the described design. The LFFH engine thermal power is controlled using a technique of adjusting the 6Li/7Li enrichment in the primary and secondary coolants. The enrichment adjusts system thermal power in the design by increasing tritium production while reducing fission. To perform the simulations and design of the LFFH engine, a new software program named LFFH Nuclear Control (LNC) was developed in C++ to extend the functionality of existing neutron transport and depletion software programs. Neutron transport calculations are performed with MCNP5. Depletion calculations are performed using Monteburns 2.0, which utilizes ORIGEN 2.0 and MCNP5 to perform a burnup calculation. LNC supports many design parameters and is capable of performing a full 3D system simulation from initial startup to full burnup. It is able to iteratively search for coolant 6Li enrichments and resulting material compositions that meet user defined performance criteria. LNC is utilized throughout this study for time dependent simulation of the LFFH engine. Two additional methods were developed to improve the computation efficiency of LNC calculations. These methods, termed adaptive time stepping and adaptive mesh refinement were incorporated into a separate stand alone C++ library name the Adaptive Burnup Library (ABL). The ABL allows for other client codes to call and utilize its functionality. Adaptive time stepping is useful for automatically maximizing the size of the depletion time step while maintaining a desired level of accuracy. Adaptive meshing allows for analysis of fixed fuel configurations that would normally require a computationally burdensome number of depletion zones. Alternatively, Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) adjusts the depletion zone size according to the variation in flux across the zone or fractional contribution to total absorption or fission. A parametric analysis on a fully mixed fuel core was performed using the LNC and ABL code suites. The resulting system parameters are found to optimize performance metrics using a 20 MT DU fuel load with a 20% TRISO packing and a 300 im kernel diameter operated with a fusion input power of 500 MW and a fission blanket gain of 4.0. LFFH potentially offers a proliferation resistant technology relative to other nuclear energy systems primarily because of no need for fuel enrichment or reprocessing. A figure of merit of the material attractiveness is examined and it is found that the fuel is effectively contaminated to an unattractive level shortly after the system is started due to fission product and minor actinide build up.

Mineralogy of the Almahata Sitta Ureilite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zolensky, Michael E.; Herrin, J.; Friedrich, J. M.; Rumble, D.; Steele, A.; Jenniskens, P.; Shaddad, M. H.; Le, L.; Robinson, G. A.

2009-01-01

Mineralogy & Petrography: Almahata Sitta, deriving from the asteroid 2008 TC3, is a coarse-grained- to porous, fine-grained, fragmental breccia with subrounded mineral fragments and olivine aggregates embedded in a cataclastic matrix of ureilitic material. Mineral fragments include polycrystalline olivine, low-calcium, pigeonite, and augite. Abundant carbonaceous aggregates containing graphite, microdiamonds and aliphatics. Kamacite, Cr-rich troilite, silica and schreibersite are abundant. The compositional range of the silicates is characteristic of the ureilites as a group, but unusually broad for an individual ureilite. The dense lithology is typical for ureilites, but the porous lithology is anomalous. In the porous lithology pore walls are largely coated by crystals of olivine. Classification: Almahata Sitta is an anomalous, polymict eucrite. Anomalous features include large compositional range of silicates, high abundance and large size of pores, crystalline pore wall linings, and fine-grained texture. Tomography reveals that the pores define thin, discontinuous "sheets" connected in three dimensions, suggesting that they outline grains that have been incompletely welded together. The crystals lining the pore walls are probably vapor phase deposits. Therefore Almahata Sitta may represent an agglomeration of coarse- to fine-grained, incompletely reduced pellets formed during impact, and subsequently welded together at high temperature.

Probing Phonon Dynamics in Individual Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes.

PubMed

Jiang, Tao; Hong, Hao; Liu, Can; Liu, Wei-Tao; Liu, Kaihui; Wu, Shiwei

2018-04-11

Interactions between elementary excitations, such as carriers, phonons, and plasmons, are critical for understanding the optical and electronic properties of materials. The significance of these interactions is more prominent in low-dimensional materials and can dominate their physical properties due to the enhanced interactions between these excitations. One-dimensional single-walled carbon nanotubes provide an ideal system for studying such interactions due to their perfect physical structures and rich electronic properties. Here we investigated G-mode phonon dynamics in individual suspended chirality-resolved single-walled carbon nanotubes by time-resolved anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy. The improved technique allowed us to probe the intrinsic phonon information on a single-tube level and exclude the influences of tube-tube and tube-substrate interactions. We found that the G-mode phonon lifetime ranges from 0.75-2.25 ps and critically depends on whether the tube is metallic or semiconducting. In comparison with the phonon lifetimes in graphene and graphite, we revealed structure-dependent carrier-phonon and phonon-phonon interactions in nanotubes. Our results provide new information for optimizing the design of nanotube electronic/optoelectronic devices by better understanding and utilizing their phonon decay channels.

Synthesis of Copper Oxide/Graphite Composite for High-Performance Rechargeable Battery Anode.

PubMed

Cho, Sanghun; Ahn, Yong-Keon; Yin, Zhenxing; You, Duck-Jae; Kim, Hyunjin; Piao, Yuanzhe; Yoo, Jeeyoung; Kim, Youn Sang

2017-08-25

A novel copper oxide/graphite composite (GCuO) anode with high capacity and long cycle stability is proposed. A simple, one-step synthesis method is used to prepare the GCuO, through heat treatment of the Cu ion complex and pristine graphite. The gases generated during thermal decomposition of the Cu ion complex (H 2 and CO 2 ) induce interlayer expansion of the graphite planes, which assists effective ion intercalation. Copper oxide is formed simultaneously as a high-capacity anode material through thermal reduction of the Cu ion complex. Material analyses reveal the formation of Cu oxide nanoparticles and the expansion of the gaps between the graphite layers from 0.34 to 0.40 nm, which is enough to alleviate layer stress for reversible ion intercalation for Li or Na batteries. The GCuO cell exhibits excellent Li-ion battery half-cell performance, with a capacity of 532 mAh g -1 at 0.2 C (C-rate) and capacity retention of 83 % after 250 cycles. Moreover, the LiFePO 4 /GCuO full cell is fabricated to verify the high performance of GCuO in practical applications. This cell has a capacity of 70 mAh g -1 and a coulombic efficiency of 99 %. The GCuO composite is therefore a promising candidate for use as an anode material in advanced Li- or Na-ion batteries. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Laser processing for manufacturing nanocarbon materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Van, Hai Hoang

CNTs have been considered as the excellent candidate to revolutionize a broad range of applications. There have been many method developed to manipulate the chemistry and the structure of CNTs. Laser with non-contact treatment capability exhibits many processing advantages, including solid-state treatment, extremely fast processing rate, and high processing resolution. In addition, the outstanding monochromatic, coherent, and directional beam generates the powerful energy absorption and the resultant extreme processing conditions. In my research, a unique laser scanning method was developed to process CNTs, controlling the oxidation and the graphitization. The achieved controllability of this method was applied to address the important issues of the current CNT processing methods for three applications. The controllable oxidation of CNTs by laser scanning method was applied to cut CNT films to produce high-performance cathodes for FE devices. The production method includes two important self-developed techniques to produce the cold cathodes: the production of highly oriented and uniformly distributed CNT sheets and the precise laser trimming process. Laser cutting is the unique method to produce the cathodes with remarkable features, including ultrathin freestanding structure (~200 nm), greatly high aspect ratio, hybrid CNT-GNR emitter arrays, even emitter separation, and directional emitter alignment. This unique cathode structure was unachievable by other methods. The developed FE devices successfully solved the screening effect issue encounter by current FE devices. The laser-control oxidation method was further developed to sequentially remove graphitic walls of CNTs. The laser oxidation process was directed to occur along the CNT axes by the laser scanning direction. Additionally, the oxidation was further assisted by the curvature stress and the thermal expansion of the graphitic nanotubes, ultimately opening (namely unzipping) the tubular structure to produce GNRs. Therefore the developed laser scanning method optimally exploited the thermal laser-CNT interaction, successfully transforming CNTs into 2D GNRs. The solid-state laser unzipping process effectively addressed the issues of contamination and scalability encountered by the current unzipping methods. Additionally, the produced GNRs were uniquely featured with the freestanding structure and the smooth surfaces. If the scanning process was performed in an inert environment without the appearance of oxygen, the oxidation of CNTs would not happen. Instead, the greatly mobile carbon atoms of the heated CNTs would reorganize the crystal structure, inducing the graphitization process to improve the crystallinity. Many observations showing the structural improvement of CNTs under laser irradiation has been reported, confirming the capability of laser to heal graphitic defects. Laser methods were more time-efficient and energy-efficient than other annealing methods because laser can quickly heat CNTs to generate graphitization in less than one second. This subsecond heating process of laser irradiation was more effective than other heating methods because it avoided the undesired coalescence of CNTs. In my research, the laser scanning method was applied to generate the graphitization, healing the structural defects of CNTs. Different from the reported laser methods, the laser scanning directed the locally annealed areas to move along the CNT axes, migrating and coalescencing the graphitic defects to achieve better healing results. The critical information describing the CNT structural transformation caused by the moving laser irradiation was explored from the successful applications of the developed laser method. This knowledge inspires an important method to modifiy the general graphitic structure for important applications, such as carbon fiber production, CNT self-assembly process and CNT welding. This method will be effective, facile, versatile, and adaptable for laboratory and industrial facilities.

Effect of Segmented Electrode Length on the Performances of an Aton-Type Hall Thruster

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duan, Ping; Bian, Xingyu; Cao, Anning; Liu, Guangrui; Chen, Long; Yin, Yan

2016-05-01

The influences of the low-emissive graphite segmented electrode placed near the channel exit on the discharge characteristics of a Hall thruster are studied using the particle-in-cell method. A two-dimensional physical model is established according to the Hall thruster discharge channel configuration. The effects of electrode length on the potential, ion density, electron temperature, ionization rate and discharge current are investigated. It is found that, with the increasing of the segmented electrode length, the equipotential lines bend towards the channel exit, and approximately parallel to the wall at the channel surface, the radial velocity and radial flow of ions are increased, and the electron temperature is also enhanced. Due to the conductive characteristic of electrodes, the radial electric field and the axial electron conductivity near the wall are enhanced, and the probability of the electron-atom ionization is reduced, which leads to the degradation of the ionization rate in the discharge channel. However, the interaction between electrons and the wall enhances the near wall conductivity, therefore the discharge current grows along with the segmented electrode length, and the performance of the thruster is also affected. supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11375039 and 11275034) and the Key Project of Science and Technology of Liaoning Province, China (No. 2011224007) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (No. 3132014328)

Combined experimental and numerical evaluation of a prototype nano-PCM enhanced wallboard

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Biswas, Kaushik; LuPh.D., Jue; Soroushian, Parviz

2014-01-01

In the United States, forty-eight (48) percent of the residential end-use energy consumption is spent on space heating and air conditioning. Reducing envelope-generated heating and cooling loads through application of phase change material (PCM)-enhanced building envelopes can facilitate maximizing the energy efficiency of buildings. Combined experimental testing and numerical modeling of PCM-enhanced envelope components are two important aspects of the evaluation of their energy benefits. An innovative phase change material (nano-PCM) was developed with PCM encapsulated with expanded graphite (interconnected) nanosheets, which is highly conductive for enhanced thermal storage and energy distribution, and is shape-stable for convenient incorporation into lightweightmore » building components. A wall with cellulose cavity insulation and prototype PCM-enhanced interior wallboards was built and tested in a natural exposure test (NET) facility in a hot-humid climate location. The test wall contained PCM wallboards and regular gypsum wallboard, for a side-by-side annual comparison study. Further, numerical modeling of the walls containing the nano-PCM wallboard was performed to determine its actual impact on wall-generated heating and cooling loads. The model was first validated using experimental data, and then used for annual simulations using Typical Meteorological Year (TMY3) weather data. This article presents the measured performance and numerical analysis evaluating the energy-saving potential of the nano-PCM-enhanced wallboard.« less

Effects of gas reservoir configuration and pore radius on shale gas nanoflow: A molecular dynamics study.

PubMed

Tian, Huiquan; Guo, Guang-Jun; Geng, Ming; Zhang, Zhengcai; Zhang, Mingmin; Gao, Kai

2018-05-28

We calculated methane transport through cylindrical graphite nanopores in cyclical steady-state flows using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. First, two typical gas reservoir configurations were evaluated: open (OS) and closed (CS) systems in which pores connect to the gas reservoir without/with a graphite wall parallel to the gas flow. We found that the OS configuration, which is commonly used to study nanoflows, exhibited obvious size effects. Smaller gas reservoir cross-sectional areas were associated with faster gas flows. Because Knudsen diffusion and slip flow in pores are interrupted in a gas reservoir that does not have walls as constraints, OSs cannot be relied upon in cyclical nanoflow simulations. Although CSs eliminated size effects, they introduced surface roughness effects that stem from the junction surface between the gas reservoir and the pore. To obtain a convergent nanoflow, the length of a side of the gas reservoir cross-section should be at least 2 nm larger than the pore diameter. Second, we obtained methane flux data for various pore radii (0.5-2.5 nm) in CSs and found that they could be described accurately using the Javadpour formula. This is the first direct molecular simulation evidence to validate this formula. Finally, the radial density and flow-velocity distributions of methane in CS pores were analyzed in detail. We tested pores with a radius between 0.5 nm and 2.5 nm and determined that the maximum ratio (∼34%) of slip flow to overall flow occurred in the pore with a radius of 1.25 nm. This study will aid in the design of gas reservoir configurations for nanoflow simulations and is helpful in understanding shale gas nanoflows.

Reference air kerma rate calibration system for high dose rate Ir-192 brachytherapy sources in Taiwan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, Wei-Han; Yuan, Ming-Chen; Lee, Jeng-Hung; Lin, Yi-Chun

2017-11-01

Ir-192 sources are widely used in brachytherapy and the number of treatments is around seven thousand for the use of the high dose rate (HDR) Ir-192 brachytherapy source per year in Taiwan. Due to its physical half-life of 73.8 days, the source should be replaced four times per year to maintain the HDR treatment mode (DDEP, 2005; Coursey et al., 1992). When doing this work, it must perform the source dose trace to assure the dose accuracy. To establish the primary measurement standard of reference air kerma rate(RAKR) for the HDR Ir-192 brachytherapy sources in Taiwan, the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research (INER) fabricated a dual spherical graphite-walled cavity ionization chambers system to directly measure the RAKR of the Ir-192 brachytherapy source. In this system, the ion-charge was accumulated by the two ionization chambers and after correction for the ion recombination, temperature, atmosphere pressure, room scattering, graphite-wall attenuation, air attenuation, source decay, stem effect, and so on. The RAKR of the Ir-192 source was obtained in the ambient conditions of 22 °C and one atmosphere. The measurement uncertainty of the system was around 0.92% in 96% confidence level (k=2.0). To verify the accuracy of the result, the source calibration comparison has been made at the National Radiation Standard Laboratory (NRSL) of INER and Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB, Germany) in 2015. The ratio of the measurement results between INER and PTB, INER/PTB, was 0.998±0.027 (k=2) which showed good consistency and the performance of the system was verified.

Effects of gas reservoir configuration and pore radius on shale gas nanoflow: A molecular dynamics study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tian, Huiquan; Guo, Guang-Jun; Geng, Ming; Zhang, Zhengcai; Zhang, Mingmin; Gao, Kai

2018-05-01

We calculated methane transport through cylindrical graphite nanopores in cyclical steady-state flows using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. First, two typical gas reservoir configurations were evaluated: open (OS) and closed (CS) systems in which pores connect to the gas reservoir without/with a graphite wall parallel to the gas flow. We found that the OS configuration, which is commonly used to study nanoflows, exhibited obvious size effects. Smaller gas reservoir cross-sectional areas were associated with faster gas flows. Because Knudsen diffusion and slip flow in pores are interrupted in a gas reservoir that does not have walls as constraints, OSs cannot be relied upon in cyclical nanoflow simulations. Although CSs eliminated size effects, they introduced surface roughness effects that stem from the junction surface between the gas reservoir and the pore. To obtain a convergent nanoflow, the length of a side of the gas reservoir cross-section should be at least 2 nm larger than the pore diameter. Second, we obtained methane flux data for various pore radii (0.5-2.5 nm) in CSs and found that they could be described accurately using the Javadpour formula. This is the first direct molecular simulation evidence to validate this formula. Finally, the radial density and flow-velocity distributions of methane in CS pores were analyzed in detail. We tested pores with a radius between 0.5 nm and 2.5 nm and determined that the maximum ratio (˜34%) of slip flow to overall flow occurred in the pore with a radius of 1.25 nm. This study will aid in the design of gas reservoir configurations for nanoflow simulations and is helpful in understanding shale gas nanoflows.

Gastric full-thickness suturing during EMR and for treatment of gastric-wall defects (with video).

PubMed

von Renteln, Daniel; Schmidt, Arthur; Riecken, Bettina; Caca, Karel

2008-04-01

The endoscopic full-thickness Plicator device was initially developed to provide an endoscopic treatment option for patients with GERD. Because the endoscopic full-thickness Plicator enables rapid and easy placement of transmural sutures, comparable with surgical sutures, we used the Plicator device for endoscopic treatment or prevention of GI-wall defects. To describe the outcomes and complications of endoscopic full-thickness suturing during EMR and for the treatment of gastric-wall defects. A report of 4 cases treated with the endoscopic full-thickness suturing between June 2006 and April 2007. A large tertiary-referral center. Four subjects received endoscopic full-thickness suturing. The subjects were women, with a mean age of 67 years. Of the 4 subjects, 3 received endoscopic full-thickness suturing during or after an EMR. One subject received endoscopic full-thickness suturing for treatment of a fistula. Primary outcome measurements were clinical procedural success and procedure-related adverse events. The mean time for endoscopic full-thickness suturing was 15 minutes. In all cases, GI-wall patency was restored or ensured, and no procedure-related complications occurred. All subjects responded well to endoscopic full-thickness suturing. The resection of one GI stromal tumor was incomplete. Because of the Plicator's 60F distal-end diameter, endoscopic full-thickness suturing could only be performed with the patient under midazolam and propofol sedation. The durable Plicator suture might compromise the endoscopic follow-up after EMR. The endoscopic full-thickness Plicator permits rapid and easy placement of transmural sutures and seems to be a safe and effective alternative to surgical intervention to restore GI-wall defects or to ensure GI-wall patency during EMR procedures.

Effects of solution chemistry on adsorption of selected pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) by graphenes and carbon nanotubes.

PubMed

Liu, Fei-fei; Zhao, Jian; Wang, Shuguang; Du, Peng; Xing, Baoshan

2014-11-18

Adsorption of three selected pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) (ketoprofen (KEP), carbamazepine (CBZ), and bisphenol A (BPA)) by two reduced graphene oxides (rGO1 and rGO2) and one commercial graphene was examined under different solution conditions. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), and powdered graphite were also investigated for comparison. All adsorption isotherms followed the order of SWCNTs > rGO1 > rGO2 > MWCNTs > graphene > graphite, consistent with the orders of their surface areas and micropore volumes. After surface area normalization, adsorption affinities of the three PPCPs onto graphenes were lower than onto graphite, suggesting incomplete occupation for adsorption sites because of the aggregation of graphene sheets and the presence of oxygen-containing functional groups. The observed pH effects on adsorption correlated well with the pH-regulated distribution of the protonated neutral species of the three PPCPs. Increasing ionic strength from 0 to 20 mM increased KEP adsorption due to the electrostatic screening by Na(+) and Ca(2+). Both humic acid (HA) and sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) suppressed PPCPs adsorption to all adsorbents, but their impacts onto graphenes were lower than those onto CNTs because of their lower adsorption by graphenes. More severe HA (or SDBS) effect was found on negatively charged KEP at the tested solution pH 6.50 due to the electrostatic repulsion between the same charged KEP and HA (or SDBS). The findings of the present study may have significant implications for the environmental fate assessment of PPCPs and graphene.

Graphite paper-based bipolar electrode electrochemiluminescence sensing platform.

PubMed

Zhang, Xin; Ding, Shou-Nian

2017-08-15

In this work, aiming at the construction of a disposable, wireless, low-cost and sensitive system for bioassay, we report a closed bipolar electrode electrochemiluminescence (BPE-ECL) sensing platform based on graphite paper as BPE for the first time. Graphite paper is qualified as BPE due to its unique properties such as excellent electrical conductivity, uniform composition and ease of use. This simple BPE-ECL device was applied to the quantitative analysis of oxidant (H 2 O 2 ) and biomarker (CEA) respectively, according to the principle of BPE sensing-charge balance. For the H 2 O 2 analysis, Pt NPs were electrodeposited onto the cathode through a bipolar electrodeposition approach to promote the sensing performance. As a result, this BPE-ECL device exhibited a wide linear range of 0.001-15mM with a low detection limit of 0.5µM (S/N=3) for H 2 O 2 determination. For the determination of CEA, chitosan-multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CS-MWCNTs) were employed to supply a hydrophilic interface for immobilizing primary antibody (Ab 1 ); and Au@Pt nanostructures were conjugated with secondary antibody (Ab 2 ) as catalysts for H 2 O 2 reduction. Under the optimal conditions, the BPE-ECL immunodevice showed a wide linear range of 0.01-60ngmL -1 with a detection limit of 5.0pgmL -1 for CEA. Furthermore, it also displayed satisfactory selectivity, excellent stability and good reproducibility. The developed method opened a new avenue to clinical bioassay. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Study of different nanostructured carbon supports for fuel cell catalysts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mirabile Gattia, Daniele; Antisari, Marco Vittori; Giorgi, Leonardo; Marazzi, Renzo; Piscopiello, Emanuela; Montone, Amelia; Bellitto, Serafina; Licoccia, Silvia; Traversa, Enrico

Pt clusters were deposited by an impregnation process on three carbon supports: multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWNT), single-wall carbon nanohorns (SWNH), and Vulcan XC-72 carbon black to investigate the effect of the carbon support structure on the possibility of reducing Pt loading on electrodes for direct methanol (DMFC) fuel cells without impairing performance. MWNT and SWNH were in-house synthesised by a DC and an AC arc discharge process between pure graphite electrodes, respectively. UV-vis spectrophotometry, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and cyclic voltammetry measurements were used to characterize the Pt particles deposited on the three carbon supports. A differential yield for Pt deposition, not strictly related to the surface area of the carbon support, was observed. SWNH showed the highest surface chemical activity toward Pt deposition. Pt deposited in different forms depending on the carbon support. Electrochemical characterizations showed that the Pt nanostructures deposited on MWNT are particularly efficient in the methanol oxidation reaction.

Apparatus and method for maintaining an article at a temperature that is less than the temperature of the ambient air

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Klett, James; Klett, Lynn

An apparatus for maintaining the temperature of an article at a temperature that is below the ambient air temperature includes an enclosure having an outer wall that defines an interior chamber for holding a volume of sealed air. An insert is disposed inside of the chamber and has a body that is made of a porous graphite foam material. A vacuum pump penetrates the outer wall and fluidly connects the sealed air in the interior chamber with the ambient air outside of the enclosure. The temperatures of the insert and article is maintained at temperatures that are below the ambientmore » air temperature when a volume of a liquid is wicked into the pores of the porous insert and the vacuum pump is activated to reduce the pressure of a volume of sealed air within the interior chamber to a pressure that is below the vapor pressure of the liquid.« less

Inter-allotropic transformations in the heterogeneous carbon nanotube networks.

PubMed

Jung, Hyun Young; Jung, Sung Mi; Kim, Dong Won; Jung, Yung Joon

2017-01-19

The allotropic transformations of carbon provide an immense technological interest for tailoring the desired molecular structures in the scalable nanoelectronic devices. Herein, we explore the effects of morphology and geometric alignment of the nanotubes for the re-engineering of carbon bonds in the heterogeneous carbon nanotube (CNT) networks. By applying alternating voltage pulses and electrical forces, the single-walled CNTs in networks were predominantly transformed into other predetermined sp 2 carbon structures (multi-walled CNTs and multi-layered graphitic nanoribbons), showing a larger intensity in a coalescence-induced mode of Raman spectra with the increasing channel width. Moreover, the transformed networks have a newly discovered sp 2 -sp 3 hybrid nanostructures in accordance with the alignment. The sp 3 carbon structures at the small channel are controlled, such that they contain up to about 29.4% networks. This study provides a controllable method for specific types of inter-allotropic transformations/hybridizations, which opens up the further possibility for the engineering of nanocarbon allotropes in the robust large-scale network-based devices.

Potential Explosion Hazard of Carbonaceous Nanoparticles: Screening of Allotropes

PubMed Central

Turkevich, Leonid A.; Fernback, Joseph; Dastidar, Ashok G.; Osterberg, Paul

2016-01-01

There is a concern that engineered carbon nanoparticles, when manufactured on an industrial scale, will pose an explosion hazard. Explosion testing has been performed on 20 codes of carbonaceous powders. These include several different codes of SWCNTs (single-walled carbon nanotubes), MWCNTs (multi-walled carbon nanotubes) and CNFs (carbon nanofibers), graphene, diamond, fullerene, as well as several different control carbon blacks and graphites. Explosion screening was performed in a 20 L explosion chamber (ASTM E1226 protocol), at a concentration of 500 g/m3, using a 5 kJ ignition source. Time traces of overpressure were recorded. Samples typically exhibited overpressures of 5–7 bar, and deflagration index KSt = V1/3 (dP/dt)max ~ 10 – 80 bar-m/s, which places these materials in European Dust Explosion Class St-1. There is minimal variation between these different materials. The explosive characteristics of these carbonaceous powders are uncorrelated with primary particle size (BET specific surface area). PMID:27468178

From carbon nanotubes to carbon atomic chains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casillas García, Gilberto; Zhang, Weijia; José-Yacamán, Miguel

2010-10-01

Carbyne is a linear allotrope of carbon. It is formed by a linear arrangement of carbon atoms with sp-hybridization. We present a reliable and reproducible experiment to obtain these carbon atomic chains using few-layer-graphene (FLG) sheets and a HRTEM. First the FLG sheets were synthesized from worm-like exfoliated graphite and then drop-casted on a lacey-carbon copper grid. Once in the TEM, two holes are opened near each other in a FLG sheet by focusing the electron beam into a small spot. Due to the radiation, the carbon atoms rearrange themselves between the two holes and form carbon fibers. The beam is concentrated on the carbon fibers in order excite the atoms and induce a tension until multi wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) is formed. As the radiation continues the MWCNT breaks down until there is only a single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT). Then, when the SWCNT breaks, an atomic carbon chain is formed, lasts for several seconds under the radiation and finally breaks. This demonstrates the stability of this carbon structure.

The functionalization and characterization of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Abdullah, Mohd Pauzi; Center of Water Analysis and Research; Zulkepli, Siti Aminah

2015-09-25

Functionalization is the process of introducing chemical functional groups on the surface of the material. In this study, a multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNTs) was functionalized by oxidation treatment using concentrated nitric acid. The functionalized and pristine MWCNTs were analyzed by using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The XRD patterns exhibit the graphitic properties for all samples. Besides, the XRD results also demonstrate that the percent of crystallinity of MWCNTs increases as the duration of acid treatment increases. The percent of crystallinity increases from 66% to 80% when the pristine MWCNT treated for 12 hours with additionalmore » 12 hours reflux process with nitric acid. The IR spectrum for the 12 hours-treated MWCNTs shows the formation of carboxyl functional group. Additional 12 hours reflux process with nitric acid on the 12 hours-treated MWCNTs have shown the loss of existing carboxyl group and only hydroxyl group formed.« less

Non-graphite crucible for high temperature applications

DOEpatents

Holcombe, C.E.; Pfeiler, W.A.

1994-08-02

A multi-piece crucible for high temperature applications comprises a tubular side wall member having a lip on the inside surface and a bottom member or members forming a container for containing a melt of a material during a high temperature melt-casting operations. The multi-piece design prevents cracking of the crucible or leakage of the melt from the crucible during the melt-casting operation. The lip of the tubular member supports the bottom member. The contacting surfaces where the lip of the tubular side wall member contacts the bottom member of the multi-piece crucible contains a ceramic sealing material. The ceramic sealing material forms a seal sufficient to prevent the melt of the material from leaking out of the multi-piece crucible during the melt-casting process. The multi-piece crucible is made of a material which is chemically inert to the melt and has structural integrity at the melting point temperature of the melt, or of a material coated with such a material. 6 figs.

Non-graphite crucible for high temperature applications

DOEpatents

Holcombe, Cressie E.; Pfeiler, William A.

1994-01-01

A multi-piece crucible for high temperature applications comprises a tubular side wall member having a lip on the inside surface and a bottom member or members forming a container for containing a melt of a material during a high temperature melt-casting operations. The multi-piece design prevents cracking of the crucible or leakage of the melt from the crucible during the melt-casting operation. The lip of the tubular member supports the bottom member. The contacting surfaces where the lip of the tubular side wall member contacts the bottom member of the multi-piece crucible contains a ceramic sealing material. The ceramic sealing material forms a seal sufficient to prevent the melt of the material from leaking out of the multi-piece crucible during the melt-casting process. The multi-piece crucible is made of a material which is chemically inert to the melt and has structural integrity at the melting point temperature of the melt, or of a material coated with such a material.

Spectroscopic investigations on oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Anandhi, C. M. S.; Premkumar, S.; Asath, R. Mohamed

2016-05-06

The pristine multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were oxidized by the ultrasonication process. The oxidized MWCNTs were characterized by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet–visible (UV-Vis) and Fourier transform -Raman (FT-Raman) spectroscopic techniques. The XRD analysis confirms that the oxidized MWCNTs exist in a hexagonal structure and the sharp XRD peak corresponds to the (002) Bragg’s reflection plane, which indicates that the MWCNTs have higher crystalline nature. The UV-Vis analysis confirms that the MWCNTs functionalized with the carboxylic acid. The red shift was observed corresponds to the D band in the Raman spectrum, which reveals that the reduced disordered graphitic structure ofmore » oxidized MWCNTs. The strong Raman peak was observed at 2563 cm{sup -1} corresponds to the overtone of the D band, which is the characteristic vibrational mode of oxidized MWCNTs. The carboxylic acid functionalization of MWCNTs enhances the dispersibility, which paves the way for potential applications in the field of biosensors and targeted drug delivery.« less

Plasma-wall interaction data needs critical to a Burning Core Experiment (BCX)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1985-11-01

The Division of Development and Technology has sponsored a four day US-Japan workshop ''Plasma-Wall Interaction Data Needs Critical to a Burning Core Experiment (BCX)'', held at Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, California on June 24 to 27, 1985. The workshop, which brought together fifty scientists and engineers from the United States, Japan, Germany, and Canada, considered the plasma-material interaction and high heat flux (PMI/HHF) issues for the next generation of magnetic fusion energy devices, the Burning Core Experiment (BCX). Materials options were ranked, and a strategy for future PMI/HHF research was formulated. The foundation for international collaboration and coordination of thismore » research was also established. This volume contains the last three of the five technical sessions. The first of the three is on plasma materials interaction issues, the second is on research facilities and the third is from smaller working group meetings on graphite, beryllium, advanced materials and future collaborations.« less

Hydrogen Storage in metal-modified single-walled carbon nanotubes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dr. Ahn

2004-04-30

It has been known for over thirty years that potassium-intercalated graphites can readily adsorb and desorb hydrogen at {approx}1 wt% at 77 K. These levels are much higher than can be attained in pure graphite, owing to a larger thermodynamic enthalpy of adsorption. This increased enthalpy may allow hydrogen sorption at higher temperatures. Potassium has other beneficial effects that enable the design of a new material: (a) Increased adsorption enthalpy in potassium-intercalated graphite compared to pure graphite reduces the pressure and increases the temperature required for a given fractional coverage of hydrogen adsorption. We expect the same effects in potassium-intercalatedmore » SWNTs. (b) As an intercalant, potassium separates c-axis planes in graphite. Potassium also separates the individual tubes of SWNTs ropes producing swelling and increased surface area. Increased surface area provides more adsorption sites, giving a proportionately higher capacity. The temperature of adsorption depends on the enthalpy of adsorption. The characteristic temperature is roughly the adsorption enthalpy divided by Boltzmann's constant, k{sub B}. For the high hydrogen storage capacity of SWNTs to be achieved at room temperature, it is necessary to increase the enthalpy of adsorption. Our goal for this project was to use metal modifications to the carbon surface of SWNTs in order to address both enhanced adsorption and surface area. For instance, the enthalpy of sorption of hydrogen on KC8 is 450 meV/H{sub 2}, whereas it is 38 meV/H{sub 2} for unmodified SWNTs. By adsorption thermodynamics we expect approximately that the same performance of SWNTs at 77 K will be achieved at a temperature of [450/38] 77 K = 900 K. This is a high temperature, so we expect that adsorption on nearly all the available sites for hydrogen will occur at room temperature under a much lower pressure. This pressure can be estimated conveniently, since the chemical potential of hydrogen is approximately proportional to the logarithm of the pressure. Using 300 K for room temperature, the 100 bar pressure requirement is reduced to exp(-900/300) 100 bar = 5 bar at room temperature. This is in the pressure range used for prior experimental work such as that of Colin and Herold in the late 1960's and early 1970's.« less

Metamorphism, graphite crystallinity, and sulfide anatexis of the Rampura-Agucha massive sulfide deposit, northwestern India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mishra, Biswajit; Bernhardt, Heinz-Jurgen

2009-02-01

Located adjacent to the Banded Gneissic Complex, Rampura-Agucha is the only sulfide ore deposit discovered to date within the Precambrian basement gneisses of Rajasthan. The massive Zn-(Pb) sulfide orebody occurs within graphite-biotite-sillimanite schist along with garnet-biotite-sillimanite gneiss, calc-silicate gneisses, amphibolites, and garnet-bearing leucosomes. Plagioclase-hornblende thermometry in amphibolites yielded a peak metamorphic temperature of 720-780°C, whereas temperatures obtained from Fe-Mg exchange between garnet and biotite (580-610°C) in the pelites correspond to postpeak resetting. Thermodynamic considerations of pertinent silicate equilibria, coupled with sphalerite geobarometry, furnished part of a clockwise P- T- t path with peak P- T of ˜6.2 kbar and 780°C, attained during granulite grade metamorphism of the major Zn-rich stratiform sedimentary exhalative deposits orebody and its host rocks. Arsenopyrite composition in the metamorphosed ore yielded a temperature [and log f( S 2)] range of 352°C (-8.2) to 490°C (-4.64), thus indicating its retrograde nature. Contrary to earlier research on the retrogressed nature of graphite, Raman spectroscopic studies on graphite in the metamorphosed ore reveal variable degree of preservation of prograde graphite crystals (490 ± 43°C with a maximum at 593°C). The main orebody is mineralogically simple (sphalerite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, galena), deformed and metamorphosed while the Pb-Ag-rich sulfosalt-bearing veins and pods that are irregularly distributed within the hanging wall calc-silicate gneisses show no evidence of deformation and metamorphism. The sulfosalt minerals identified include freibergite, boulangerite, pyrargyrite, stephanite, diaphorite, Mn-jamesonite, Cu-free meneghinite, and semseyite; the last three are reported from Agucha for the first time. Stability relations of Cu-free meneghinite and semseyite in the Pb-Ag-rich ores constrain temperatures at >550°C and <300°C, respectively. Features such as (1) low galena-sphalerite interfacial angles, (2) presence of multiphase sulfide-sulfosalt inclusions, (3) microcracks filled with galena (±pyrargyrite) without any hydrothermal alteration, and (4) high contents of Zn, Ag (and Sb) in galena, indicate partial melting in the PbS-Fe0.96S-ZnS-(1% Ag2S ± CuFeS2) system, which was critical for metamorphic remobilization of the Rampura-Agucha deposit.

