The convention for field emission cathode (FEC) synthesis involves coating with a very-high tolerance in thickness uniformity using a planetary substrate fixture and a large source-to-substrate separation. New criteria for a deposition process must facilitate a reduction in the operating voltage by increasing the density of emitters through a reduction of cathode size and spacing. The objective of scaling the substrate size from small (less than 30 cm{sup 2}) to large (greater than 500 cm{sup 2}) areas further compounds manufacturing requirements to a point beyond that easily obtained by modifications to the convention for FEC deposition. A new patented approach to design, assemble, and operate a coating system enables FEC deposition over large areas through process control of source divergence coupled to incremental substrate positioning.

An experimental and finite element analysis was performed for the electron-beam evaporation of Ti and Ti-6Al-4V from a bottom-feed system. The bulk evaporation rate was measured by feed consumption, and the pool elevation was held constant by adjusting the feed rate in a closed-loop control system. The instantaneous titanium and aluminum evaporation rates were determined by laser absorption in the vapor plume. Water temperature rises in cooling water circuits provided heat flows, and post-run cross sections revealed the location of the solidification zone. The MELT finite element code was applied to model the steady-state two-dimensional fluid flow and energy transport in the rod. There was good agreement between model and measured values of the heat flows and solidification boundaries for Ti. Measured bulk evaporation rates were similar for Ti and Ti-6-4 with greater variation observed for the Ti values. The model evaporation rates were higher than the measured values, but a similar linear dependence on e-beam power was observed in all cases. In a Ti-6-4 evaporation experiment with steady process conditions, laser absorption measurements showed much larger fluctuations in the evaporation rate for Al than Ti.

A multi-rover cooperative team or swarm developed by Sandia National Laboratories is described, including various control methodologies that have been implemented to date. How the swarm's capabilities could be applied to a lunar ice prospecting mission is briefly explored. Some of the specific major engineering issues that must be addressed to successfully implement the swarm approach to a lunar surface mission are outlined, and potential solutions are proposed.

Sandia National Laboratory are working on ways to increase production using Knowledge Management. Knowledge Management is: finding ways to create, identify, capture, and distribute organizational knowledge to the people who need it; to help information and knowledge flow to the right people at the right time so they can act more efficiently and effectively; recognizing, documenting and distributing explicit knowledge (explicit knowledge is quantifiable and definable, it makes up reports, manuals, instructional materials, etc.) and tacit knowledge (tacit knowledge is doing and performing, it is a combination of experience, hunches, intuition, emotions, and beliefs) in order to improve organizational performance and a systematic approach to find, understand and use knowledge to create value.

Scenarios for the building of muon colliders or storage rings suitable for the generation of robust neutrino beams call for the generation of a prodigious quantity of pions. These pions are then conducted into a decay channel where the resulting muon decay products can be collected for cooling and subsequent acceleration. Central to this concept is the design and construction of a target which will be highly efficient in producing pions of both signs while mitigating the absorption of these pions before they decay. This design effort is being facilitated by using two computer codes FLUKA and MARS. The authors present comparisons of the two computer codes and also present a comparison of these codes with available data.

An overall trend toward smaller electronic packages and devices makes it increasingly important and difficult to obtain meaningful diffraction information from small areas. X-ray micro-diffraction, electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) and Kossel are micro-diffraction techniques used for crystallographic analysis including texture, phase identification and strain measurements. X-ray micro-diffraction primarily is used for phase analysis and residual strain measurements. X-ray micro-diffraction primarily is used for phase analysis and residual strain measurements of areas between 10 {micro}m to 100 {micro}m. For areas this small glass capillary optics are used for producing a usable collimated x-ray beam. These optics are designed to reflect x-rays below the critical angle therefore allowing for larger solid acceptance angle at the x-ray source resulting in brighter smaller x-ray beams. The determination of residual strain using micro-diffraction techniques is very important to the semiconductor industry. Residual stresses have caused voiding of the interconnect metal which then destroys electrical continuity. Being able to determine the residual stress helps industry to predict failures from the aging effects of interconnects due to this stress voiding. Stress measurements would be impossible using a conventional x-ray diffractometer; however, utilizing a 30{micro}m glass capillary these small areas are readily assessable for analysis. Kossel produces a …

Recent studies involving the use of micelles, reverse micelles, and microemulsions as organized microheterogeneous media for effecting photochemical transformations have led to growing recognition that the nature of the reaction medium (i.e., microenvironment) may strongly influence the course and efficiency of photoinduced electron transfer. Of particular interest in photochemical energy conversion research is the study of such effects in natural photosynthesis, the process whereby plants and photosynthetic bacteria convert light into chemical energy. The primary process in photosynthesis occurs in trasmembrane pigment-protein complexes called reaction centers (RCs), where following the absorption of light, primary charge separation occurs. This electrochemical energy is stored, and the initial charge separation used to drive all subsequent electron and proton transfer reactions in photosynthesis. One area of current research interest is the determination of the effect of conformational changes in detergent-solubilized RCs on electron transfer. In this report, the authors consider a related issue: the introduction of RCs into biomembrane mimetics and its impact on protein conformation, orientation, and function. As a medium for these studies, they have employed a recently developed stimulus-responsive complex fluid (smart material) that possesses the ability to respond to an environmental change/external stimulus on a molecular level and amplify it …

