Design Considerations Of Ultrahigh Vacuum Systems For Metallurgical Applications (open access)

Design Considerations Of Ultrahigh Vacuum Systems For Metallurgical Applications

Under the stimulus of electronic materials development - particularly thin-film studies - and the need for space environmental simulation chambers, a very rapid increase in the availability of industrial-sized vacuum components and systems operable in the ultrahigh vacuum range has taken place in the last three years. It is the purpose of this paper to explore the design considerations of ultrahigh vacuum systems for metallurgical applications.
Date: June 10, 1964
Creator: Batzer, Thomas H. & Bunshah, R. F. (Rointan Framroze)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Some Unsolved Problems Of Explosive Sensitivity (open access)

Some Unsolved Problems Of Explosive Sensitivity

To properly assess the "sensitivity" of explosives systems under impact conditions we must obtain detailed information on these mechanisms by which explosives are ignited by impact. It is necessary to know which impact conditions represent the greatest hazard to explosive materials, as well as to know for a given impact condition the relative responses of explosives of interest. I should like to describe to you a program sponsored jointly by the Department of Defense and the Atomic Energy Commission to attain this type of information. A wide variety of impact experiments have been conducted using geometrical arrangements of explosive, plastic, and metal which are relatively simple compared to complete ordnance systems. All of these tests have employed billets of explosive fabricated by standard production techniques, and the billets have been sufficiently large that ignition, once started, has something of the same opportunity to grow or decay as in full scale ordnance assemblies. From these relatively simple tests there has accrued much new useful information on the behavior of explosives under impact. With this new information providing a base from which to work, it is hoped that theoretical calculations on impact phenomena will in the future make a bigger contribution to …
Date: June 1, 1964
Creator: James, Edward
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study Of The Homopolar Generator As An Energy-Storage Device (open access)

A Study Of The Homopolar Generator As An Energy-Storage Device

In the course of modern physics research, the need frequently arises for storage of large quantities of electrical energy which can be periodically discharged at high peak power into a load. Until recently, the homopolar machine has been an intriguing device having considerable academic interest but little practical value. In recent years, successful machines have been developed to utilize liquid-metal brush systems. The liquid-metal brush overcomes all the problems associated with current collection power loss, frictional loss, and limiting peripheral velocity. Consequently, these machines are now worth serious consideration where high-current dc generation is required. The main purpose in setting up a homopolar generator test program was to establish the limits to which an essentially standard commercially available generator of this type could be pushed.
Date: June 1, 1964
Creator: Van Ness, Hugh W. & North, G. Gordon
System: The UNT Digital Library
Ths Significance Of Beryllium Surface Contamination To Health (open access)

Ths Significance Of Beryllium Surface Contamination To Health

Surface contamination with beryllium becomes a hazard to health only when the potential exists for resuspension in air in enough quantity and for enough time to exceed the prescribed standards for airborne exposures. There are several factors governing the rate and nature of resuspension phenomena. These factors include: the quantity and properties of the particular beryllium compound causing the contamination, the nature of the surface, activities in the vicinity, ventilation in the area which might affect the dilution of resuspended particles, and the presence of other control measures such as respiratory protection and use of wet methods. Generally, it has been found that the problem is minimal and can be easily controlled by exercising good judgement based upon consideration of pertinent factors governing resuspension, and a knowledge of the nature of beryllium toxicity.
Date: May 27, 1964
Creator: Cohen, Jerry J. & Kusian, Ross N.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Silicon Nitride As A High-Temperature Radome Material (open access)

Silicon Nitride As A High-Temperature Radome Material

LRL has the responsibility of demonstrating the feasibility of a reactor for use as a power plant for a low-altitude, high-Mach-number missile. This reactor is literally a very high power air heater which must work at temperatures in excess of 2000' F. The reactor is exposed to high loads so one of the primary problems is providing high temperature structure. Considerable effort has been devoted to developing ceramic structural elements. One of the materials considered for this purpose is silicon nitride. In ceramic structural elements operating over large temperature ranges, a major problem is coping with thermal stress. In this respect there is a similarity with the radome problem. The work on silicon nitride at LRL consisted of limited fabrication studies (principally for familiarization), measurement of properties of interest to the application, and funding of fabrication scale-up efforts.
Date: May 19, 1964
Creator: Wells, William M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Cratering Experience With Chemical And Nuclear Explosives (open access)