Reproductive toxicity of carbon nanomaterials: a review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vasyukova, I.; Gusev, A.; Tkachev, A.

2015-11-01

In the current review, we assembled the experimental evidences of an association between carbon nanomaterials including carbon black, graphite nanoplatelets, graphene, single- and multi-walled carbon nanotubes, and fullerene exposure and adverse reproductive and developmental effects, in vitro and in vivo studies. It is shown that carbon nanomaterials reveal toxic effect on reproductive system and offspring development of the animals of various system groups to a certain degree depending on carbon crystal structure. Although this paper provides initial information about the potential male and female reproductive toxicity of carbon nanomaterials, further studies, using characterized nanoparticles, relevant routes of administration, and doses closely reflecting all the expected levels of exposure are needed.

Research and application of high performance GPES rigid foam composite plastic insulation boards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

sun, Hongming; xu, Hongsheng; Han, Feifei

2017-09-01

A new type of heat insulation board named GPES was prepared by several polymers and modified nano-graphite particles, injecting high-pressure supercritical CO2. Compared with the traditional thermal insulation material, GPES insulation board has higher roundness bubble and thinner bubble wall. Repeatability and reproducibility tests show that melting knot, dimensional stability, strength and other physical properties are significantly better than traditional organic heat insulation materials. Especially the lower and more stable thermal conductivity of GPES can significantly reduce thermal insulation layer thickness. Obviously GPES is the best choice of insulation materials with the implement of 75% and higher energy efficiency standard.

Laser ablative synthesis of carbon nanotubes

DOEpatents

Smith, Michael W.; Jordan, Kevin; Park, Cheol

2010-03-02

An improved method for the production of single walled carbon nanotubes that utilizes an RF-induction heated side-pumped synthesis chamber for the production of such. Such a method, while capable of producing large volumes of carbon nanotubes, concurrently permits the use of a simplified apparatus that allows for greatly reduced heat up and cool down times and flexible flowpaths that can be readily modified for production efficiency optimization. The method of the present invention utilizes a free electron laser operating at high average and peak fluence to illuminate a rotating and translating graphite/catalyst target to obtain high yields of SWNTs without the use of a vacuum chamber.

Graphite Composite Booms with Integral Hinges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alexander, Wes; Carlos, Rene; Rossoni, Peter; Sturm, James

2006-01-01

A document discusses lightweight instrument booms under development for use aboard spacecraft. A boom of this type comprises a thin-walled graphite fiber/ matrix composite tube with an integral hinge that can be bent for stowage and later allowed to spring back to straighten the boom for deployment in outer space. The boom design takes advantage of both the stiffness of the composite in tubular geometry and the flexibility of thin sections of the composite. The hinge is formed by machining windows in the tube at diametrically opposite locations so that there remain two opposing cylindrical strips resembling measuring tapes. Essential to the design is a proprietary composite layup that renders the hinge tough yet flexible enough to be bendable as much as 90 in either of two opposite directions. When the boom is released for deployment, the torque exerted by the bent hinge suffices to overcome parasitic resistance from harnesses and other equipment, so that the two sections of the hinge snap to a straight, rigid condition in the same manner as that of measuring tapes. Issues addressed in development thus far include selection of materials, out-of-plane bending, edge cracking, and separation of plies.

SiO(x) nanoparticles synthesized by an evaporation and condensation process using induction melting of silicon and gas injection.

PubMed

Jang, Bo Yun; Lee, Jin Seok; Kim, Joon Soo

2013-05-01

SiO(x) nanoparticles were synthesized using a specially designed induction melting system equipped with a segmented graphite crucible. The graphite crucible with the segmented wall was the key to enhancing the evaporation rate due to the increase of the evaporation area and convection of the silicon melt. Injection of the gas mixture of oxygen (O2) and argon (Ar) on silicon (Si) melt caused the formation of SiO(x) nanoparticles. The evaporated SiO(x) nanoparticles were then cooled and condensed in a process chamber. The effects of the O2/Ar ratio in the injection gas on the microstructures of the SiO(x) nanoparticles were then investigated. Synthesized SiO(x) nanoparticles were proven to be of a homogeneous amorphous phase with average diameters of 30-35 nm. The microstructures were independent from the O2/Ar ratio of the injected gas. However, x increased from 1.36 to 1.84 as the O2/Ar ratio increased. The purity of the synthesized nanoparticles was about 99.9%. SiO(x) nanoparticles could be applied as the active anode material in a lithium (Li) ion secondary battery.

Growth of Carbon Nanostructure Materials Using Laser Vaporization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhu, Shen; Su, Ching-Hua; Lehozeky, S.

2000-01-01

Since the potential applications of carbon nanotubes (CNT) was discovered in many fields, such as non-structure electronics, lightweight composite structure, and drug delivery, CNT has been grown by many techniques in which high yield single wall CNT has been produced by physical processes including arc vaporization and laser vaporization. In this presentation, the growth mechanism of the carbon nanostructure materials by laser vaporization is to be discussed. Carbon nanoparticles and nanotubes have been synthesized using pulsed laser vaporization on Si substrates in various temperatures and pressures. Two kinds of targets were used to grow the nanostructure materials. One was a pure graphite target and the other one contained Ni and Co catalysts. The growth temperatures were 600-1000 C and the pressures varied from several torr to 500 torr. Carbon nanoparticles were observed when a graphite target was used, although catalysts were deposited on substrates before growing carbon films. When the target contains catalysts, carbon nanotubes (CNT) are obtained. The CNT were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, optical absorption and transmission, and Raman spectroscopy. The temperature-and pressure-dependencies of carbon nanotubes' growth rate and size were investigated.

Influence of oxygen on the carbide formation on tungsten

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luthin, J.; Linsmeier, Ch.

2001-03-01

As a first wall material in nuclear fusion devices, tungsten will interact with carbon and oxygen from the plasma. In this study, we report on the process of thermally induced carbide formation of thin carbon films on polycrystalline tungsten and the influence of oxygen on this process. All investigations are performed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Carbon films are supplied through electron beam evaporation of graphite. The carbidization process, monitored during increased substrate temperature, can be divided into four phases. In phase I disordered carbon converts into graphite-like carbon. In phase II significant diffusion and the reaction to W 2C is observed, followed by phase III which is dominated by the presence of W 2C and the beginning reaction to WC. Finally in phase IV only WC is present, but the total carbon amount has strongly decreased. Different mechanisms of oxygen influence on the carbide formation are proposed and measurements of the reaction of carbon on tungsten with intermediate oxide layers are presented in detail. A WO 2+ x intermediate layer completely inhibits the carbide formation, while a WO 2 layer leads to WC formation at temperatures above 1270 K.

The Effects of Fracture Origin Size on Fatigue Properties of Ductile Cast Iron with Small Chill Structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sameshima, Daigo; Nakamura, Takashi; Horikawa, Noritaka; Oguma, Hiroyuki; Endo, Takeshi

Reducing the weight of a machine structure is an increasingly important consideration both for the conservation of resources during production and for the energy saving during operation. With these objectives in mind, thin-walled ductile cast iron has recently been developed. Because rapid cooling could result in brittle microstructure of cementite (chill) in this cast iron, it is necessary to investigate the effect of cementite on the fatigue properties. Therefore, fatigue tests were carried out on a ductile cast iron of block castings which contained a relatively small amount of cementite. Fracture surface observation indicated that the fracture origins were located at graphite clusters and cast shrinkage porosity, not at cementite. It appears that when the size of the cementite is smaller than that of the graphite, the cementite does not affect the fatigue properties of ductile cast iron. Not surprisingly, the fatigue lives were found to increase with decrease in the size of the fatigue fracture origin. The threshold initial stress intensity factor range ΔKini,th for fatigue failure was found to be about 3-4MPa√m, independent of microstructure.

78 FR 74161 - Light-Walled Rectangular Pipe and Tube From China, Korea, Mexico, and Turkey; Scheduling of Full...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-10

...-Walled Rectangular Pipe and Tube From China, Korea, Mexico, and Turkey; Scheduling of Full Five-Year... Turkey AGENCY: United States International Trade Commission. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Commission... on light- walled rectangular pipe and tube from China, Korea, Mexico, and Turkey would be likely to...

[The cutaneous groin flap for coverage of a full-thickness abdominal wall defect].

PubMed

Doebler, O; Spierer, R

2010-08-01

A full-thickness defect of the abdominal wall is rare and may occur as a complication of extended abdominal surgery procedures. We report about a 69-year-old patient who was presented to our department with a full-thickness abdominal wall defect and a fully exposed collagen-mesh for reconstructive wound closure. 13 operations with resections of necrotic parts of the abdominal wall were performed following a complicated intraabdominal infection. After debridement and mesh explantation, closure of the remaining defect of the lower abdominal region was achieved by a cutaneous groin flap. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart New York.

Raman spectra of carbonaceous materials in a fault zone in the Longmenshan thrust belt, China; comparisons with those of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kouketsu, Yui; Shimizu, Ichiko; Wang, Yu; Yao, Lu; Ma, Shengli; Shimamoto, Toshihiko

2017-03-01

We analyzed micro-Raman spectra of carbonaceous materials (CM) in natural and experimentally deformed fault rocks from Longmenshan fault zone that caused the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, to characterize degree of disordering of CM in a fault zone. Raman spectral parameters for 12 samples from a fault zone in Shenxigou, Sichuan, China, all show low-grade structures with no graphite. Low crystallinity and δ13C values (-24‰ to -25‰) suggest that CM in fault zone originated from host rocks (Late Triassic Xujiahe Formation). Full width at half maximum values of main spectral bands (D1 and D2), and relative intensities of two subbands (D3 and D4) of CM were variable with sample locations. However, Raman parameters of measured fault rocks fall on established trends of graphitization in sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. An empirical geothermometer gives temperatures of 160-230 °C for fault rocks in Shenxigou, and these temperatures were lower for highly sheared gouge than those for less deformed fault breccia at inner parts of the fault zone. The lower temperature and less crystallinity of CM in gouge might have been caused by the mechanical destruction of CM by severe shearing deformation, or may be due to mixing of host rocks on the footwall. CM in gouge deformed in high-velocity experiments exhibits slight changes towards graphitization characterized by reduction of D3 and D4 intensities. Thus low crystallinity of CM in natural gouge cannot be explained by our experimental results. Graphite formation during seismic fault motion is extremely local or did not occur in the study area, and the CM crystallinity from shallow to deep fault zones may be predicted as a first approximation from the graphitization trend in sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. If that case, graphite may lower the friction of shear zones at temperatures above 300 °C, deeper than the lower part of seismogenic zone.

Enabling LiTFSI-based electrolytes for safer lithium-ion batteries by using linear fluorinated carbonates as (Co)solvent.

PubMed

Kalhoff, Julian; Bresser, Dominic; Bolloli, Marco; Alloin, Fannie; Sanchez, Jean-Yves; Passerini, Stefano

2014-10-01

In this Full Paper we show that the use of lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) as conducting salt in commercial lithium-ion batteries is made possible by introducing fluorinated linear carbonates as electrolyte (co)solvents. Electrolyte compositions based on LiTFSI and fluorinated carbonates were characterized regarding their ionic conductivity and electrochemical stability towards oxidation and with respect to their ability to form a protective film of aluminum fluoride on the aluminum surface. Moreover, the investigation of the electrochemical performance of standard lithium-ion anodes (graphite) and cathodes (Li[Ni1/3 Mn1/3 Co1/3 ]O2 , NMC) in half-cell configuration showed stable cycle life and good rate capability. Finally, an NMC/graphite full-cell confirmed the suitability of such electrolyte compositions for practical lithium-ion cells, thus enabling the complete replacement of LiPF6 and allowing the realization of substantially safer lithium-ion batteries. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Experimental study of forced convection heat transfer during upward and downward flow of helium at high pressure and high temperature

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Francisco Valentin; Narbeh Artoun; Masahiro Kawaji

2015-08-01

Fundamental high pressure/high temperature forced convection experiments have been conducted in support of the development of a Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) with a prismatic core. The experiments utilize a high temperature/high pressure gas flow test facility constructed for forced convection and natural circulation experiments. The test section has a single 16.8 mm ID flow channel in a 2.7 m long, 108 mm OD graphite column with four 2.3kW electric heater rods placed symmetrically around the flow channel. This experimental study presents the role of buoyancy forces in enhancing or reducing convection heat transfer for helium at high pressures upmore » to 70 bar and high temperatures up to 873 degrees K. Wall temperatures have been compared among 10 cases covering the inlet Re numbers ranging from 500 to 3,000. Downward flows display higher and lower wall temperatures in the upstream and downstream regions, respectively, than the upward flow cases due to the influence of buoyancy forces. In the entrance region, convection heat transfer is reduced due to buoyancy leading to higher wall temperatures, while in the downstream region, buoyancyinduced mixing causes higher convection heat transfer and lower wall temperatures. However, their influences are reduced as the Reynolds number increases. This experimental study is of specific interest to VHTR design and validation of safety analysis codes.« less

Packing microstructure and local density variations of experimental and computational pebble beds

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Auwerda, G. J.; Kloosterman, J. L.; Lathouwers, D.

2012-07-01

In pebble bed type nuclear reactors the fuel is contained in graphite pebbles, which form a randomly stacked bed with a non-uniform packing density. These variations can influence local coolant flow and power density and are a possible cause of hotspots. To analyse local density variations computational methods are needed that can generate randomly stacked pebble beds with a realistic packing structure on a pebble-to-pebble level. We first compare various properties of the local packing structure of a computed bed with those of an image made using computer aided X-ray tomography, looking at properties in the bulk of the bedmore » and near the wall separately. Especially for the bulk of the bed, properties of the computed bed show good comparison with the scanned bed and with literature, giving confidence our method generates beds with realistic packing microstructure. Results also show the packing structure is different near the wall than in the bulk of the bed, with pebbles near the wall forming ordered layers similar to hexagonal close packing. Next, variations in the local packing density are investigated by comparing probability density functions of the packing fraction of small clusters of pebbles throughout the bed. Especially near the wall large variations in local packing fractions exists, with a higher probability for both clusters of pebbles with low (<0.6) and high (>0.65) packing fraction, which could significantly affect flow rates and, together with higher power densities, could result in hotspots. (authors)« less

Layered oxide, graphite and silicon-graphite electrodes for Lithium-ion cells: Effect of electrolyte composition and cycling windows

DOE PAGES

Klett, Matilda; Gilbert, James A.; Pupek, Krzysztof Z.; ...

2016-10-14

The electrochemical performance of cells with a Li 1.03(Ni 0.5Co 0.2Mn 0.3) 0.97O 2 (NCM523) positive electrode and a blended silicon-graphite (Si-Gr) negative electrode are investigated using various electrolyte compositions and voltage cycling windows. Voltage profiles of the blended Si-Gr electrode show a superposition of graphite potential plateaus on a sloped Si profile with a large potential hysteresis. The effect of this hysteresis is seen in the cell impedance versus voltage data, which are distinctly different for the charge and discharge cycles. We confirm that the addition of compounds, such as vinylene carbonate (VC) and fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) to themore » baseline 1.2 M LiPF 6 in ethylene carbonate (EC): ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC) (3:7 w/w) electrolyte, improves cell capacity retention with higher retention seen at higher additive contents. We show that reducing the lower cutoff voltage (LCV) of full cells to 2.5 V increases the Si-Gr electrode potential to 1.12 V vs. Li/Li +; this relatively-high delithiation potential correlates with the lower capacity retention displayed by the cell. Hence, we show that raising the upper cutoff voltage (UCV) can increase cell energy density without significantly altering capacity retention over 100 charge discharge cycles.« less

Layered oxide, graphite and silicon-graphite electrodes for Lithium-ion cells: Effect of electrolyte composition and cycling windows

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Klett, Matilda; Gilbert, James A.; Pupek, Krzysztof Z.

The electrochemical performance of cells with a Li 1.03(Ni 0.5Co 0.2Mn 0.3) 0.97O 2 (NCM523) positive electrode and a blended silicon-graphite (Si-Gr) negative electrode are investigated using various electrolyte compositions and voltage cycling windows. Voltage profiles of the blended Si-Gr electrode show a superposition of graphite potential plateaus on a sloped Si profile with a large potential hysteresis. The effect of this hysteresis is seen in the cell impedance versus voltage data, which are distinctly different for the charge and discharge cycles. We confirm that the addition of compounds, such as vinylene carbonate (VC) and fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) to themore » baseline 1.2 M LiPF 6 in ethylene carbonate (EC): ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC) (3:7 w/w) electrolyte, improves cell capacity retention with higher retention seen at higher additive contents. We show that reducing the lower cutoff voltage (LCV) of full cells to 2.5 V increases the Si-Gr electrode potential to 1.12 V vs. Li/Li +; this relatively-high delithiation potential correlates with the lower capacity retention displayed by the cell. Hence, we show that raising the upper cutoff voltage (UCV) can increase cell energy density without significantly altering capacity retention over 100 charge discharge cycles.« less

FennoFlakes: a project for identifying flake graphite ores in the Fennoscandian shield and utilizing graphite in different applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palosaari, Jenny; Eklund, O.; Raunio, S.; Lindfors, T.; Latonen, R.-M.; Peltonen, J.; Smått, J.-H.; Kauppila, J.; Lund, S.; Sjöberg-Eerola, P.; Blomqvist, R.; Marmo, J.

2016-04-01

Natural graphite is a strategic mineral, since the European Commission stated (Report on critical raw materials for the EU (2014)) that graphite is one of the 20 most critical materials for the European Union. The EU consumed 13% of all flake graphite in the world but produced only 3%, which stresses the demand of the material. Flake graphite, which is a flaky version of graphite, forms under high metamorphic conditions. Flake graphite is important in different applications like batteries, carbon brushes, heat sinks etc. Graphene (a single layer of graphite) can be produced from graphite and is commonly used in many nanotechnological applications, e.g. in electronics and sensors. The steps to obtain pure graphene from graphite ore include fragmentation, flotation and exfoliation, which can be cumbersome and resulting in damaging the graphene layers. We have started a project named FennoFlakes, which is a co-operation between geologists and chemists to fill the whole value chain from graphite to graphene: 1. Exploration of graphite ores (geological and geophysical methods). 2. Petrological and geochemical analyses on the ores. 3. Development of fragmentation methods for graphite ores. 4. Chemical exfoliation of the enriched flake graphite to separate flake graphite into single and multilayer graphene. 5. Test the quality of the produced material in several high-end applications with totally environmental friendly and disposable material combinations. Preliminary results show that flake graphite in high metamorphic areas has better qualities compared to synthetic graphite produced in laboratories.

Development of an iral coated SiC-C functionally gradient composite for oxidation protection of graphite and carbon-carbon composites. Final report, 15 July 1992-14 July 1995

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Richards, M.R.; Richards, A.C.; Ohuchi, F.S.

1995-10-27

This report is the final summary for AFOSR project number F49620-92-J-0367. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the oxidation protection afforded to graphite or C/C composites by combining IrAl with SiC-C functionally gradient coatings FGCs. This project involved the design and construction of a novel cold wall levitation chemical vapor deposition (LCVD) reactor capable of producing continuous FGCs, and the modification of an existing physical vapor deposition (PVD) system to allow for codeposition of Ir and Al. The SiC-C FGCs were produced using the SiCl4-C3H8-H2 gas system. By continuously varying the Si to C ratio in the gasmore » stream the composition of the coatings could be precisely controlled and tailored to fit a predetermined compositional profile. IrAl was deposited onto the SiC-C FGC by alternately depositing layers of Ir and Al and reacting them at 700 deg C, in vacuum, to form IrAl. Analysis of the as reacted film indicated that IrAl had indeed formed, however, a secondary reaction had occurred between the Ir and SiC producing IrSi3 and graphite. Cracking of the IrAl coating was also observed and was attributed to the CTE mismatch between SiC and the IrAl coating. Upon exposure to a high temperature oxidizing flame (<2100 deg C for 5 min.), the IrAl formed a protective layer of alumina, however, the extensive cracking of the IrAl layer allowed the SiC-C FGC layer to oxidize.« less

Soft-Bake Purification of SWCNTs Produced by Pulsed Laser Vaporization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yowell, Leonard; Nikolaev, Pavel; Gorelik, Olga; Allada, Rama Kumar; Sosa, Edward; Arepalli, Sivaram

2013-01-01

The "soft-bake" method is a simple and reliable initial purification step first proposed by researchers at Rice University for single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) produced by high-pressure carbon mon oxide disproportionation (HiPco). Soft-baking consists of annealing as-produced (raw) SWCNT, at low temperatures in humid air, in order to degrade the heavy graphitic shells that surround metal particle impurities. Once these shells are cracked open by the expansion and slow oxidation of the metal particles, the metal impurities can be digested through treatment with hydrochloric acid. The soft-baking of SWCNT produced by pulsed-laser vaporization (PLV) is not straightforward, because the larger average SWCNT diameters (.1.4 nm) and heavier graphitic shells surrounding metal particles call for increased temperatures during soft-bake. A part of the technology development focused on optimizing the temperature so that effective cracking of the graphitic shells is balanced with maintaining a reasonable yield, which was a critical aspect of this study. Once the ideal temperature was determined, a number of samples of raw SWCNT were purified using the soft-bake method. An important benefit to this process is the reduced time and effort required for soft-bake versus the standard purification route for SWCNT. The total time spent purifying samples by soft-bake is one week per batch, which equates to a factor of three reduction in the time required for purification as compared to the standard acid purification method. Reduction of the number of steps also appears to be an important factor in improving reproducibility of yield and purity of SWCNT, as small deviations are likely to get amplified over the course of a complicated multi-step purification process.

Adhesion force interactions between cyclopentane hydrate and physically and chemically modified surfaces.

PubMed

Aman, Zachary M; Sloan, E Dendy; Sum, Amadeu K; Koh, Carolyn A

2014-12-07

Interfacial interactions between liquid-solid and solid-solid phases/surfaces are of fundamental importance to the formation of hydrate deposits in oil and gas pipelines. This work establishes the effect of five categories of physical and chemical modification to steel on clathrate hydrate adhesive force: oleamide, graphite, citric acid ester, nonanedithiol, and Rain-X anti-wetting agent. Hydrate adhesive forces were measured using a micromechanical force apparatus, under both dry and water-wet surface conditions. The results show that the graphite coating reduced hydrate-steel adhesion force by 79%, due to an increase in the water wetting angle from 42 ± 8° to 154 ± 7°. Two chemical surface coatings (nonanedithiol and the citric acid ester) induced rapid hydrate growth in the hydrate particles; nonanedithiol increased hydrate adhesive force by 49% from the baseline, while the citric acid ester coating reduced hydrate adhesion force by 98%. This result suggests that crystal growth may enable a strong adhesive pathway between hydrate and other crystalline structures, however this effect may be negated in cases where water-hydrocarbon interfacial tension is minimised. When a liquid water droplet was placed on the modified steel surfaces, the graphite and citric acid ester became less effective at reducing adhesive force. In pipelines containing a free water phase wetting the steel surface, chemical or physical surface modifications alone may be insufficient to eliminate hydrate deposition risk. In further tests, the citric acid ester reduced hydrate cohesive forces by 50%, suggesting mild activity as a hybrid anti-agglomerant suppressing both hydrate deposition and particle agglomeration. These results demonstrate a new capability to develop polyfunctional surfactants, which simultaneously limit the capability for hydrate particles to aggregate and deposit on the pipeline wall.

Measurement of absorbed dose with a bone-equivalent extrapolation chamber.

PubMed

DeBlois, François; Abdel-Rahman, Wamied; Seuntjens, Jan P; Podgorsak, Ervin B

2002-03-01

A hybrid phantom-embedded extrapolation chamber (PEEC) made of Solid Water and bone-equivalent material was used for determining absorbed dose in a bone-equivalent phantom irradiated with clinical radiation beams (cobalt-60 gamma rays; 6 and 18 MV x rays; and 9 and 15 MeV electrons). The dose was determined with the Spencer-Attix cavity theory, using ionization gradient measurements and an indirect determination of the chamber air-mass through measurements of chamber capacitance. The collected charge was corrected for ionic recombination and diffusion in the chamber air volume following the standard two-voltage technique. Due to the hybrid chamber design, correction factors accounting for scatter deficit and electrode composition were determined and applied in the dose equation to obtain absorbed dose in bone for the equivalent homogeneous bone phantom. Correction factors for graphite electrodes were calculated with Monte Carlo techniques and the calculated results were verified through relative air cavity dose measurements for three different polarizing electrode materials: graphite, steel, and brass in conjunction with a graphite collecting electrode. Scatter deficit, due mainly to loss of lateral scatter in the hybrid chamber, reduces the dose to the air cavity in the hybrid PEEC in comparison with full bone PEEC by 0.7% to approximately 2% depending on beam quality and energy. In megavoltage photon and electron beams, graphite electrodes do not affect the dose measurement in the Solid Water PEEC but decrease the cavity dose by up to 5% in the bone-equivalent PEEC even for very thin graphite electrodes (<0.0025 cm). In conjunction with appropriate correction factors determined with Monte Carlo techniques, the uncalibrated hybrid PEEC can be used for measuring absorbed dose in bone material to within 2% for high-energy photon and electron beams.

Effects of pulse ON and OFF time and electrode types on the material removal rate and tool wear rate of the Ti-6Al-4V Alloy using EDM machining with reverse polarity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Praveen, L.; Geeta Krishna, P.; Venugopal, L.; Prasad, N. E. C.

2018-03-01

Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) is an unconventional metal removal process that is extensively used for removing the difficult-to-machine metal such as Ti alloys, super alloys and metal matrix composites. This paper investigates the effects of pulse (ON/OFF) time on EDM machining characteristics of Ti-6Al-4V alloy using copper and graphite as electrodes in reverse polarity condition. Full factorial design method was used to design the experiments. Two variables (Pulse On and OFF) with three levels are considered. The output variables are the tool wear rate and the material removal rate. The important findings from the present work are: (1) the material removal rate (MRR) increases gradually with an increase of the Pulse ON time whereas the change is insignificant with an increase of the Pulse OFF time, (2) Between copper and graphite electrodes, the copper electrode is proved to be good in terms of MRR, (3) a combination of high pulse ON time and OFF time is desirable for high MRR rate in the Cu electrode whereas for the graphite electrode, a combination of high pulse ON time and low pulse OFF time is desirable for high MRR rate, (4) the tool wear rate (TWR) reduces with the Pulse On or OFF time, the rate of TWR is uniform for the graphite electrode in contrast to abrupt decrease from 25 to 50 μs (pulse ON time) in the copper electrode, (5) In order to keep the TWR as minimum possible, it is desirable to have a combination of high pulse ON time and OFF time for both the copper and the graphite electrode.

Development of a ReaxFF Potential for Carbon Condensed Phases and Its Application to the Thermal Fragmentation of a Large Fullerene

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Srinivasan, Sriram Goverapet; van Duin, Adri C. T.; Ganesh, P.

2015-01-20

In this article, we report the development of a ReaxFF reactive potential that can accurately describe the chemistry and dynamics of carbon condensed phases. Density functional theory (DFT)-based calculations were performed to obtain the equation of state for graphite and diamond and the formation energies of defects in graphene and amorphous phases from fullerenes. The DFT data were used to reparametrize ReaxFFCHO, resulting in a new potential called ReaxFFC-2013. ReaxFFC-2013 accurately predicts the atomization energy of graphite and closely reproduces the DFT-based energy difference between graphite and diamond, and the barrier for transition from graphite to diamond. ReaxFFC-2013 also accuratelymore » predicts the DFT-based energy barrier for Stone–Wales transformation in a C60(Ih) fullerene through the concerted rotation of a C2 unit. Later, MD simulations of a C180 fullerene using ReaxFFC-2013 suggested that the thermal fragmentation of these giant fullerenes is an exponential function of time. An Arrhenius-type equation was fit to the decay rate, giving an activation energy of 7.66 eV for the loss of carbon atoms from the fullerene. Although the decay of the molecule occurs primarily via the loss of C2 units, we observed that, with an increase in temperature, the probability of loss of larger fragments increases. The ReaxFFC-2013 potential developed in this work, and the results obtained on fullerene fragmentation, provide an important step toward the full computational chemical modeling of coal pyrolysis, soot incandescence, high temperature erosion of graphitic rocket nozzles, and ablation of carbon-based spacecraft materials during atmospheric reentry.« less

Development of a ReaxFF potential for carbon condensed phases and its application to the thermal fragmentation of a large fullerene

DOE PAGES

Srinivasan, Sriram Goverapet; Adri C. T. van Duin; Ganesh, Panchapakesan

2015-01-06

In this paper, we report the development of a ReaxFF reactive potential that can accurately describe the chemistry and dynamics of carbon condensed phases. Density functional theory (DFT)-based calculations were performed to obtain the equation of state for graphite and diamond and the formation energies of defects in graphene and amorphous phases from fullerenes. The DFT data were used to reparametrize ReaxFF CHO, resulting in a new potential called ReaxFF C-2013. ReaxFF C-2013 accurately predicts the atomization energy of graphite and closely reproduces the DFT-based energy difference between graphite and diamond, and the barrier for transition from graphite to diamond.more » ReaxFF C-2013 also accurately predicts the DFT-based energy barrier for Stone–Wales transformation in a C 60(I h) fullerene through the concerted rotation of a C 2 unit. Later, MD simulations of a C 180 fullerene using ReaxFF C-2013 suggested that the thermal fragmentation of these giant fullerenes is an exponential function of time. An Arrhenius-type equation was fit to the decay rate, giving an activation energy of 7.66 eV for the loss of carbon atoms from the fullerene. Although the decay of the molecule occurs primarily via the loss of C 2 units, we observed that, with an increase in temperature, the probability of loss of larger fragments increases. Finally, the ReaxFF C-2013 potential developed in this work, and the results obtained on fullerene fragmentation, provide an important step toward the full computational chemical modeling of coal pyrolysis, soot incandescence, high temperature erosion of graphitic rocket nozzles, and ablation of carbon-based spacecraft materials during atmospheric reentry.« less

Monte Carlo Analysis of the Battery-Type High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grodzki, Marcin; Darnowski, Piotr; Niewiński, Grzegorz

2017-12-01

The paper presents a neutronic analysis of the battery-type 20 MWth high-temperature gas cooled reactor. The developed reactor model is based on the publicly available data being an `early design' variant of the U-battery. The investigated core is a battery type small modular reactor, graphite moderated, uranium fueled, prismatic, helium cooled high-temperature gas cooled reactor with graphite reflector. The two core alternative designs were investigated. The first has a central reflector and 30×4 prismatic fuel blocks and the second has no central reflector and 37×4 blocks. The SERPENT Monte Carlo reactor physics computer code, with ENDF and JEFF nuclear data libraries, was applied. Several nuclear design static criticality calculations were performed and compared with available reference results. The analysis covered the single assembly models and full core simulations for two geometry models: homogenous and heterogenous (explicit). A sensitivity analysis of the reflector graphite density was performed. An acceptable agreement between calculations and reference design was obtained. All calculations were performed for the fresh core state.

