NASA SBIR abstracts of 1991 phase 1 projects

The objectives of 301 projects placed under contract by the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are described. These projects were selected competitively from among proposals submitted to NASA in response to the 1991 SBIR Program Solicitation. The basic document consists of edited, non-proprietary abstracts of the winning proposals submitted by small businesses. The abstracts are presented under the 15 technical topics within which Phase 1 proposals were solicited. Each project was assigned a sequential identifying number from 001 to 301, in order of its appearance in the body of the report. Appendixes to provide additional information about the SBIR program and permit cross-reference of the 1991 Phase 1 projects by company name, location by state, principal investigator, NASA Field Center responsible for management of each project, and NASA contract number are included

Marshall Space Flight Center Research and Technology Report 2019

Today, our calling to explore is greater than ever before, and here at Marshall Space Flight Centerwe make human deep space exploration possible. A key goal for Artemis is demonstrating and perfecting capabilities on the Moon for technologies needed for humans to get to Mars. This years report features 10 of the Agencys 16 Technology Areas, and I am proud of Marshalls role in creating solutions for so many of these daunting technical challenges. Many of these projects will lead to sustainable in-space architecture for human space exploration that will allow us to travel to the Moon, on to Mars, and beyond. Others are developing new scientific instruments capable of providing an unprecedented glimpse into our universe. NASA has led the charge in space exploration for more than six decades, and through the Artemis program we will help build on our work in low Earth orbit and pave the way to the Moon and Mars. At Marshall, we leverage the skills and interest of the international community to conduct scientific research, develop and demonstrate technology, and train international crews to operate further from Earth for longer periods of time than ever before first at the lunar surface, then on to our next giant leap, human exploration of Mars. While each project in this report seeks to advance new technology and challenge conventions, it is important to recognize the diversity of activities and people supporting our mission. This report not only showcases the Centers capabilities and our partnerships, it also highlights the progress our people have achieved in the past year. These scientists, researchers and innovators are why Marshall and NASA will continue to be a leader in innovation, exploration, and discovery for years to come

COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF FEASIBILITY AND UTILITY OF DIRECT-ADHESION POLYMER-TO-METAL HYBRID TECHNOLOGIES FOR USE IN LOAD BEARING BODY-IN-WHITE AUTOMOTIVE COMPONENTS

Traditionally, metals and plastics are fierce competitors in many automotive engineering applications. This paradigm is gradually being abolished as the polymer-metal-hybrid (PMH) technologies, developed over the last decade, are finding ways to take full advantage of the two classes of materials by combining them into a singular component/sub-assembly. By employing one of the several patented PMH technologies, automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have succeeded in engaging flexible assembly strategies, decreasing capital expenditures and reducing labor required for vehicle manufacture. The basic concept utilized in all PMH technologies is based on the fact that while an open-channel thin-wall sheet-metal component can readily buckle under compressive load, with very little lateral support, provided by a thin-wall rib-like injection-molded plastic subcomponent, the buckling resistance (and the stiffness) of the component can be greatly increased (while the accompanied weight increase is relatively small). In the present work, the potential of direct-adhesion PMH technologies for use in load-bearing structural automotive components is explored computationally. Within the direct adhesion PMH technology, load transfer between stamped sheet-metal and injection-molded rib-like plastic subcomponent is accomplished through a variety of nanometer-to-micron scale chemical and mechanical phenomena which enable direct adhesion between the two materials. Multi-disciplinary computations are carried out ranging from: (a) computational investigation of the sheet-metal stamping process including determination of the residual stresses and the extent of stamped-component warping; (b) computational fluid mechanics of the filling, packing and cooling stages of the injection-molding process including determination of flow-induced fiber orientation in the molded plastic and the extent of residual stresses and warping in the injection-molded sub-component: and (c) structural-mechanics computational investigation of the effect of injection-molded component residual stresses and warping on their ability to withstand thermal loading encountered in the paint shop and mechanical in-service loading. The results obtained revealed that a minimal level of the polymer-to-metal adhesion strength (5-10MPa) must be attained in order for the direct-adhesion PMH technologies to be a viable alternative in the load-bearing body-in-white (BIW) components. In the present work, also various PMH approaches used to promote direct (adhesive-free) adhesion between metal and injection-molded thermoplastics are reviewed and critiqued. The approaches are categorized as: (a) micro-scale polymer-to-metal mechanical interlocking; (b) in-coil or stamped-part pre-coating for enhanced adhesion; and (c) chemical modifications of the injection-molded thermoplastics for enhanced polymer-to-metal adhesion. For each of these approaches their suitability for use in load-bearing BIW components is discussed. In particular, the compatibility of these approaches with the BIW manufacturing process chain (i.e. (pre-coated) metal component stamping, BIW construction via different joining technologies, BIW pre-treated and painting operations) is presented. It has been found that while considerable amount of research has been done in the PMH direct-adhesion area, many aspects of these technologies which are critical from the standpoint of their use in the BIW structural applications have not been addressed (or addressed properly). Among the PMH technologies identified, the one based on micro-scale mechanical interlocking between the injection-molded thermoplastic polymer and stamped-metal structural component was found to be most promising. Lastly, the suitability and the potential of various polymer-powder spraying technologies for coating metal stampings and, thus, for enhancing the polymer-to-metal adhesion strength in direct-adhesion PMH load-bearing automotive-component applications is considered. The suitability of the spraying technologies is assessed with respect to a need for metal-stamping surface preparation/treatment, their ability to deposit the polymeric material without significant material degradation, the ability to selectively overcoat the metal-stamping, the resulting magnitude of the polymer-to-metal adhesion strength, durability of the polymer/metal bond with respect to prolonged exposure to high-temperature/high-humidity and mechanical/thermal fatigue service conditions, and compatibility with the automotive BIW manufacturing process chain. The analysis revealed that while each of the spraying technologies has some limitations, the cold-gas dynamic-spray process appears to be the leading candidate technology for the indicated applications

