This report describes a proposed system for automating atomic absorption analysis. The system consists of two atomic absorption instruments and an automatic sampler that can be attached to either instrument. A computer program controls the sampling and gathers data. The program then uses the data to perform bookkeeping, data processing, and report writing.

The objective of the BIPS program is to develop a closed gas turbine dynamic conversion system for space application. The baseline system is a 7-year life, 450 lb, 1300 W(e) unit using Brayton cycle hardware developed for the NASA LeRC and two 2400 W(t) Multi-Hundred Watt isotope heat sources developed for the ERDA. Phase I of the three-phase BIPS program is the conceptual design of the flight system, the design, development, and testing of a prototype Ground Demonstration System (GDS). The Mini-Brayton Rotating Unit (Mini-BRU), Mini-BRU Recuperator (MBR), and Heat Source Assembly (HSA) will be integrated into the ground demonstrator loop, and the system will be tested under simulated space conditions at the AiResearch Space Power Laboratory. Successful completion of the Phase I effort in mid 1978 is expected to lead to the Phase II and Phase III follow-on efforts. Phase II is a 24-month effort for the development and qualification of a flight system. Qualification will include testing with an isotope heat source. Phase III is a 12-month effort to fabricate flight-qualified hardware for delivery in April 1981.

The government, AIRPHX, AIRLA, and contractor BIPS program coordination efforts are discussed. These coordination efforts are essential for defining program objectives, and achieving these objectives in an efficient manner. The IPP outlines a long range effort intended to: (a) develop end product confidence; (b) identify government and contractor activities pertinent and contributory to BIPS development; (c) recommend government and contractor activities required to ensure BIPS program success; (d) establish activity priorities based on program cost and schedule impacts, and achievement of technical objectives; (e) coordinate the efforts of contributing agencies; (f) provide general information and, to a limited extent, BIPS program-related development activity status to interested individuals and agencies; and (g) provide contractor team program planning guidance.

Field demonstrations of chemical explosive fracturing stimulation were conducted on 3 noncommercial gas wells. The three gas wells had previously been treated by acid and hydraulic fracturing. They were then subjected to further hydraulic fracturing and following this, approximately 20,000 pounds of PTC-4 explosive was manufactured by pumping in 1370 gallons of oxidizer and 430.4 gallons of fuel. After the explosions, the wells were cleaned out and retested. Some improvement was obtained but the wells were still not commercial. Additional tests in other types of formations are recommended, with the additional objective of evaluating cost effectiveness. A detailed hazards study was required by the contract and the actual operations were conducted safely with only minor incidents. (LTN)

It has been demonstrated in three separate field demonstrations that the PTC (Petroleum Technology Corporation) system can be employed to safely manufacture and inject large quantities of liquid explosive into natural or hydraulically induced fractures in typical hydrocarbon bearing formations. The producing capability of the first test well, Hampshire No. 10, was not enhanced by chemical explosive fracturing stimulation. Analysis of pressure buildup tests results conducted before and after the second field demonstration indicate that Hampshire No. 18's flow potential was increased by a factor of 1.66 by the chemical explosive fracturing stimulation test. A commercial well was not, however, obtained. Even though most of the open hole section of the third test well, Columbia No. 20117-T, could not be cleaned out, the gas production rate was increased three-fold and the formation's capacity to produce (''kh'' factor) was increased tenfold. Again, however, a commercial well was not obtained.

Described here is a constitutive relation for the stress-volume strain states of Climax Stock granodiorite from the Nevada Test Site under nonhydrostatic loading conditions. By comparison with Nugget sandstone under similar loading conditions, for which this functional form fitted the data, we find no relationship for Climax Stock granodiorite between the fitting parameters and other system variables such as mean stress or confining pressure. Therefore this relation is not yet suitable for use in computer codes that attempt to predict the response of rocks to stress.

After introducing the concentration ratio and intercept factor of focusing collectors with parabolic cylinder mirrors, the energy balance equations were derived to determine the efficiencies under steady state conditions. The components of the collector were varied and optimized with respect to maximum efficiency. The dynamic behavior of the collector was calculated and the average efficiencies compared with the efficiencies in the steady state condition.

Large aperture, beryllium substrate-based mirrors have been used to focus high intensity pulsed laser beams. Finished surfaces have high reflectivity, low wavefront distortion, and high laser damage thresholds. This paper describes the development of a series of metallic coatings, surface finishing techniques, and dielectric overcoatings to meet specified performance requirements. Beryllium substrates were coated with copper, diamond-machined to within 5 micro-inches to final contour, nickel plated, and abrasively figured to final contour. Bond strengths for several bonding processes are presented. Dielectric overcoatings were deposited on finished multimetallic substrates to increase both reflectivity and the damage thresholds. Coatings were deposited using both high and low temperature processes which induce varying stresses in the finished coating substrate system. Data are presented to show the evolution of wavefront distortion, reflectivity, and damage thresholds throughout the many steps involved in fabrication.