Voronoi-Tessellated Graphite Produced by Low-Temperature Catalytic Graphitization from Renewable Resources.

PubMed

Zhao, Leyi; Zhao, Xiuyun; Burke, Luke T; Bennett, J Craig; Dunlap, Richard A; Obrovac, Mark N

2017-09-11

A highly crystalline graphite powder was prepared from the low temperature (800-1000 °C) graphitization of renewable hard carbon precursors using a magnesium catalyst. The resulting graphite particles are composed of Voronoi-tessellated regions comprising irregular sheets; each Voronoi-tessellated region having a small "seed" particle located near their centroid on the surface. This suggests nucleated outward growth of graphitic carbon, which has not been previously observed. Each seed particle consists of a spheroidal graphite shell on the inside of which hexagonal graphite platelets are perpendicularly affixed. This results in a unique high surface area graphite with a high degree of graphitization that is made with renewable feedstocks at temperatures far below that conventionally used for artificial graphites. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Influence of Metal-Coated Graphite Powders on Microstructure and Properties of the Bronze-Matrix/Graphite Composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Jian-hua; Li, Pu; Tang, Qi; Zhang, Yan-qing; He, Jian-sheng; He, Ke

2017-02-01

In this study, the bronze-matrix/x-graphite (x = 0, 1, 3 and 5%) composites were fabricated by powder metallurgy route by using Cu-coated graphite, Ni-coated graphite and pure graphite, respectively. The microstructure, mechanical properties and corrosive behaviors of bronze/Cu-coated-graphite (BCG), bronze/Ni-coated-graphite (BNG) and bronze/pure-graphite (BPG) were characterized and investigated. Results show that the Cu-coated and Ni-coated graphite could definitely increase the bonding quality between the bronze matrix and graphite. In general, with the increase in graphite content in bronze-matrix/graphite composites, the friction coefficients, ultimate density and wear rates of BPG, BCG and BNG composites all went down. However, the Vickers microhardness of the BNG composite would increase as the graphite content increased, which was contrary to the BPG and BCG composites. When the graphite content was 3%, the friction coefficient of BNG composite was more stable than that of BCG and BPG composites, indicating that BNG composite had a better tribological performance than the others. Under all the values of applied loads (10, 20, 40 and 60N), the BCG and BNG composites exhibited a lower wear rate than BPG composite. What is more, the existence of nickel in graphite powders could effectively improve the corrosion resistance of the BNG composite.

Producing graphite with desired properties

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dickinson, J. M.; Imprescia, R. J.; Reiswig, R. D.; Smith, M. C.

1971-01-01

Isotropic or anisotropic graphite is synthesized with precise control of particle size, distribution, and shape. The isotropic graphites are nearly perfectly isotropic, with thermal expansion coefficients two or three times those of ordinary graphites. The anisotropic graphites approach the anisotropy of pyrolytic graphite.

Brazing graphite to graphite

DOEpatents

Peterson, George R.

1976-01-01

Graphite is joined to graphite by employing both fine molybdenum powder as the brazing material and an annealing step that together produce a virtually metal-free joint exhibiting properties similar to those found in the parent graphite. Molybdenum powder is placed between the faying surfaces of two graphite parts and melted to form molybdenum carbide. The joint area is thereafter subjected to an annealing operation which diffuses the carbide away from the joint and into the graphite parts. Graphite dissolved by the dispersed molybdenum carbide precipitates into the joint area, replacing the molybdenum carbide to provide a joint of virtually graphite.

The First Layer of 4He, H2, and Ne Adsorbed on HiPco™ Carbon Nanotube Bundles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vilches, O. E.; Ramachandran, S.; Wilson, T. A.; Dash, J. G.

2006-09-01

We summarize results from AC and DC heat capacity measurements of 4He, H2, and Ne adsorbed on HiPco™ purified, closed-end single-wall carbon nanotube bundles (SWNTB) for the first adsorbed layer. We find two regions in the coverage domain: below ≈1/3 monolayer the adsorbate occupies high binding energy sites, mostly the external grooves of the bundles, while above ≈1/3 monolayer the external graphene surface is covered. No phase transitions have been observed at any temperature for all the adsorbates, a range of T where two-dimensional phases and phase transitions are seen for the same adsorbates deposited on exfoliated graphite.

Development of a radiative heating facility for studying flow and heat transfer in hydrocarbon-cooled structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dong, Da; Lu, Yang; Yuan, Yueming; Fan, Xuejun

2018-06-01

An experimental facility was designed to simulate the heat exchange between the hot gas and the fuel-cooled wall in a scramjet combustor. Thermal radiation from an electrically heated graphite plate is employed to unilaterally heat up a multi-channeled cooling plate. A maximum heat flux of over 0.8 MW/m2 was achieved for an effective heating area up to 1000 mm × 40 mm. Precise control of the back pressure of a coolant (up to 5 MPa) in a unique way was also demonstrated. With this facility, studies of flow and heat transfer in hydrocarbon-cooled structures can be performed under a well-controlled manner.

The environmental effect on the radial breathing mode of carbon nanotubes in water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Longhurst, M. J.; Quirke, N.

2006-06-01

We investigate, using molecular dynamics, the effect on the radial breathing mode (RBM) frequency of immersion in water for a range of single-walled carbon nanotubes. We find that nanotube-water interactions are responsible for an upshift in the RBM frequency of the order of 4-10 wave numbers. The upshift is comprised of two components: increased hydrostatic pressure on the nanotube due to curvature effects, and the dynamic coupling of the RBM with its solvation shell. In contrast to much of the current literature, we find that the latter of the two effects is dominant. This could serve as an innovative tool for determining the interaction potential between nanotubes/graphitic surfaces and fluids.

Multidisciplinary Simulation of Graphite-Composite and Cermet Fuel Elements for NTP Point of Departure Designs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stewart, Mark E.; Schnitzler, Bruce G.

2015-01-01

This paper compares the expected performance of two Nuclear Thermal Propulsion fuel types. High fidelity, fluid/thermal/structural + neutronic simulations help predict the performance of graphite-composite and cermet fuel types from point of departure engine designs from the Nuclear Thermal Propulsion project. Materials and nuclear reactivity issues are reviewed for each fuel type. Thermal/structural simulations predict thermal stresses in the fuel and thermal expansion mis-match stresses in the coatings. Fluid/thermal/structural/neutronic simulations provide predictions for full fuel elements. Although NTP engines will utilize many existing chemical engine components and technologies, nuclear fuel elements are a less developed engine component and introduce design uncertainty. Consequently, these fuel element simulations provide important insights into NTP engine performance.

Revealing the electronic structure of LiC 6 by soft X-ray spectroscopy

DOE PAGES

Zhang, L.; Li, X.; Augustsson, A.; ...

2017-03-09

The electronic structure of LiC 6 has been investigated in this paper by soft X-ray absorption and emission spectroscopies. The results reveal that upon full lithiation of graphite, the Li 2s electrons are transferred into the carbon π* states in a near rigid-band behavior, resulting in the increased density of states near E F and the shift of σ* states to lower energies. Finally, in addition, the resonant inelastic X-ray scattering spectra of LiC 6 do not show strong dispersive features as that of graphite, indicating that the crystal momentum is not conserved during the scattering process due to themore » delocalization of electrons in the intermediate state.« less

Method of Joining Graphite Fibers to a Substrate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Beringer, Durwood M. (Inventor); Caron, Mark E. (Inventor); Taddey, Edmund P. (Inventor); Gleason, Brian P. (Inventor)

2014-01-01

A method of assembling a metallic-graphite structure includes forming a wetted graphite subassembly by arranging one or more layers of graphite fiber material including a plurality of graphite fibers and applying a layer of metallization material to ends of the plurality of graphite fibers. At least one metallic substrate is secured to the wetted graphite subassembly via the layer of metallization material.

Hilfiker retaining walls with full height cast-in-place panels

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-02-01

Construction of retaining walls utilizing full height panels introduces a degree of indeterminacy to the structure. The ability to effectively analyze the internal behavior of such systems, and limited field performance, qualifies them as appropriate...

Thermally exfoliated graphite oxide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Prud'Homme, Robert K. (Inventor); Aksay, Ilhan A. (Inventor); Abdala, Ahmed (Inventor)

2011-01-01

A modified graphite oxide material contains a thermally exfoliated graphite oxide with a surface area of from about 300 sq m/g to 2600 sq m/g, wherein the thermally exfoliated graphite oxide displays no signature of the original graphite and/or graphite oxide, as determined by X-ray diffraction.

The action of macrosounds on graphite ore and derived products

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bradeteanu, C.; Dragan, O.

1974-01-01

A suspension of graphite ore, floated graphite, and the gangue left over from flotation were subjected to the action of macrosounds under determinant conditions. The following was found: (1) The graphite ore undergoes an efficient settling action. (2) The floated graphite is strongly crushed down to the dimensions of colloidal graphite. (3) The gangue left over from flotation can be further processed to recuperate graphite from its nuclei.

Graphene prepared by thermal reduction–exfoliation of graphite oxide: Effect of raw graphite particle size on the properties of graphite oxide and graphene

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dao, Trung Dung; Jeong, Han Mo, E-mail: hmjeong@mail.ulsan.ac.kr

Highlights: • Effect of raw graphite particle size on properties of GO and graphene is reported. • Size of raw graphite affects oxidation degree and chemical structure of GO. • Highly oxidized GO results in small-sized but well-exfoliated graphene. • GO properties affect reduction degree, structure, and conductivity of graphene. - Abstract: We report the effect of raw graphite size on the properties of graphite oxide and graphene prepared by thermal reduction–exfoliation of graphite oxide. Transmission electron microscope analysis shows that the lateral size of graphene becomes smaller when smaller size graphite is used. X-ray diffraction analysis confirms that graphitemore » with smaller size is more effectively oxidized, resulting in a more effective subsequent exfoliation of the obtained graphite oxide toward graphene. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy demonstrates that reduction of the graphite oxide derived from smaller size graphite into graphene is more efficient. However, Raman analysis suggests that the average size of the in-plane sp{sup 2}-carbon domains on graphene is smaller when smaller size graphite is used. The enhanced reduction degree and the reduced size of sp{sup 2}-carbon domains contribute contradictively to the electrical conductivity of graphene when the particle size of raw graphite reduces.« less

Enhanced performance of graphite anode materials by AlF3 coating for lithium-ion batteries

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ding, Fei; Xu, Wu; Choi, Daiwon

2012-04-27

In order to form the stable surface film and to further enhance the long-term cycling stability of the graphite anodes of lithium-ion batteries, the surface of graphite powders has been modified by AlF3 coating through chemical precipitation method. The AlF3-coated graphite shows no evident changes in the bulk structure and a thin AlF3-coating layer of about 2 nm thick is found to uniformly cover the graphite particles with 2 wt% AlF3 content. However, it delivers a higher initial discharge capacity and largely improved rate performances compared to the pristine graphite. Remarkably, AlF3 coated graphite demonstrated a much better cycle life.more » After 300 cycles, AlF3 coated graphite and uncoated graphite show capacity retention of 92% and 81%, respectively. XPS measurement shows that a more conductive solid electrode interface (SEI) layer was formed on AlF3 coated graphite as compared to uncoated graphite. SEM monograph also reveals that the AlF3-coated graphite particles have a much more stable surface morphology after long-term cycling. Therefore, the improved electrochemical performance of AlF3 coated graphite can be attributed to a more stable and conductive SEI formed on coated graphite anode during cycling process.« less

Graphite

USGS Publications Warehouse

Robinson, Gilpin R.; Hammarstrom, Jane M.; Olson, Donald W.; Schulz, Klaus J.; DeYoung,, John H.; Seal, Robert R.; Bradley, Dwight C.

2017-12-19

Graphite is a form of pure carbon that normally occurs as black crystal flakes and masses. It has important properties, such as chemical inertness, thermal stability, high electrical conductivity, and lubricity (slipperiness) that make it suitable for many industrial applications, including electronics, lubricants, metallurgy, and steelmaking. For some of these uses, no suitable substitutes are available. Steelmaking and refractory applications in metallurgy use the largest amount of produced graphite; however, emerging technology uses in large-scale fuel cell, battery, and lightweight high-strength composite applications could substantially increase world demand for graphite.Graphite ores are classified as “amorphous” (microcrystalline), and “crystalline” (“flake” or “lump or chip”) based on the ore’s crystallinity, grain-size, and morphology. All graphite deposits mined today formed from metamorphism of carbonaceous sedimentary rocks, and the ore type is determined by the geologic setting. Thermally metamorphosed coal is the usual source of amorphous graphite. Disseminated crystalline flake graphite is mined from carbonaceous metamorphic rocks, and lump or chip graphite is mined from veins in high-grade metamorphic regions. Because graphite is chemically inert and nontoxic, the main environmental concerns associated with graphite mining are inhalation of fine-grained dusts, including silicate and sulfide mineral particles, and hydrocarbon vapors produced during the mining and processing of ore. Synthetic graphite is manufactured from hydrocarbon sources using high-temperature heat treatment, and it is more expensive to produce than natural graphite.Production of natural graphite is dominated by China, India, and Brazil, which export graphite worldwide. China provides approximately 67 percent of worldwide output of natural graphite, and, as the dominant exporter, has the ability to set world prices. China has significant graphite reserves, and China’s graphite production is expected to increase, although rising labor costs and some mine production problems are developing. China is expected to continue to be the dominant exporter for the near future. Mexico and Canada export graphite mainly to the United States, which has not had domestic production of natural graphite since the 1950s. Most graphite deposits in the United States are too small, low-grade, or remote to be of commercial value in the near future, and the likelihood of discovering larger, higher-grade, or favorably located domestic deposits is unlikely. The United States is a major producer of synthetic graphite.

Li experiments at the tokamak T-11 M in field of steady state PFC investigations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mirnov, S. V.; Lazarev, V. B.

2011-08-01

The renewable plasma facing components (PFCs) of steady state tokamak-reactor can be created in framework of Lithium emitter-collector concept, which suggests Li-loop development close the Li-PFC and plasma periphery. It should ensure: Li-emission from PFC into the plasma, plasma periphery cooling by non-coronal Li radiation, Li ions collection before their loss on the wall and Li return into emitter. The subjects of the last T-11 M investigations were the Lithium collection by limiters and Lithium removal from the wall during tokamak conditioning. The Lithium behavior was studied with witness samples and mobile graphite probe. It was shown that Li-deposit on the sides of rail Li-limiter (collector) is proportional to the Li-emission from the Li-limiter (emitter). Lithium deposit on the ion-drift side of Li-limiter is up to 2-3 times more than on the electron-side. The efficiency of Li-collection by T-11 M limiters can be 60 ± 20% of total Lithium emission from Li-limiter during plasma discharges.

Unzipping of multi-wall carbon nanotubes with different diameter distributions: Effect on few-layer graphene oxide obtention

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Torres, D.; Pinilla, J. L.; Suelves, I.

2017-12-01

Few-layer graphene oxide (FLGO) was obtained by chemical unzipping of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) of different diameter distributions. MWCNT were synthesized by catalytic decomposition of methane using Fe-Mo/MgO catalysts. The variation in the Fe/Mo ratio (1, 2 and 5) was very influential in MWCNT diameter distribution and type of MWCNT obtained, including textural, chemical, structural and morphological characteristics. MWCNT diameter distribution and surface defects content had a profound impact on the characteristics of the resulting FLGO. Thus, MWCNT obtained with the catalyst with a Fe/Mo: 5 and presenting a narrow diameter distribution centered at 8.6 ± 3.3 nm led to FLGO maintaining non-oxidized graphite stacking (according to XRD analysis), lower specific surface area and higher thermostability as compared to FLGO obtained from MWCNT showing wider diameter distributions. The presence of more oxygen-containing functionalities and structural defects in large diameter nanotubes promotes the intercalation of species towards the inner layers of the nanotube, resulting in an enhanced MWCNT oxidation and opening into FLGO, what improves both micro- and mesoporosity.

Synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes and graphene composite in arc for ultracapacitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jian; Cheng, Xiaoqian; Shashurin, Alexey; Keidar, Michael

2012-10-01

Arc discharge supported by the erosion of graphite anode is considered as one of the most practical and efficient methods to synthesize various carbon nanostructures such as single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) and graphene with minimal defects and large yield due to the relatively high synthesis temperature and eco-friendly growth mechanism. By introducing a non-uniform magnetic field during synthesis process, large-scale graphene and high-purity SWCNT can be obtained in one step. In addition, the yield of graphene can be controlled by external parameters, such as the type and pressure of buffer gas, the temperature of substrate, and so on. Possessing the properties of highly accessible surface area and good electrical conductivity, the composite of graphene and SWCNT are promising nanomaterials for the electrodes of ultracapacitor, which can store electric energy with high level of capacitance. In this work, we fabricated electrodes of ultracapacitor based on nanostructures composite by wire-wound rod coating method, characterized them by SEM, EDX and Raman spectroscopy, and tested the performance by a potentiostat/galvanostat.

First results on plasma-surface interactions in the tokamak de varennes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Terreault, B.; Boucher, C.; Paynter, R. W.; Ross, G. G.; ThÉriault, D.; Abel, G.; Boivin, R.; Bolton, R. A.; Castracane, J.; Chevalier, G.; Couture, P.; Décoste, R.; Demers, Y.; Dimoff, K.; Glaude, V.; Gregory, B. C.; Haddad, E.; Janicki, C.; Kalnavarns, J.; Lachambre, J. L.; Mai, H. H.; Neufeld, C. R.; Pacher, H. D.; Pacher, G. W.; Richard, N.; Saint-Jacques, R. G.; Saint-Onge, M.; Simm, C.; Stansfield, B. L.; Veilleux, G.; Whyte, D.; Zuzak, W.

1989-04-01

Results of plasma-surface interaction studies made during the early phases of operation of the Tokamak de Varennes are summarized. It was found that the desorption of molecules from the internal walls by UV radiation can be used to reduce the base pressure. Auger depth profiling of stainless steel (SS) samples exposed to hydrogen discharge cleaning has been performed. Glow discharges at about 0.1 mbar etch the surface carbon and oxide at a rate of 0.5 nm/h. RF-glow discharges at 10 -3 mbar result in a rapid reduction of the oxide and its replacement by a carbide layer (the graphite limiters being the source of the carbon). Long-term wall samples of SS and Si have been profiled by Auger and nuclear analysis. The SS sample has a similar composition to that exposed to the RF-glow conditioning. The Si sample is covered by a 3 nm deposit of metals, C and O, and contains 10 16 H/cm 2 within 30 nm of the surface; this dose and width are consistent with the history of the sample.

Lunar Return Reentry Thermal Analysis of a Generic Crew Exploration Vehicle Wall Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ko, William L.; Tran, Van T.; Bowles, Jeff

2007-01-01

Thermostructural analysis was performed on generic crew exploration vehicle (GCEV) heat shielded wall structures subjected to reentry heating rates based on five potential lunar return reentry trajectories. The GCEV windward outer wall is fabricated with a graphite/epoxy composite honeycomb sandwich panel and the inner wall with an aluminum honeycomb sandwich panel. The outer wall is protected with an ablative Avcoat-5026-39H/CG thermal protection system (TPS). A virtual ablation method (a graphical approximation) developed earlier was further extended, and was used to estimate the ablation periods, ablation heat loads, and the TPS recession layer depths. It was found that up to 83 95 percent of the total reentry heat load was dissipated in the TPS ablation process, leaving a small amount (3-15 percent) of the remaining total reentry heat load to heat the virgin TPS and maintain the TPS surface at the ablation temperature, 1,200 F. The GCEV stagnation point TPS recession layer depths were estimated to be in the range of 0.280-0.910 in, and the allowable minimum stagnation point TPS thicknesses that could maintain the substructural composite sandwich wall at the limit temperature of 300 F were found to be in the range of 0.767-1.538 in. Based on results from the present analyses, the lunar return abort ballistic reentry was found to be quite attractive because it required less TPS weight than the lunar return direct, the lunar return skipping, or the low Earth orbit guided reentry, and only 11.6 percent more TPS weight than the low Earth orbit ballistic reentry that will encounter a considerable weight penalty to obtain the Earth orbit. The analysis also showed that the TPS weight required for the lunar return skipping reentry was much more than the TPS weight necessary for any of the other reentry trajectories considered.

Strategic graphite, a survey

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cameron, Eugene N.; Weis, Paul L.

1960-01-01

Strategic graphite consists of certain grades of lump and flake graphite for which the United States is largely or entirely dependent on sources abroad. Lump graphite of high purity, necessary in the manufacture of carbon brushes, is imported from Ceylon, where it occurs in vein deposits. Flake graphite, obtained from deposits consisting of graphite disseminated in schists and other metamorphic rocks, is an essential ingredient of crucibles used in the nonferrous metal industries and in the manufacture of lubricants and packings. High-quality flake graphite for these uses has been obtained mostly from Madagascar since World War I. Some flake graphite of strategic grade has been produced, however, from deposits in Texas, Alabama, and Pennsylvania. The development of the carbon-bonded crucible, which does not require coarse flake, should lessen the competitive advantage of the Madagascar producers of crucible flake. Graphite of various grades has been produced intermittently in the United States since 1644. The principal domestic deposits of flake graphite are in Texas, Alabama, Pennsylvania, and New York. Reserves of flake graphite in these four States are very large, but production has been sporadic and on the whole unprofitable since World War I, owing principally to competition from producers in Madagascar. Deposits in Madagascar are large and relatively high in content of flake graphite. Production costs are low and the flake produced is of high quality. Coarseness of flake and uniformity of the graphite products marketed are cited as major advantages of Madagascar flake. In addition, the usability of Madagascar flake for various purposes has been thoroughly demonstrated, whereas the usability of domestic flake for strategic purposes is still in question. Domestic graphite deposits are of five kinds: deposits consisting of graphite disseminated in metamorphosed siliceous sediments, deposits consisting of graphite disseminated in marble, deposits formed by thermal or dynamothermal metamorphism of coal beds or other highly carbonaceous sediments, vein deposits, and contact metasomatic deposits in marble. Only the first kind comprises deposits sufficiently large and rich in flake graphite to be significant potential sources of strategic grades of graphite. Vein deposits in several localities are known, but none is known to contain substantial reserves of graphite of strategic quality.Large resources of flake graphite exist in central Texas, in northeastern Alabama, in eastern Pennsylvania, and in the eastern Adirondack Mountains of New York. Tonnages available, compared with the tonnages of flake graphite consumed annually in the United States, are very large. There have been indications that flake graphite from Texas, Alabama, and Pennsylvania can be used in clay-graphite crucibles as a substitute for Madagascar flake, and one producer has made progress in establishing markets for his flake products as ingredients of lubricants. The tonnages of various commercial grades of graphite recoverable from various domestic deposits, however, have not been established; hence, the adequacy of domestic resources of graphite in a time of emergency is not known.The only vein deposits from which significant quantities of lump graphite have been produced are those of the Crystal Graphite mine, Beaverhead County, Mont. The deposits are fracture fillings in Precambrian gneiss and pegmatite. Known reserves in the deposits are small. In Texas, numerous flake-graphite deposits occur in the Precambrian Packsaddle schist in Llano and Burnet Counties. Graphite disseminated in certain parts of this formation ranges from extremely fine to medium grained. The principal producer has been the mine of the Southwestern Graphite Co., west of the town of Burnet. Substantial reserves of medium-grained graphite are present in the deposit mined by the company. In northeastern Alabama, flake-graphite deposits occur in the Ashland mica schist in two belts that trend northeastward across Clay, Goosa, and Chilton Counties. The northeastern belt has been the most productive. About 40 mines have been operated at one time or another, but only a few have been active during or since World War I. The deposits consist of flake graphite disseminated in certain zones or "leads" consisting of quartz-mica-feldspar schists and mica quartzite. Most of past production has come from the weathered upper parts of the deposits, but unweathered rock has been mined at several localities. Reserves of weathered rock containing 3 to 5 percent graphite are very large, and reserves of unweathered rock are even greater. Flake graphite deposits in Chester County, Pa., have been worked intermittently since about 1890. The deposits consist of medium- to coarse-grained graphite disseminated in certain belts of the Pickering gneiss. The most promising deposit is one worked in the Benjamin Franklin and the Eynon Just mines. Reserves of weathered rock containing 1.5 percent graphite are of moderate size; reserves of unweathered rock are large. In the eastern Adirondack Mountains in New York there are two principal kinds of flake-graphite deposits: contact-metasomatic deposits and those consisting of flake graphite disseminated in quartz schist. The contact-metasomatic deposits are small, irregular, and very erratic in graphite content. The deposits in quartz schist are very large, persistent, and uniform in grade. There are large reserves of schist containing 3 to 5 percent graphite, but the graphite is relatively fine grained.

Equivalent-Continuum Modeling With Application to Carbon Nanotubes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Odegard, Gregory M.; Gates, Thomas S.; Nicholson, Lee M.; Wise, Kristopher E.

2002-01-01

A method has been proposed for developing structure-property relationships of nano-structured materials. This method serves as a link between computational chemistry and solid mechanics by substituting discrete molecular structures with equivalent-continuum models. It has been shown that this substitution may be accomplished by equating the vibrational potential energy of a nano-structured material with the strain energy of representative truss and continuum models. As important examples with direct application to the development and characterization of single-walled carbon nanotubes and the design of nanotube-based devices, the modeling technique has been applied to determine the effective-continuum geometry and bending rigidity of a graphene sheet. A representative volume element of the chemical structure of graphene has been substituted with equivalent-truss and equivalent continuum models. As a result, an effective thickness of the continuum model has been determined. This effective thickness has been shown to be significantly larger than the interatomic spacing of graphite. The effective thickness has been shown to be significantly larger than the inter-planar spacing of graphite. The effective bending rigidity of the equivalent-continuum model of a graphene sheet was determined by equating the vibrational potential energy of the molecular model of a graphene sheet subjected to cylindrical bending with the strain energy of an equivalent continuum plate subjected to cylindrical bending.

Li Experiments at the Tokamak T-11M Toward PFC Concept of Steady State Tokamak-Reactor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mirnov, S. V.

2009-11-01

As practical method of using a liquid lithium as a renewable plasma-facing component (PCF) for steady state tokamak-reactor the concept of lithium emitter-collector is considered [1]. It is based on lithium filled capillary porous system proposed by V.A. Evtikhin et al. (1996). The lithium circulation process consists of four steps: (1) Li emission from the PFC emitter into the plasma; (2) plasma boundary cooling by non-coronal Li radiation; (3) Li ion capture by the collector (before they are lost to the tokamak chamber wall); (4) Li return from the collector to the emitter. T-11M tokamak experiments have used three local rail limiters made from lithium, molybdenum and graphite as lithium collectors. The lithium behavior was studied by analysis of the witness samples, and by a mobile graphite probe. The key findings are: (1) lithium collection on the ion side of the lithium limiter is 2-3 times larger than on the electron side; (2) total efficiency of Li collection integrated over all three rail limiters can reach 50-70% of the lithium emission during the discharge pulse, while the theoretical limit is about 90%. [1] S.V. Mirnov, J. Nucl. Mat., 390-391, 876 (2009).

Graphitic carbon nanospheres: A Raman spectroscopic investigation of thermal conductivity and morphological evolution by pulsed laser irradiation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Agarwal, Radhe; Sahoo, Satyaprakash, E-mail: satya504@gmail.com, E-mail: rkatiyar@hpcf.upr.edu; Chitturi, Venkateswara Rao

2015-12-07

Graphitic carbon nanospheres (GCNSs) were prepared by a unique acidic treatment of multi-walled nanotubes. Spherical morphology with a narrow size distribution was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy studies. The room temperature Raman spectra showed a clear signature of D- and G-peaks at around 1350 and 1591 cm{sup −1}, respectively. Temperature dependent Raman scattering measurements were performed to understand the phonon dynamics and first order temperature coefficients related to the D- and G-peaks. The temperature dependent Raman spectra in a range of 83–473 K were analysed, where the D-peak was observed to show a red-shift with increasing temperature. The relative intensity ratio ofmore » D- to G-peaks also showed a significant rise with increasing temperature. Such a temperature dependent behaviour can be attributed to lengthening of the C-C bond due to thermal expansion in material. The estimated value of the thermal conductivity of GCNSs ∼0.97 W m{sup −1} K{sup −1} was calculated using Raman spectroscopy. In addition, the effect of pulsed laser treatment on the GCNSs was demonstrated by analyzing the Raman spectra of post irradiated samples.« less

A Universal Strategy for Hollow Metal Oxide Nanoparticles Encapsulated into B/N Co-Doped Graphitic Nanotubes as High-Performance Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes.

PubMed

Tabassum, Hassina; Zou, Ruqiang; Mahmood, Asif; Liang, Zibin; Wang, Qingfei; Zhang, Hao; Gao, Song; Qu, Chong; Guo, Wenhan; Guo, Shaojun

2018-02-01

Yolk-shell nanostructures have received great attention for boosting the performance of lithium-ion batteries because of their obvious advantages in solving the problems associated with large volume change, low conductivity, and short diffusion path for Li + ion transport. A universal strategy for making hollow transition metal oxide (TMO) nanoparticles (NPs) encapsulated into B, N co-doped graphitic nanotubes (TMO@BNG (TMO = CoO, Ni 2 O 3 , Mn 3 O 4 ) through combining pyrolysis with an oxidation method is reported herein. The as-made TMO@BNG exhibits the TMO-dependent lithium-ion storage ability, in which CoO@BNG nanotubes exhibit highest lithium-ion storage capacity of 1554 mA h g -1 at the current density of 96 mA g -1 , good rate ability (410 mA h g -1 at 1.75 A g -1 ), and high stability (almost 96% storage capacity retention after 480 cycles). The present work highlights the importance of introducing hollow TMO NPs with thin wall into BNG with large surface area for boosting LIBs in the terms of storage capacity, rate capability, and cycling stability. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

CMB-13 research on carbon and graphite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, M. C.

1972-01-01

Preliminary results of the research on carbon and graphite accomplished during this report period are presented. Included are: particle characteristics of Santa Maria fillers, compositions and density data for hot-molded Santa Maria graphites, properties of hot-molded Santa Maria graphites, and properties of hot-molded anisotropic graphites. Ablation-resistant graphites are also discussed.

METHOD OF FABRICATING A GRAPHITE MODERATED REACTOR

DOEpatents

Kratz, H.R.

1963-05-01

S>A nuclear reactor formed of spaced bodies of uranium and graphite blocks is improved by diffusing helium through the graphite blocks in order to replace the air in the pores of the graphite with helium. The helium-impregnated graphite conducts heat better, and absorbs neutrons less, than the original air- impregnated graphite. (AEC)

AGC-2 Irradiation Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rohrbaugh, David Thomas; Windes, William; Swank, W. David

The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) will be a helium-cooled, very high temperature reactor (VHTR) with a large graphite core. In past applications, graphite has been used effectively as a structural and moderator material in both research and commercial high temperature gas cooled reactor (HTGR) designs.[ , ] Nuclear graphite H 451, used previously in the United States for nuclear reactor graphite components, is no longer available. New nuclear graphites have been developed and are considered suitable candidates for the new NGNP reactor design. To support the design and licensing of NGNP core components within a commercial reactor, a completemore » properties database must be developed for these current grades of graphite. Quantitative data on in service material performance are required for the physical, mechanical, and thermal properties of each graphite grade with a specific emphasis on data related to the life limiting effects of irradiation creep on key physical properties of the NGNP candidate graphites. Based on experience with previous graphite core components, the phenomenon of irradiation induced creep within the graphite has been shown to be critical to the total useful lifetime of graphite components. Irradiation induced creep occurs under the simultaneous application of high temperatures, neutron irradiation, and applied stresses within the graphite components. Significant internal stresses within the graphite components can result from a second phenomenon—irradiation induced dimensional change. In this case, the graphite physically changes i.e., first shrinking and then expanding with increasing neutron dose. This disparity in material volume change can induce significant internal stresses within graphite components. Irradiation induced creep relaxes these large internal stresses, thus reducing the risk of crack formation and component failure. Obviously, higher irradiation creep levels tend to relieve more internal stress, thus allowing the components longer useful lifetimes within the core. Determining the irradiation creep rates of nuclear grade graphites is critical for determining the useful lifetime of graphite components and is a major component of the Advanced Graphite Creep (AGC) experiment.« less

Stable dispersions of polymer-coated graphitic nanoplatelets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nguyen, Sonbinh T. (Inventor); Stankovich, Sasha (Inventor); Ruoff, Rodney S. (Inventor)

2011-01-01

A method of making a dispersion of reduced graphite oxide nanoplatelets involves providing a dispersion of graphite oxide nanoplatelets and reducing the graphite oxide nanoplatelets in the dispersion in the presence of a reducing agent and a polymer. The reduced graphite oxide nanoplatelets are reduced to an extent to provide a higher C/O ratio than graphite oxide. A stable dispersion having polymer-treated reduced graphite oxide nanoplatelets dispersed in a dispersing medium, such as water or organic liquid is provided. The polymer-treated, reduced graphite oxide nanoplatelets can be distributed in a polymer matrix to provide a composite material.

