ALBERT

Description: No abstract available

Description: Carbon fiber composites are used in a wide range of structural applications due to their excellent specific strength and stiffness. However, the anisotropic mechanical and electrical properties associated with the fibers within each composite layer present challenges, and opportunities, for Nondestructive Testing (NDT) methods used to characterize and assess the structure condition. This includes composite condition after manufacture (such as fiber orientation and density, porosity, delamination, and bond strength) and during usage (such as damage from impact, fiber breakage, thermal exposure or applied stress). Ultrasonic and thermographic methods can address some of these challenges, but eddy current methods provide an alternative method for composite structures that contain a conducting material, such as carbon fibers or a metallic liner. This presentation reviews recent advances in the development of eddy current sensors and arrays for carbon fiber composite NDT and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) applications. The focus is on eddy current sensor constructs with linear drive windings, such as MWM -Arrays, that induce currents primarily within the linear fibers of the composite. By combining this type of sensor construct with micromechanical models that relate composite constituent properties to measurable sensor responses, insight is obtained into the volumetric distribution of electrical properties within the composite and the associated manufacturing, damage, or strain conditions. With knowledge of the fiber layup, this MWM-Array technology is able to detect damage and strain/stress as a function of depth and fiber orientation. This work has been funded by NASA, NA V AIR and the Army for applications ranging from composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) to aircraft structures and rotorcraft blades. This presentation will specifically present background on the MWM-Array technology, results from the micromechanical modeling effort, and results from ongoing efforts for high resolution imaging and volumetric strain sensing.

Description: No abstract available

Description: With the goal of lower cost (simplified manufacturing and lower part count) and higher performance (higher strength to weight alloys) the NASA Technical Maturation Program in 2006 funded a proposal to investigate spin forming of space launch vehicle cryogenic tank domes. The project funding continued under the NASA Exploration Technology Development Program through completion in FY12. The first phase of the project involved spin forming of eight, 1 meter diameter "path finder" domes. Half of these were processed using a concave spin form process (MT Aerospace, Augsburg Germany) and the other half using a convex process (Spincraft, Boston MA). The convex process has been used to produce the Ares Common Bulkhead and the concave process has been used to produce dome caps for the Space Shuttle light weight external tank and domes for the NASDA H2. Aluminum Lithium material was chosen because of its higher strength to weight ratio than the Aluminum 2219 baseline. Aluminum lithium, in order to obtain the desired temper (T8), requires a cold stretch after the solution heat treatment and quench. This requirement favors the concave spin form process which was selected for scale up. This paper describes the results of processing four, 5.5 meter diameter (upper stage scale) net shaped spin formed Aluminum Lithium domes. In order to allow scalability beyond the limits of foundry and rolling mills (about 12 foot width) the circular blank contained one friction stir weld (heavy lifter scales require a flat blank containing two welds). Mechanical properties data (tensile, fracture toughness, stress corrosion, and simulated service testing) for the parent metal and weld will also be discussed.

Description: The increased use of high-temperature composite materials in modern and next generation aircraft and spacecraft have led to the need for improved nondestructive evaluation and health monitoring techniques. Such technologies are desirable to improve quality control, damage detection, stress evaluation and temperature measurement capabilities. Novel eddy current sensors and sensor arrays, such as Meandering Winding Magnetometers (MWMs) have provided alternate or complimentary techniques to ultrasound and thermography for both nondestructive evaluation (NDE) and structural health monitoring (SHM). This includes imaging of composite material quality, damage detection and .the monitoring of fiber temperatures and multidirectional stresses. Historically, implementation of MWM technology for the inspection of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Reinforced Carbon-Carbon Composite (RCC) leading edge panels was developed by JENTEK Sensors and was subsequently transitioned by NASA as an operational pre and post flight in-situ inspection at the Kennedy Space Center. A manual scanner, which conformed'automatically to the curvature of the RCC panels was developed and used as a secondary technique if a defect was found during an infrared thermography screening, During a recent proof of concept study on composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPV's), three different MWM sensors were tested at three orientations to demonstrate the ability of the technology to measure stresses at various fiber orientations and depths. These results showed excellent correlation with actual surface strain gage measurements. Recent advancements of this technology have been made applying MWM sensor technology for scanning COPVs for mechanical damage. This presentation will outline the recent advance~ in the MWM.technology and the development of MWM techniques for NDE and SHM of carbon wra~ped composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) including the measurement of internal stresses via a surface mounted sensor array. In addition, this paper will outline recent efforts to produce sensors capable of making real-time measurements at temperatures up to 850 C, and discuss previous results demonstrating capability to monitor carbon fiber temperature changes within a composite material.

Description: The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, or MMRTG, was developed by the Department Of Energy to a set of requirements from multiple NASA mission concepts. Those concepts included deep space missions to the outer planets as well as missions to Mars. The synthesis of that diverse set of requirements addressed functional as well as environmental requirements.

Description: No abstract available

Description: A Deep Space Habitat (DSH) is the crew habitation module designed for long duration missions. Although humans have lived in space for many years, there has never been a habitat beyond low-Earth-orbit. As part of the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Habitation Project, a study was conducted to develop weightless habitat configurations using systems based on International Space Station (ISS) designs. Two mission sizes are described for a 4-crew 60-day mission, and a 4-crew 500-day mission using standard Node, Lab, and Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) sized elements, and ISS derived habitation systems. These durations were selected to explore the lower and upper bound for the exploration missions under consideration including a range of excursions within the Earth-Moon vicinity, near earth asteroids, and Mars orbit. Current methods for sizing the mass and volume for habitats are based on mathematical models that assume the construction of a new single volume habitat. In contrast to that approach, this study explored the use of ISS designs based on existing hardware where available and construction of new hardware based on ISS designs where appropriate. Findings included a very robust design that could be reused if the DSH were assembled and based at the ISS and a transportation system were provided for its return after each mission. Mass estimates were found to be higher than mathematical models due primarily to the use of multiple ISS modules instead of one new large module, but the maturity of the designs using flight qualified systems have potential for improved cost, schedule, and risk benefits.

Description: NASA's exploration goals include extending human presence beyond low earth orbit (LEO). As a result, habitation for crew is a critical requirement for meeting this goal. However, habitats are very large structures that contain a multitude of subsystems to sustain human life over long-durations in space, and one of the key challenges has been keeping weight to a minimum in order to reduce costs. Thus, light-weight and multifunctional structural materials are of great interest for habitation. NASA has started studying polymeric composite materials as potential lightweight and multifunctional structural materials for use in long-duration spaceflight. However, little is known about the survivability of these materials when exposed to the space environment outside of LEO for long durations. Thus, a study has been undertaken to investigate the durability of composite materials when exposed to long-duration radiation. Furthermore, as an addition to the primary study, a secondary preliminary investigation has been started on the micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) susceptibility of these materials after radiation exposure. The combined effects of radiation and MMOD impacts are the focus of this paper.

Description: No abstract available