A transient, multi-dimensional model has been developed to simulate proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. The model accounts simultaneously for electrochemical kinetics, current distribution, hydrodynamics and multi-component transport. A single set of conservation equations valid for flow channels, gas-diffusion electrodes, catalyst layers and the membrane region are developed and numerically solved using a finite-volume-based computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique. The numerical model is validated against published experimental data with good agreement. Subsequently, the model is applied to explore hydrogen dilution effects in the anode feed. The predicted polarization cubes under hydrogen dilution conditions are found to be in qualitative agreement with recent experiments reported in the literature. The detailed two-dimensional electrochemical and flow/transport simulations further reveal that in the presence of hydrogen dilution in the fuel stream, hydrogen is depleted at the reaction surface resulting in substantial kinetic polarization and hence a lower current density that is limited by hydrogen transport from the fuel stream to the reaction site.

The authors explore the use of variational grid-generation to perform alignment of a grid with a given vector field. Variational methods have proven to be a powerful class of grid-generators, but when they are used in alignment, difficulties may arise in treating boundaries due to an incompatibility between geometry and vector field. In this paper, a refinement of the procedure of iterating boundary values is presented. It allows one to control the quality of the grid in the face of the above-mentioned incompatibility. This procedure may be incorporated into any variational alignment algorithm. The authors demonstrate its use with respect to a new quasi-variational alignment method having a particularly simple structure. The latter method is comparable to Knupp's method (see [7]), but avoids use of the Winslow equations.

Electrodeposited metal matrix/metal particle composite (EMMC) coatings were produced with a nickel matrix and aluminum particles. By optimizing the process parameters, coatings were deposited with 20 volume percent aluminum particles. Coating morphology and composition were characterized using light optical microscopy (LOM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). Differential thermal analysis (DTA) was employed to study reactive phase formation. The effect of heat treatment on coating phase formation was studied in the temperature range 415 to 1,000 C. Long-time exposure at low temperature results in the formation of several intermetallic phases at the Ni matrix/Al particle interfaces and concentrically around the original Al particles. Upon heating to the 500--600 C range, the aluminum particles react with the nickel matrix to form NiAl islands within the Ni matrix. When exposed to higher temperatures (600--1,000 C), diffusional reaction between NiAl and nickel produces ({gamma})Ni{sub 3}Al. The final equilibrium microstructure consists of blocks of ({gamma}{prime})Ni{sub 3}Al in a {gamma}(Ni) solid solution matrix, with small pores also present. Pore formation is explained based on local density changes during intermetallic phase formation and microstructural development is discussed with reference to reaction synthesis of bulk nickel aluminides.

The collisional dependence of saturated polarization spectroscopy with a picosecond laser is investigated by probing hydroxyl in a flow cell. While nanosecond lasers have been used often for nonlinear diagnostic measurements of flame composition, picosecond lasers provide a potentially superior source for such techniques. Compared to a nanosecond laser, picosecond lasers produce significantly greater peak power for the same pulse energy, and this could improve the signal strength of multi-photon techniques such as degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) and polarization spectroscopy (PS). It has been suggested that the signal produced by such lasers would be less dependent on the collisional environment because the behavior of the molecular system probed by short-pulse lasers is governed more by the spectral width of the laser and the Doppler effect. To investigate the collisional dependence of the polarization spectroscopy signal generated with a picosecond laser, the authors probe the A{sup 2}{Sigma}{sup +}-X{sup 2}{Pi} (0,0) band of OH in a flow cell. In this well-controlled environment, the authors monitor the change in signal strength as they vary the buffer gas pressure by a factor of 50. Hydroxyl (OH) is created by photolysis of hydrogen peroxide using a Nd:YAG laser.

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Vertical vibration of linac components (accelerating structures, girders and quadrupoles) in the NLC has been studied experimentally and analytically. Effects such as structural resonances and vibration caused by cooling water both in accelerating structures and quadrupoles have been considered. Experimental data has been compared with analytical predictions and simulations using ANSYS. A design, incorporating the proper decoupling of structure vibrations from the linac quadrupoles, is being pursued.

The Savannah River Site uses sophisticated glovebox facilities to process and analyze material that is radiologically contaminated or that must be protected from contamination by atmospheric gases. The analysis can be visual, non destructive measurement, or destructive measurement, and allows for the gathering of information that would otherwise not be obtainable. Macro and Micro systems that cover a range of 2X to 400X magnifications with a robust system compatible with the harsh glovebox environment were installed. Remote video inspection systems were developed and deployed in Savannah River Site glovebox facilities that provide high quality or mega-pixel quality remote views, for remote inspections. The specialized video systems that are the subject of this report exhibited specialized field application of remote video/viewing techniques by expanding remote viewing to high and very high quality viewing in gloveboxes. This technological enhancement will allow the gathering of precision information that is otherwise not available.