Application of Carbon Based Nano-Materials to Aeronautics and Space Lubrication

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Street, Kenneth W., Jr.; Miyoshi, Kazuhisa; Wal, Randy L. Vander

2007-01-01

The tribology program at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, is investigating carbon based nano-particles for their potential in advanced concept lubrication products. Service conditions range from high temperature atmospheric to low temperature vacuum. Some of the lubricants and surface coatings of tribological significance that we have evaluated include neat nano-particles, both grown in-situ and as bulk material deposited on the substrate, and nano-particles dispersed in oils which are all highly substrate interactive. We discuss results of testing these systems in a spiral orbit tribometer (SOT) and a unidirectional pin-on-disc (PoD) tribometer. A nano-onions/Krytox mixture evaluated as a lubricant for angular contact bearings in air caused a marked lowering of the coefficient of friction (CoF) (0.04 to 0.05) for the mixture with an eight-fold improvement in lifetime over that of the Krytox alone. In vacuum, no effect was observed from the nano-onions. Multi-walled nanotubes (MWNT) and graphitized MWNT were tested under sliding friction in both air and vacuum. The MWNT which were grown in-situ oriented normal to the sliding surface exhibited low CoF (0.04) and long wear lives. Bulk MWNT also generate low CoF (0.01 to 0.04, vacuum; and 0.06, air) and long wear life (>1 million orbits, vacuum; and >3.5 million, air). Dispersed graphitized MWNT were superior to MWNT and both were superior to aligned MWNT indicating that orientation is not an issue for solid lubrication. Single-walled nanotubes (SWNT) were modified by cutting into shorter segments and by fluorination. All SWNTs exhibited low CoF in air, with good wear lives. The SWNT with slight fluorination yielded an ultra-low CoF of 0.002 although the best wear life was attributed to the nascent SWNT.

Structural disorder of graphite and implications for graphite thermometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirilova, Martina; Toy, Virginia; Rooney, Jeremy S.; Giorgetti, Carolina; Gordon, Keith C.; Collettini, Cristiano; Takeshita, Toru

2018-02-01

Graphitization, or the progressive maturation of carbonaceous material, is considered an irreversible process. Thus, the degree of graphite crystallinity, or its structural order, has been calibrated as an indicator of the peak metamorphic temperatures experienced by the host rocks. However, discrepancies between temperatures indicated by graphite crystallinity versus other thermometers have been documented in deformed rocks. To examine the possibility of mechanical modifications of graphite structure and the potential impacts on graphite thermometry, we performed laboratory deformation experiments. We sheared highly crystalline graphite powder at normal stresses of 5 and 25 megapascal (MPa) and aseismic velocities of 1, 10 and 100 µm s-1. The degree of structural order both in the starting and resulting materials was analyzed by Raman microspectroscopy. Our results demonstrate structural disorder of graphite, manifested as changes in the Raman spectra. Microstructural observations show that brittle processes caused the documented mechanical modifications of the aggregate graphite crystallinity. We conclude that the calibrated graphite thermometer is ambiguous in active tectonic settings.

Simultaneous multielement atomic absorption spectrometry with graphite furnace atomization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harnly, James M.; Miller-Ihli, Nancy J.; O'Haver, Thomas C.

The extended analytical range capability of a simultaneous multielement atomic absorption continuum source spectrometer (SIMAAC) was tested for furnace atomization with respect to the signal measurement mode (peak height and area), the atomization mode (from the wall or from a platform), and the temperature program mode (stepped or ramped atomization). These parameters were evaluated with respect to the shapes of the analytical curves, the detection limits, carry-over contamination and accuracy. Peak area measurements gave more linear calibration curves. Methods for slowing the atomization step heating rate, the use of a ramped temperature program or a platform, produced similar calibration curves and longer linear ranges than atomization with a stepped temperature program. Peak height detection limits were best using stepped atomization from the wall. Peak area detection limits for all atomization modes were similar. Carry-over contamination was worse for peak area than peak height, worse for ramped atomization than stepped atomization, and worse for atomization from a platform than from the wall. Accurate determinations (100 ± 12% for Ca, Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn in National Bureau of Standards' Standard Reference Materials Bovine Liver 1577 and Rice Flour 1568 were obtained using peak area measurements with ramped atomization from the wall and stepped atomization from a platform. Only stepped atomization from a platform gave accurate recoveries for K. Accurate recoveries, 100 ± 10%, with precisions ranging from 1 to 36 % (standard deviation), were obtained for the determination of Al, Co, Cr, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni. Pb, V and Zn in Acidified Waters (NBS SRM 1643 and 1643a) using stepped atomization from a platform.

International strategic minerals inventory summary report; natural graphite

USGS Publications Warehouse

Krauss, U.H.; Schmidt, H.W.; Taylor, H.A.; Sutphin, D.M.

1989-01-01

Natural graphite is a crystalline mineral of pure carbon which normally occurs in the form of platelet-shaped crystals. It has important properties, such as chemical inertness, low thermal expansion, and lubricity, that make it almost irreplaceable for certain uses such as refractories and steelmaking. Graphite ore types are crystalline (flake and lump} or 'amorphous' (cryptocrystalline}. Refractory applications use the largest total amount of natural graphite, while the most important use of crystalline graphite is in crucibles for handling molten metals. All graphite deposits being mined today are found in the following metamorphic environments: (1) contact metamorphosed coal generally is a source of amorphous graphite; (2)disseminated crystalline flake graphite comes from syngenetic metasediments; and (3) crystalline lump graphite is found in epigenetic veins in high-grade metamorphic regions. Graphite may also occur as a trace mineral in ultrabasic rocks and pegmatites, but these are economically insignificant. The world's identified economically exploitable resources of crystalline graphite in major deposits are estimated to be about 9.7 million metric tons of concentrate. In-place resources of amorphous graphite are about 11.5 million metric tons. Of these, less than 2 percent of the crystalline ore and less than 1 percent of the amorphous ore are in western industrial countries. World mining production of natural graphite rose from 347,000 metric tons in 1973 to 659,000 metric tons in 1986, while the proportion produced by central economy countries increased from about 50 percent for the period from 1973 to 1978 to more than 64 percent in 1979 to 1986. It is estimated that crystalline flake graphite accounts for at least 180,000 metric tons of total annual world mining production of natural graphite, and amorphous graphite makes up the rest.

Influence of memory effect on the state-of-charge estimation of large-format Li-ion batteries based on LiFePO4 cathode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Wei; Wang, Jiulin; Zheng, Jianming; Jiang, Jiuchun; Viswanathan, Vilayanur; Zhang, Ji-Guang

2016-04-01

In this work, we systematically investigated the influence of the memory effect of LiFePO4 cathodes in large-format full batteries. The electrochemical performance of the electrodes used in these batteries was also investigated separately in half-cells to reveal their intrinsic properties. We noticed that the memory effect of LiFePO4/graphite cells depends not only on the maximum state of charge reached during the memory writing process, but is also affected by the depth of discharge reached during the memory writing process. In addition, the voltage deviation in a LiFePO4/graphite full battery is more complex than in a LiFePO4/Li half-cell, especially for a large-format battery, which exhibits a significant current variation in the region near its terminals. Therefore, the memory effect should be taken into account in advanced battery management systems to further extend the long-term cycling stabilities of Li-ion batteries using LiFePO4 cathodes.

Design and application of a quasistatic crush test fixture for investigating scale effects in energy absorbing composite plates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lavoie, J. Andre; Morton, John

1993-07-01

A crush test fixture for measuring energy absorption of flat plate specimens from an earlier study was redesigned to eliminate the problem of binding of the load transfer platen with the guide posts. Further modifications were to increase the stroke, and combine the two scaled text fixtures into one. This new crush text fixture was shown to produce load-displacement histories exhibiting well developed sustained crushing loads over long strokes. An experimental study was conducted on two material systems: AS4/3502 graphite/epoxy, and a hybrid AS4-Kevlar/3502 composite. The effect of geometric scaling of specimen size, the effect of ply level and sublaminate-level scaling of the stacking sequence of the full scale specimens, and the effect of trigger mechanism on the energy absorption capability were investigated. The new crush test fixture and flat plate specimens produced peak and sustained crushing loads that were lower than obtained with the old crush text fixture. The trigger mechanism used influenced the specific sustained crushing stress (SSCS). The results indicated that to avoid any reduction in the SSCS when scaling from the 1/2 scale to full scale specimen size, the sublaminate-level scaling approach should be used, in agreement with experiments on tubes. The use of Kevlar in place of the graphite 45 deg plies was not as effective a means for supporting and containing the 0 deg graphite plies for rushing of flat plates and resulted in a drop in the SSCS. This result did not correlate with that obtained for tubes.

Design and application of a quasistatic crush test fixture for investigating scale effects in energy absorbing composite plates. M.S. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lavoie, J. Andre; Morton, John

1993-01-01

A crush test fixture for measuring energy absorption of flat plate specimens from an earlier study was redesigned to eliminate the problem of binding of the load transfer platen with the guide posts. Further modifications were to increase the stroke, and combine the two scaled text fixtures into one. This new crush text fixture was shown to produce load-displacement histories exhibiting well developed sustained crushing loads over long strokes. An experimental study was conducted on two material systems: AS4/3502 graphite/epoxy, and a hybrid AS4-Kevlar/3502 composite. The effect of geometric scaling of specimen size, the effect of ply level and sublaminate-level scaling of the stacking sequence of the full scale specimens, and the effect of trigger mechanism on the energy absorption capability were investigated. The new crush test fixture and flat plate specimens produced peak and sustained crushing loads that were lower than obtained with the old crush text fixture. The trigger mechanism used influenced the specific sustained crushing stress (SSCS). The results indicated that to avoid any reduction in the SSCS when scaling from the 1/2 scale to full scale specimen size, the sublaminate-level scaling approach should be used, in agreement with experiments on tubes. The use of Kevlar in place of the graphite 45 deg plies was not as effective a means for supporting and containing the 0 deg graphite plies for rushing of flat plates and resulted in a drop in the SSCS. This result did not correlate with that obtained for tubes.

Modelling of electronic and vibrational properties of carbon nanostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Margine, Elena Roxana

The main goals of this dissertation work are the analysis and prediction of the properties of nanoscale carbon materials which hold great potential for nanotechnological applications such as strong conductive composites, field-effect transistors, diodes, rechargeable batteries, etc. Some of these exciting applications are already being actively developed, however their design via trial-and-error experimentation is often difficult and expensive. State-of-the-art simulation methods can be used as a powerful tool to streamline the path to practical implementations. In this thesis I use ab initio quantum-mechanical calculations to explore the response of nanoscale carbon materials to doping. A brief overview of the theoretical methods and of some basic concepts on carbon nanotubes are given in the first two chapters. In Chapter 3 we study the effect of doping in double-walled carbon nanotubes. These systems can be considered as nanoscale capacitors since they have two conducting (or semi-conducting) shells. The experimental work of our collaborators demonstrated for the first time that such a capacitor can be realized by the adsorption of bromine anions at the surface of the outer tube. Our theoretical analysis of the experimental results revealed that this quantum system, surprisingly, behaves exactly as the classical Faraday cage: the electric charge always resides on the outside surface of the conductor, even when the pristine tubes are not metallic. In Chapter 4 I present our findings on the phonon frequencies' response to electron doping in single-walled carbon nanotubes. It is well established that when graphite is doped with electrons, carbon-carbon bonds lengthen and all vibrational frequencies soften. However, in semiconducting carbon nanotubes, the frequency of one mode increases at low levels of alkali doping. Having carefully modelled the process with ab initio methods we conclude that the unusual behavior of the vibrational mode depends on which electronic states are filled first in a given nanotube and therefore this is a direct manifestation of the quantum confinement of electronic states in quasi-one dimensional nanotubes. In Chapter 5 we analyze the behavior of the nearly free electron states in carbon nanotubes. We demonstrate that the rapid decrease in these states' energy under electron doping occurs not because of their hybridization with valence states of the alkali dopant as previously thought, but due to a universal electrostatic mechanism. We show that the nearly free state, being weakly bound to the tube wall, is extraordinarily labile and distorts dramatically to concentrate in the region of highest positive countercharge. Therefore, by taking advantage of the changes in the surrounding environment, the nearly free states may become occupied at unexpectedly low doping levels and play an important role in the transport properties of electron-doped carbon nanotubes. Experimental results have shown that elemental cesium induces graphitization of nanoporous carbon at very low temperatures. In Chapter 6 we propose a compact representative model of nanoporous carbon constructed fully from sp2- connected atoms. Next, we investigate possible mechanisms of its transformation towards graphitization in the presence of dopants. Our results suggest that in addition to the alkali atoms there must be another chemical agent involved in this intriguing low-temperature transformation.

Transformation of graphite by tectonic and hydrothermal processes in an active plate boundary fault zone, Alpine Fault, New Zealand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirilova, Matina; Toy, Virginia; Timms, Nicholas; Halfpenny, Angela; Menzies, Catriona; Craw, Dave; Rooney, Jeremy; Giorgetti, Carolina

2017-04-01

Graphite is a material with one of the lowest frictional strengths, with coefficient of friction of 0.1 and thus in natural fault zones it may act as a natural solid lubricant. Graphitization, or the transformation of organic matter (carbonaceous material, or CM) into crystalline graphite, is induced by compositional and structural changes during diagenesis and metamorphism. The supposed irreversible nature of this process has allowed the degree of graphite crystallinity to be calibrated as an indicator of the peak temperatures reached during progressive metamorphism. We examine processes of graphite emplacement and deformation in the Alpine Fault Zone, New Zealand's active continental tectonic plate boundary. Raman spectrometry indicates that graphite in the distal, amphibolite-facies Alpine Schist, which experienced peak metamorphic temperatures up to 640 ◦C, is highly crystalline and occurs mainly along grain boundaries within quartzo-feldspathic domains. The subsequent mylonitisation in the Alpine Fault Zone resulted in progressive reworking of CM under lower temperature conditions (500◦C-600◦C) in a structurally controlled environment, resulting in spatial clustering in lower-strain protomylonites, and further foliation-alignment in higher-strain mylonites. Subsequent brittle deformation of the mylonitised schists resulted in cataclasites that contain over three-fold increase in the abundance of graphite than mylonites. Furthermore, cataclasites contain graphite with two different habits: highly-crystalline, foliated forms that are inherited mylonitic graphite; and lower-crystallinity, less mature patches of finer-grained graphite. The observed graphite enrichment and the occurrence of poorly-organised graphite in the Alpine Fault cataclasites could result from: i) hydrothermal precipitation from carbon-supersaturated fluids; and/or ii) mechanical degradation by structural disordering of mylonitic graphite combined with strain-induced graphite localisation. The lack of published systematic studies of mechanical modification of the structure of graphite inhibits further conclusion to be drawn. Thus, we performed laboratory deformation experiments during which we sheared highly crystalline graphite powder at room temperature, normal stresses of 5 MPa and 25 MPa and sliding velocities of 1 µm/s, 10 µm/s and 100 µm/s. The degree of graphite crystallinity, both in the starting and resulting materials, was analysed by Raman microspectroscopy. Our results demonstrate consistent decrease of graphite crystallinity with increasing shear strain. We conclude that: i) graphite 'thermometers' are unreliable in brittely deformed rocks; ii) a shear strain calibration of graphite 'thermometers' is needed; iii) fault creep is very likely responsible for the observed structural and textural characteristics of graphite in the Alpine Fault cataclasites. Finally, to investigate the possibility of hydrothermal origin for at least some of the graphite in the Alpine Fault cataclasites we will also present synchrotron FTIR and carbon isotope analysis of the Alpine fault rocks.

Catalytic wet air oxidation of phenol with functionalized carbon materials as catalysts: reaction mechanism and pathway.

PubMed

Wang, Jianbing; Fu, Wantao; He, Xuwen; Yang, Shaoxia; Zhu, Wanpeng

2014-08-01

The development of highly active carbon material catalysts in catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) has attracted a great deal of attention. In this study different carbon material catalysts (multi-walled carbon nanotubes, carbon fibers and graphite) were developed to enhance the CWAO of phenol in aqueous solution. The functionalized carbon materials exhibited excellent catalytic activity in the CWAO of phenol. After 60 min reaction, the removal of phenol was nearly 100% over the functionalized multi-walled carbon, while it was only 14% over the purified multi-walled carbon under the same reaction conditions. Carboxylic acid groups introduced on the surface of the functionalized carbon materials play an important role in the catalytic activity in CWAO. They can promote the production of free radicals, which act as strong oxidants in CWAO. Based on the analysis of the intermediates produced in the CWAO reactions, a new reaction pathway for the CWAO of phenol was proposed in this study. There are some differences between the proposed reaction pathway and that reported in the literature. First, maleic acid is transformed directly into malonic acid. Second, acetic acid is oxidized into an unknown intermediate, which is then oxidized into CO2 and H2O. Finally, formic acid and oxalic acid can mutually interconvert when conditions are favorable. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Evaluation of co-cokes from bituminous coal with vacuum resid or decant oil, and evaluation of anthracites, as precursors to graphite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nyathi, Mhlwazi S.

2011-12-01

Graphite is utilized as a neutron moderator and structural component in some nuclear reactor designs. During the reactor operaction the structure of graphite is damaged by collision with fast neutrons. Graphite's resistance to this damage determines its lifetime in the reactor. On neutron irradiation, isotropic or near-isotropic graphite experiences less structural damage than anisotropic graphite. The degree of anisotropy in a graphite artifact is dependent on the structure of its precursor coke. Currently, there exist concerns over a short supply of traditional precursor coke, primarily due to a steadily increasing price of petroleum. The main goal of this study was to study the anisotropic and isotropic properties of graphitized co-cokes and anthracites as a way of investigating the possibility of synthesizing isotropic or near-isotropic graphite from co-cokes and anthracites. Demonstrating the ability to form isotropic or near-isotropic graphite would mean that co-cokes and anthracites have a potential use as filler material in the synthesis of nuclear graphite. The approach used to control the co-coke structure was to vary the reaction conditions. Co-cokes were produced by coking 4:1 blends of vacuum resid/coal and decant oil/coal at temperatures of 465 and 500 °C for reaction times of 12 and 18 hours under autogenous pressure. Co-cokes obtained were calcined at 1420 °C and graphitized at 3000 °C for 24 hours. Optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, temperature-programmed oxidation and Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the products. It was found that higher reaction temperature (500 °C) or shorter reaction time (12 hours) leads to an increase in co-coke structural disorder and an increase in the amount of mosaic carbon at the expense of textural components that are necessary for the formation of anisotropic structure, namely, domains and flow domains. Characterization of graphitized co-cokes showed that the quality, as expressed by the degree of graphitization and crystallite dimensions, of the final product is dependent on the nature of the precursor co-coke. The methodology for studying anthracites was to select two anthracites on basis of rank, PSOC1515 being semi-anthracite and DECS21 anthracite. The selected anthracites were graphitized, in both native and demineralized states, under the same conditions as co-cokes. Products obtained from DECS21 showed higher degrees of graphitization and larger crystallite dimensions than products obtained from PSOC1515. Demineralization of anthracites served to increase the degree of graphitization, indicating that the minerals contained in these anthracites have no graphitization-enhancing ability. A larger crystallite length for products obtained from native versions, compared to demineralized versions, was attributed to a formation and decomposition of a silicon carbide during graphitization of native versions. In order to examine the anisotropic and isotropic properties, nuclear-grade graphite samples obtained from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and commercial graphite purchased from Fluka were characterized under similar conditions as graphitized co-cokes and anthracites. These samples served as representatives of "two extremes", with ORNL samples being the isotropic end and commercial graphite being the anisotropic end. Through evaluating relationships between structural parameters, it was observed that graphitized co-cokes are situated, structurally, somewhere between the "two extremes", whereas graphitized anthracites are closer to the anisotropic end. Basically, co-cokes have a better potential than anthracites to transform to isotropic or near-isotropic graphite upon graphitization. By co-coking vacuum resid/coal instead of decant oil/coal or using 500 °C instead of 465 °C, a shift away from commercial graphite towards ORNL samples was attained. Graphitizing a semi-anthracite or demineralizing anthracites before graphitization also caused a shift towards ORNL samples.

A study of the stress wave factor technique for nondestructive evaluation of composite materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sarrafzadeh-Khoee, A.; Kiernan, M. T.; Duke, J. C., Jr.; Henneke, E. G., II

1986-01-01

The acousto-ultrasonic method of nondestructive evaluation is an extremely sensitive means of assessing material response. Efforts continue to complete the understanding of this method. In order to achieve the full sensitivity of the technique, extreme care must be taken in its performance. This report provides an update of the efforts to advance the understanding of this method and to increase its application to the nondestructive evaluation of composite materials. Included are descriptions of a novel optical system that is capable of measuring in-plane and out-of-plane displacements, an IBM PC-based data acquisition system, an extensive data analysis software package, the azimuthal variation of acousto-ultrasonic behavior in graphite/epoxy laminates, and preliminary examination of processing variation in graphite-aluminum tubes.

Standard test evaluation of graphite fiber/resin matrix composite materials for improved toughness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chapman, Andrew J.

1984-01-01

Programs sponsored by NASA with the commercial transport manufacturers to develop a technology data base are required to design and build composite wing and fuselage structures. To realize the full potential of composite structures in these strength critical designs, material systems having improved ductility and interlaminar toughness are being sought. To promote systematic evaluation of new materials, NASA and the commercial transport manufacturers have selected and standardized a set of five common tests. These tests evaluate open hole tension and compression performance, compression performance after impact at an energy level of 20 ft-lb, and resistance to delamination. Ten toughened resin matrix/graphite fiber composites were evaluated using this series of tests, and their performance is compared with a widely used composite system.

EXPLORATORY DEVELOPMENT OF GRAPHITE MATERIALS.

DTIC Science & Technology

COMPOSITE MATERIALS), (* GRAPHITE , (*FIBERS, GRAPHITE ), (*LAMINATED PLASTICS, GRAPHITE ), MOLDINGS, EXTRUSION, VACUUM, EPOXY RESINS, FILAMENTS, STRESSES, TENSILE PROPERTIES, OXIDATION, PHYSICAL PROPERTIES.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gao, J.X.; Wei, B.Q.; Li, D.D.

The evolution of microstructure in bainite during graphitization annealing at 680 °C of Jominy-quenched bars of an Al-Si bearing medium carbon (0.4C wt%) steel has been studied and compared with that in martensite by using light, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The results show that the graphitization process in bainite is different from that in martensite in many aspects such as the initial carbon state, the behavior of cementite, the nucleation-growth feature and kinetics of formation of graphite spheroids during graphitization annealing, and the shape, size and distribution of these graphite spheroids. The fact that the graphitization in bainite canmore » produce more homogeneous graphite spheroids with more spherical shape and finer size in a shorter annealing time without the help of preexisting coring particles implies that bainite should be a better starting structure than martensite for making graphitic steel. - Highlights: • This article presents a microstructural characterization of formation of graphite spheroids in bainite. • Nucleation and growth characteristics of graphite spheroids formed in bainite and martensite are compared. • Bainite should be a better starting structure for making graphitic steel as results show.« less

40 CFR 436.380 - Applicability; description of the graphite subcategory.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... graphite subcategory. 436.380 Section 436.380 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY... Graphite Subcategory § 436.380 Applicability; description of the graphite subcategory. The provisions of this subpart are applicable to the mining and processing of naturally occurring graphite. ...

Method for producing thin graphite flakes with large aspect ratios

DOEpatents

Bunnell, L. Roy

1993-01-01

A method for making graphite flakes of high aspect ratio by the steps of providing a strong concentrated acid and heating the graphite in the presence of the acid for a time and at a temperature effective to intercalate the acid in the graphite; heating the intercalated graphite at a rate and to a temperature effective to exfoliate the graphite in discrete layers; subjecting the graphite layers to ultrasonic energy, mechanical shear forces, or freezing in an amount effective to separate the layes into discrete flakes.

Calculated criticality for sup 235 U/graphite systems using the VIM Monte Carlo code

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Collins, P.J.; Grasseschi, G.L.; Olsen, D.N.

1992-01-01

Calculations for highly enriched uranium and graphite systems gained renewed interest recently for the new production modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (MHTGR). Experiments to validate the physics calculations for these systems are being prepared for the Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT) reactor at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL-West) and in the Compact Nuclear Power Source facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The continuous-energy Monte Carlo code VIM, or equivalently the MCNP code, can utilize fully detailed models of the MHTGR and serve as benchmarks for the approximate multigroup methods necessary in full reactor calculations. Validation of these codes and their associated nuclearmore » data did not exist for highly enriched {sup 235}U/graphite systems. Experimental data, used in development of more approximate methods, dates back to the 1960s. The authors have selected two independent sets of experiments for calculation with the VIM code. The carbon-to-uranium (C/U) ratios encompass the range of 2,000, representative of the new production MHTGR, to the ratio of 10,000 in the fuel of TREAT. Calculations used the ENDF/B-V data.« less

High performance 1.2 Ah Si-alloy/Graphite|LiNi0.5Mn0.3Co0.2O2 prototype Li-ion battery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marinaro, Mario; Yoon, Dong-hwan; Gabrielli, Giulio; Stegmaier, Petra; Figgemeier, Egbert; Spurk, Paul C.; Nelis, Daniël; Schmidt, Gregory; Chauveau, Jerome; Axmann, Peter; Wohlfahrt-Mehrens, Margret

2017-07-01

The study reports on realization and electrochemical testing of prototype Si-alloy/Graphite|LiNi0.5Mn0.3Co0.2O2 batteries. Water soluble polyacrylic acid (PAA), used as the only binder at the anode side, demonstrates excellent dispersant and binding properties. Sedimentation tests and rheological measurements show remarkable stability and mostly a thinning behavior of the non-Newtonian type of slurry. The cathode is processed in N-Methylpyrrolidone based slurry using polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as the binding agent. The electronic conductivities of the manufactured Si-alloy/Graphite and LiNi0.5Mn0.3Co0.2O2 electrodes are evaluated. Furthermore, the cathode and anode electrochemical behavior is initially studied in half-cells, and subsequently in full Li-ion stacked prototype soft pouch-cells (1.22 Ah). It is demonstrated that the manufactured prototype cells can sustain about 290 charge/discharge galvanostatic cycles before the retained capacity drops below 80%. Cell aging is monitored using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), whereas post-mortem SEM analysis of electrodes cross-section is used to shed light on the causes of performance degradation of the cells.

Physical, electrochemical, and thermal properties of granulated natural graphite as anodes for Li-ion batteries.

PubMed

Jo, Yong Nam; Park, Min-Sik; Kim, Jae-Hun; Kim, Young-Jun

2013-05-01

Two different types of granulated graphites were synthesized by blending and kneading of natural graphite with pitch followed by sintering methods. The electrochemical performances of granulated graphites were investigated as anode materials for use in Li-ion batteries. The blending type granulated graphite possesses a large amount of cavities and voids, while the kneading type granulated graphite has a relatively compact microstructure, which is responsible for a high tap density. Both granulated graphites show improved the initial coulombic efficiencies as a result of decrease of surface area by the granulations. In particular, the kneading type granulated graphite exhibits an excellent rate-capability without significant capacity loss. In addition, the thermal stabilities of both granulated graphites were also improved, which could be attributed to the decrease of active surface area due to pitch coating.

Effect of Reacting Surface Density on the Overall Graphite Oxidation Rate

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chang H. Oh; Eung Kim; Jong Lim

2009-05-01

Graphite oxidation in an air-ingress accident is presently a very important issue for the reactor safety of the very high temperature gas cooled-reactor (VHTR), the concept of the next generation nuclear plant (NGNP) because of its potential problems such as mechanical degradation of the supporting graphite in the lower plenum of the VHTR might lead to core collapse if the countermeasure is taken carefully. The oxidation process of graphite has known to be affected by various factors, including temperature, pressure, oxygen concentration, types of graphite, graphite shape and size, flow distribution, etc. However, our recent study reveals that the internalmore » pore characteristics play very important roles in the overall graphite oxidation rate. One of the main issues regarding graphite oxidation is the potential core collapse problem that may occur following the degradation of graphite mechanical strength. In analyzing this phenomenon, it is very important to understand the relationship between the degree of oxidization and strength degradation. In addition, the change of oxidation rate by graphite oxidation degree characterization by burn-off (ratio of the oxidized graphite density to the original density) should be quantified because graphite strength degradation is followed by graphite density decrease, which highly affects oxidation rates and patterns. Because the density change is proportional to the internal pore surface area, they should be quantified in advance. In order to understand the above issues, the following experiments were performed: (1)Experiment on the fracture of the oxidized graphite and validation of the previous correlations, (2) Experiment on the change of oxidation rate using graphite density and data collection, (3) Measure the BET surface area of the graphite. The experiments were performed using H451 (Great Lakes Carbon Corporation) and IG-110 (Toyo Tanso Co., Ltd) graphite. The reason for the use of those graphite materials is because their chemical and mechanical characteristics are well identified by the previous investigations, and therefore it was convenient for us to access the published data, and to apply and validate our new methodologies. This paper presents preliminary results of compressive strength vs. burn-off and surface area density vs. burn-off, which can be used for the nuclear graphite selection for the NGNP.« less

Systems and methods for forming defects on graphitic materials and curing radiation-damaged graphitic materials

DOEpatents

Ryu, Sunmin; Brus, Louis E.; Steigerwald, Michael L.; Liu, Haitao

2012-09-25

Systems and methods are disclosed herein for forming defects on graphitic materials. The methods for forming defects include applying a radiation reactive material on a graphitic material, irradiating the applied radiation reactive material to produce a reactive species, and permitting the reactive species to react with the graphitic material to form defects. Additionally, disclosed are methods for removing defects on graphitic materials.

High-Performance Field Emission from a Carbonized Cork.

PubMed

Lee, Jeong Seok; Lee, Hak Jun; Yoo, Jae Man; Kim, Taewoo; Kim, Yong Hyup

2017-12-20

To broaden the range of application of electron beams, low-power field emitters are needed that are miniature and light. Here, we introduce carbonized cork as a material for field emitters. The light natural cork becomes a graphitic honeycomb upon carbonization, with the honeycomb cell walls 100-200 nm thick and the aspect ratio larger than 100, providing an ideal structure for the field electron emission. Compared to nanocarbon field emitters, the cork emitter produces a high current density and long-term stability with a low turn-on field. The nature of the cork material makes it quite simple to fabricate the emitter. Furthermore, any desired shape of the emitter tailored for the final application can easily be prepared for point, line, or planar emission.

Dust particles in controlled fusion devices: morphology, observations in the plasma and influence on the plasma performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rubel, M.; Cecconello, M.; Malmberg, J. A.; Sergienko, G.; Biel, W.; Drake, J. R.; Hedqvist, A.; Huber, A.; Philipps, V.

2001-08-01

The formation and release of particle agglomerates, i.e. debris and dusty objects, from plasma facing components and the impact of such materials on plasma operation in controlled fusion devices has been studied in the Extrap T2 reversed field pinch and the TEXTOR tokamak. Several plasma diagnostic techniques, camera observations and surface analysis methods were applied for in situ and ex situ investigation. The results are discussed in terms of processes that are decisive for dust transfer: localized power deposition connected with wall locked modes causing emission of carbon granules, brittle destruction of graphite and detachment of thick flaking co-deposited layers. The consequences for large next step devices are also addressed.

Wall and corner fire tests on selected wood products

Treesearch

H. C. Tran; M. L. Janssens

1991-01-01

As part of a fire growth program to develop and validate a compartment fire model, several bench-scale and full-scale tests were conducted. This paper reports the full-scale wall and corner test results of step 2 of this study. A room fire test following the ASTM proposed standard specifications was used for these full-scale tests. In step 1, we investigated the...

