Argonne's near-frictionless carbon coatings find new use

A research collaboration between the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and the Kurt J. Lesker Company will study the durability of nearly frictionless carbon surface coatings in high-performance, vacuum environments.
The coating has a lower coefficient of friction than any other known material. It was developed at Argonne and received an R&D 100 Award for being one of the 100 most important technology advancements in 1998.

The nine-month Argonne-Lesker collaboration will examine nearly frictionless carbon coatings as a possible replacement for traditional chemical lubricants, such as greases and oils, used in specialized devices called neutron choppers.

Neutron choppers play an important role in neutron beam experiments like those conducted at Argonne's Intense Pulsed Neutron Source. Neutron beams are useful probes for studying the arrangement of atoms in materials such as glasses and superconductors.

A neutron chopper is essentially a disk rotated at high speeds with an aperture through which a neutron beam may pass during certain periods of the disk's rotation. Because of the demand for neutron beam experimental facilities, choppers must operate continuously for long periods of time, and their components must endure high vacuum conditions and neutron bombardment.

Ali Erdemir, a materials scientist at Argonne, explained that chemical lubricants degrade more rapidly in the chopper's vacuum environment. As a result, they limit the operating speed of the neutron choppers and can even reduce the accuracy of neutron beam measurements. Furthermore, because they are made radioactive by neutron bombardment, chemical lubricants must undergo a “cool-down” period before routine maintenance can be carried out.

The substitution of the nearly frictionless carbon coatings for chemical lubricants is “a great opportunity to solve these problems,” Erdemir said. “There is a lot of potential for improving chopper performance.”

The carbon coating has not yet seen widespread commercial use because of difficulties in cheaply manufacturing carbon-coated materials. However, Erdemir said two unnamed companies are working to bring the coating process to an industrial scale.

“The cost is the major issue,” he said. “In order to meet the cost requirements, you have to coat many thousands [of machinery parts] in one run.”

However, neutron choppers are not a large-volume application, and the additional cost of the specially coated components is acceptable given the potential improvements to the accuracy of neutron beam studies, Erdemir said. Furthermore, if the carbon coating proves durable in harsh vacuums, the technology could find broader applications, such as in vacuum pumps and spacecraft components.

The cooperative research program between Argonne and the Lesker Company will first test and optimize the carbon coating in vacuum conditions. Then researchers will devise a method to deposit the coating on critical moving parts of the neutron chopper device.

The cooperative research and development agreement is funded by a Phase I grant of the DOE Small Business Technology Transfer Program. Phase I funding, designated for preliminary studies, does not include plans to fabricate an actual device. If results from Phase I are promising, Phase II and III funding could be approved to develop and commercialize a product.

The Kurt J. Lesker Company is an international manufacturer and distributor of vacuum components and vacuum systems for research and industrial applications.

Source: Argonne National Laboratory

Related stories:

MIT tests unique approach to fusion power
An MIT and Columbia University team has successfully tested a novel reactor that could chart a new path toward nuclear fusion, which could become a safe, reliable and nearly limitless source of energy.
Bottoms up: Better organic semiconductors for printable electronics
Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Seoul National University have learned how to tweak a new class of polymer-based semiconductors to better control the location and alignment of the components of the blend. Their recent results—how to move the top to the bottom—could enable the design of practical, large-scale manufacturing techniques for a wide range of printable, flexible electronic displays and other devices.
Scientists discover that protons partner with neutrons more often than with other protons
Fast-moving protons are much more likely to pair up with fast-moving neutrons than with other protons in the nuclei of atoms, according to a recent experiment performed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The experiment confirms previous theoretical research led by Mark Strikman, a professor of physics at Penn State. Strikman's theory predicts that fast-moving protons have a nearly 100-percent tendency to form pairs with other fast-moving protons or neutrons, and that the majority of these pairings are between protons and neutrons. Strikman also suggested the experimental strategy that the researchers at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility used to make their discovery.
Evidence of a Bose glass state?
"In nano-sized systems many physical properties are greatly altered from those of macroscopic-sized systems. Therefore, study of nano-sized systems, in general, is very important in developing fundamental physics," Keiya Shirahama tells PhysOrg.com via email.
Protons Pair Up With Neutrons
Research performed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility has found that protons are about 20 times more likely to pair up with neutrons than with other protons in the nucleus. The result will be published online by the journal Science, at the Science Express website.
Improved Ion Mobility Is Key to New Hydrogen Storage Compound
A materials scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology has deciphered the structure of a new class of materials that can store relatively large quantities of hydrogen within its crystal structure for later release. The new analysis may point to a practical hydrogen storage material for automobile fuel cells and similar applications.
More Solid than Solid: A Potential Hydrogen-Storage Compound
One of the key engineering challenges to building a clean, efficient, hydrogen-powered car is how to design the fuel tank. Storing enough raw hydrogen for a reasonable driving range would require either impractically high pressures for gaseous hydrogen or extremely low temperatures for liquid hydrogen. In a new paper researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Center for Neutron Research have demonstrated that a novel class of materials could enable a practical hydrogen fuel tank.
New paper reveals nanoscale details of photolithography process
Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have made the first direct measurements of the infinitesimal expansion and collapse of thin polymer films used in the manufacture of advanced semiconductor devices. It’s a matter of only a couple of nanometers, but it can be enough to affect the performance of next-generation chip manufacturing. The NIST measurements, detailed in a new paper, offer a new insight into the complex chemistry that enables the mass production of powerful new integrated circuits.

News discussion:

Physics news