Cratering Experience With Chemical And Nuclear Explosives

Over the past 13 years a considerable body of data on explosive cratering has been developed for application to nuclear excavation projects. These data were obtained from some ten cratering programs using chemical explosives (TNT or nitromethane) and seven nuclear cratering detonations. The types of media studied have ranged from marine muck to hard, dry basalt, although most effort has been devoted to craters in NTS desert alluvium and basalt. Considerable effort has also been devoted to the study with chemical explosives of the use of linear explosives and rows of point charges. This paper is intended to be a summary of these data and a statement of the understanding which has been developed from them.
Date: May 14, 1964
Creator: Nordyke, Milo D.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Uniformity Of Output From A Low-Amplitude Plane-Wave Nitroguanidine Explosive System (open access)

Uniformity Of Output From A Low-Amplitude Plane-Wave Nitroguanidine Explosive System

In the Plowshare Program many calculations of the effects of underground explosions are made. Usually these are done on high-speed digital computers. The effects are calculated for ranges up to hundreds of meters from the explosion; at these ranges pressures become less than one kilobar. In order to make these calculations, information about the properties of the materials involved is required. Benedick [13] has developed a low-pressure, plane-wave lens using nitroguanidine. It was decided to use a similar lens in the Plowshare Program. A number of lenses were built using Benedick's technique. This report is of a study of simultaneity and pressure uniformity of these lenses, with some attempts at development of a reflection pressure vs particle velocity curve for them.
Date: May 12, 1964
Creator: Hearst, Joseph R. & Geesaman, L. B.
System: The UNT Digital Library
An 8-Matrix Theory of the Vertex p - NN Based on the Strip Approximation (open access)

An 8-Matrix Theory of the Vertex p - NN Based on the Strip Approximation

The present study was motivated by an attempt to understand low energy [formula] scattering within the framework of the bootstrap principle and the un-Reggeized version of the strip approximation. This work attempts to generate low energy [formula] scattering in the p(1,1) and p(3,3) states assuming the potential operating in these states is generated by the exchange of low mass meson states in the crossed t-channel and low mass baryon states in the crossed u channel. In particular, the p-meson is kept in channel t; the p mass and the coupling of [formula] and [formula] appear as parameters. The parameters of the nucleon and (3,3) poles are taken as the elements to be determined by self-consistency.
Date: May 1964
Creator: Sarkissian, M. Der
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Equation Of State Of PBX 9404 And LX04-01 (open access)

The Equation Of State Of PBX 9404 And LX04-01

The Chapman-Jouguet pressure and equation of state of the high explosives PBX 9404 and LX04-01 have been experimentally derived. To assure a strictly one-dimensional geometry, spheres of high explosives were used. Experimental measurements of the radius-time history of material accelerated by the explosive gases were used in conjunction with finite difference calculations of the hydrodynamic equations to obtain some previous inaccessible data on high explosives.
Date: April 27, 1964
Creator: Wilkins, Mark L.; Squier, Bailey & Halperin, Bertram
System: The UNT Digital Library
Measuring Rotary Table Angle Error (open access)

Measuring Rotary Table Angle Error

The angle errors of a rotary table can be accurately measured by stepping off the angles with an optical caliper and computing table error from (1) the error readings at each angle measured and (2) the cumulative caliper error that will be evident when the circle is closed at 360', eliminating the necessity of adjusting the caliper to the exact setting.
Date: April 27, 1964
Creator: Bryan, J. & Mohl, O.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Calculation of Explosion-Produced Craters (open access)

Calculation of Explosion-Produced Craters

In this study, a physical-numerical model is used to investigate processes important for cratering, or excavation, physics for high-explosive sources in desert alluvium. High explosives do not vaporize much of the geological environment surrounding the initial cavity containing the explosive. Thus, a relatively simple, and in some cases a well-known, equation of state exists for the high-explosive cavity gas for pressure greater than 1 atmosphere. However, nuclear explosives are known to vaporize a great deal of surrounding geological environment during the early part of cavity life history. This vaporized material is believed to condense late in the life history of the cavity, and prior to vent of the cavity gas to the atmosphere, such that the latent heat of condensation plays an important role in nuclear excavation. So far, no numerical-physical models of the response of a geologic environment to a nuclear explosive includes the effect of condensation on the hydrodynamics of late times. Thus, the calculation of the cavity pressure at late times including the effect of condensation is one of the current unsolved problems in the calculation of a crater formed by nuclear explosives. This study, then, develops a predictive, numerical-physical model for H.E. sources of the cavity …
Date: April 24, 1964
Creator: Knox, Joseph B. & Terhune, R. W. (Robert William)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Calculation Of The Shock Wave From An Underground Nuclear Explosion In Granite (open access)