The primary aim of this study is to predict the performance of a gamma-ray densitometer system using computer modeling techniques. The system consists of a collimated /sup 137/Cs source, a pipe containing a variable amount of water absorber, and a shielded and collimated germanium detector system. The gamma-ray energy spectrum (number of photon counts as a function of energy) has been computed for several sources at the detector. The response for combined sourceconfigurations has been obtained by linear superposition. The signal essentially consists of the counts in an energy window centered on the /sup 137/Cs source at 662 keV that originate from this source. The noise is the background counts in the signal energy window that originate from /sup 16/N scatter radiation and direct and shield tank activation gammas. The detector signal has been computed for 0, 50, and 100 percent water in the pipe. (WHK)

The Seeded Growth Furnace was completed and operated extensively during the third quarter. Optimum thermal geometry, gas flows, and withdrawal rates are being determined. Surface growth was obtained having growth velocity as high as 5 to 6 mm/min. The surface growth has generally taken the form of interlocking crystals and is thin enough to follow the liquid surface. Its thickness has been determined in one case to be 20 microns. A molybdenum susceptor has been made for the seeded growth furnace. It is anticipated that this new design will eliminate the problems caused by films on the melt and seed crystal and lead to improved crystal structure in the silicon growth. A series of experiments were performed in order to determine whether the reactor gas streams were sources of contamination. Nitrogen reacts with silicon at 1100/sup 0/C to coat its surface with a film 30 to 150A thick. Silicon heated in hydrogen at temperatures between 1000 and 1200/sup 0/C maintains a very clean, film-free surface.

Eight sources of uranium of varying /sup 235/U enrichment were used to collect detailed ..gamma..-ray spectra with a GeLi detector over the energy range from 50 to 250 keV. The characteristic x rays of thorium and uranium were identified. Included in the spectra were ..gamma.. rays present in the decay of the 234, 235, and 238 uranium isotopes. The efficiency of the detector was determined and used to calculate both conversion coefficients for the /sup 234/U decay ..gamma.. rays and the abundance of the various x rays and ..gamma.. rays relative to their parent uranium isotope. It was anticipated that this information could be reasonably applied to in vivo monitoring for uranium isotopes.

To obtain more information on gas permeation through elastomeric O-rings, studies were performed on Parker Seal Company O-rings, Nos. 2-113, 2-006, 3-904, and 3-906, all made of a nitrile rubber. Also included in the tests was a valve packing (Autoclave Engineers) encased in AE Valve 20A-2142. Permeation experiments were run usually in duplicate to 82.7 MPa (12,000 psi) with helium and deuterium at room temperature. The data are extrapolated to give values for tritium.

An apparatus has been developed to react samples with hydrogen at pressures of up to 689.5 MPa (6805 atm) and temperatures of up to 200/sup 0/C. It is being used to determine whether RT/sub 5/ and RT/sub 3/ compounds (where R is a lanthanide element and T is a 3-d transition element, usually cobalt or nickel) ''fill up'' with hydrogen when subjected to high hydrogen pressures. Preliminary experiments with LaCo/sub 5/ in this apparatus showed a new (third) plateau at 126.7 MPa (1250 atm) in the PCT diagram; only two plateaus have previously been reported. There is an abrupt upturn at an H/LaCo/sub 5/ ratio of approximately 8.23. A second run showed an upturn at 8.76. The maximum loading is nine atoms of hydrogen.

The work reported includes studies of reactions between core materials and coolant impurities, basic fission product transport mechanisms, core graphite development and testing, the development and testing of recyclable fuel systems, and physics and fuel management studies. Materials studies include irradiation capsule tests of both fuel and graphite. Experimental procedures and results are discussed and the data are presented in tables, graphs, and photographs.

The deformation model for non-elastic deformation in the grain matrix based on a mechanical equation of state was verified by comparing the predictions of the model with experimental data. The data of Type 316 stainless steel and nickel were used and were obtained in load relaxation and anelasticity tests. The same model was found to be successful in describing in-reactor creep and deformation. Work is in progress on the investigation of the driving force and the kinetics of stress induced cavity growth at the grain boundary.

Production of charmed meson pairs of J/sup P/ = 0/sup -/ and 1/sup -/ is examined near the threshold. Production cross sections are parametrized by a quark model of a broken SU(8) symmetry. The charmed hadron production is dominated by (0/sup -/,1/sup -/) pairs, and D* anti D* production comes out to be much too small to reproduce the higher peak in the recoil mass spectrum against D/sup 0/ (anti D/sup 0/) through reflection. A few experimental measurements are pointed out that will clarify the origin of the higher peak of the recoil mass spectrum.