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Virginia Power Surry Nuclear Station Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) fuel was stored in a dry inert atmosphere Castor V/21 cask at the Idaho National Environmental and Engineering Laboratory (INEEL) for 15 years at peak cladding temperatures decreasing from about 350 to 150 C. Prior to the storage, the loaded cask was subjected to extensive thermal benchmark tests. The cask was opened to examine the fuel for degradation and to determine if it was suitable for extended storage. No rod breaches had occurred and no visible degradation or crud/oxide spallation were observed. Twelve rods were removed from the center of the T11 assembly and shipped from INEEL to the Argonne-West HFEF for profilometric scans. Four of these rods were punctured to determine the fission gas release from the fuel matrix and internal pressure in the rods. Three of the four rods were cut into five segments each, then shipped to the Argonne-East AGHCF for detailed examination. The test plan calls for metallographic examination of six samples from two of the rods, microhardness and hydrogen content measurements at or near the six metallographic sample locations, tensile testing of six samples from the two rods, and thermal creep testing of eight samples from …

The aging of hermetically sealed systems is often accompanied by the gradual production of hydrogen gas that is a result of the decay of environmental gases and the degradation of organic materials. In particular, the oxygen, water, hydrogen ''equilibrium'' is affected by the removal of oxygen due the oxidation of metals and organic materials. This shift of the above ''equilibrium'' towards the formation of hydrogen gas, particularly in crevices, may eventually reach an explosive level of hydrogen gas or degrade metals by hydriding them. The latter process is generally delayed until the oxidizing species are significantly reduced. Organic hydrogen getters introduced by Allied Signal Aerospace Company, Kansas City Division have proven to be a very effective means of preventing hydrogen gas accumulation in sealed containers. These getters are relatively unaffected by air and environmental gases. They can be packaged in a variety of ways to fit particular needs such as porous pellets, fine or coarse [gravel] powder, or loaded into silicone rubber. The hydrogen gettering reactions are extremely irreversible since the hydrogen gas is converted into an organic hydrocarbon. These getters are based on the palladium-catalyzed hydrogenation of triple bonds to double and then single bonds in aromatic aryl compounds. …

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The atomic scale structure of the 5-fold symmetric surface of an AlPdMn quasicrystal is investigated quantitatively by comparing x-ray photoelectron diffraction (XPD) simulations to experiment. The observed 5-fold symmetry of the diffraction patterns indicates that the surface is quasicrystalline with no hint of a reconstruction from the bulk structure. In analyzing the experimental data, many possible bulk terminations have been tested. Those few that fit best to the data have in common that they contain an Al-rich surface layer followed by a dense mixed Al/Pd/Mn layer. These best terminations, while not identical to each other, are suggested to form terraces coexisting on a real surface. Structural relaxations of the quasicrystal surface are also analyzed: mixing several best-fit terminations gives average best-fit interlayer spacing changes of Dd12 = -0.057 Angstrom, Dd24 = +0.159 Angstrom. These results are in good agreement with a prior structure determination by LEED on a sample that was prepared in a different manner.

To understand the origin of the spin-glass state in molybdate pyrochlores, the structure of Tb{sub 2}Mo{sub 2}O{sub 7} is investigated using two techniques: the long-range lattice structure was measured using neutron powder diffraction (NPD), and local structure information was obtained from the extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) technique. While the long-range structure appears generally well ordered, enhanced mean-squared site displacements on the O(1) site and the lack of temperature dependence of the strongly anisotropic displacement parameters for both the Mo and O(1) sites indicate some disorder exists. Likewise, the local structure measurements indicate some Mo-Mo and Tb-O(1) nearest-neighbor disorder exists, similar to that found in the related spin-glass pyrochlore, Y{sub 2}Mo{sub 2}O{sub 7}. Although the freezing temperature in Tb{sub 2}Mo{sub 2}O{sub 7}, 25 K, is slightly higher than in Y{sub 2}Mo{sub 2}O{sub 7}, 22 K, the degree of local pair distance disorder is actually less in Tb{sub 2}Mo{sub 2}O{sub 7}. This apparent contradiction is considered in light of the interactions involved in the freezing process.

Cores of magnetic vortices in micron-sized NiFe disk structures, with thicknesses between 150 and 50 nm, were imaged and analysed by high resolution magnetic soft X-ray microscopy. A decrease of the vortex core radius was observed, from #24; ~38 to 18 nm with decreasing disk thickness. By comparing with full 3D micromagnetic simulations showing the well-known barrel structure, we obtained excellent agreement taking into account instrumental broadening and a small perpendicular anisotropy. The proven magnetic spatial resolution of better than 25 nm was sufficient to identify a negative dip close to the vortex core, originating from stray fields of the core. Magnetic vortex structures can serve as test objects for evaluating sensitivity and spatial resolution of advanced magnetic microscopy techniques.