Calculation Of The Shock Wave From An Underground Nuclear Explosion In Granite

In any underground nuclear explosion, the shock front that propagates from the shot point carries with it energy from the explosion, and distributes this energy by doing work on the surrounding material. In the process, the material undergoes changes in both its physical and mechanical states. If enough energy is deposited in the material, it will vaporize or melt thus changing its physical state, or cause it to crush or crack. During the past few years, special computer codes have been developed for predicting the close-in phenomena of underground nuclear explosions using the laws of physics, and the knowledge of the properties of the materials in which the detonations occur. As a consequence, a better understanding of experimental observations and measurements has evolved.
Date: April 24, 1964
Creator: Butkovich, Theodore R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Characteristics Of Radioactivity Produced By Nuclear Explosives (open access)

Characteristics Of Radioactivity Produced By Nuclear Explosives

The production of energy by nuclear reactions results in the production of radioactive nuclei. Therefore, in considering the possible utilization of nuclear explosives for peaceful purposes it is necessary to be able to predict the expected activities, their amounts, and dispositions. The amounts and kinds of radioactivities produced by detonation of a nuclear explosive are dependent upon the specific design of the explosive. The behavior and ultimate fate of the activities produced by the explosion depend on the composition of the medium in which the detonation occurs, the nature of the detonation, and the chemical species involved.
Date: April 24, 1964
Creator: Miskel, John A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Contained Nuclear Detonations in Four Media - Geological Factors in Cavity and Chimney Formation (open access)

Contained Nuclear Detonations in Four Media - Geological Factors in Cavity and Chimney Formation

Recent underground nuclear tests conducted by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission have yielded data on the effects of contained nuclear explosions in four rock mediums: tuff, alluvium, rock salt, and granite. This report presents and compares data obtained primarily through exploratory mining and drilling into the postshot environment of 35 such events.
Date: April 24, 1964
Creator: Boardman, Charles R.; Rabb, David D. & McArthur, Richard D.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effects Of Seismic Waves On Structures And Other Facilities (open access)

The Effects Of Seismic Waves On Structures And Other Facilities

The effects of explosion-induced ground motion must be evaluated in planning and executing any nuclear excavation project. For some projects ground use intensity may dictate the use of less-than-optimum yields to minimize damaging effects. In remote areas, weighing the alternatives of outright purchase of some property or use of smaller yields may be required. The cost of indemnifying owners against damage must be considered in any case. Discussions of the effects of ground motion on three broad types of facilities - engineered structures, residential buildings, and equipment required for the support of nuclear excavation operations - are presented. A method of predicting the response of single- and multi-storied buildings, the response spectrum technique, is discussed, with emphasis on the application of explosion-induced spectra.
Date: April 24, 1964
Creator: Cauthen, Lewis J., Jr.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Heavy Isotope Production By Nuclear Devices (open access)

Heavy Isotope Production By Nuclear Devices

In November 1952 an event took place which was to have a profound effect on political alignments of the world. This event was the detonation of "Mike", the first large thermonuclear device. The political implications of this experiment overshadowed what has come to be a major advance in the development of scientific tools; the experimentally verified, extremely high thermal neutron flux observed in Mike. Subsequent to this observation, the Atomic Energy Commission established a study program to investigate this particular characteristic of nuclear devices. Under the program, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory and Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Livermore, have studied the mechanisms of high fluxes, capture systematics, general stability characteristics, and more specifically, nuclear design to accomplish this massive neutron irradiation. Utilization of these greatly increased fluxes can be expected to significantly advance understanding in many fields.
Date: April 24, 1964
Creator: Dorn, David W.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Deposition Of Thermal Energy By Nuclear Explosives (open access)

Deposition Of Thermal Energy By Nuclear Explosives

A fraction of the energy released by the underground detonation of nuclear explosives is locally deposited as residual thermal energy. An accurate prediction of this usable fraction of the energy released is necessary to evaluate the feasibility of several of the proposed projects in the Plowshare Program. This paper will present a summary of the available data on residual thermal energy from nuclear detonations in three different geological media: tuff, halite, and granodiorite.
Date: April 6, 1964
Creator: Heckman, Richard A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Exponential Signal Rate-Of-Rise Measurement Instrument (open access)