A probabilisitic based failure model for components fabricated from anisotropic graphite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, Chengfeng

The nuclear moderator for high temperature nuclear reactors are fabricated from graphite. During reactor operations graphite components are subjected to complex stress states arising from structural loads, thermal gradients, neutron irradiation damage, and seismic events. Graphite is a quasi-brittle material. Two aspects of nuclear grade graphite, i.e., material anisotropy and different behavior in tension and compression, are explicitly accounted for in this effort. Fracture mechanic methods are useful for metal alloys, but they are problematic for anisotropic materials with a microstructure that makes it difficult to identify a "critical" flaw. In fact cracking in a graphite core component does not necessarily result in the loss of integrity of a nuclear graphite core assembly. A phenomenological failure criterion that does not rely on flaw detection has been derived that accounts for the material behaviors mentioned. The probability of failure of components fabricated from graphite is governed by the scatter in strength. The design protocols being proposed by international code agencies recognize that design and analysis of reactor core components must be based upon probabilistic principles. The reliability models proposed herein for isotropic graphite and graphite that can be characterized as being transversely isotropic are another set of design tools for the next generation very high temperature reactors (VHTR) as well as molten salt reactors. The work begins with a review of phenomenologically based deterministic failure criteria. A number of this genre of failure models are compared with recent multiaxial nuclear grade failure data. Aspects in each are shown to be lacking. The basic behavior of different failure strengths in tension and compression is exhibited by failure models derived for concrete, but attempts to extend these concrete models to anisotropy were unsuccessful. The phenomenological models are directly dependent on stress invariants. A set of invariants, known as an integrity basis, was developed for a non-linear elastic constitutive model. This integrity basis allowed the non-linear constitutive model to exhibit different behavior in tension and compression and moreover, the integrity basis was amenable to being augmented and extended to anisotropic behavior. This integrity basis served as the starting point in developing both an isotropic reliability model and a reliability model for transversely isotropic materials. At the heart of the reliability models is a failure function very similar in nature to the yield functions found in classic plasticity theory. The failure function is derived and presented in the context of a multiaxial stress space. States of stress inside the failure envelope denote safe operating states. States of stress on or outside the failure envelope denote failure. The phenomenological strength parameters associated with the failure function are treated as random variables. There is a wealth of failure data in the literature that supports this notion. The mathematical integration of a joint probability density function that is dependent on the random strength variables over the safe operating domain defined by the failure function provides a way to compute the reliability of a state of stress in a graphite core component fabricated from graphite. The evaluation of the integral providing the reliability associated with an operational stress state can only be carried out using a numerical method. Monte Carlo simulation with importance sampling was selected to make these calculations. The derivation of the isotropic reliability model and the extension of the reliability model to anisotropy are provided in full detail. Model parameters are cast in terms of strength parameters that can (and have been) characterized by multiaxial failure tests. Comparisons of model predictions with failure data is made and a brief comparison is made to reliability predictions called for in the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. Future work is identified that would provide further verification and augmentation of the numerical methods used to evaluate model predictions.

Effect of graphite target power density on tribological properties of graphite-like carbon films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dong, Dan; Jiang, Bailing; Li, Hongtao; Du, Yuzhou; Yang, Chao

2018-05-01

In order to improve the tribological performance, a series of graphite-like carbon (GLC) films with different graphite target power densities were prepared by magnetron sputtering. The valence bond and microstructure of films were characterized by AFM, TEM, XPS and Raman spectra. The variation of mechanical and tribological properties with graphite target power density was analyzed. The results showed that with the increase of graphite target power density, the deposition rate and the ratio of sp2 bond increased obviously. The hardness firstly increased and then decreased with the increase of graphite target power density, whilst the friction coefficient and the specific wear rate increased slightly after a decrease with the increasing graphite target power density. The friction coefficient and the specific wear rate were the lowest when the graphite target power density was 23.3 W/cm2.

AGC 2 Irradiated Material Properties Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rohrbaugh, David Thomas

2017-05-01

The Advanced Reactor Technologies Graphite Research and Development Program is conducting an extensive graphite irradiation experiment to provide data for licensing of a high temperature reactor (HTR) design. In past applications, graphite has been used effectively as a structural and moderator material in both research and commercial high temperature gas cooled reactor designs. , Nuclear graphite H 451, used previously in the United States for nuclear reactor graphite components, is no longer available. New nuclear graphite grades have been developed and are considered suitable candidates for new HTR reactor designs. To support the design and licensing of HTR core componentsmore » within a commercial reactor, a complete properties database must be developed for these current grades of graphite. Quantitative data on in service material performance are required for the physical, mechanical, and thermal properties of each graphite grade, with a specific emphasis on data accounting for the life limiting effects of irradiation creep on key physical properties of the HTR candidate graphite grades. Further details on the research and development activities and associated rationale required to qualify nuclear grade graphite for use within the HTR are documented in the graphite technology research and development plan.« less

AGC 2 Irradiation Creep Strain Data Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Windes, William E.; Rohrbaugh, David T.; Swank, W. David

2016-08-01

The Advanced Reactor Technologies Graphite Research and Development Program is conducting an extensive graphite irradiation experiment to provide data for licensing of a high temperature reactor (HTR) design. In past applications, graphite has been used effectively as a structural and moderator material in both research and commercial high temperature gas cooled reactor designs. Nuclear graphite H-451, used previously in the United States for nuclear reactor graphite components, is no longer available. New nuclear graphite grades have been developed and are considered suitable candidates for new HTR reactor designs. To support the design and licensing of HTR core components within amore » commercial reactor, a complete properties database must be developed for these current grades of graphite. Quantitative data on in service material performance are required for the physical, mechanical, and thermal properties of each graphite grade, with a specific emphasis on data accounting for the life limiting effects of irradiation creep on key physical properties of the HTR candidate graphite grades. Further details on the research and development activities and associated rationale required to qualify nuclear grade graphite for use within the HTR are documented in the graphite technology research and development plan.« less

Preparation, quantitative surface analysis, intercalation characteristics and industrial implications of low temperature expandable graphite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Tiefeng; Liu, Bin; Gao, Xuechao; Luo, Liqun; Sun, Hongjuan

2018-06-01

Expandable graphite is widely used as a new functional carbon material, especially as fire-retardant; however, its practical application is limited due to the high expansion temperature. In this work, preparation process of low temperature and highly expandable graphite was studied, using natural flake graphite as raw material and KMnO4/HClO4/NH4NO3 as oxidative intercalations. The structure, morphology, functional groups and thermal properties were characterized during expanding process by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectra, thermo-gravimetry differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The analysis showed that by oxidation intercalation, some oxygen-containing groups were grafted on the edge and within the graphite layer. The intercalation reagent entered the graphite layer to increase the interlayer spacing. After expansion, the original flaky expandable graphite was completely transformed into worm-like expanded graphite. The order of graphite intercalation compounds (GICs) was proposed and determined to be 3 for the prepared expandable graphite, based on quantitative XRD peak analysis. Meanwhile, the detailed intercalation mechanisms were also proposed. The comprehensive investigation paved a benchmark for the industrial application of such sulfur-free expanded graphite.

The impact of LDEF results on the space application of metal matrix composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Steckel, Gary L.; Le, Tuyen D.

1993-01-01

Over 200 graphite/aluminum and graphite/magnesium composites were flown on the leading and trailing edges of LDEF on the Advanced Composites Experiment. The performance of these composites was evaluated by performing scanning electron microscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of exposed surfaces, optical microscopy of cross sections, and on-orbit and postflight thermal expansion measurements. Graphite/aluminum and graphite/magnesium were found to be superior to graphite/polymer matrix composites in that they are inherently resistant to atomic oxygen and are less susceptible to thermal cycling induced microcracking. The surface foils on graphite/aluminum and graphite/magnesium protect the graphite fibers from atomic oxygen and from impact damage from small micrometeoroid or space debris particles. However, the surface foils were found to be susceptible to thermal fatigue cracking arising from contamination embrittlement, surface oxidation, or stress risers. Thus, the experiment reinforced requirements for carefully protecting these composites from prelaunch oxidation or corrosion, avoiding spacecraft contamination, and designing composite structures to minimize stress concentrations. On-orbit strain measurements demonstrated the importance of through-thickness thermal conductivity in composites to minimize thermal distortions arising from thermal gradients. Because of the high thermal conductivity of aluminum, thermal distortions were greatly reduced in the LDEF thermal environment for graphite/aluminum as compared to graphite/magnesium and graphite/polymer composites. The thermal expansion behavior of graphite/aluminum and graphite/magnesium was stabilized by on-orbit thermal cycling in the same manner as observed in laboratory tests.

Natural graphite demand and supply - Implications for electric vehicle battery requirements

USGS Publications Warehouse

Olson, Donald W.; Virta, Robert L.; Mahdavi, Mahbood; Sangine, Elizabeth S.; Fortier, Steven M.

2016-01-01

Electric vehicles have been promoted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lessen U.S. dependence on petroleum for transportation. Growth in U.S. sales of electric vehicles has been hindered by technical difficulties and the high cost of the lithium-ion batteries used to power many electric vehicles (more than 50% of the vehicle cost). Groundbreaking has begun for a lithium-ion battery factory in Nevada that, at capacity, could manufacture enough batteries to power 500,000 electric vehicles of various types and provide economies of scale to reduce the cost of batteries. Currently, primary synthetic graphite derived from petroleum coke is used in the anode of most lithium-ion batteries. An alternate may be the use of natural flake graphite, which would result in estimated graphite cost reductions of more than US$400 per vehicle at 2013 prices. Most natural flake graphite is sourced from China, the world's leading graphite producer. Sourcing natural flake graphite from deposits in North America could reduce raw material transportation costs and, given China's growing internal demand for flake graphite for its industries and ongoing environmental, labor, and mining issues, may ensure a more reliable and environmentally conscious supply of graphite. North America has flake graphite resources, and Canada is currently a producer, but most new mining projects in the United States require more than 10 yr to reach production, and demand could exceed supplies of flake graphite. Natural flake graphite may serve only to supplement synthetic graphite, at least for the short-term outlook.

Application of Pressure-Based Wall Correction Methods to Two NASA Langley Wind Tunnels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Iyer, V.; Everhart, J. L.

2001-01-01

This paper is a description and status report on the implementation and application of the WICS wall interference method to the National Transonic Facility (NTF) and the 14 x 22-ft subsonic wind tunnel at the NASA Langley Research Center. The method calculates free-air corrections to the measured parameters and aerodynamic coefficients for full span and semispan models when the tunnels are in the solid-wall configuration. From a data quality point of view, these corrections remove predictable bias errors in the measurement due to the presence of the tunnel walls. At the NTF, the method is operational in the off-line and on-line modes, with three tests already computed for wall corrections. At the 14 x 22-ft tunnel, initial implementation has been done based on a test on a full span wing. This facility is currently scheduled for an upgrade to its wall pressure measurement system. With the addition of new wall orifices and other instrumentation upgrades, a significant improvement in the wall correction accuracy is expected.

Treatment of irradiated graphite from French Bugey reactor

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stevens, Howard; Laurent, Gerard

In 2008, following the general French plan for nuclear waste management, Electricite de France attempted to find for irradiated graphite an alternative solution to direct storage at the low-activity long-life storage center in France managed by the national agency for wastes (ANDRA). EDF management requested that its engineering arm, EDF CIDEN, study the graphite treatment alternatives to direct storage. In mid-2008, this study revealed the potential advantage for EDF to use a steam reforming process known as Thermal Organic Reduction, 'THOR' (owned by Studsvik, Inc., USA), to treat or destroy the graphite matrix and limit the quantity of secondary wastemore » to be stored. In late 2009, EDF began a test program with Studsvik to determine if the THOR steam reforming process could be used to destroy the graphite. The program also sought to determine if the graphite could be treated to release the bulk of activity while minimizing the gasification of the bulk mass of the graphite. In October 2009, tests with non-irradiated graphite were completed and demonstrated destruction of a graphite matrix by the THOR process at satisfactory rates. After gasifying the graphite, focus shifted to the effect of roasting graphite at high temperatures in inert gases with low concentrations of oxidizing gases to preferentially remove volatile radionuclides while minimizing the graphite mass loss to 5%. A radioactive graphite sleeve was imported from France to the US for these tests. Completed in April 2010, 'Phase I' of testing showed that the process removed >99% of H-3 and 46% of C-14 with <6% mass loss. Completed in September 2011, 'Phase II' testing achieved increased removals as high as 80% C-14. During Phase II, it was also discovered that roasting in a reducing atmosphere helped to limit the oxidation of the graphite. Future work seeks to explore the effects of reducing gases to limit the bulk oxidation of graphite. If the graphite could be decontaminated of long-lived radionuclides up to 95% for C-14 while minimizing mass loss to <5%, this would minimize the volume of any secondary waste streams and potentially lower the waste class of the larger bulk of graphite. Alternatively, if up to 95% decontamination of C-14 is achieved, the graphite may be completely gasified which could result in lower disposal. (authors)« less

Cycling behavior of NCM523/graphite lithium-ion cells in the 3–4.4 V range: Diagnostic studies of full cells and harvested electrodes

DOE PAGES

Gilbert, James A.; Bareño, Javier; Spila, Timothy; ...

2016-09-22

Energy density of full cells containing layered-oxide positive electrodes can be increased by raising the upper cutoff voltage above the current 4.2 V limit. In this article we examine aging behavior of cells, containing LiNi 0.5Co 0.2Mn 0.3O 2 (NCM523)-based positive and graphite-based negative electrodes, which underwent up to ~400 cycles in the 3-4.4 V range. Electrochemistry results from electrodes harvested from the cycled cells were obtained to identify causes of cell performance loss; these results were complemented with data from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) measurements. Our experiments indicate that the full cell capacitymore » fade increases linearly with cycle number and results from irreversible lithium loss in the negative electrode solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer. The accompanying electrode potential shift reduces utilization of active material in both electrodes and causes the positive electrode to cycle at higher states-of-charge. Here, full cell impedance rise on aging arises primarily at the positive electrode and results mainly from changes at the electrode-electrolyte interface; the small growth in negative electrode impedance reflects changes in the SEI layer. Our results indicate that cell performance loss could be mitigated by modifying the electrode-electrolyte interfaces through use of appropriate electrode coatings and/or electrolyte additives.« less

Bridged graphite oxide materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Herrera-Alonso, Margarita (Inventor); McAllister, Michael J. (Inventor); Aksay, Ilhan A. (Inventor); Prud'homme, Robert K. (Inventor)

2010-01-01

Bridged graphite oxide material comprising graphite sheets bridged by at least one diamine bridging group. The bridged graphite oxide material may be incorporated in polymer composites or used in adsorption media.

Preparation of graphitic articles

DOEpatents

Phillips, Jonathan; Nemer, Martin; Weigle, John C.

2010-05-11

Graphitic structures have been prepared by exposing templates (metal, metal-coated ceramic, graphite, for example) to a gaseous mixture that includes hydrocarbons and oxygen. When the template is metal, subsequent acid treatment removes the metal to yield monoliths, hollow graphitic structures, and other products. The shapes of the coated and hollow graphitic structures mimic the shapes of the templates.

Method of Obtaining Uniform Coatings on Graphite

DOEpatents

Campbell, I. E.

1961-04-01

A method is given for obtaining uniform carbide coatings on graphite bodies. According to the invention a metallic halide in vapor form is passed over the graphite body under such conditions of temperature and pressure that the halide reacts with the graphite to form a coating of the metal carbide on the surface of the graphite.

METHOD OF OBTAINING UNIFORM COATINGS ON GRAPHITE

DOEpatents

Campbell, I.E.

1961-04-01

A method is given for obtaining uniform carbide coatings on graphite bodies. According to the invention a metallic halide in vapor form is passed over the graphite body under such conditions of temperature and pressure that the halide reacts with the graphite to form a coating of the metal carbide on the surface of the graphite.

Morphological and optoelectronic characteristics of nanocomposites comprising graphene nanosheets and poly(3-hexylthiophene).

PubMed

Chang, Yo-Wei; Yu, Shiau-Wei; Liu, Cheng-Hao; Tsiang, Raymond Chien-Chao

2010-10-01

P3HT/graphene nanocomposite was prepared via in-situ reduction of exfoliated graphite oxide in the P3HT polymer matrix, where the exfoliated graphite oxide was formed beforehand via the oxidation of graphite via the Hummers method. The oxidation reaction not only imparts functional groups, such as C=O, C-OH, and C-O-C, to graphite but also causes exfoliation of the resulting graphite oxide. The functional groups render graphite oxide an additional, lower thermal degradation temperature (T(d)) and the exfoliation shifts the XRD pattern towards a much smaller angle. The oxidation of graphite into graphite oxide creates a pleated flaking morphology for graphite oxide as opposed to that of graphite. UV/Vis and photoluminescence (PL) spectra of P3HT/graphene nanocomposite indicate that the existence of graphene does not alter the UV/Vis and PL excitation characteristics of P3HT, and the P3HT/graphene composite has higher electron mobility, a smaller band gap and higher conductivity than the pristine P3HT.

Graphite Sheet Coating for Improved Thermal Oxidative Stability of Carbon Fiber Reinforced/PMR-15 Composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Campbell, Sandi; Papadopoulos, Demetrios; Heimann, Paula; Inghram, Linda; McCorkle, Linda

2005-01-01

Expanded graphite was compressed into graphite sheets and used as a coating for carbon fiber reinforced PMR-15 composites. BET analysis of the graphite indicated an increase in graphite pore size on compression, however the material was proven to be an effective barrier to oxygen when prepegged with PMR-15 resin. Oxygen permeability of the PMR-15/graphite was an order of magnitude lower than the compressed graphite sheet. By providing a barrier to oxygen permeation, the rate of oxidative degradation of PMR-15 was decreased. As a result, the composite thermo-oxidative stability increased by up to 25%. The addition of a graphite sheet as a top ply on the composites yielded little change in the material's flexural strength or interlaminar shear strength.

GRAFEC: A New Spanish Program to Investigate Waste Management Options for Radioactive Graphite - 12399

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Marquez, Eva; Pina, Gabriel; Rodriguez, Marina

Spain has to manage about 3700 tons of irradiated graphite from the reactor Vandellos I as radioactive waste. 2700 tons are the stack of the reactor and are still in the reactor core waiting for retrieval. The rest of the quantities, 1000 tons, are the graphite sleeves which have been already retrieved from the reactor. During operation the graphite sleeves were stored in a silo and during the dismantling stage a retrieval process was carried out separating the wires from the graphite, which were crushed and introduced into 220 cubic containers of 6 m{sup 3} each and placed in interimmore » storage. The graphite is an intermediate level radioactive waste but it contains long lived radionuclides like {sup 14}C which disqualifies disposal at the low level waste repository of El Cabril. Therefore, a new project has been started in order to investigate two new options for the management of this waste type. The first one is based on a selective decontamination of {sup 14}C by thermal methods. This method is based on results obtained at the Research Centre Juelich (FZJ) in the Frame of the EC programs 'Raphael' and 'Carbowaste'. The process developed at FZJ is based on a preferential oxidation of {sup 14}C in comparison to the bulk {sup 12}C. Explanations for this effect are the inhomogeneous distribution and a weaker bounding of {sup 14}C which is not incorporated in the graphite lattice. However these investigations have only been performed with graphite from the high temperature reactor Arbeitsgemeinschaft Versuchsreaktor Juelich AVR which has been operated in a non-oxidising condition or research reactor graphite operated at room temperature. The reactor Vandellos I has been operated with CO{sub 2} as coolant and significant amounts of graphite have been already oxidised. The aim of the project is to validate whether a {sup 14}C decontamination can also been achieved with graphite from Vandellos I. A second possibility under investigation is the encapsulation of the graphite in a long term stable glass matrix. The principal applicability has been already proved by FNAG. Crushed graphite mixed with a suitable glass powder has been pressed at elevated temperature under vacuum. The vacuum is required to avoid gas enclosures in the obtained product. The obtained products, named IGM for 'Impermeable Graphite Matrix', have densities above 99% of theoretical density. The amount of glass has been chosen with respect to the pore volume of the former graphite parts. The method allows the production of encapsulated graphite without increasing the disposal volume. This paper will give a short overview of characterisation results of different irradiated graphite materials obtained at CIEMAT and in the Carbowaste project as well as the proposed methods and the actual status of the program including first results about leaching of non-radioactive IGM samples and hopefully first tendencies concerning the C-14 separation from graphite of Vandellos I by thermal treatment. Both processes, the thermal treatment as well as the IGM, have the potential to solve problems related to the management of irradiated graphite in Spain. However the methods have only been tested with different types of i-graphite and virgin graphite, respectively. Only investigations with real i-graphite from Spain will reveal whether the described methods are applicable to graphite from Vandellos I. However all partners are convinced that one of these new methods or a combination of them will lead to a feasible option to manage i-graphite in Spain on an industrial scale. (authors)« less

Research on graphite reinforced glass matrix composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bacon, J. F.; Prewo, K. M.

1977-01-01

The results of research for the origination of graphite-fiber reinforced glass matrix composites are presented. The method selected to form the composites consisted of pulling the graphite fiber through a slurry containing powdered glass, winding up the graphite fiber and the glass it picks up on a drum, drying, cutting into segments, loading the tape segment into a graphite die, and hot pressing. During the course of the work, composites were made with a variety of graphite fibers in a glass matrix.

Research on the transformation mechanism of graphite phase and microstructure in the heated region of gray cast iron by laser cladding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yancong; Zhan, Xianghua; Yi, Peng; Liu, Tuo; Liu, Benliang; Wu, Qiong

2018-03-01

A double-track lap cladding experiment involving gray cast iron was established to investigate the transformation mechanism of graphite phase and microstructure in a laser cladding heated region. The graphite phase and microstructure in different heated regions were observed under a microscope, and the distribution of elements in various heated regions was analyzed using an electron probe. Results show that no graphite existed in the cladding layer and in the middle and upper parts of the binding region. Only some of the undissolved small graphite were observed at the bottom of the binding region. Except the refined graphite size, the morphological characteristics of substrate graphite and graphite in the heat-affected zone were similar. Some eutectic clusters, which grew along the direction of heat flux, were observed in the heat-affected zone whose microstructure was transformed into a mixture of austenite, needle-like martensite, and flake graphite. Needle-like martensite around graphite was fine, but this martensite became sparse and coarse when it was away from graphite. Some martensite clusters appeared in the local area near the binding region, and the carbon atoms in the substrate did not diffuse into the cladding layer through laser cladding, which only affected the bonding area and the bottom of the cladding layer.

NEW METHOD OF GRAPHITE PREPARATION

DOEpatents

Stoddard, S.D.; Harper, W.T.

1961-08-29

BS>A method is described for producing graphite objects comprising mixing coal tar pitch, carbon black, and a material selected from the class comprising raw coke, calcined coke, and graphite flour. The mixture is placed in a graphite mold, pressurized to at least 1200 psi, and baked and graphitized by heating to about 2500 deg C while maintaining such pressure. (AEC)

Electronic and total energy properties of ternary and quaternary semiconductor compounds, alloys, and superlattices: Theoretical study of Cu/graphite bonding

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lambrecht, Walter R. L.

1992-01-01

The goals of the research were to provide a fundamental science basis for why the bonding of Cu to graphite is weak, to critically evaluate the previous analysis of the wetting studies with particular regard to the values used for the surface energies of Cu and graphite, and to make recommendations for future experiments or other studies which could advance the understanding and solution of this technological problem. First principles electronic structure calculations were used to study the problem. These are based on density functional theory in the local density approximation and the use of the linear muffin-tin orbital band structure method. Calculations were performed for graphite monolayers, single crystal graphite with the hexagonal AB stacking, bulk Cu, Cu(111) surface, and Cu/graphite superlattices. The study is limited to the basal plane of graphite because this is the graphite plane exposed to Cu and graphite surface energies and combined with the measured contact angles to evaluate the experimental adhesion energy.

Low-energy electron diffraction study of potassium adsorbed on single-crystal graphite and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ferralis, N.; Diehl, R.D.; Pussi, K.

2004-12-15

Potassium adsorption on graphite has been a model system for the understanding of the interaction of alkali metals with surfaces. The geometries of the (2x2) structure of potassium on both single-crystal graphite (SCG) and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) were investigated for various preparation conditions for graphite temperatures between 55 and 140 K. In all cases, the geometry was found to consist of K atoms in the hollow sites on top of the surface. The K-graphite average perpendicular spacing is 2.79{+-}0.03 A , corresponding to an average C-K distance of 3.13{+-}0.03 A , and the spacing between graphite planes ismore » consistent with the bulk spacing of 3.35 A. No evidence was observed for a sublayer of potassium. The results of dynamical LEED studies for the clean SCG and HOPG surfaces indicate that the surface structures of both are consistent with the truncated bulk structure of graphite.« less

Understanding the crack formation of graphite particles in cycled commercial lithium-ion batteries by focused ion beam - scanning electron microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Na; Jia, Zhe; Wang, Zhihui; Zhao, Hui; Ai, Guo; Song, Xiangyun; Bai, Ying; Battaglia, Vincent; Sun, Chengdong; Qiao, Juan; Wu, Kai; Liu, Gao

2017-10-01

The structure degradation of commercial Lithium-ion battery (LIB) graphite anodes with different cycling numbers and charge rates was investigated by focused ion beam (FIB) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The cross-section image of graphite anode by FIB milling shows that cracks, resulted in the volume expansion of graphite electrode during long-term cycling, were formed in parallel with the current collector. The crack occurs in the bulk of graphite particles near the lithium insertion surface, which might derive from the stress induced during lithiation and de-lithiation cycles. Subsequently, crack takes place along grain boundaries of the polycrystalline graphite, but only in the direction parallel with the current collector. Furthermore, fast charge graphite electrodes are more prone to form cracks since the tensile strength of graphite is more likely to be surpassed at higher charge rates. Therefore, for LIBs long-term or high charge rate applications, the tensile strength of graphite anode should be taken into account.

Friction and wear of carbon-graphite materials for high-energy brakes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bill, R. C.

1978-01-01

Caliper type brake simulation experiments were conducted on seven different carbon graphite materials formulations against a steel disk material and against a carbon graphite disk material. The effects of binder level, boron carbide (B4C) additions, SiC additions, graphite fiber additions, and graphite cloth reinforcement on friction and wear behavior were investigated. Reductions in binder level, additions of B4C, and additions of SiC each resulted in increased wear. The wear rate was not affected by the addition of graphite fibers. Transition to severe wear and high friction was observed in the case of graphite-cloth-reinforced carbon sliding against a disk of similar composition. The transition was related to the disruption of a continuous graphite shear film that must form on the sliding surfaces if low wear is to occur.

Genesis of the hydrothermal gold deposits in the Canan area, Lepaguare District, Honduras

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mattioli, Michele; Menichetti, Marco; Renzulli, Alberto; Toscani, Lorenzo; Salvioli-Mariani, Emma; Suarez, Pedro; Murroni, Alessandro

2014-04-01

The Canan area (Honduras) is characterized by a gold-bearing ore deposit that is associated with quartz-veined shear zones. Gold mineralization occurs in low-to medium-grade metamorphic host-rocks (graphitic and sericitic schists). Hydrothermal fluids, which are associated with the emplacement of Cretaceous-Tertiary granodioritic intrusions, are responsible for the formation of quartz veins and the hydrothermal alteration of wall-rocks. Three main altered zones have been detected in the wall-rocks as far as 150 cm from the quartz veins. The distal zone (up to 50-cm thick) contains quartz, chlorite and illite. The intermediate zone is the thickest (up to 80 cm) and is marked by quartz, muscovite, sulphides, kaolinite and native elements such as Au and Ag. The proximal zone, which is close to the quartz veins, is rather thin (up to 25 cm) and contains clay minerals, Al-oxides-hydroxides and sulphides. The transition from the distal to the proximal zone is accompanied by the enrichment of SiO2 and the depletion of all other major elements, except for Fe2O3(tot). Precious metals occur in the highest concentrations in the intermediate zone (Au up to 7.6 ppm and Ag up to 11 ppm). We suggest that gold was transported as a reduced sulphur complex and was precipitated from the hydrothermal solution by the reaction of the sulphur complexes with Fe2+ from the alteration of the mafic minerals of the host-rock. Fluid-wall-rock interactions seem to be the main cause of gold mineralization. Genetic relationships with a strike-slip fault system, hydrothermal alteration zones within the metamorphic wall-rocks, and an entire set of geochemical anomalies are consistent with orogenic-type gold deposits of the epizonal class.

Observation of chemical erosion of carbon based wall materials in the TEXTOR tokamak

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Philipps, V.; Pospieszczyk, A.; Erdweg, M.; Schweer, B.; Vietzke, E.; Winter, J.

1996-01-01

Mass spectroscopy and optical spectroscopy have been used to measure the formation of methane, higher hydrocarbons and of CO during the interaction of limiters with the boundary plasma and of special carbon targets with the scrape-off-layer plasma (SOL) of TEXTOR. Mass spectroscopic data are obtained by the Sniffer probe in the SOL under carbon, boronized and siliconized wall conditions. At target temperatures <=100 °C, methane yields range typically between 0.7 and 1.2%. They vary only little with changing plasma conditions. C2-hydrocarbon formation dominates the overall carbon erosion under many conditions. Their yields increase with decreasing plasma temperature. Siliconization of the walls reduces the methane formation only little but suppresses the formation of higher hydrocarbons significantly. CO formation is dominated by the actual oxygen impurity fluxes and ranges between 0.2% up to 1.5% depending on the wall conditioning. Supporting data on hydrocarbon and CO formation are obtained from the outgassing after the discharge. Optical spectroscopy has been used to determine methane formation yields from CH band emission in front of graphite test limiters positioned at the last closed flux surface. The yields are typically in the range between 1.5 and 5% and are generally a factor 2-3 higher compared to those from mass spectroscopy. The CH4 formation is nearly constant between 200 °C up to 700 °C and decreases beyond 800-1000 °C. It decreases with increasing flux density. C2 hydrocarbon emission from the limiters has not been observed by molecular band emission within the range of normal plasma conditions. They show up only for detached plasma conditions.

Fluid-deposited graphitic inclusions in quartz: Comparison between KTB (German Continental Deep-Drilling) core samples and artificially reequilibrated natural inclusions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Pasteris, J.D.; Chou, I.-Ming

1998-01-01

We used Raman microsampling spectroscopy (RMS) to determine the degree of crystallinity of minute (2-15 ??m) graphite inclusions in quartz in two sets of samples: experimentally reequilibrated fluid inclusions in a natural quartz grain and biotite-bearing paragneisses from the KTB deep drillhole in SE Germany. Our sequential reequilibration experiments at 725??C on initially pure CO2 inclusions in a quartz wafer and the J. Krautheim (1993) experiments at 900-1100??C on organic compounds heated in gold or platinum capsules suggest that, at a given temperature, (1) fluid-deposited graphite will have a lower crystallinity than metamorphosed organic matter and (2) that the crystallinity of fluid-deposited graphite is affected by the composition of the fluid from which it was deposited. We determined that the precipitation of more-crystalline graphite is favored by lower fH2 (higher fO2), and that the crystallinity of graphite is established by the conditions (including gas fugacities) that pertain as the fluid first reaches graphite saturation. Graphite inclusions within quartz grains in the KTB rocks show a wide range in crystallinity index, reflecting three episodes of carbon entrapment under different metamorphic conditions. Isolated graphite inclusions have the spectral properties of totally ordered, completely crystalline graphite. Such crystallinity suggests that the graphite was incorporated from the surrounding metasedimentary rocks, which underwent metamorphism at upper amphibolite-facies conditions. Much of the fluid-deposited graphite in fluid inclusions, however, shows some spectral disorder. The properties of that graphite resemble those of experimental precipitates at temperatures in excess of 700??C and at elevated pressures, suggesting that the inclusions represent precipitates from C-O-H fluids trapped under conditions near those of peak metamorphism at the KTB site. In contrast, graphite that is intimately associated with chlorite and other (presumably low-temperature) silicates in inclusions is highly disordered and spectrally resembles kerogens. This graphite probably was deposited during later greenschist-facies retrograde metamorphism at about 400-500??C. The degree of crystallinity of fluid-deposited graphite is shown to be a much more complex function of temperature than is the crystallinity of metamorphic graphite. To some extent, experiments can provide temperature-calibration of the crystallinity index. However, the difference in time scales between experimental runs and geologic processes makes it difficult to infer specific temperatures for naturally precipitated graphite. Copyright ?? 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Tubular graphite cones.

PubMed

Zhang, Guangyu; Jiang, Xin; Wang, Enge

2003-04-18

We report the synthesis of tubular graphite cones using a chemical vapor deposition method. The cones have nanometer-sized tips, micrometer-sized roots, and hollow interiors with a diameter ranging from about 2 to several tens of nanometers. The cones are composed of cylindrical graphite sheets; a continuous shortening of the graphite layers from the interior to the exterior makes them cone-shaped. All of the tubular graphite cones have a faceted morphology. The constituent graphite sheets have identical chiralities of a zigzag type across the entire diameter, imparting structural control to tubular-based carbon structures. The tubular graphite cones have potential for use as tips for scanning probe microscopy, but with greater rigidity and easier mounting than currently used carbon nanotubes.

Process for the fabrication of aluminum metallized pyrolytic graphite sputtering targets

DOEpatents

Makowiecki, D.M.; Ramsey, P.B.; Juntz, R.S.

1995-07-04

An improved method is disclosed for fabricating pyrolytic graphite sputtering targets with superior heat transfer ability, longer life, and maximum energy transmission. Anisotropic pyrolytic graphite is contoured and/or segmented to match the erosion profile of the sputter target and then oriented such that the graphite`s high thermal conductivity planes are in maximum contact with a thermally conductive metal backing. The graphite contact surface is metallized, using high rate physical vapor deposition (HRPVD), with an aluminum coating and the thermally conductive metal backing is joined to the metallized graphite target by one of four low-temperature bonding methods; liquid-metal casting, powder metallurgy compaction, eutectic brazing, and laser welding. 11 figs.

Environmentally benign graphite intercalation compound composition for exfoliated graphite, flexible graphite, and nano-scaled graphene platelets

DOEpatents

Zhamu, Aruna; Jang, Bor Z.

2014-06-17

A carboxylic-intercalated graphite compound composition for the production of exfoliated graphite, flexible graphite, or nano-scaled graphene platelets. The composition comprises a layered graphite with interlayer spaces or interstices and a carboxylic acid residing in at least one of the interstices, wherein the composition is prepared by a chemical oxidation reaction which uses a combination of a carboxylic acid and hydrogen peroxide as an intercalate source. Alternatively, the composition may be prepared by an electrochemical reaction, which uses a carboxylic acid as both an electrolyte and an intercalate source. Exfoliation of the invented composition does not release undesirable chemical contaminants into air or drainage.

