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Sandia Labs Press Releases

previous Sandia Labs releases

From: Aboytes, Iris [mailto:ioaboyt@sandia.gov] On Behalf Of Sandia National Laboratories Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2003 10:38 AM To: Aboytes, Iris Subject: Sandia Labs budget may top $2.2 billion
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 19, 2003

Sandia Labs budget may top $2.2 billion

Growing budget allows expansion of work in key laboratory programs
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The budget for the Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories is on the road to surpassing $2.2 billion for FY2004, a record amount as the Labs expands its efforts in key national security, energy, and defense programs.
Optimism over the Labs' budget stems from the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act recently passed by the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives. Senator Pete Domenici, R-NM, who was instrumental in achieving agreement on the appropriations bill, announced that its provisions have far-reaching benefits for Sandia as well as other needs in New Mexico.
"We worked very hard to craft a bill under tight budget constraints that still meets our nation's most urgent needs," Domenici said. "I believe that this bill does so. I'm particularly pleased that our national labs, including Sandia, will be able to move ahead with projects that are vital to our national security."
Sandia President and Labs Director C. Paul Robinson commended Senator Domenici for his leadership of the crucial nuclear weapons funding, as well as Senator Jeff Bingaman, D-NM, and Rep. Heather Wilson, R-NM, for their dedication and support of Sandia's national security mission.
"I am extremely pleased to see that funding for our missions is strong, and that we will be able to advance important projects such as the Microsystems and Engineering Sciences Applications [MESA] project," Robinson said. "These efforts strengthen our national security portfolio and position Sandia for a positive future." Sandia now receives funding from many agencies of the U.S. government for supporting research and development from military systems to homeland security.
The Senate-House appropriations bill, which still must be signed by the President, includes $185 million in major construction projects for Sandia, including the following:
· $87 million to continue construction of the MESA complex.
· $29.85 million for construction of the Center for Integrated Nanotechnology, a joint venture of Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratory located at the Sandia Science and Technology Park in Albuquerque.
· $36.4 million for the test capabilities revitalization project, which includes the sled track complex, aerial cable facility and centrifuge complex.
· $20 million for exterior communications infrastructure modernization.
· $12 million for the Distributed Information Systems Laboratory (DISL) at Sandia's facility in Livermore, Calif.
The MESA project is Sandia's largest major capital construction project, with a total cost of $462 million and completion slated for 2008. It will create three facilities and provide the equipment required to design and prototype qualified microsystems-based components for nuclear weapons. MESA is part of the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) microsystems engineering effort, which integrates essential activity for the Stockpile Life Extension Program (SLEP) and positions DOE/NNSA to meet new national security initiatives and directions.
Appropriated funds also provide $4 million for the Z-Pinch inertial fusion energy research program and $5 million for modification of the beamlet laser for the Sandia Z machine.
The appropriations bill includes $6.272 billion for all weapons activities throughout the NNSA laboratories, a $254 million increase over FY2003. The bill provides $1.327 billion for NNSA nonproliferation activities. Both Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories are key participants in this work.
The bill also funds key DOE programs in renewable energy, water desalination, and nuclear energy research and development, as well as diverse programs in the basic energy sciences. Sandia also performs work for other U.S. government agencies. The aggregate impact of all these funding sources is expected to exceed $2.2 billion for Sandia National Laboratories.
"Sandia very much appreciates the confidence Congress and the American people show in the nuclear weapons laboratories," Robinson said. "The credit for that confidence goes directly to the thousands of hard working people at Sandia, the other laboratories, and staff within the NNSA and DOE."
Robinson specifically cited Domenici for his continued support of Sandia and its mission. "Senator Domenici has always been a strong advocate of this laboratory and national security," Robinson said.
Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies, and economic competitiveness.
Sandia Media Contacts: Chris Miller, 505-844-5550, cmiller@sandia.gov John German, 505-844-5199, jdgerma@sandia.gov
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From: Aboytes, Iris [mailto:ioaboyt@sandia.gov] On Behalf Of Sandia
National Laboratories
Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2003 1:03 PM
To: Aboytes, Iris
Subject: Ultra-high temperature ceramics