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The process of multiblade slurry sawing has been used to slice 10 cm diameter silicon ingots into wafers 0.024 cm thick using 0.050 cm of silicon per slice (0.026 cm kerf loss). Total slicing time is less than twenty hours and 143 slices were produced simultaneously. Improvements in the process will be sought to allow increased productivity by increasing blade loading, and also reduce silicon requirement per slice by reducing the blade and wafer thicknesses. The two goals require trade-offs and an economic analysis will be used to select slicing conditions for minimum wafer cost. Productivity (Slice area per hour per blade) is shown as a function of blade load and thickness, and abrasive size. Finer abrasive slurries have caused a reduction in slice productivity and thin blades caused a reduction of wafer accuracy. Sawing-induced surface damage has been shown to extend 18..mu.. into the wafer.

The stability of tensioned blades used in multiblade sawing does not seem to be the limitation in cutting with thin blades. So far, 0.010 cm thick blades have been totally unsuccessful. Recently, 0.015 cm blades have proven successful in wafering, offering an 0.005 cm reduction in the silicon used per slice. The failure of thin blades is characterized as a possible result of blade misalignment or from the inherent uncontrollability of the loose abrasive multiblade process. Corrective procedures will be employed in the assembly of packages to eliminate one type of blade misalignment. Two ingots were sliced with the same batch of standard silicon carbide abrasive slurry to determine the useful lifetime of this expendable material. After 250 slices, the cutting efficiency had not degraded. Further tests will be continued to establish the maximum lifetime of both silicon carbide and boron carbide abrasive. Electron microscopy will be employed to evaluate the wear of abrasive particles in the failure of abrasive slurry. The surface damage of silicon wafers has been characterized as predominantly subsurface fracture. Damage with No. 600 SiC is between 10 and 15 microns into the wafer surface. This agrees well with previous investigations of damage from silicon carbide …

This report summarizes some of the capabilities that have been developed within L-Division related to the use of solar energy for heating of buildings, electrical generation, and/or process heat. To date, these capabilities have been primarily directed towards studies related to the Sohio Process Heat Facility project. However, they would be applicable to a wide variety of solar energy projects, and therefore, are presented for information and review. A stand-alone data acquisition system has been developed for the purpose of measuring instantaneous solar radiation and ambient air temperature. In addition, a compact, mobile calibration system is available to cross-calibrate solar instruments in-situ. Solar radiation data has been collected and analyzed since January 1974. Data are available for total instantaneous insolation, total daily insolation and monthly-average total daily insolation. Several computer codes are available for parametric performance studies of process heat facilities and calculating collection efficiency for a shallow solar pond.

Present efforts in Study 3, entitled ''Evaluation of Test Methods and Properties of Candidate Encapsulation Materials,'' are concerned primarily with evaluation of the properties of candidate encapsulation materials and processes which have been identified. Specifically, cover materials for modules, and adhesives for bonding cells to cover materials and for bonding cover materials to other encapsulation-system components, are being screened in environments including UV radiation, temperature cycling, and high relative humidity. Results of the evaluations to date are described. These efforts include investigations of both polymeric and glass encapsulation materials. Efforts this quarter in Study 4, entitled ''Development of Accelerated and Abbreviated Testing Methods for Predicting Performance of Encapsulation Materials Over a 20-Year Lifetime,'' were concerned primarily with analyzing methods for discrimination among test methods with regard to precision, sensitivity, and cost. The background and procedures for such discrimination are discussed and examples are given.

Tabulated data are presented on the amount of radioactive material accumulated in the burial grounds from start-up to the end of 1975. (JSR)

The follow up on the Susanville geothermal energy project workshop is described. A post-conference survey was conducted and pertinent reports collected. Copies of available pertinent letter reports are included in the appendices. A proposed preliminary draft of a local ordinance structured for the protection of the resource is included in an appendix. The City Council of Susanville adopted a preliminary city of Susanville Geothermal policy. A copy of the objectives, guidelines, and criteria are included.

A quasilinear model for the evolution of the 2XIIB mirror experiment is presented and shown to reproduce the time evolution of the experiment. From quasilinear theory it follows that the energy lifetime is the Spitzer electron drag time for T/sub e/ approximately less than 0.1T/sub i/. By computing the stability boundary of the DCLC mode, with warm plasma stabilization, the electron temperature is predicted as a function of radial scale length. In addition, the effect of finite length corrections to the Alfven cyclotron mode is assessed.