Mineral resource of the month: graphite

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

2008-01-01

The article presents facts about graphite ideal for industrial applications. Among the characteristics of graphite are its metallic luster, softness, perfect basal cleavage and electrical conductivity. Batteries, brake linings and powdered metals are some of the products that make use of graphite. It attributes the potential applications for graphite in high-technology fields to innovations in thermal technology and acid-leaching techniques.

Nucleation and Growth of Graphite in Eutectic Spheroidal Cast Iron: Modeling and Testing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carazo, Fernando D.; Dardati, Patricia M.; Celentano, Diego J.; Godoy, Luis A.

2016-06-01

A new model of graphite growth during the continuous cooling of eutectic spheroidal cast iron is presented in this paper. The model considers the nucleation and growth of graphite from pouring to room temperature. The microstructural model of solidification accounts for the eutectic as divorced and graphite growth rate as a function of carbon gradient at the liquid in contact with the graphite. In the solid state, the microstructural model takes into account three stages for graphite growth, namely (1) from the end of solidification to the upper bound of intercritical stable eutectoid, (2) during the intercritical stable eutectoid, and (3) from the lower bound of intercritical stable eutectoid to room temperature. The micro- and macrostructural models are coupled using a sequential multiscale approach. Numerical results for graphite fraction and size distribution are compared with experimental results obtained from a cylindrical cup, in which the graphite volumetric fraction and size distribution were obtained using the Schwartz-Saltykov approach. The agreements between the experimental and numerical results for the fraction of graphite and the size distribution of spheroids reveal the importance of numerical models in the prediction of the main aspects of graphite in spheroidal cast iron.

Graphitized-carbon fiber/carbon char fuel

DOEpatents

Cooper, John F [Oakland, CA

2007-08-28

A method for recovery of intact graphitic fibers from fiber/polymer composites is described. The method comprises first pyrolyzing the graphite fiber/polymer composite mixture and then separating the graphite fibers by molten salt electrochemical oxidation.

Improvements in Production of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Balzano, Leandro; Resasco, Daniel E.

2009-01-01

A continuing program of research and development has been directed toward improvement of a prior batch process in which single-walled carbon nanotubes are formed by catalytic disproportionation of carbon monoxide in a fluidized-bed reactor. The overall effect of the improvements has been to make progress toward converting the process from a batch mode to a continuous mode and to scaling of production to larger quantities. Efforts have also been made to optimize associated purification and dispersion post processes to make them effective at large scales and to investigate means of incorporating the purified products into composite materials. The ultimate purpose of the program is to enable the production of high-quality single-walled carbon nanotubes in quantities large enough and at costs low enough to foster the further development of practical applications. The fluidized bed used in this process contains mixed-metal catalyst particles. The choice of the catalyst and the operating conditions is such that the yield of single-walled carbon nanotubes, relative to all forms of carbon (including carbon fibers, multi-walled carbon nanotubes, and graphite) produced in the disproportionation reaction is more than 90 weight percent. After the reaction, the nanotubes are dispersed in various solvents in preparation for end use, which typically involves blending into a plastic, ceramic, or other matrix to form a composite material. Notwithstanding the batch nature of the unmodified prior fluidized-bed process, the fluidized-bed reactor operates in a continuous mode during the process. The operation is almost entirely automated, utilizing mass flow controllers, a control computer running software specific to the process, and other equipment. Moreover, an important inherent advantage of fluidized- bed reactors in general is that solid particles can be added to and removed from fluidized beds during operation. For these reasons, the process and equipment were amenable to modification for conversion from batch to continuous production.

Carbon nanohorns under cold compression to 40 GPa: Raman scattering and X-ray diffraction experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Bo; Nan, Yanli; Zhao, Xiang; Song, Xiaolong; Li, Haining; Wu, Jie; Su, Lei

2017-11-01

We report a high-pressure behavior of carbon nanohorns (CNHs) to 40 GPa at ambient temperature by in situ Raman spectroscopy and synchrotron radiation x-ray diffraction (XRD) in a diamond anvil cell. In Raman measurement, multiple structural transitions are observed. In particular, an additional band at ˜1540 cm-1 indicative of sp3 bonding is shown above 35 GPa, but it reverses upon releasing pressure, implying the formation of a metastable carbon phase having both sp2 and sp3 bonds. Raman frequencies of all bands (G, 2D, D + G, and 2D') are dependent upon pressure with respective pressure coefficients, among which the value for the G band is as small as ˜2.65 cm-1 GPa-1 above 10 GPa, showing a superior high-pressure structural stability. Analysis based on mode Grüneisen parameter demonstrates the similarity of high-pressure behavior between CNHs and single-walled carbon nanotubes. Furthermore, the bulk modulus and Grüneisen parameter for the G band of CNHs are calculated to be ˜33.3 GPa and 0.1, respectively. In addition, XRD data demonstrate that the structure of post-graphite phase derives from surface nanohorns. Based on topological defects within conical graphene lattice, a reasonable transformation route from nanohorns to the post-graphite phase is proposed.

Thermodynamic Simulation of Equilibrium Composition of Reaction Products at Dehydration of a Technological Channel in a Uranium-Graphite Reactor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pavliuk, A. O.; Zagumennov, V. S.; Kotlyarevskiy, S. G.; Bespala, E. V.

2018-01-01

The problems of accumulation of nuclear fuel spills in the graphite stack in the course of operation of uranium-graphite nuclear reactors are considered. The results of thermodynamic analysis of the processes in the graphite stack at dehydration of a technological channel, fuel element shell unsealing and migration of fission products, and activation of stable nuclides in structural elements of the reactor and actinides inside the graphite moderator are given. The main chemical reactions and compounds that are produced in these modes in the reactor channel during its operation and that may be hazardous after its shutdown and decommissioning are presented. Thermodynamic simulation of the equilibrium composition is performed using the specialized code TERRA. The results of thermodynamic simulation of the equilibrium composition in different cases of technological channel dehydration in the course of the reactor operation show that, if the temperature inside the active core of the nuclear reactor increases to the melting temperature of the fuel element, oxides and carbides of nuclear fuel are produced. The mathematical model of the nonstationary heat transfer in a graphite stack of a uranium-graphite reactor in the case of the technological channel dehydration is presented. The results of calculated temperature evolution at the center of the fuel element, the replaceable graphite element, the air gap, and in the surface layer of the block graphite are given. The numerical results show that, in the case of dehydration of the technological channel in the uranium-graphite reactor with metallic uranium, the main reaction product is uranium dioxide UO2 in the condensed phase. Low probability of production of pyrophoric uranium compounds (UH3) in the graphite stack is proven, which allows one to disassemble the graphite stack without the risk of spontaneous graphite ignition in the course of decommissioning of the uranium-graphite nuclear reactor.

Electrochemical treatment of evaporated residue of soak liquor generated from leather industry.

PubMed

Boopathy, R; Sekaran, G

2013-09-15

The organic and suspended solids present in soak liquor, generated from leather industry, demands treatment. The soak liquor is being segregated and evaporated in solar evaporation pans/multiple effect evaporator due to non availability of viable technology for its treatment. The residue left behind in the pans/evaporator does not carry any reuse value and also faces disposal threat due to the presence of high concentration of sodium chloride, organic and bacterial impurities. In the present investigation, the aqueous evaporated residue of soak liquor (ERSL) was treated by electrochemical oxidation. Graphite/graphite and SS304/graphite systems were used in electrochemical oxidation of organics in ERSL. Among these, graphite/graphite system was found to be effective over SS304/graphite system. Hence, the optimised conditions for the electrochemical oxidation of organics in ERSL using graphite/graphite system was evaluated by response surface methodology (RSM). The mass transport coefficient (km) was calculated based on pseudo-first order rate kinetics for both the electrode systems (graphite/graphite and SS304/graphite). The thermodynamic properties illustrated the electrochemical oxidation was exothermic and non-spontaneous in nature. The calculated specific energy consumption at the optimum current density of 50 mA cm(-2) was 0.41 kWh m(-3) for the removal of COD and 2.57 kWh m(-3) for the removal of TKN. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

AGC-2 Graphite Pre-irradiation Data Package

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

David Swank; Joseph Lord; David Rohrbaugh

2010-08-01

The NGNP Graphite R&D program is currently establishing the safe operating envelope of graphite core components for a Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) design. The program is generating quantitative data necessary for predicting the behavior and operating performance of the new nuclear graphite grades. To determine the in-service behavior of the graphite for pebble bed and prismatic designs, the Advanced Graphite Creep (AGC) experiment is underway. This experiment is examining the properties and behavior of nuclear grade graphite over a large spectrum of temperatures, neutron fluences and compressive loads. Each experiment consists of over 400 graphite specimens that are characterizedmore » prior to irradiation and following irradiation. Six experiments are planned with the first, AGC-1, currently being irradiated in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) and pre-irradiation characterization of the second, AGC-2, completed. This data package establishes the readiness of 512 specimens for assembly into the AGC-2 capsule.« less

Preparation and Characterization of Graphite Waste/CeO2 Composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kusrini, E.; Utami, C. S.; Nasruddin; Prasetyanto, E. A.; Bawono, Aji A.

2018-03-01

In this research, the chemical modification of graphite waste with CeO2 was developed and characterized. Graphite waste was pretreated with mechanical to obtain the size 200 mesh (75 μm), and thermal methods at 110°C oven for 6 hours. Here, we demonstrate final properties of graphite before modification (GBM), activated graphite (GA) and graphite/CeO2 composite with variation of 0.5, 1 and 2 g of CeO2 (G0.5; G1; G2). The effect of CeO2 concentration was observed. The presence of cerium in modified graphite samples (G0.5; G1; G2) were analyzed using SEM-EDX. The results show that the best surface area was found in G2 is 26.82 m2/g. The presence of CeO2 onto graphite surface does not significantly increase the surface area of composites.

Monolithic porous graphitic carbons obtained through catalytic graphitization of carbon xerogels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiciński, Wojciech; Norek, Małgorzata; Bystrzejewski, Michał

2013-01-01

Pyrolysis of organic xerogels accompanied by catalytic graphitization and followed by selective-combustion purification was used to produce porous graphitic carbons. Organic gels impregnated with iron(III) chloride or nickel(II) acetate were obtained through polymerization of resorcinol and furfural. During the pyrolysis stage graphitization of the gel matrix occurs, which in turn develops mesoporosity of the obtained carbons. The evolution of the carbon into graphitic structures is strongly dependent on the concentrations of the transition metal. Pyrolysis leads to monoliths of carbon xerogel characterized by substantially enhanced mesoporosity resulting in specific surface areas up to 400 m2/g. Removal of the amorphous carbon by selective-combustion purification reduces the xerogels' mesoporosity, occasionally causing loss of their mechanical strength. The graphitized carbon xerogels were investigated by means of SEM, XRD, Raman scattering, TG-DTA and N2 physisorption. Through this procedure well graphitized carbonaceous materials can be obtained as bulk pieces.

Friction and wear of carbon-graphite materials for high energy brakes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bill, R. C.

1975-01-01

Caliper-type brakes simulation experiments were conducted on seven different carbon-graphite material formulations against a steel disk material and against a carbon-graphite disk material. The effects of binder level, boron carbide (B4C) additions, graphite fiber additions, and graphite cloth reinforcement on friction and wear behavior were investigated. Reductions in binder level and additions of B4C each resulted in increased wear. The wear rate was not affected by the addition of graphite fibers. Transition to severe wear and high friction was observed in the case of graphite-cloth-reinforced carbon sliding against a disk of similar composition. This transition was related to the disruption of a continuous graphite shear film that must form on the sliding surfaces if low wear is to occur. The exposure of the fiber structure of the cloth constituent is believed to play a role in the shear film disruption.

Sintered Lining for Heat-Pipe Evaporator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ernst, D. M.; Eastman, G. Y.

1985-01-01

Hotspots eliminated by lining inner wall. Distribution of heat transfer liquid in heat-pipe evaporator improved by lining inner wall with layer of sintered metal. Sintered layer takes place of layer of screen wick formerly sintered or bonded to wall. Since sintered layer always full of liquid, no hotspot of type that previously arose where former screen wick did not fit properly against wall.

Toroidal midplane neutral beam armor and plasma limiter

DOEpatents

Kugel, H.W.; Hand, S.W. Jr.; Ksayian, H.

1985-05-31

This invention contemplates an armor shield/plasma limiter positioned upon the inner wall of a toroidal vacuum chamber within which is magnetically confined an energetic plasma in a tokamak nuclear fusion reactor. The armor shield/plasma limiter is thus of a general semi-toroidal shape and is comprised of a plurality of adjacent graphite plates positioned immediately adjacent to each other so as to form a continuous ring upon and around the toroidal chamber's inner wall and the reactor's midplane coil. Each plate has a generally semi-circular outer circumference and a recessed inner portion and is comprised of upper and lower half sections positioned immediately adjacent to one another along the midplane of the plate. With the upper and lower half sections thus joined, a channel or duct is provided within the midplane of the plate in which a magnetic flux loop is positioned. The magnetic flux loop is thus positioned immediately adjacent to the fusing toroidal plasma and serves as a diagnostic sensor with the armor shield/plasma limiter minimizing the amount of power from the energetic plasma as well as from the neutral particle beams heating the plasma incident upon the flux loop.

Fully-Enclosed Ceramic Micro-burners Using Fugitive Phase and Powder-based Processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Do, Truong; Shin, Changseop; Kwon, Patrick; Yeom, Junghoon

2016-08-01

Ceramic-based microchemical systems (μCSs) are more suitable for operation under harsh environments such as high temperature and corrosive reactants compared to the more conventional μCS materials such as silicon and polymers. With the recent renewed interests in chemical manufacturing and process intensification, simple, inexpensive, and reliable ceramic manufacturing technologies are needed. The main objective of this paper is to introduce a new powder-based fabrication framework, which is a one-pot, cost-effective, and versatile process for ceramic μCS components. The proposed approach employs the compaction of metal-oxide sub-micron powders with a graphite fugitive phase that is burned out to create internal cavities and microchannels before full sintering. Pure alumina powder has been used without any binder phase, enabling more precise dimensional control and less structure shrinkage upon sintering. The key process steps such as powder compaction, graphite burnout during partial sintering, machining in a conventional machine tool, and final densification have been studied to characterize the process. This near-full density ceramic structure with the combustion chamber and various internal channels was fabricated to be used as a micro-burner for gas sensing applications.

Fully-Enclosed Ceramic Micro-burners Using Fugitive Phase and Powder-based Processing

PubMed Central

Do, Truong; Shin, Changseop; Kwon, Patrick; Yeom, Junghoon

2016-01-01

Ceramic-based microchemical systems (μCSs) are more suitable for operation under harsh environments such as high temperature and corrosive reactants compared to the more conventional μCS materials such as silicon and polymers. With the recent renewed interests in chemical manufacturing and process intensification, simple, inexpensive, and reliable ceramic manufacturing technologies are needed. The main objective of this paper is to introduce a new powder-based fabrication framework, which is a one-pot, cost-effective, and versatile process for ceramic μCS components. The proposed approach employs the compaction of metal-oxide sub-micron powders with a graphite fugitive phase that is burned out to create internal cavities and microchannels before full sintering. Pure alumina powder has been used without any binder phase, enabling more precise dimensional control and less structure shrinkage upon sintering. The key process steps such as powder compaction, graphite burnout during partial sintering, machining in a conventional machine tool, and final densification have been studied to characterize the process. This near-full density ceramic structure with the combustion chamber and various internal channels was fabricated to be used as a micro-burner for gas sensing applications. PMID:27546059

Lateral resistance of piles near vertical MSE abutment walls.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-03-01

Full scale lateral load tests were performed on eight piles located at various distances behind MSE walls. The objective of the testing was to determine the effect of spacing from the wall on the lateral resistance of the piles and on the force induc...

Porous carbon-coated graphite electrodes for energy production from salinity gradient using reverse electrodialysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Su-Yoon; Jeong, Ye-Jin; Chae, So-Ryong; Yeon, Kyeong-Ho; Lee, Yunkyu; Kim, Chan-Soo; Jeong, Nam-Jo; Park, Jin-Soo

2016-04-01

Performance of graphite foil electrodes coated by porous carbon black (i.e., Vulcan) was investigated in comparison with metal electrodes for reverse electrodialysis (RED) application. The electrode slurry that was used for fabrication of the porous carbon-coated graphite foil is composed of 7.2 wt% of carbon black (Vulcan X-72), 0.8 wt% of a polymer binder (polyvinylidene fluoride, PVdF), and 92.0 wt% of a mixing solvent (dimethylacetamide, DMAc). Cyclic voltammograms of both the porous carbon (i.e., Vulcan)-coated graphite foil electrode and the graphite foil electrode without Vulcan showed good reversibility in the hexacyanoferrate(III) (i.e., Fe(CN)63-) and hexacyanoferrate(II) (i.e., Fe(CN)64-) redox couple and 1 M Na2SO4 at room temperature. However, anodic and cathodic current of the Vulcan-coated graphite foil electrode was much higher than those of the graphite foil electrode. Using a bench-scale RED stack, the current-voltage polarization curve of the Vulcan-coated graphite electrode was compared to that of metal electrodes such as iridium (Ir) and platinum (Pt). From the results, it was confirmed that resistance of four different electrodes increased with the following order: the Vulcan-coated graphite foil

Influence of graphite-alloy interactions on corrosion of Ni-Mo-Cr alloy in molten fluorides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ai, Hua; Hou, Juan; Ye, Xiang-Xi; Zeng, Chao Liu; Sun, Hua; Li, Xiaoyun; Yu, Guojun; Zhou, Xingtai; Wang, Jian-Qiang

2018-05-01

In this study, the effects of graphite-alloy interaction on corrosion of Ni-Mo-Cr alloy in molten FLiNaK salt were investigated. The corrosion tests of Ni-Mo-Cr alloys were conducted in graphite crucibles, to examine the differences of test specimens in conditions of electric contact and isolated with graphite, respectively. The corrosion attack is severer with more weight loss and deeper Cr depletion layer in samples electric contact with graphite than those isolated with graphite. The occurrence of galvanic corrosion between alloy specimens and graphite container was confirmed by electrochemical measurement. The corrosion is controlled by nonelectric transfer in isolated test while electrochemical reaction accelerated corrosion in electric contact test.

The origin of epigenetic graphite: evidence from isotopes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Weis, P.L.; Friedman, I.; Gleason, J.P.

1981-01-01

Stable carbon isotope ratios measured in syngenetic graphite, epigenetic graphite, and graphitic marble suggests that syngenetic graphite forms only by the metamorphism of carbonaceous detritus. Metamorphism of calcareous rocks with carbonaceous detritus is accompanied by an exchange of carbon between the two, which may result in large changes in isotopic composition of the non-carbonate phase but does not affect the relative proportions of the two reactants in the rock. Epigenetic graphite forms only from carbonaceous material or preexisting graphite. The reactions involved are the water gas reaction (C + H2O ??? CO + H2) at 800-900??C, and the Boudouard reaction (2CO ??? C + CO2), which probably takes place at temperatures about 50-100??C lower. ?? 1982.

Method of producing exfoliated graphite, flexible graphite, and nano-scaled graphene platelets

DOEpatents

Zhamu, Aruna; Shi, Jinjun; Guo, Jiusheng; Jang, Bor Z.

2010-11-02

The present invention provides a method of exfoliating a layered material (e.g., graphite and graphite oxide) to produce nano-scaled platelets having a thickness smaller than 100 nm, typically smaller than 10 nm. The method comprises (a) dispersing particles of graphite, graphite oxide, or a non-graphite laminar compound in a liquid medium containing therein a surfactant or dispersing agent to obtain a stable suspension or slurry; and (b) exposing the suspension or slurry to ultrasonic waves at an energy level for a sufficient length of time to produce separated nano-scaled platelets. The nano-scaled platelets are candidate reinforcement fillers for polymer nanocomposites. Nano-scaled graphene platelets are much lower-cost alternatives to carbon nano-tubes or carbon nano-fibers.

METHOD FOR COATING GRAPHITE WITH METALLIC CARBIDES

DOEpatents

Steinberg, M.A.

1960-03-22

A method for producing refractory coatings of metallic carbides on graphite was developed. In particular, the graphite piece to be coated is immersed in a molten solution of 4 to 5% by weight of zirconium, titanium, or niobium dissolved in tin. The solution is heated in an argon atmosphere to above 1400 deg C, whereby the refractory metal reacts with the surface of the graphite to form a layer of metalic carbide. The molten solution is cooled to 300 to 400 deg C, and the graphite piece is removed. Excess tin is wiped from the graphite, which is then heated in vacuum to above 2300 deg C. The tin vaporizes from the graphite surface, leaving the surface coated with a tenacious layer of refractory metallic carbide.

Recent Advances in Preparation, Structure, Properties and Applications of Graphite Oxide.

PubMed

Srivastava, Suneel Kumar; Pionteck, Jürgen

2015-03-01

Graphite oxide, also referred as graphitic oxide or graphitic acid, is an oxidized bulk product of graphite with a variable composition. However, it did not receive immense attention until it was identified as an important and easily obtainable precursor for the preparation of graphene. This inspired many researchers to explore facts related to graphite oxide in exploiting its fascinating features. The present article culminates up-dated review on different preparative methods, morphology and characterization of physical/chemical properties of graphite oxide by XRD, XPS, FTIR, Raman, NMR, UV-visible, and DRIFT analyses. Finally, recent developments on intercalation and applications of GO in multifaceted areas of catalysis, sensor, supercapacitors, water purification, hydrogen storage and magnetic shielding etc. has also been reviewed.

Vesicles between plasma membrane and cell wall prior to visible senescence of Iris and Dendrobium flowers.

PubMed

Kamdee, Channatika; Kirasak, Kanjana; Ketsa, Saichol; van Doorn, Wouter G

2015-09-01

Cut Iris flowers (Iris x hollandica, cv. Blue Magic) show visible senescence about two days after full opening. Epidermal cells of the outer tepals collapse due to programmed cell death (PCD). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed irregular swelling of the cell walls, starting prior to cell collapse. Compared to cells in flowers that had just opened, wall thickness increased up to tenfold prior to cell death. Fibrils were visible in the swollen walls. After cell death very little of the cell wall remained. Prior to and during visible wall swelling, vesicles (paramural bodies) were observed between the plasma membrane and the cell walls. The vesicles were also found in groups and were accompanied by amorphous substance. They usually showed a single membrane, and had a variety of diameters and electron densities. Cut Dendrobium hybrid cv. Lucky Duan flowers exhibited visible senescence about 14 days after full flower opening. Paramural bodies were also found in Dendrobium tepal epidermis and mesophyll cells, related to wall swelling and degradation. Although alternative explanations are well possible, it is hypothesized that paramural bodies carry enzymes involved in cell wall breakdown. The literature has not yet reported such bodies in association with senescence/PCD. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

CMB-13 research on carbon and graphite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, M. C.

1972-01-01

The research on graphite and carbon for this period is reported. Topics discussed include: effects of grinding on the Santa Marie graphites, properties and purities of coal-tar, resin-bonded graphite, carbonization of resin components, and glass-like carbon filler.

Tribological Analysis of Copper-Coated Graphite Particle-Reinforced A359 Al/5 wt.% SiC Composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, C. B.; Wang, T. C.; Chang, Z. C.; Chu, H. Y.

2013-01-01

Copper-coated graphite particles can be mass-produced by the cementation process using simple equipment. Graphite particulates that were coated with electroless copper and 5 wt.% SiC particulates were introduced into an aluminum alloy by compocasting to make A359 Al/5 wt.% SiC(p) composite that contained 2, 4, 6, and 8 wt.% graphite particulate composite. The effects of SiC particles, quantity of graphite particles, normal loading, sliding speed and wear debris on the coefficient of friction, and the wear rate were investigated. The results thus obtained indicate that the wear properties were improved by adding small amounts of SiC and graphite particles into the A359 Al alloy. The coefficient of friction of the A359 Al/5 wt.% SiC(p) composite that contained 6.0 wt.% graphite particulates was reduced to 0.246 and the amount of graphite film that was released on the worn surface increased with the graphite particulate content. The coefficient of friction and the wear rate were insensitive to the variation in the sliding speed and normal loading.

Preparation and characterization of copper-graphite composites by electrical explosion of wire in liquid.

PubMed

Bien, T N; Gul, W H; Bac, L H; Kim, J C

2014-11-01

Copper-graphite nanocomposites containing 5 vol.% graphite were prepared by a powder metallurgy route using an electrical wire explosion (EEW) in liquid method and spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. Graphite rods with a 0.3 mm diameter and copper wire with a 0.2 mm diameter were used as raw materials for EEWin liquid. To compare, a pure copper and copper-graphite mixture was also prepared. The fabricated graphite was in the form of a nanosheet, onto which copper particles were coated. Sintering was performed at 900 degrees C at a heating rate of 30 degrees C/min for 10 min and under a pressure of 70 MPa. The density of the sintered composite samples was measured by the Archimedes method. A wear test was performed by a ball-on-disc tribometer under dry conditions at room temperature in air. The presence of graphite effectively reduced the wear of composites. The copper-graphite nanocomposites prepared by EEW had lower wear rates than pure copper material and simple mixed copper-graphite.

Understanding the crack formation of graphite particles in cycled commercial lithium-ion batteries by focused ion beam - scanning electron microscopy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lin, Na; Jia, Zhe; Wang, Zhihui

Here in this paper, the structure degradation of commercial Lithium-ion battery (LIB) graphite anodes with different cycling numbers and charge rates was investigated by focused ion beam (FIB) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The cross-section image of graphite anode by FIB milling shows that cracks, resulted in the volume expansion of graphite electrode during long-term cycling, were formed in parallel with the current collector. The crack occurs in the bulk of graphite particles near the lithium insertion surface, which might derive from the stress induced during lithiation and de-lithiation cycles. Subsequently, crack takes place along grain boundaries of the polycrystallinemore » graphite, but only in the direction parallel with the current collector. Furthermore, fast charge graphite electrodes are more prone to form cracks since the tensile strength of graphite is more likely to be surpassed at higher charge rates. Therefore, for LIBs long-term or high charge rate applications, the tensile strength of graphite anode should be taken into account.« less

Understanding the crack formation of graphite particles in cycled commercial lithium-ion batteries by focused ion beam - scanning electron microscopy

DOE PAGES

Lin, Na; Jia, Zhe; Wang, Zhihui; ...

2017-10-01

Here in this paper, the structure degradation of commercial Lithium-ion battery (LIB) graphite anodes with different cycling numbers and charge rates was investigated by focused ion beam (FIB) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The cross-section image of graphite anode by FIB milling shows that cracks, resulted in the volume expansion of graphite electrode during long-term cycling, were formed in parallel with the current collector. The crack occurs in the bulk of graphite particles near the lithium insertion surface, which might derive from the stress induced during lithiation and de-lithiation cycles. Subsequently, crack takes place along grain boundaries of the polycrystallinemore » graphite, but only in the direction parallel with the current collector. Furthermore, fast charge graphite electrodes are more prone to form cracks since the tensile strength of graphite is more likely to be surpassed at higher charge rates. Therefore, for LIBs long-term or high charge rate applications, the tensile strength of graphite anode should be taken into account.« less

Study of evaporating the irradiated graphite in equilibrium low-temperature plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bespala, E. V.; Novoselov, I. Yu.; Pavlyuk, A. O.; Kotlyarevskiy, S. G.

2018-01-01

The paper describes a problem of accumulation of irradiated graphite due to operation of uranium-graphite nuclear reactors. The main noncarbon contaminants that contribute to the overall activity of graphite elements are iso-topes 137Cs, 60Co, 90Sr, 36Cl, and 3H. A method was developed for processing of irradiated graphite ensuring the volu-metric decontamination of samples. The calculation results are presented for equilibrium composition of plasma-chemical reactions in systems "irradiated graphite-argon" and "irradiated graphite-helium" for a wide range of tem-peratures. The paper describes a developed mathematical model for the process of purification of a porous graphite surface treated by equilibrium low-temperature plasma. The simulation results are presented for the rate of sublimation of radioactive contaminants as a function of plasma temperature and plasma flow velocity when different plasma-forming gases are used. The extraction coefficient for the contaminant 137Cs from the outer side of graphite pores was calculated. The calculations demonstrated the advantages of using a lighter plasma forming gas, i.e., helium.

Hybridized polymer matrix composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

House, E. E.; Hoggatt, J. T.; Symonds, W. A.

1980-01-01

The extent to which graphite fibers are released from resin matrix composites that are exposed to fire and impact conditions was determined. Laboratory simulations of those conditions that could exist in the event of an aircraft crash and burn situation were evaluated. The effectiveness of various hybridizing concepts in preventing this release of graphite fibers were also evaluated. The baseline (i.e., unhybridized) laminates examined were prepared from commercially available graphite/epoxy, graphite/polyimide, and graphite/phenolic materials. Hybridizing concepts investigated included resin fillers, laminate coatings, resin blending, and mechanical interlocking of the graphite reinforcement. The baseline and hybridized laminates' mechanical properties, before and after isothermal and humidity aging, were also compared. It was found that a small amount of graphite fiber was released from the graphite/epoxy laminates during the burn and impact conditions used in this program. However, the extent to which the fibers were released is not considered a severe enough problem to preclude the use of graphite reinforced composites in civil aircraft structure. It also was found that several hybrid concepts eliminated this fiber release. Isothermal and humidity aging did not appear to alter the fiber release tendencies.

Preparation of erosion and deposition investigations on plasma facing components in Wendelstein 7-X

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dhard, C. P.; Balden, M.; Braeuer, T.; Brezinsek, S.; Coenen, J. W.; Dudek, A.; Ehrke, G.; Hathiramani, D.; Klose, S.; König, R.; Laux, M.; Linsmeier, Ch; Manhard, A.; Masuzaki, S.; Mayer, M.; Motojima, G.; Naujoks, D.; Neu, R.; Neubauer, O.; Rack, M.; Ruset, C.; Schwarz-Selinger, T.; Pedersen, T. Sunn; Tokitani, M.; Unterberg, B.; Yajima, M.; W7-X Team1, The

2017-12-01

In the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator with its twisted magnetic geometry the investigation of plasma wall interaction processes in 3D plasma configurations is an important research subject. For the upcoming operation phase i.e. OP1.2, three different types of material probes have been installed within the plasma vessel for the erosion/deposition investigations in selected areas with largely different expected heat load levels, namely, ≤10 MW m-2 at the test divertor units (TDU), ≤500 kW m-2 at the baffles, heat shields and toroidal closures and ≤100 kW m-2 at the stainless steel wall panels. These include 18 exchangeable target elements at TDU, about 30 000 screw heads at graphite tiles and 44 wafer probes on wall panels, coated with marker layers. The layer thicknesses, surface morphologies and the impurity contents were pre-characterized by different techniques and subjected to various qualification tests. The positions of these probes were fixed based on the strike line locations on the divertor predicted by field line diffusion and EMC3/EIRENE modeling calculations for the OP1.2 plasma configurations and availability of locations on panels in direct view of the plasma. After the first half of the operation phase i.e. OP1.2a the probes will be removed to determine the erosion/deposition pattern by post-mortem analysis and replaced by a new set for the second half of the operation phase, OP1.2b.

Chemical Characterization and Removal of C-14 from Irradiated Graphite-12010

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cleaver, James; McCrory, Shilo; Smith, Tara E.