Exponential Signal Rate-Of-Rise Measurement Instrument

The increasing exponential function e-at [a > 0] characterizes such natural events as gas discharges, neutron multiplication, and the transistor avalanche phenomenon. This report describes an instrument for measuring the rate of rise, a, of an increasing electrical exponential signal.
Date: April 6, 1964
Creator: Holladay, Gale; Behrin, Ervin & Campbell, Donald
System: The UNT Digital Library
Preburst Resistance and Temperature of Exploding Wires (open access)

Preburst Resistance and Temperature of Exploding Wires

It has been shown that the time of burst of exploding wires can be predicted from known thermodynamic and electrical properties of the wire materials under some conditions. The mathematical relationships are a set of integrals (transformation time integrals) similar in form to the empirical "action integrals" sometimes used in exploding wire work. This paper discusses the use of the transformation time integrals to calculate the resistance and temperature of a wire as a function of time up to the time of burst and to investigate the effects of environment of the wire on the temperature, resistance, and time of burst.
Date: February 24, 1964
Creator: Maninger, R. C.
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Dynamic Method For Mercury Vapor Detector Calibration (open access)

A Dynamic Method For Mercury Vapor Detector Calibration

The calibration of mercury vapor detectors has always posed a problem because of the difficulty of generating known concentrations of mercury vapor in air. The purpose of this study was to design an apparatus that would generate and chemically measure known concentrations of mercury vapor in air for calibration work.
Date: February 21, 1964
Creator: Nelson, Gary O.; Van Sandt, Walter & Barry, Patrick
System: The UNT Digital Library
Nuclear Excavation Technology (open access)

Nuclear Excavation Technology

Nuclear excavation is the name given to the concept of using large scale nuclear explosion craters for useful projects, such as harbors, canals, and roadway cuts. It is one of the principal applications of the Plowshare Program for industrial, or peaceful, uses of nuclear explosives. Plowshare is sponsored by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and is under the technical direction of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at Livermore, California. The purpose of this paper is to describe cratering concepts and the present state of nuclear excavation technology. The general nature of the safety hazards associated with nuclear excavation are also discussed.
Date: February 10, 1964
Creator: Nordyke, Milo D.
System: The UNT Digital Library
LRL Fortran-Fortran (open access)

LRL Fortran-Fortran

Late in 1962, a group in the Computation Division at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Livermore, began a study of compiler languages and techniques, the culmination of which was a machine independent FORTRAN written in FORTRAN. The impetus behind this study was a local need to move rapidly and efficiently from one machine to another. A secondary incentive was the need to be able to implement language extensions without the customarily long gestation period. Because of a large inventory of FORTRAN codes at this installation, FORTRAN source language was chosen as standard. Some effort was also expended on a syntax directed compiler written in FORTRAN for FORTRAN. With the knowledge of FORTRAN techniques gained from writing the syntax compiler and translators for other machines, the writing of FORTRAN in FORTRAN was begun.
Date: February 1964
Creator: Mendicino, S.; Storch, D. & Sutherland, G.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Determination of the Nucleon-Nucleon Elastic Scattering Matrix : I. Phase Shift Analysis of Experiments Near 140 MEV (open access)

Determination of the Nucleon-Nucleon Elastic Scattering Matrix : I. Phase Shift Analysis of Experiments Near 140 MEV

A phase shift analysis is an attempt to translate experimental measurements (observables) into well-determined scattering amplitudes, since these are the quantities that can be readily compared with theoretical predictions, In this sense, the phase shift analysis should contain as little theory as possible. The scattering amplitudes (or phase shifts) constitute an experimental statement, and the phase shift analysis should logically be done by the experimental groups who measure the observables.
Date: December 6, 1963
Creator: MacGregor, Malcolm. H. (Malcolm Herbert), 1926-2019; Arndt, R. A. & Dubow, A. A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Class of Shocks With Uniform Pressure (open access)

The Class of Shocks With Uniform Pressure

If a piston with constant velocity moves into a shock tube containing material at rest and at uniform density, the result is well known and trivial. The shock propagates with uniform speed, the state and speed of the material behind the shock is constant. One can ask if similar flows exist for cylindrical of spherical symmetry. Quickly one rules out the possibility of a solution which retains all the properties of this trivial solution. One asks if there are any solutions such that the material behind the shock is not accelerated. Indeed, there are. In the following, it is shown that for a y-law gas, there is a family of densities such that if a piston moves into the material with uniform velocity, the material behind the shock is not accelerated. Further, these are the only densities with this property. In the case of planar symmetry, the trivial case mentioned above is a member of the family, as is to be expected.
Date: December 1963
Creator: Hardy, John W.
System: The UNT Digital Library