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 15, 2003
Sandia develops ultra-high-temperature

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -Researchers at the Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories have developed a new lightweight material to withstand ultra-high temperatures on hypersonic vehicles, such as the space shuttle.
The ultra-high-temperature ceramics (UHTCs), created in Sandia's Advanced Materials Laboratory, can withstand up to 2000º C (about 3,800º F).
Ron Loehman, a senior scientist in Sandia's Ceramic Materials, said results from the first seven months of the project have exceeded his expectations.
"We plan to have demonstrated successful performance at the lab scale in another year with scale-up the next year," Loehman said.
Thermal insulation materials for sharp leading edges on hypersonic vehicles must be stable at very high temperatures (near 2000º C). The materials must resist evaporation, erosion, and oxidation, and should exhibit low thermal diffusivity to limit heat transfer to support structures.
Composite materials UHTCs are composed of zirconium diboride (ZrB2) and hafnium diboride (HfB2), and composites of those ceramics with silicon carbide (SiC). These ceramics are extremely hard and have high melting temperatures (3245°C for ZrB2 and 3380°C for HfB2). When combined, the material forms protective, oxidation-resistant coatings, and has low vapor pressures at potential use temperatures.
"However, in their present state of development, UHTCs have exhibited poor strength and thermal shock behavior, a deficiency that has been attributed to inability to make them as fully dense ceramics with good microstructures," Loehman said.
Loehman said the initial evaluation of UHTC specimens provided by the NASA Thermal Protection Branch about a year ago suggests that the poor properties were due to agglomerates, inhomogeneities, and grain boundary impurities, all of which could be traced to errors in ceramic processing.
During the first seven months, the researchers made UHTCs in both the ZrB2 and HfB2 systems that are 100 percent dense or nearly so. They have favorable microstructures, as indicated by preliminary electron microscopic examination. In addition, the researchers have hot pressed UHTCs with a much wider range of SiC contents than ever before. Availability of a range of compositions and microstructures will give system engineers added flexibility in optimizing their designs.
Collaborations The project is part of the Sandia Thermal Protection Materials Program and represents the work of several Sandia researchers. The primary research team consists of Jill Glass, Paul Kotula, David Kuntz, and University of New Mexico doctoral student Hans-Peter Dumm.
Kuntz said his primary responsibility is to compute aeroheating, design thermal protection systems (heat shields), compute material thermal response on high-speed flight vehicles, and to develop tools to improve these capabilities.
"If a vehicle flies fast enough to get hot, we analyze it," Kuntz said. "Our tools consist of a set of computer codes that compute the flowfield around a high-speed flight vehicle, the resultant heating on the surface of the vehicle, and the subsequent temperatures and ablation of the materials which form the surface of the vehicle."
Glass works with high-temperature mechanical properties and fracture analysis, and Kotula performs microstructural and microchemical analysis on the ceramic materials.
Kotula applies the Automated eXpert Spectral Image Analysis (AXSIA) software (developed by Kotula and Michael Keenan, and recently patented and winner of a 2002 R&D 100 award) to the characterization of hafnium and zirconium diboride/silicon carbide UHTCs. Kotula looks at these materials at the micron to subnanometer length scale for grain size and phase distribution as well as impurities or contaminants that can adversely affect their mechanical properties.
Creative analysis Boron and carbon are difficult to analyze because they give off low-energy or soft X-rays when excited with an electron beam as in a scanning or transmission electron microscope typically used for such analyses. Instead of using X-ray analysis techniques, the research team has developed other analytical capabilities based on electron energy-loss spectrometry to determine amounts and nanometer-scale lateral distributions of the light elements in the UHTCs.
Oxygen, in particular, is an important impurity since, in combination with the silicon present in the UHTCs and other impurities, it can form glasses or other phases that typically can't take the required high-operation temperatures and would melt or crack in service, causing the material to fail.
"If enough of the wrong contaminants find their way into the process, the material will have no high-temperature strength or stability," Kotula said.
Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies, and economic competitiveness.

Sandia Media Contact: Michael Padilla, 284-5325, mjpadil@sandia.gov
Sandia Technical Contact: Ron Loehman, 272-7304, loehman@sandia.gov

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