2012-07-01

Quantities of irradiated graphite waste are expected to drastically increase, which indicates the need for a graphite waste management strategy. Of greatest concern for long-term disposal of irradiated graphite is carbon-14 (C-14), with a half-life of 5730 years. Study of irradiated graphite from nuclear reactors indicates C-14 is concentrated on the outer 5 mm of the graphite structure. The aim of the research described here is to identify the chemical form of C-14 in irradiated graphite and develop a practical method by which C-14 can be removed. Characterization of pre- and post-irradiation graphite was conducted to determine bond type, functionalmore » groups, location and concentration of C-14 and its precursors via the use of surface sensitive characterization techniques. Because most surface C-14 originates from neutron activation of nitrogen, an understanding of nitrogen bonding to graphite may lead to a greater understanding of the formation pathway of C-14. However, no single technique provides a complete picture. Therefore, a portfolio of techniques has been developed, with each technique providing another piece to the puzzle that is the chemical nature of the C-14. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), and Raman Spectroscopy were used to evaluate the morphological features of graphite samples. The concentration, chemical composition, and bonding characteristics of C-14 and its precursors were determined through X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS), and Auger and Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis Spectroscopy (EDX). High-surface-area graphite foam, POCOFoam{sup R}, was exposed to liquid nitrogen and irradiated. Characterization of this material has shown C-14 to C-12 ratios of 0.035. This information was used to optimize the thermal treatment of graphite. Thermal treatment of irradiated graphite as reported by Fachinger et al. (2007) uses naturally adsorbed oxygen complexes to gasify graphite, thus its effectiveness is highly dependent on the availability of adsorbed oxygen compounds. In research presented, the quantity and form of adsorbed oxygen complexes in pre- and post irradiated graphite was studied using SIMS and XPS. SIMS and XPS detected adsorbed oxygen compounds on both irradiated and unirradiated graphite. During thermal treatment graphite samples are heated in the presence of inert argon gas, which carries off gaseous products released during treatment. Experiments were performed at 900 deg. C and 1400 deg. C to evaluate the selective removal of C-14. (authors)« less

Guanine oxidation signal enhancement in DNA via a polyacrylonitrile nanofiber-coated and cyclic voltammetry-treated pencil graphite electrode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aladag Tanik, Nilay; Demirkan, Elif; Aykut, Yakup

2018-07-01

This study investigated the electrochemical detection of specific nucleic acid hybridization sequences using a nanofiber-coated pencil graphite biosensor. The biosensor was developed to detect Val66Met single point mutations in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene, which is frequently observed in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and bipolar disorder. The oxidation signal of the most electroactive and stable DNA base, i.e., guanine, was used at approximately +1.0 V. Pencil graphite electrode (PGE) surfaces were coated with polyacrylonitrile nanofibers by electrospinning. Cyclic voltammetry was applied to the nanofiber-coated PGE to pretreat its surfaces. The application of cyclic voltammetry to the nanofiber-coated PGE surfaces before attaching the probe yielded a four fold increase in the oxidation signal for guanine compared with that using the untreated and uncoated PGE surface. The signal reductions were 70% for hybridization, 10% for non-complementary binding, and 14% for a single mismatch compared with the probe. The differences in full match, non-complementary, and mismatch binding indicated that the biosensor selectively detected the target, and that it was possible to determine hybridization in about 65 min. The detection limit was 0.19 μg/ml at a target concentration of 10 ppm.

High speed hydrogen/graphite interaction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kelly, A. J.; Hamman, R.; Sharma, O. P.; Harrje, D. T.

1974-01-01

Various aspects of a research program on high speed hydrogen/graphite interaction are presented. Major areas discussed are: (1) theoretical predictions of hydrogen/graphite erosion rates; (2) high temperature, nonequilibrium hydrogen flow in a nozzle; and (3) molecular beam studies of hydrogen/graphite erosion.

RECOVERY OF VALUABLE MATERIAL FROM GRAPHITE BODIES

DOEpatents

Fromm, L.W. Jr.

1959-09-01

An electrolytic process for recovering uranium from a graphite fuel element is described. The uraniumcontaining graphite body is disposed as the anode of a cell containing a nitric acid electrolyte and a 5 amp/cm/sup 2/ current passed to induce a progressive disintegration of the graphite body. The dissolved uranium is quickly and easily separated from the resulting graphite particles by simple mechanical means, such as centrifugation, filtration, and decontamination.

Interface Character of Aluminum-Graphite Metal Matrix Composites.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-01-27

studied included the commer- cial A/graphite composites; layered model systems on single crystal and poly- crystalline graphite substrates as well as...composition and thickness of the composite interface, and graphite crystal orientation. 3 For the model systems in this study , single crystal graphite...been reviewed by Kingcry. Segregation at surfaces in single- crystal MgO of Fe, Cr and Sc, which were Dresent in concentrations within the single- 3phase

Structure and Performance of Epoxy Resin Cladded Graphite Used as Anode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Zhentao; Li, Haijun

This paper is concerning to prepare modified natural graphite which is low-cost and advanced materials used as lithium ion battery anode using the way of cladding natural graphite with epoxy resin. The results shows that the specific capacity and circular performance of the modified natural graphite, which is prepared in the range of 600°C and 1000°C, have been apparently improved compare with the not-modified natural graphite. The first reversible capacity of the modified natural graphite is 338mAh/g and maintain more than 330mAh/g after 20 charge/discharge circles.

Micro-fabrication method of graphite mesa microdevices based on optical lithography technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Cheng; Wen, Donghui; Zhu, Huamin; Zhang, Xiaorui; Yang, Xing; Shi, Yunsheng; Zheng, Tianxiang

2017-12-01

Graphite mesa microdevices have incommensurate contact nanometer interfaces, superlubricity, high-speed self-retraction, and other characteristics, which have potential applications in high-performance oscillators and micro-scale switches, memory devices, and gyroscopes. However, the current method of fabricating graphite mesa microdevices is mainly based on high-cost, low efficiency electron beam lithography technology. In this paper, the processing technologies of graphite mesa microdevices with various shapes and sizes were investigated by a low-cost micro-fabrication method, which was mainly based on optical lithography technology. The characterization results showed that the optical lithography technology could realize a large-area of patterning on the graphite surface, and the graphite mesa microdevices, which have a regular shape, neat arrangement, and high verticality could be fabricated in large batches through optical lithography technology. The experiments and analyses showed that the graphite mesa microdevices fabricated through optical lithography technology basically have the same self-retracting characteristics as those fabricated through electron beam lithography technology, and the maximum size of the graphite mesa microdevices with self-retracting phenomenon can reach 10 µm  ×  10 µm. Therefore, the proposed method of this paper can realize the high-efficiency and low-cost processing of graphite mesa microdevices, which is significant for batch fabrication and application of graphite mesa microdevices.

Equivalent-Continuum Modeling of Nano-Structured Materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Odegard, Gregory M.; Gates, Thomas S.; Nicholson, Lee M.; Wise, Kristopher E.

2001-01-01

A method has been developed for modeling structure-property relationships of nano-structured materials. This method serves as a link between computational chemistry and solid mechanics by substituting discrete molecular structures with an equivalent-continuum model. It has been shown that this substitution may be accomplished by equating the vibrational potential energy of a nano-structured material with the strain energy of representative truss and continuum models. As an important example with direct application to the development and characterization of single-walled carbon nanotubes, the model has been applied to determine the effective continuum geometry of a graphene sheet. A representative volume element of the equivalent-continuum model has been developed with an effective thickness. This effective thickness has been shown to be similar to, but slightly smaller than, the interatomic spacing of graphite.

Carbon-based supercapacitors produced by activation of graphene.

PubMed

Zhu, Yanwu; Murali, Shanthi; Stoller, Meryl D; Ganesh, K J; Cai, Weiwei; Ferreira, Paulo J; Pirkle, Adam; Wallace, Robert M; Cychosz, Katie A; Thommes, Matthias; Su, Dong; Stach, Eric A; Ruoff, Rodney S

2011-06-24

Supercapacitors, also called ultracapacitors or electrochemical capacitors, store electrical charge on high-surface-area conducting materials. Their widespread use is limited by their low energy storage density and relatively high effective series resistance. Using chemical activation of exfoliated graphite oxide, we synthesized a porous carbon with a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area of up to 3100 square meters per gram, a high electrical conductivity, and a low oxygen and hydrogen content. This sp(2)-bonded carbon has a continuous three-dimensional network of highly curved, atom-thick walls that form primarily 0.6- to 5-nanometer-width pores. Two-electrode supercapacitor cells constructed with this carbon yielded high values of gravimetric capacitance and energy density with organic and ionic liquid electrolytes. The processes used to make this carbon are readily scalable to industrial levels.

Carbon-Based Supercapacitors Produced by Activation of Graphene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Yanwu; Murali, Shanthi; Stoller, Meryl D.; Ganesh, K. J.; Cai, Weiwei; Ferreira, Paulo J.; Pirkle, Adam; Wallace, Robert M.; Cychosz, Katie A.; Thommes, Matthias; Su, Dong; Stach, Eric A.; Ruoff, Rodney S.

2011-06-01

Supercapacitors, also called ultracapacitors or electrochemical capacitors, store electrical charge on high-surface-area conducting materials. Their widespread use is limited by their low energy storage density and relatively high effective series resistance. Using chemical activation of exfoliated graphite oxide, we synthesized a porous carbon with a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area of up to 3100 square meters per gram, a high electrical conductivity, and a low oxygen and hydrogen content. This sp2-bonded carbon has a continuous three-dimensional network of highly curved, atom-thick walls that form primarily 0.6- to 5-nanometer-width pores. Two-electrode supercapacitor cells constructed with this carbon yielded high values of gravimetric capacitance and energy density with organic and ionic liquid electrolytes. The processes used to make this carbon are readily scalable to industrial levels.

Failure Analysis of PRDS Pipe in a Thermal Power Plant Boiler

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghosh, Debashis; Ray, Subrata; Mandal, Jiten; Mandal, Nilrudra; Shukla, Awdhesh Kumar

2018-04-01

The pressure reducer desuperheater (PRDS) pipeline is used for reducing the pressure and desuperheating of the steam in different auxiliary pipeline. When the PRDS pipeline is failed, the reliability of the boiler is affected. This paper investigates the probable cause/causes of failure of the PRDS tapping line. In that context, visual inspection, outside diameter and wall thickness measurement, chemical analysis, metallographic examination and hardness measurement are conducted as part of the investigative studies. Apart from these tests, mechanical testing and fractographic analysis are also conducted as supplements. Finally, it has been concluded that the PRDS pipeline has mainly failed due to graphitization due to prolonged exposure of the pipe at higher temperature. The improper material used is mainly responsible for premature failure of the pipe.

Is Chemically Synthesized Graphene ‘Really’ a Unique Substrate for SERS and Fluorescence Quenching?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sil, Sanchita; Kuhar, Nikki; Acharya, Somnath; Umapathy, Siva

2013-11-01

We demonstrate observation of Raman signals of different analytes adsorbed on carbonaceous materials, such as, chemically reduced graphene, graphene oxide (GO), multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT), graphite and activated carbon. The analytes selected for the study were Rhodamine 6G (R6G) (in resonant conditions), Rhodamine B (RB), Nile blue (NBA), Crystal Violet (CV) and acetaminophen (paracetamol). All the analytes except paracetamol absorb and fluoresce in the visible region. In this article we provide experimental evidence of the fact that observation of Raman signals of analytes on such carbonaceous materials are more due to resonance effect, suppression of fluorescence and efficient adsorption and that this property in not unique to graphene or nanotubes but prevalent for various type of carbon materials.

Multiscale Modeling of Thermal Conductivity of Polymer/Carbon Nanocomposites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clancy, Thomas C.; Frankland, Sarah-Jane V.; Hinkley, Jeffrey A.; Gates, Thomas S.

2010-01-01

Molecular dynamics simulation was used to estimate the interfacial thermal (Kapitza) resistance between nanoparticles and amorphous and crystalline polymer matrices. Bulk thermal conductivities of the nanocomposites were then estimated using an established effective medium approach. To study functionalization, oligomeric ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymers were chemically bonded to a single wall carbon nanotube. The results, in a poly(ethylene-vinyl acetate) matrix, are similar to those obtained previously for grafted linear hydrocarbon chains. To study the effect of noncovalent functionalization, two types of polyethylene matrices. -- aligned (extended-chain crystalline) vs. amorphous (random coils) were modeled. Both matrices produced the same interfacial thermal resistance values. Finally, functionalization of edges and faces of plate-like graphite nanoparticles was found to be only modestly effective in reducing the interfacial thermal resistance and improving the composite thermal conductivity

Preparation and crystalline studies of PVDF hybrid composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chethan P., B.; Renukappa, N. M.; Sanjeev, Ganesh

2018-04-01

The conducting polymer composites have become increasingly important for electrical and electronic applications due to their flexibility, easy of processing, high strength and low cost. A flexible conducting polymer hybrid composite was prepared by melt mixing of nickel coated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (Ni-MWNT) and graphitized carbon nanofibres (GCNF) in Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) matrix. The crystalline structures of the nano composites were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) method and showed characteristic peaks at 17.7°, 18.5°, 20° and 26.7° of 2θ. The β phase crystalline nature of the composite films, degree of crystallinity, melting temperature and crystallization behavior of the hybrid composites were studied using appropriate characterization techniques. The filler in the insulating polymer matrix plays crucial role to improve the crystallinity of the composites.

Graphite tail powder and liquid biofertilizer as trace elements source for ground nut

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hindersah, Reginawanti; Setiawati, M. Rochimi; Fitriatin, B. Natalie; Suryatama, Pujawati; Asmiran, Priyanka; Panatarani, Camellia; Joni, I. Made

2018-02-01

Utilization of graphite tail waste from the mineral beneficiation processing is very important since it contain significant amount of essential minerals which are necessary for plant growth. These mineral are required in biochemical processes and mainly play an important role as cofactor in enzymatic reaction. The objective of this research is to investigate the performance of graphite tail on supporting plant growth and yield of ground nut (Arachishypogeae L.). A field experiment has been performed to test the performance of mixed graphite tail and reduced organic matter dose. The graphite tail size were reduced to various sieved size, -80 mesh, -100 mesh and -200 mesh. The experiment was setup in randomized block design with 4 treatments and 6 replications for each treatment, while the control plot is received without graphite tail. The results demonstrated that reduced organic matter along with -200 mesh tail has potentially decreased plant height at the end of vegetative growth stage, in contrast for to -80 mesh tail amendment increased individual fresh plant biomass. Statistically, there was no change of plant nodule, individual shoot fresh and dry weight, root nodule, number of pod following any mesh of graphite tail amendment. Reducing organic matter while adding graphite tail of 5% did not change bean weight in all plot. In contrast, reduced organic matter along with 80-mesh graphite tail amendment improved the nut yield per plot. This experiment suggests that graphite tail, mainly -80 mesh graphite tail can be possibly used in legume production.

40 CFR 436.380 - Applicability; description of the graphite subcategory.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... graphite subcategory. 436.380 Section 436.380 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) EFFLUENT GUIDELINES AND STANDARDS MINERAL MINING AND PROCESSING POINT SOURCE CATEGORY Graphite Subcategory § 436.380 Applicability; description of the graphite subcategory. The provisions of this subpart...

40 CFR 436.380 - Applicability; description of the graphite subcategory.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... graphite subcategory. 436.380 Section 436.380 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) EFFLUENT GUIDELINES AND STANDARDS MINERAL MINING AND PROCESSING POINT SOURCE CATEGORY Graphite Subcategory § 436.380 Applicability; description of the graphite subcategory. The provisions of this subpart...

Temperature effect of friction and wear characteristics for solid lubricating graphite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Yeonwook; Kim, Jaehoon

2015-03-01

Graphite is one of the effective lubricant additives due to its excellent high-temperature endurance and self-lubricating properties. In this study, wear behavior of graphite used as sealing materials to cut off hot gas is evaluated at room and elevated temperature. Wear occurs on graphite seal due to the friction of driving shaft and graphite. Thus, a reciprocating wear test to evaluate the wear generated for the graphite by means of the relative motion between a shaft material and a graphite seal was carried out. The friction coefficient and specific wear rate for the changes of applied load and sliding speed were compared under different temperature conditions considering the actual operating environment. Through SEM observation of the worn surface, the lubricating film was observed and compared with test conditions.

Fabrication and testing of non-graphitic superhybrid composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lark, R. F.; Sinclair, J. H.; Chamis, C. C.

1979-01-01

A study was conducted to determine the fabrication feasibility and the mechanical properties of adhesively-bonded boron aluminum/titanium and non-graphitic fiber/epoxy resin superhybrid (NGSH) composite laminates for potential aerospace applications. The major driver for this study was the elimination of a potential graphite fiber release problem in the event of a fire. The results of the study show that non-graphitic fibers, such as S-glass and Kevlar 49, may be substituted for the graphite fibers used in superhybrid (SH) composites for some applications. As is to be expected, however, the non-graphitic superhybrids have lower stiffness properties than the graphitic superhybrids. In-plane and flexural moduli of the laminates studied in this program can be predicted reasonably well using linear laminate theory while nonlinear laminate theory is required for strength predictions.

Microsurgical Chest Wall Reconstruction After Oncologic Resections

PubMed Central

Sauerbier, Michael; Dittler, S.; Kreutzer, C.

2011-01-01

Defect reconstruction after radical oncologic resection of malignant chest wall tumors requires adequate soft tissue reconstruction with function, stability, integrity, and an aesthetically acceptable result of the chest wall. The purpose of this article is to describe possible reconstructive microsurgical pathways after full-thickness oncologic resections of the chest wall. Several reliable free flaps are described, and morbidity and mortality rates of patients are discussed. PMID:22294944

Status of Initial Assessment of Physical and Mechanical Properties of Graphite Grades for NGNP Appkications

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Strizak, Joe P; Burchell, Timothy D; Windes, Will

2011-12-01

Current candidate graphite grades for the core structures of NGNP include grades NBG-17, NBG-18, PCEA and IG-430. Both NBG-17 and NBG-18 are manufactured using pitch coke, and are vibrationally molded. These medium grain products are produced by SGL Carbon SAS (France). Tayo Tanso (Japan) produces IG-430 which is a petroleum coke, isostatically molded, nuclear grade graphite. And PCEA is a medium grain, extruded graphite produced by UCAR Carbon Co. (USA) from petroleum coke. An experimental program has been initiated to develop physical and mechanical properties data for these current candidate graphites. The results will be judged against the requirements formore » nuclear grade graphites set forth in ASTM standard D 7219-05 "Standard Specification for Isotropic and Near-isotropic Nuclear Graphites". Physical properties data including thermal conductivity and coefficient of thermal expansion, and mechanical properties data including tensile, compressive and flexural strengths will be obtained using the established test methods covered in D-7219 and ASTM C 781-02 "Standard Practice for Testing Graphite and Boronated Graphite Components for High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Nuclear Reactors". Various factors known to effect the properties of graphites will be investigated. These include specimen size, spatial location within a graphite billet, specimen orientation (ag and wg) within a billet, and billet-to-billet variations. The current status of the materials characterization program is reported herein. To date billets of the four graphite grades have been procured, and detailed cut up plans for obtaining the various specimens have been prepared. Particular attention has been given to the traceability of each specimen to its spatial location and orientation within a billet.« less

A contrastive study of three graphite anodes in the piperidinium based electrolytes for lithium ion batteries

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jiang, Xiao-Tao; Wang, Chen-Yi; Gao, Kun, E-mail: gaokun0451@163.com

Graphical abstract: The fitting results of R{sub sei} and R{sub ct} of three graphite/Li cells. Besides three graphite/Li cells show the similar R{sub sei}, the NG198/Li cell demonstrates a higher R{sub ct} value in all test temperatures. Especially, the R{sub ct} at 333 K is even up to 355.8 Ω cm{sup 2}. Obviously, the narrow distribution of edge plane for NG198 caused this result, and then greatly restricts its cell capacity. By contrast, CMB with bigger specific surface area and more Li{sup +} insertion points shows lower resistance at room temperature, which should help to improve its capacity. - Highlights:more » • SEI film is closely related to graphite structures and formation temperature. • The graphite with bigger surface area and more Li{sup +} insertion points behaves better. • The graphite with narrow edge plane is uncompetitive for ionic liquid electrolyte. - Abstract: The electrochemical behaviors of natural graphite (NG198), artificial graphite (AG360) and carbon microbeads (CMB) in an ionic liquid based electrolyte are investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV). The surface and structure of three graphite materials are characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) before and after cycling. It is found that solid electrolyte interface (SEI) is closely related to graphite structure. Benefiting from larger specific surface area and more dispersed Li{sup +} insertion points, CMB shows a better Li{sup +} insertion/de-insertion behavior than NG198 and AG360. Furthermore, electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) prove that the SEI of different graphite electrodes has different intrinsic resistance and Li{sup +} penetrability. By comparison, CMB behaves better cell performances than AG360, while the narrow edge plane makes NG198 uncompetitive as a potential anode for the ionic liquids (ILs)-type Li-ion battery.« less

Is Water at the Graphite Interface Vapor-like or Ice-like?

PubMed

Qiu, Yuqing; Lupi, Laura; Molinero, Valeria

2018-04-05

Graphitic surfaces are the main component of soot, a major constituent of atmospheric aerosols. Experiments indicate that soots of different origins display a wide range of abilities to heterogeneously nucleate ice. The ability of pure graphite to nucleate ice in experiments, however, seems to be almost negligible. Nevertheless, molecular simulations with the monatomic water model mW with water-carbon interactions parameterized to reproduce the experimental contact angle of water on graphite predict that pure graphite nucleates ice. According to classical nucleation theory, the ability of a surface to nucleate ice is controlled by the binding free energy between ice immersed in liquid water and the surface. To establish whether the discrepancy in freezing efficiencies of graphite in mW simulations and experiments arises from the coarse resolution of the model or can be fixed by reparameterization, it is important to elucidate the contributions of the water-graphite, water-ice, and ice-water interfaces to the free energy, enthalpy, and entropy of binding for both water and the model. Here we use thermodynamic analysis and free energy calculations to determine these interfacial properties. We demonstrate that liquid water at the graphite interface is not ice-like or vapor-like: it has similar free energy, entropy, and enthalpy as water in the bulk. The thermodynamics of the water-graphite interface is well reproduced by the mW model. We find that the entropy of binding between graphite and ice is positive and dominated, in both experiments and simulations, by the favorable entropy of reducing the ice-water interface. Our analysis indicates that the discrepancy in freezing efficiencies of graphite in experiments and the simulations with mW arises from the inability of the model to simultaneously reproduce the contact angle of liquid water on graphite and the free energy of the ice-graphite interface. This transferability issue is intrinsic to the resolution of the model, and arises from its lack of rotational degrees of freedom.

Structural Testing of a Stitched/Resin Film Infused Graphite-Epoxy Wing Box

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jegley, Dawn C.; Bush, Harold G.

2001-01-01

The results of a series of tests conducted at the NASA Langley Research Center to evaluate the behavior of an all-composite full-scale wing box are presented. The wing box is representative of a section of a 220-passenger commercial transport aircraft wing box and was designed and constructed by The Boeing Company as part of the NASA Advanced Subsonics Technology (AST) program. The semi-span wing was fabricated from a graphite-epoxy material system with cover panels and spars held together using Kevlar stitches through the thickness. No mechanical fasteners were used to hold the stiffeners to the skin of the cover panels. Tests were conducted with and without low-speed impact damage, discrete source damage and repairs. Up-bending, down-bending and brake roll loading conditions were applied. The structure with non-visible impact damage carried 97% of Design Ultimate Load prior to failure through a lower cover panel access hole.

High-Temperature Graphite/Phenolic Composite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seal, Ellis C.; Bodepudi, Venu P.; Biggs, Robert W., Jr.; Cranston, John A.

1995-01-01

Graphite-fiber/phenolic-resin composite material retains relatively high strength and modulus of elasticity at temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees F. Costs only 5 to 20 percent as much as refractory materials. Fabrication composite includes curing process in which application of full autoclave pressure delayed until after phenolic resin gels. Curing process allows moisture to escape, so when composite subsequently heated in service, much less expansion of absorbed moisture and much less tendency toward delamination. Developed for nose cone of external fuel tank of Space Shuttle. Other potential aerospace applications for material include leading edges, parts of nozzles, parts of aircraft engines, and heat shields. Terrestrial and aerospace applications include structural firewalls and secondary structures in aircraft, spacecraft, and ships. Modified curing process adapted to composites of phenolic with other fiber reinforcements like glass or quartz. Useful as high-temperature circuit boards and electrical insulators.

High performance structural laminate composite material for use to 1000.degree. F. and above, apparatus for and method of manufacturing same, and articles made with same

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seal, Ellis C. (Inventor); Biggs, Jr., Robert William (Inventor); Bodepudi, Venu Prasad (Inventor); Cranston, John A. (Inventor)

2003-01-01

A novel materials technology has been developed and demonstrated for providing a high modulus composite material for use to 1000.degree. F. and above. This material can be produced at 5-20% of the cost of refractory materials, and has higher structural properties. This technology successfully resolves the problem of thermal shock or ply lift, which limits traditional high temperature laminates (such as graphite/polyimide and graphite/phenolic) to temperatures of 550-650.degree. F. in thicker (0.25 and above) laminates. The technology disclosed herein is an enabling technology for the nose for the External Tank (ET) of the Space Shuttle, and has been shown to be capable of withstanding the severe environments encountered by the nose cone through wind tunnel testing, high temperature subcomponent testing, and full scale structural, dynamic, acoustic, and damage tolerance testing.

Effect of heat treatment on CO2 adsorption of KOH-activated graphite nanofibers.

PubMed

Meng, Long-Yue; Park, Soo-Jin

2010-12-15

In this work, graphite nanofibers (GNFs) were successfully expanded intercalating KOH followed by heat treatment in the temperature range of 700-1000 °C. The aim was to improve the CO(2) adsorption capacity of the GNFs by increasing the porosity of GNFs. The effects of heat treatment on the pore structures of GNFs were investigated by N(2) full isotherms, XRD, SEM, and TEM. The CO(2) adsorption capacity was measured by CO(2) isothermal adsorption at 25 °C and 1 atm. From the results, it was found that the activation temperature had a major influence on CO(2) adsorption capacity and textural properties of GNFs. The specific surface area, total pore volume, and mesopore volume of the GNFs increased after heat treatment. The CO(2) adsorption isotherms showed that G-900 exhibited the best CO(2) adsorption capacity with 59.2 mg/g. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

On thermal stress failure of the SNAP-19A RTG heat shield

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pitts, W. C.; Anderson, L. A.

1974-01-01

Results of a study on thermal stress problems in an amorphous graphite heat shield that is part of the launch-abort protect system for the SNAP-19A radio-isotope thermoelectric generators (RTG) that will be used on the Viking Mars Lander are presended. The first result is from a thermal stress analysis of a full-scale RTG heat source that failed to survive a suborbital entry flight test, possibly due to thermal stress failure. It was calculated that the maximum stress in the heat shield was only 50 percent of the ultimate strength of the material. To provide information on the stress failure criterion used for this calculation, some heat shield specimens were fractured under abort entry conditions in a plasma arc facility. It was found that in regions free of stress concentrations the POCO graphite heat shield material did fracture when the local stress reached the ultimate uniaxial stress of the material.

Effect of friction on oxidative graphite intercalation and high-quality graphene formation.

PubMed

Seiler, Steffen; Halbig, Christian E; Grote, Fabian; Rietsch, Philipp; Börrnert, Felix; Kaiser, Ute; Meyer, Bernd; Eigler, Siegfried

2018-02-26

Oxidative wet-chemical delamination of graphene from graphite is expected to become a scalable production method. However, the formation process of the intermediate stage-1 graphite sulfate by sulfuric acid intercalation and its subsequent oxidation are poorly understood and lattice defect formation must be avoided. Here, we demonstrate film formation of micrometer-sized graphene flakes with lattice defects down to 0.02% and visualize the carbon lattice by transmission electron microscopy at atomic resolution. Interestingly, we find that only well-ordered, highly crystalline graphite delaminates into oxo-functionalized graphene, whereas other graphite grades do not form a proper stage-1 intercalate and revert back to graphite upon hydrolysis. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations show that ideal stacking and electronic oxidation of the graphite layers significantly reduce the friction of the moving sulfuric acid molecules, thereby facilitating intercalation. Furthermore, the evaluation of the stability of oxo-species in graphite sulfate supports an oxidation mechanism that obviates intercalation of the oxidant.

Direct Preparation of Few Layer Graphene Epoxy Nanocomposites from Untreated Flake Graphite.

PubMed

Throckmorton, James; Palmese, Giuseppe

2015-07-15

The natural availability of flake graphite and the exceptional properties of graphene and graphene-polymer composites create a demand for simple, cost-effective, and scalable methods for top-down graphite exfoliation. This work presents a novel method of few layer graphite nanocomposite preparation directly from untreated flake graphite using a room temperature ionic liquid and laminar shear processing regimen. The ionic liquid serves both as a solvent and initiator for epoxy polymerization and is incorporated chemically into the matrix. This nanocomposite shows low electrical percolation (0.005 v/v) and low thickness (1-3 layers) graphite/graphene flakes by TEM. Additionally, the effect of processing conditions by rheometry and comparison with solvent-free conditions reveal the interactions between processing and matrix properties and provide insight into the theory of the chemical and physical exfoliation of graphite crystals and the resulting polymer matrix dispersion. An interaction model that correlates the interlayer shear physics of graphite flakes and processing parameters is proposed and tested.

New insights into canted spiro carbon interstitial in graphite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

EL-Barbary, A. A.

2017-12-01

The self-interstitial carbon is the key to radiation damage in graphite moderator nuclear reactor, so an understanding of its behavior is essential for plant safety and maximized reactor lifetime. The density functional theory is applied on four different graphite unit cells, starting from of 64 carbon atoms up to 256 carbon atoms, using AIMPRO code to obtain the energetic, athermal and mechanical properties of carbon interstitial in graphite. This study presents first principles calculations of the energy of formation that prove its high barrier to athermal diffusion (1.1 eV) and the consequent large critical shear stress (39 eV-50 eV) necessary to shear graphite planes in its presence. Also, for the first time, the gamma surface of graphite in two dimensions is calculated and found to yield the critical shear stress for perfect graphite. Finally, in contrast to the extensive literature describing the interstitial of carbon in graphite as spiro interstitial, in this work the ground state of interstitial carbon is found to be canted spiro interstitial.

Adsorption behavior of bisphenol A on CTAB-modified graphite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Li-Cong; Ni, Xin-jiong; Cao, Yu-Hua; Cao, Guang-qun

2018-01-01

In this work, the adsorption behavior of BPA on CTAB-modified graphite was investigated thoroughly to develop a novel absorbent material. Atomic force microscopy revealed that conical admicelles formed on the surface of graphite. The surface area of graphite decreased significantly from 1.46 to 0.95 m2 g-1, which confirmed the formation of the larger size admicelle instead of the original smaller particle on the surface. CTAB concentration and incubation time affected the progress of admicelle formation on the surface of graphite. Adsolubilization is key in BPA adsorption by CTAB-modified graphite. An extraordinary cation-π electron interaction between CTAB and BPA, revealed by a red-shift in the ultraviolet spectrum, as well as a hydrophobic interaction contribute substantially to BPA adsolubilization. The equilibrium adsorption capacity of the modified graphite for BPA was 125.01 mg g-1. The adsorption kinetic curves of BPA on modified graphite were shown to follow a pseudosecond-order rate. The adsorption process was observed to be both spontaneous and exothermic complied with the Freundlich model.

Phase Structures and Magnetic Properties of Graphite Nanosheets and Ni-Graphite Nanocomposite Synthesized by Electrical Explosion of Wire in Liquid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Minh-Thuyet; Kim, Jin-Hyung; Lee, Jung-Goo; Kim, Jin-Chun

2018-03-01

The present work studied on phases and magnetic properties of graphite nanosheets and Ni-graphite nanocomposite synthesized using the electrical explosion of wire (EEW) in ethanol. X-ray diffraction and field emission scanning electron microscope were used to investigate the phases and the morphology of the nanopowders obtained. It was found that graphite nanosheets were absolutely fabricated by EEW with a thickness of 29 nm and 3 μm diameter. The as-synthesized Ni-graphite composite powders had a Ni-coating on the surfaces of graphite sheets. The hysteresis loop of the as-exploded, the hydrogen-treated composite nanopowders and the sintered samples were examined with a vibrating sample magnetometer at room temperature. The Ni-graphite composite exposed the magnetic behaviors which are attributed to Ni component. The magnetic properties of composite had the improvement from 10.2 emu/g for the as-exploded powders to 15.8 emu/g for heat-treated powders and 49.16 emu/g for sintered samples.

Quantifying microstructural dynamics and electrochemical activity of graphite and silicon-graphite lithium ion battery anodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pietsch, Patrick; Westhoff, Daniel; Feinauer, Julian; Eller, Jens; Marone, Federica; Stampanoni, Marco; Schmidt, Volker; Wood, Vanessa

2016-09-01

Despite numerous studies presenting advances in tomographic imaging and analysis of lithium ion batteries, graphite-based anodes have received little attention. Weak X-ray attenuation of graphite and, as a result, poor contrast between graphite and the other carbon-based components in an electrode pore space renders data analysis challenging. Here we demonstrate operando tomography of weakly attenuating electrodes during electrochemical (de)lithiation. We use propagation-based phase contrast tomography to facilitate the differentiation between weakly attenuating materials and apply digital volume correlation to capture the dynamics of the electrodes during operation. After validating that we can quantify the local electrochemical activity and microstructural changes throughout graphite electrodes, we apply our technique to graphite-silicon composite electrodes. We show that microstructural changes that occur during (de)lithiation of a pure graphite electrode are of the same order of magnitude as spatial inhomogeneities within it, while strain in composite electrodes is locally pronounced and introduces significant microstructural changes.

Full-scale Experimental Evaluation of Partially Grouted, Minimally Reinforced Concrete Masonry Unit (CMU) Walls Against Blast Demands

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-11-30

16 Figure 10. Top and Bottom Connections ...Masonry Beams ...............................66 Figure 61. Resistance-displacement Idealization for Reinforced Masonry Beams .......................66...patterns on exterior walls. Masonry can form structural elements (bearing walls, columns , or pilasters) and/or finished cladding systems. Masonry

Fire test method for graphite fiber reinforced plastics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowles, K. J.

1980-01-01

A potential problem in the use of graphite fiber reinforced resin matrix composites is the dispersal of graphite fibers during accidential fires. Airborne, electrically conductive fibers originating from the burning composites could enter and cause shorting in electrical equipment located in surrounding areas. A test method for assessing the burning characteristics of graphite fiber reinforced composites and the effectiveness of the composites in retaining the graphite fibers has been developed. The method utilizes a modified rate of heat release apparatus. The equipment and the testing procedure are described. The application of the test method to the assessment of composite materials is illustrated for two resin matrix/graphite composite systems.