Understanding Pharmaceutical Quality by Design

This review further clarifies the concept of pharmaceutical quality by design (QbD) and describes its objectives. QbD elements include the following: (1) a quality target product profile (QTPP) that identifies the critical quality attributes (CQAs) of the drug product; (2) product design and understanding including identification of critical material attributes (CMAs); (3) process design and understanding including identification of critical process parameters (CPPs), linking CMAs and CPPs to CQAs; (4) a control strategy that includes specifications for the drug substance(s), excipient(s), and drug product as well as controls for each step of the manufacturing process; and (5) process capability and continual improvement. QbD tools and studies include prior knowledge, risk assessment, mechanistic models, design of experiments (DoE) and data analysis, and process analytical technology (PAT). As the pharmaceutical industry moves toward the implementation of pharmaceutical QbD, a common terminology, understanding of concepts and expectations are necessary. This understanding will facilitate better communication between those involved in risk-based drug development and drug application review

A Portfolio of Fabrication and Recycling Technology Development for the International Space Station

No abstract availabl

Paraffin

Paraffin waxes make up the majority of commercial waxes. Waxes are characterized by the carbon number, hardness, crystal shape, composition, and molecular weight. These characteristics determine the condition of separating the wax. Paraffin wax is widely used in different industries such as ink, paper, cosmetics, ceramics using powder injection molding and energy storage as phase change materials. Consumption of wax products has increased in the world; especially for food, pharmaceutical products, cosmetics, as well as specialty products. The increase of profitability of wax production will lie in the improvement of blending and modification techniques for macro and micro-crystalline waxes used as the base materials

Optimal Scheduling for Chemical Processes and its Integration with Design and Control

Optimal scheduling is an active area of research as the economics of many chemical processes is affected to a great extent with the optimality of schedules of their operations. Effective use of resources and their capacities is paramount in order to achieve optimal operations. Manual and heuristics-based approaches used for scheduling have their limitations which inhibit the chemical process industries to achieve economically attractive operations. One such sector is the analytical services industries and success of companies in this sector highly relies on the effective scheduling of operations as large numbers of samples from customers are received, analyzed and reports are generated for each sample. Therefore, it is extremely important to efficiently use all the various resources (labor and machine) for such facilities to remain competitive. This study focuses on the development of an algorithm to schedule operations in an actual large scale analytical services plant using models based on multi-commodity flow (MCF) and integer linear programming (IP) techniques. The proposed scheduling algorithm aims to minimize the total turnaround time of the operations subject to capacity, resource and flow constraints. The basic working principles of the optimization-based algorithm are illustrated with a small representative case study, while its relevance and significance is demonstrated through another case study of a real large scale plant. In the latter case study, the algorithm’s results are compared against historical data and results obtained by simulating the current policy implemented in the real plant, i.e., first-come first-served. Along with scheduling, many chemical processes require the optimization of other aspects that play major part in the process economics, e.g. design and control. An important section of the chemical process industry produces various grades of products (multi-product) and the scheduling of the production of these grades along with optimal design and control play important roles in the economy of the operations. As part of this research study, a new methodology that can address three aspects of the economy of the multiproduct processes together; i.e. simultaneous scheduling, design and control, has been developed. A mixed integer non linear programming (MINLP) optimization framework has been formulated, which aims to simultaneously evaluate optimal design, steady state operating conditions for each grade as a part of design, optimal tuning parameters for the controllers, optimal sequence of production of various grades of product and optimal smooth transitions between the grades. This is achieved via minimization of overall cost of the operation. The proposed methodology takes into account the influence of disturbances in the system by the identification of the critical frequency from the disturbances, which is used to quantify the worst-case variability in the controlled variables via frequency response analysis. The uncertainty in the demands of products has also been addressed by creating critical demand scenarios with different probabilities of occurrence, while the nominal stability of the system has been ensured. Two case studies have been developed as applications of the methodology. The first case study focuses on the comparison of classical semi-sequential approach against the simultaneous methodology developed in this work, while the second case study demonstrates the capability of the methodology in application to a large-scale nonlinear system

Proceedings of the 1st Annual WASM: MECE HDR Conference

1st Annual WA School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering HDR conference program and conference abstracts