Process for the fabrication of aluminum metallized pyrolytic graphite sputtering targets

DOEpatents

Makowiecki, Daniel M.; Ramsey, Philip B.; Juntz, Robert S.

1995-01-01

An improved method for fabricating pyrolytic graphite sputtering targets with superior heat transfer ability, longer life, and maximum energy transmission. Anisotropic pyrolytic graphite is contoured and/or segmented to match the erosion profile of the sputter target and then oriented such that the graphite's high thermal conductivity planes are in maximum contact with a thermally conductive metal backing. The graphite contact surface is metallized, using high rate physical vapor deposition (HRPVD), with an aluminum coating and the thermally conductive metal backing is joined to the metallized graphite target by one of four low-temperature bonding methods; liquid-metal casting, powder metallurgy compaction, eutectic brazing, and laser welding.

Arsenic Removal from Water by Adsorption on Iron-Contaminated Cryptocrystalline Graphite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Qiang; Yang, Lang; Song, Shaoxian; Xia, Ling

This work aimed to study the feasibility of using iron-contaminated graphite as an adsorbent for As(V) removal from water. The adsorbent was prepared by grinding graphite concentrate with steel ball. The study was performed through the measurements of adsorption capacity, BET surface area and XPS analysis. The experimental results showed that the iron-contaminated graphite exhibited significantly high adsorption capacity of As(V). The higher the iron contaminated on the graphite surface, the higher the adsorption capacity of As(V) on the material obtained. It was suggested that the ion-contaminated graphite was a good adsorbent for As(V) removal.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Inam, A., E-mail: aqil.ceet@pu.edu.pk; Brydson, R., E-mail: mtlrmdb@leeds.ac.uk; Edmonds, D.V., E-mail: d.v.edmonds@leeds.ac.uk

The potential for using graphite particles as an internal lubricant during machining is considered. Graphite particles were found to form during graphitisation of experimental medium-carbon steel alloyed with Si and Al. The graphite nucleation sites were strongly influenced by the starting microstructure, whether ferrite–pearlite, bainite or martensite, as revealed by light and electron microscopy. Favourable nucleation sites in the ferrite–pearlite starting microstructure were, not unexpectedly, found to be located within pearlite colonies, no doubt due to the presence of abundant cementite as a source of carbon. In consequence, the final distribution of graphite nodules in ferrite–pearlite microstructures was less uniformmore » than for the bainite microstructure studied. In the case of martensite, this study found a predominance of nucleation at grain boundaries, again leading to less uniform graphite dispersions. - Highlights: • Metallography of formation of graphite particles in experimental carbon steel. • Potential for using graphite in steel as an internal lubricant during machining. • Microstructure features expected to influence improved machinability studied. • Influence of pre-anneal starting microstructure on graphite nucleation sites. • Influence of pre-anneal starting microstructure on graphite distribution. • Potential benefit is new free-cutting steel compositions without e.g. Pb alloying.« less

Understanding the reaction of nuclear graphite with molecular oxygen: Kinetics, transport, and structural evolution

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kane, Joshua J.; Contescu, Cristian I.; Smith, Rebecca E.

A thorough understanding of oxidation is important when considering the health and integrity of graphite components in graphite reactors. For the next generation of graphite reactors, HTGRs specifically, an unlikely air ingress has been deemed significant enough to have made its way into the licensing applications of many international licensing bodies. While a substantial body of literature exists on nuclear graphite oxidation in the presence of molecular oxygen and significant efforts have been made to characterize oxidation kinetics of various grades, the value of existing information is somewhat limited. Often, multiple competing processes, including reaction kinetics, mass transfer, and microstructuralmore » evolution, are lumped together into a single rate expression that limits the ability to translate this information to different conditions. This article reviews the reaction of graphite with molecular oxygen in terms of the reaction kinetics, gas transport, and microstructural evolution of graphite. It also presents the foundations of a model for the graphite-molecular oxygen reaction system that is kinetically independent of graphite grade, and is capable of describing both the bulk and local oxidation rates under a wide range of conditions applicable to air-ingress.« less

Understanding the reaction of nuclear graphite with molecular oxygen: Kinetics, transport, and structural evolution

DOE PAGES

Kane, Joshua J.; Contescu, Cristian I.; Smith, Rebecca E.; ...

2017-06-08

A thorough understanding of oxidation is important when considering the health and integrity of graphite components in graphite reactors. For the next generation of graphite reactors, HTGRs specifically, an unlikely air ingress has been deemed significant enough to have made its way into the licensing applications of many international licensing bodies. While a substantial body of literature exists on nuclear graphite oxidation in the presence of molecular oxygen and significant efforts have been made to characterize oxidation kinetics of various grades, the value of existing information is somewhat limited. Often, multiple competing processes, including reaction kinetics, mass transfer, and microstructuralmore » evolution, are lumped together into a single rate expression that limits the ability to translate this information to different conditions. This article reviews the reaction of graphite with molecular oxygen in terms of the reaction kinetics, gas transport, and microstructural evolution of graphite. It also presents the foundations of a model for the graphite-molecular oxygen reaction system that is kinetically independent of graphite grade, and is capable of describing both the bulk and local oxidation rates under a wide range of conditions applicable to air-ingress.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chuang, Chihpin; Singh, Dileep; Kenesei, Peter

The size and morphology of the graphite particles play a crucial role in determining various mechanical and thermal properties of cast iron. In the present study, we utilized high-energy synchrotron X-ray tomography to perform quantitative 3D-characterization of the distribution of graphite particles in high-strength compacted graphite iron (CGI). The size, shape, and spatial connectivity of graphite were examined. The analysis reveals that the compacted graphite can grow with a coral-tree-like morphology and span several hundred microns in the iron matrix.

Preparation of pyrolytic carbon coating on graphite for inhibiting liquid fluoride salt and Xe135 penetration for molten salt breeder reactor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Jinliang; Zhao, Yanling; He, Xiujie; Zhang, Baoliang; Xu, Li; He, Zhoutong; Zhang, DongSheng; Gao, Lina; Xia, Huihao; Zhou, Xingtai; Huai, Ping; Bai, Shuo

2015-01-01

A fixed-bed deposition method was used to prepare rough laminar pyrolytic carbon coating (RLPyC) on graphite for inhibiting liquid fluoride salt and Xe135 penetration during use in molten salt breeder reactor. The RLPyC coating possessed a graphitization degree of 44% and had good contact with graphite substrate. A high-pressure reactor was constructed to evaluate the molten salt infiltration in the isostatic graphite (IG-110, TOYO TANSO CO., LTD.) and RLPyC coated graphite under 1.01, 1.52, 3.04, 5.07 and 10.13 × 105 Pa for 12 h. Mercury injection and molten-salt infiltration experiments indicated the porosity and the salt-infiltration amount of 18.4% and 13.5 wt% under 1.52 × 105 Pa of IG-110, which was much less than 1.2% and 0.06 wt% under 10.13 × 105 Pa of the RLPyC, respectively. A vacuum device was constructed to evaluate the Xe135 penetration in the graphite. The helium diffusion coefficient of RLPyC coated graphite was 2.16 × 10-12 m2/s, much less than 1.21 × 10-6 m2/s of the graphite. Thermal cycle experiment indicated the coatings possessed excellent thermal stability. The coated graphite could effectively inhibit the liquid fluoride salt and Xe135 penetration.

Kinetics of Chronic Oxidation of NBG-17 Nuclear Graphite by Water Vapor

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Contescu, Cristian I; Burchell, Timothy D; Mee, Robert

2015-05-01

This report presents the results of kinetic measurements during accelerated oxidation tests of NBG-17 nuclear graphite by low concentration of water vapor and hydrogen in ultra-high purity helium. The objective is to determine the parameters in the Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) equation describing the oxidation kinetics of nuclear graphite in the helium coolant of high temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGR). Although the helium coolant chemistry is strictly controlled during normal operating conditions, trace amounts of moisture (predictably < 0.2 ppm) cannot be avoided. Prolonged exposure of graphite components to water vapor at high temperature will cause very slow (chronic) oxidation over the lifetimemore » of graphite components. This behavior must be understood and predicted for the design and safe operation of gas-cooled nuclear reactors. The results reported here show that, in general, oxidation by water of graphite NBG-17 obeys the L-H mechanism, previously documented for other graphite grades. However, the characteristic kinetic parameters that best describe oxidation rates measured for graphite NBG-17 are different than those reported previously for grades H-451 (General Atomics, 1978) and PCEA (ORNL, 2013). In some specific conditions, certain deviations from the generally accepted L-H model were observed for graphite NBG-17. This graphite is manufactured in Germany by SGL Carbon Group and is a possible candidate for the fuel elements and reflector blocks of HTGR.« less

Through-thickness thermal conductivity enhancement of graphite film/epoxy composite via short duration acidizing modification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Han; Wang, Shaokai; Lu, Weibang; Li, Min; Gu, Yizhou; Zhang, Yongyi; Zhang, Zuoguang

2018-06-01

Graphite films have excellent in-plane thermal conductivity but extremely low through-thickness thermal conductivity because of their intrinsic inter-layer spaces. To improve the inter-layer heat transfer of graphite films, we developed a simple interfacial modification with a short duration mixed-acid treatment. The effects of the mixture ratio of sulfuric and nitric acids and treatment time on the through-thickness thermal properties of graphite films were studied. The modification increased the through-thickness thermal conductivity by 27% and 42% for the graphite film and its composite, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy results indicated that the acidification process had two competing effects: the positive contribution made by the enhanced interaction between the graphite layers induced by the functional groups and the negative effect from the destruction of the graphite layers. As a result, an optimal acidification method was found to be sulfuric/nitric acid treatment with a mixture ratio of 3:1 for 15 min. The resultant through-thickness thermal conductivity of the graphite film could be improved to 0.674 W/mK, and the corresponding graphite/epoxy composite shows a through-thickness thermal conductivity of 0.587 W/mK. This method can be directly used for graphite films and their composite fabrication to improve through-thickness thermal conductivity.

Characterization of the Intrinsic Water Wettability of Graphite Using Contact Angle Measurements: Effect of Defects on Static and Dynamic Contact Angles.

PubMed

Kozbial, Andrew; Trouba, Charlie; Liu, Haitao; Li, Lei

2017-01-31

Elucidating the intrinsic water wettability of the graphitic surface has increasingly attracted research interests, triggered by the recent finding that the well-established hydrophobicity of graphitic surfaces actually results from airborne hydrocarbon contamination. Currently, static water contact angle (WCA) is often used to characterize the intrinsic water wettability of graphitic surfaces. In the current paper, we show that because of the existence of defects, static WCA does not necessarily characterize the intrinsic water wettability. Freshly exfoliated graphite of varying qualities, characterized using atomic force microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, was studied using static, advancing, and receding WCA measurements. The results showed that graphite of different qualities (i.e., defect density) always has a similar advancing WCA, but it could have very different static and receding WCAs. This finding indicates that defects play an important role in contact angle measurements, and the static contact angle does not always represent the intrinsic water wettability of pristine graphite. On the basis of the experimental results, a qualitative model is proposed to explain the effect of defects on static, advancing, and receding contact angles. The model suggests that the advancing WCA reflects the intrinsic water wettability of pristine (defect-free) graphite. Our results showed that the advancing WCA for pristine graphite is 68.6°, which indicates that graphitic carbon is intrinsically mildly hydrophilic.

Graphite fiber reinforced thermoplastic resins

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Navak, R. C.

1977-01-01

The results of a program designed to optimize the fabrication procedures for graphite thermoplastic composites are described. The properties of the composites as a function of temperature were measured and graphite thermoplastic fan exit guide vanes were fabricated and tested. Three thermoplastics were included in the investigation: polysulfone, polyethersulfone, and polyarylsulfone. Type HMS graphite was used as the reinforcement. Bending fatigue tests of HMS graphite/polyethersulfone demonstrated a gradual shear failure mode which resulted in a loss of stiffness in the specimens. Preliminary curves were generated to show the loss in stiffness as a function of stress and number of cycles. Fan exit guide vanes of HMS graphite polyethersulfone were satisfactorily fabricated in the final phase of the program. These were found to have stiffness and better fatigue behavior than graphite epoxy vanes which were formerly bill of material.

High efficiency of CO2-activated graphite felt as electrode for vanadium redox flow battery application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Yu-Chung; Chen, Jian-Yu; Kabtamu, Daniel Manaye; Lin, Guan-Yi; Hsu, Ning-Yih; Chou, Yi-Sin; Wei, Hwa-Jou; Wang, Chen-Hao

2017-10-01

A simple method for preparing CO2-activated graphite felt as an electrode in a vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) was employed by the direct treatment in a CO2 atmosphere at a high temperature for a short period. The CO2-activated graphite felt demonstrates excellent electrochemical activity and reversibility. The VRFB using the CO2-activated graphite felts in the electrodes has coulombic, voltage, and energy efficiencies of 94.52%, 88.97%, and 84.15%, respectively, which is much higher than VRFBs using the electrodes of untreated graphite felt and N2-activated graphite felt. The efficiency enhancement was attributed to the higher number of oxygen-containing functional groups on the graphite felt that are formed during the CO2-activation, leading to improving the electrochemical behaviour of the resultant VRFB.

Influence of the Interaction Between Graphite and Polar Surfaces of ZnO on the Formation of Schottky Contact

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yatskiv, R.; Grym, J.

2018-03-01

We show that the interaction between graphite and polar surfaces of ZnO affects electrical properties of graphite/ZnO Schottky junctions. A strong interaction of the Zn-face with the graphite contact causes interface imperfections and results in the formation of laterally inhomogeneous Schottky contacts. On the contrary, high quality Schottky junctions form on the O-face, where the interaction is significantly weaker. Charge transport through the O-face ZnO/graphite junctions is well described by the thermionic emission model in both forward and reverse directions. We further demonstrate that the parameters of the graphite/ZnO Schottky diodes can be significantly improved when a thin layer of ZnO2 forms at the interface between graphite and ZnO after hydrogen peroxide surface treatment.

Thermophysical properties of graphite HOPG and HAPG in the solid state and under melting (from 2000 K up to 5000 K)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Savvatimskiy, A. I.; Onufriev, S. V.; Konyukhov, S. A.

2017-11-01

Experiments with HOPG graphite grade showed that the melting temperature of graphite equals 4800-4900 K and that the melting of graphite is possible only at elevated pressures. The data were obtained for resistivity, specific heat and input (Joule) energy up to 5000 K. HAPG (Highly Annealing Pyrolytic Graphite) is a form of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. HAPG specimens in the form of strips (thickness 30 microns) were placed in a cell (between two plates of glass-sapphire). The specimen temperature was measured by a high speed pyrometer. The heat of fusion for both graphite grades (heated in a confined volume) was less (and specific heat - higher) than for the case with nearly free expansion. A possible reason for the observed effects is discussed in the report.

Modelling deformation and fracture of Gilsocarbon graphite subject to service environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Šavija, Branko; Smith, Gillian E.; Heard, Peter J.; Sarakinou, Eleni; Darnbrough, James E.; Hallam, Keith R.; Schlangen, Erik; Flewitt, Peter E. J.

2018-02-01

Commercial graphites are used for a wide range of applications. For example, Gilsocarbon graphite is used within the reactor core of advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGRs, UK) as a moderator. In service, the mechanical properties of the graphite are changed as a result of neutron irradiation induced defects and porosity arising from radiolytic oxidation. In this paper, we discuss measurements undertaken of mechanical properties at the micro-length-scale for virgin and irradiated graphite. These data provide the necessary inputs to an experimentally-informed model that predicts the deformation and fracture properties of Gilsocarbon graphite at the centimetre length-scale, which is commensurate with laboratory test specimen data. The model predictions provide an improved understanding of how the mechanical properties and fracture characteristics of this type of graphite change as a result of exposure to the reactor service environment.

Pyrolytic graphite gauge for measuring heat flux

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bunker, Robert C. (Inventor); Ewing, Mark E. (Inventor); Shipley, John L. (Inventor)

2002-01-01

A gauge for measuring heat flux, especially heat flux encountered in a high temperature environment, is provided. The gauge includes at least one thermocouple and an anisotropic pyrolytic graphite body that covers at least part of, and optionally encases the thermocouple. Heat flux is incident on the anisotropic pyrolytic graphite body by arranging the gauge so that the gauge surface on which convective and radiative fluxes are incident is perpendicular to the basal planes of the pyrolytic graphite. The conductivity of the pyrolytic graphite permits energy, transferred into the pyrolytic graphite body in the form of heat flux on the incident (or facing) surface, to be quickly distributed through the entire pyrolytic graphite body, resulting in small substantially instantaneous temperature gradients. Temperature changes to the body can thereby be measured by the thermocouple, and reduced to quantify the heat flux incident to the body.

Solid Fuel Burning in Steady, Strained, Premixed Flow Fields: The Graphite/Air/Methane System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Egolfopoulos, Fokion N.; Wu, Ming-Shin (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

A detailed numerical investigation was conducted on the simultaneous burning of laminar premixed CH4/air flames and solid graphite in a stagnation flow configuration. The graphite and methane were chosen for this model, given that they are practical fuels and their chemical kinetics are considered as the most reliable ones among solid and hydrocarbon fuels, respectively. The simulation was performed by solving the quasi-one-dimensional equations of mass, momentum, energy, and species. The GRI 2.1 scheme was used for the gas-phase kinetics, while the heterogeneous kinetics were described by a six-step mechanism including stable and radical species. The effects of the graphite surface temperature, the gas-phase equivalence ratio, and the aerodynamic strain rate on the graphite burning rate and NO, production and destruction mechanisms were assessed. Results indicate that as the graphite temperature increases, its burning rate as well as the NO, concentration increase. Furthermore, it was found that by increasing the strain rate, the graphite burning rate increases as a result of the augmented supply of the gas-phase reactants towards the surface, while the NO, concentration decreases as a result of the reduced residence time. The effect of the equivalence ratio on both the graphite burning rate and NO, concentration was found to be non-monotonic and strongly dependent on the graphite temperature. Comparisons between results obtained for a graphite and a chemically inert surface revealed that the chemical activity of the graphite surface can result to the reduction of NO through reactions of the CH3, CH2, CH, and N radicals with NO.

Capabilities for managing high-volume production of electric engineering equipment at the Electrochemical Production Plant

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Podlednev, V.M.

1996-04-01

The Electromechanical Production Plant is essentially a research center with experimental facilities and power full testing base. Major products of the plant today include heat pipes and devices of their basis of different functions and power from high temperature ranges to cryogenics. This report describes work on porous titanium and carbon-graphite current collectors, electrocatalyst synthesis, and electrocatalyst applications.

Reaction rates of graphite with ozone measured by etch decoration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hennig, G. R.; Montet, G. L.

1968-01-01

Etch-decoration technique of detecting vacancies in graphite has been used to determine the reaction rates of graphite with ozone in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the layer planes. It consists essentially of peeling single atom layers off graphite crystals without affecting the remainder of the crystal.

Graphite-based photovoltaic cells

DOEpatents

Lagally, Max; Liu, Feng

2010-12-28

The present invention uses lithographically patterned graphite stacks as the basic building elements of an efficient and economical photovoltaic cell. The basic design of the graphite-based photovoltaic cells includes a plurality of spatially separated graphite stacks, each comprising a plurality of vertically stacked, semiconducting graphene sheets (carbon nanoribbons) bridging electrically conductive contacts.

78 FR 56864 - Small Diameter Graphite Electrodes From the People's Republic of China: Affirmative Final...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-09-16

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration [A-570-929] Small Diameter Graphite... (Department) determines that imports from the People's Republic of China (PRC) of graphite electrodes... Act of 1930, as amended (the Act).\\1\\ \\1\\ See Antidumping Duty Order: Small Diameter Graphite...

New Occurrence of Shocked Graphite Aggregates at Barringer Crater

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miura, Y.; Noma, Y.; Iancu, O. G.

1993-07-01

High-pressure carbon minera]s are considered to be formed by solid-solid transformation under static or impact high-pressure condition, but shocked quartz aggregates of impact craters are considered to be formed by quenched accretion of various aggregates by dynamic impact process [1-3]. The main purpose of this study is to elucidate new findings and occurrences of shocked graphite (SG) aggregates [2,3] at the Barringer meteorite crater. The graphite nodule block of Barringer Crater used in this study is collected near the rim. The sample is compared with standard graphite samples of Korea, Madagascar, and artificial impact graphites. There are four different mineral aggregates of the Barringer graphite nodule sample: (1) shocked graphite-1, (2) shocked graphite-2 and hexagonal diamond in the vein, (3) shocked quartz-1 (with kamacite) in the rim, and (4) calcite in the rim (Table 1). X-ray diffraction peaks of shocked graphite reveal low X-ray intensity, high Bragg-angle shift of X-ray diffraction peak, and multiple splitting of X-ray diffraction peaks. X-ray calculated density (rho) has been determined by X-ray diffractometer by the equation of density deviation Delta rho (%) = 100 x {(rho-rho(sub)0)/rho(sub)0}, where standard density rho(sub)0 is 2.255 g/cm^3 in Korean graphite [2,3]. The high-density value of shocked graphite grain obtained in Barringer is Delta rho = +0.6 +/- 0.1%. Shocked hexagonal diamonds (chaoite) show a high value of Delta rho = +0.6 +/- 0.9%. Analytical electron microscopy data reveal three different aggregates in the graphite nodule samples (Table 1): (1) shocked graphite-1 in the matrix, which contains uniformly Fe and Ca elements formed under gas state; (2) shocked graphite-2 in the vein, where crystallized shocked graphites and hexagonal diamonds are surrounded by kamacite-rich metals formed under gas-melt states of mixed compositions from iron meteorite and target rocks; and (3) shocked quartz-1 and kamacite in the rim, where coexisted elements are supplied from kamacite, sandstone, and limestone. The shocked quartz-1 grains with high density contain Fe and Ca elements that are different from the shocked quartz-2 of pure silica [1] formed at the final stage from the Coconino sandstone. (4) Limestone in the rim is attached from Kaibab limestone. The present shocked graphites with high density are the same as artificial fine-grained shocked graphites (Delta rho = +0.7%). Table 1, which appears here in the hard copy, shows formation stages with two shocked graphites in the Barringer Crater. Formation of shocked aggregates with chemical contamination indicate dynamic accretion processes of quenching and depression at impact. The existence of two shocked graphites indicates the two formation stages of the first gas-state and the second gas-melt states with quenching processes. The origin of carbon in the shocked graphites is considered in this study to be from Kaibab limestone. References: [1] Miura Y. (1991) Shock Waves, 1, 35-41. [2] Miura Y. (1992) Proc. Shock Waves (Japan), 2, 54-57. [3] Miura Y. et al. (1993) Symp. NIPR Antarctic Meteorite (Tokyo), in press. [4] Foote A. E. (1891) Am. J. Sci., 42, 413-417. [5] Hannemann R. E. et al. (1967) Science, 155, 995-997.

Low temperature vapor phase digestion of graphite

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pierce, Robert A.

2017-04-18

A method for digestion and gasification of graphite for removal from an underlying surface is described. The method can be utilized to remove graphite remnants of a formation process from the formed metal piece in a cleaning process. The method can be particularly beneficial in cleaning castings formed with graphite molding materials. The method can utilize vaporous nitric acid (HNO.sub.3) or vaporous HNO.sub.3 with air/oxygen to digest the graphite at conditions that can avoid damage to the underlying surface.

The Fracture Toughness of Nuclear Graphites Grades

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Burchell, Timothy D.; Erdman, III, Donald L.; Lowden, Rick R.

2017-04-01

New measurements of graphite mode I critical stress intensity factor, KIc (commonly referred to as the fracture toughness) and the mode II critical shear stress intensity, KIIc, are reported and compared with prior data for KIc and KIIc. The new data are for graphite grades PCEA, IG-110 and 2114. Variations of KIc and acoustic emission (AE) data with graphite texture are reported and discussed. The Codes and Standards applications of fracture toughness, KIc, data are also discussed. A specified minimum value for nuclear graphite KIc is recommended.

AC induction field heating of graphite foam

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Klett, James W.; Rios, Orlando; Kisner, Roger

A magneto-energy apparatus includes an electromagnetic field source for generating a time-varying electromagnetic field. A graphite foam conductor is disposed within the electromagnetic field. The graphite foam when exposed to the time-varying electromagnetic field conducts an induced electric current, the electric current heating the graphite foam. An energy conversion device utilizes heat energy from the heated graphite foam to perform a heat energy consuming function. A device for heating a fluid and a method of converting energy are also disclosed.

PROCESS OF COATING GRAPHITE WITH NIOBIUM-TITANIUM CARBIDE

DOEpatents

Halden, F.A.; Smiley, W.D.; Hruz, F.M.

1961-07-01

A process of coating graphite with niobium - titanium carbide is described. It is found that the addition of more than ten percent by weight of titanium to niobium results in much greater wetting of the graphite by the niobium and a much more adherent coating. The preferred embodiment comprises contacting the graphite with a powdered alloy or mixture, degassing simultaneously the powder and the graphite, and then heating them to a high temperature to cause melting, wetting, spreading, and carburization of the niobium-titanium powder.

Late-time particle emission from laser-produced graphite plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harilal, S. S.; Hassanein, A.; Polek, M.

2011-09-01

We report a late-time "fireworks-like" particle emission from laser-produced graphite plasma during its evolution. Plasmas were produced using graphite targets excited with 1064 nm Nd: yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) laser in vacuum. The time evolution of graphite plasma was investigated using fast gated imaging and visible emission spectroscopy. The emission dynamics of plasma is rapidly changing with time and the delayed firework-like emission from the graphite target followed a black-body curve. Our studies indicated that such firework-like emission is strongly depended on target material properties and explained due to material spallation caused by overheating the trapped gases through thermal diffusion along the layer structures of graphite.

Fire test method for graphite fiber reinforced plastics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowles, K. J.

1980-01-01

A potential problem in the use of graphite fiber reinforced resin matrix composites is the dispersal of graphite fibers during accidental fires. Airborne, electrically conductive fibers originating from the burning composites could enter and cause shorting in electrical equipment located in surrounding areas. A test method for assessing the burning characteristics of graphite fiber reinforced composites and the effectiveness of the composites in retaining the graphite fibers has been developed. The method utilizes a modified Ohio State University Rate of Heat Release apparatus. The equipment and the testing procedure are described. The application of the test method to the assessment of composite materials is illustrated for two resin matrix/graphite composite systems.

Design and development of high efficiency 140W space TWT with graphite collector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srivastava, V.; Purohit, G.; Sharma, R. K.; Sharma, S. M.; Bera, A.; Bhaskar, P. V.; Singh, R. R.; Prasad, K.; Kiran, V.

2008-05-01

4-stage graphite collector assembly has been designed and developed for a 140W Ku-band space TWT to achieve the collector efficiency more than 80%. The UHV compatible, high density, copper impregnated POCO graphite (DFP-1C) was used to fabricate the four collector electrodes of the 4-stage depressed collector. Copper impregnated graphite material is used for the collector electrodes because of its low secondary electron emission coefficient, high thermal and electrical conductivities, easy machining and brazing, low thermal expansion coefficient and low weight. The graphite material was characterized for the UHV compatibility. The collector electrodes were precisely fabricated by careful machining, and technology was developed for brazing of graphite electrodes with high voltage alumina insulators. Complete TWT with four-stage graphite collector was developed and 140W output power at gain more than 55 dB was achieved. The TWT was pumped from both the gun and the collector ends.

Development of design data for graphite reinforced epoxy and polyimide composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scheck, W. G.

1974-01-01

Processing techniques and design data were characterized for a graphite/epoxy composite system that is useful from 75 K to 450 K, and a graphite/polyimide composite system that is useful from 75 K to 589 K. The Monsanto 710 polyimide resin was selected as the resin to be characterized and used with the graphite fiber reinforcement. Material was purchased using the prepreg specification for the design data generation for both the HT-S/710 and HM-S/710 graphite/polyimide composite system. Lamina and laminate properties were determined at 75 K, 297 K, and 589 K. The test results obtained on the skin-stringer components proved that graphite/polyimide composites can be reliably designed and analyzed much like graphite/epoxy composites. The design data generated in the program includes the standard static mechanical properties, biaxial strain data, creep, fatigue, aging, and thick laminate data.

Chemical stabilization of graphite surfaces

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bistrika, Alexander A.; Lerner, Michael M.

Embodiments of a device, or a component of a device, including a stabilized graphite surface, methods of stabilizing graphite surfaces, and uses for the devices or components are disclosed. The device or component includes a surface comprising graphite, and a plurality of haloaryl ions and/or haloalkyl ions bound to at least a portion of the graphite. The ions may be perhaloaryl ions and/or perhaloalkyl ions. In certain embodiments, the ions are perfluorobenzenesulfonate anions. Embodiments of the device or component including stabilized graphite surfaces may maintain a steady-state oxidation or reduction surface current density after being exposed to continuous oxidation conditionsmore » for a period of at least 1-100 hours. The device or component is prepared by exposing a graphite-containing surface to an acidic aqueous solution of the ions under oxidizing conditions. The device or component can be exposed in situ to the solution.« less

Development of CIP/graphite composite additives for electromagnetic wave absorption applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woo, Soobin; Yoo, Chan-Sei; Kim, Hwijun; Lee, Mijung; Quevedo-Lopez, Manuel; Choi, Hyunjoo

2017-09-01

In this study, the electromagnetic (EM) wave absorption ability of carbonyl iron powder (CIP)/graphite composites produced by ball milling were studied in a range of 28.5 GHz to examine the effects of the morphology and volume fraction of graphite on EM wave absorption ability. The results indicated that a ball milling technique was effective in exfoliating the graphite and covering it with CIP, thereby markedly increasing the specific surface area of the hybrid powder. The increase in the surface area and hybridization with dielectric loss materials (i.e., graphite) improved EM absorbing properties of CIP in the range of S and X bands. Specifically, the CIP/graphite composite containing 3 wt% graphite exhibited electromagnetic wave absorption of -13 dB at 7 GHz, -21 dB at 5.8 GHz, and -29 dB at 4.3 GHz after 1 h, 8 h, and 16 h of milling, respectively. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Friction and wear of metals in contact with pyrolytic graphite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Buckley, D. H.; Brainard, W. A.

1975-01-01

Sliding friction experiments were conducted with gold, iron, and tantalum single crystals sliding on prismatic and basal orientations of pyrolytic graphite in various environments, including vacuum, oxygen, water vapor, nitrogen, and hydrogen bromide. Surfaces were examined in the clean state and with various adsorbates present on the graphite surfaces. Auger and LEED spectroscopy, SEM, and EDXA were used to characterize the graphite surfaces. Results indicate that the prismatic and basal orientations do not contain nor do they chemisorb oxygen, water vapor, acetylene, or hydrogen bromide. All three metals exhibited higher friction on the prismatic than on the basal orientation and these metals transferred to the atomically clean prismatic orientation of pyrolytic graphite. No metal transfer to the graphite was observed in the presence of adsorbates at 760 torr. Ion bombardment of the graphite surface with nitrogen ions resulted in the adherence of nitrogen to the surface.

Formation mechanism of graphite hexagonal pyramids by argon plasma etching of graphite substrates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glad, X.; de Poucques, L.; Bougdira, J.

2015-12-01

A new graphite crystal morphology has been recently reported, namely the graphite hexagonal pyramids (GHPs). They are hexagonally-shaped crystals with diameters ranging from 50 to 800 nm and a constant apex angle of 40°. These nanostructures are formed from graphite substrates (flexible graphite and highly ordered pyrolytic graphite) in low pressure helicon coupling radiofrequency argon plasma at 25 eV ion energy and, purportedly, due to a physical etching process. In this paper, the occurrence of peculiar crystals is shown, presenting two hexagonal orientations obtained on both types of samples, which confirms such a formation mechanism. Moreover, by applying a pretreatment step with different time durations of inductive coupling radiofrequency argon plasma, for which the incident ion energy decreases at 12 eV, uniform coverage of the surface can be achieved with an influence on the density and size of the GHPs.

Tuning graphitic oxide for initiator- and metal-free aerobic epoxidation of linear alkenes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pattisson, Samuel; Nowicka, Ewa; Gupta, Upendra N.; Shaw, Greg; Jenkins, Robert L.; Morgan, David J.; Knight, David W.; Hutchings, Graham J.

2016-09-01

Graphitic oxide has potential as a carbocatalyst for a wide range of reactions. Interest in this material has risen enormously due to it being a precursor to graphene via the chemical oxidation of graphite. Despite some studies suggesting that the chosen method of graphite oxidation can influence the physical properties of the graphitic oxide, the preparation method and extent of oxidation remain unresolved for catalytic applications. Here we show that tuning the graphitic oxide surface can be achieved by varying the amount and type of oxidant. The resulting materials differ in level of oxidation, surface oxygen content and functionality. Most importantly, we show that these graphitic oxide materials are active as unique carbocatalysts for low-temperature aerobic epoxidation of linear alkenes in the absence of initiator or metal. An optimum level of oxidation is necessary and materials produced via conventional permanganate-based methods are far from optimal.