Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports Volume 39 April 6, 2001

20010026182 Oak Ridge National Lab., TN USA
Cost of Oil Dependence: A 2000 Update
Greene, D. L.; Tishchishyna, N. I.; May 01, 2000; 57p; In English
Report No.(s): DE00-763234; ORNL/TM-2000/152; No Copyright; Avail: Department of Energy Information Bridge
Oil dependence remains a potentially serious economic and strategic problem for the USA. This report updates previous estimates
of the costs of oil dependence to the US economy and introduces several methodological enhancements. Estimates of the
costs to the US economy of the oil market upheavals of the last 30 years are in the vicinity of $7 trillion, present value 1998 dollars,
about as large as the sum total of payments on the national debt over the same period. Simply adding up historical costs in 1998
dollars without converting to present value results in a Base Case cost estimate of $3.4 trillion. Sensitivity analysis indicates that
cost estimates are sensitive to key parameters. A lower bound estimate of $1.7 trillion and an upper bound of $7.1 trillion (not
present value) indicate that the costs of oil dependence have been large under almost any plausible set of assumptions. These cost
estimates do not include military, strategic or political costs associated with US and world dependence on oil imports.
NTIS
Cost Estimates; Economics; Fuel Oils
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SPACE PROCESSING
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20010021862 NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL USA
BUNDLE - A Novel Furnace for Performing Controlled Directional Solidification Experiments in a Microgravity Environment
Carrasquillo, Edgar J., NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, USA; Griffin, Mark R., Tec-Masters, Inc., USA; Hammond, Monica
S., NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, USA; Johnson, Martin L., NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, USA; Grugel, R. N.,
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, USA; [2001]; 1p; In English; 39th; Aerospace Sciences, 10 Jan. 2001, Reno, NV, USA;
Sponsored by American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, USA; No Copyright; Avail: Issuing Activity; Abstract Only
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center has developed a novel directional solidification furnace prototype for processing metals
and alloys experiments in a microgravity environment. The BUNDLE (Bridgman Unidirectional Dendrite in Liquid Experiment)
furnace is intended to accommodate the science requirements of Flight Definition Principle Investigators studying cellular/dendritic
growth in aluminum and lead alloys at processing temperatures up to 1200 C. The furnace implements a number of innovative
features to achieve high thermal gradients and quench rates in a low-power, light-weight design. These include a pyrolytic
boron nitride/graphite composite heating element surrounded by layers of self-supporting refractory metal shielding, and a graphite
fiber enhanced cold zone allowing high levels of heat extraction from the sample crucible. Novel to the BUNDLE design is
an in-situ helium gas quench capability that ensures rapid freezing of the solidifying region (mushy zone) of the metal sample
within the furnace without sample disturbance prior to quenching; this is a stringent requirement for subsequent analysis and
understanding of microstructural development. The experiment hardware concept features multiple furnaces that may be
”bundled” together so many samples, currently up to eight, can be processed at one time. The design of BUNDLE is flexible
enough to be implemented on the Shuttle and Space Station in a number of locations (SpaceHab, Express Rack, MPESS, ISPR,
etc). BUNDLE prototype furnaces have directionally solidified and quenched 1cm diameter lead - 5.8 weight percent antimony
and aluminum - 4 weight percent copper alloys. Quenching of the mushy zone, as recorded by in-situ thermocouples, occurred
on the order of 0.5 seconds or less, a rate within the PI’s requirements. Subsequent metallographic examination revealed the solidified
microstructure to be, as expected, unidirectional. Both the dendrite tips and the eutectic reaction were planar in nature indicating
uniform axial heat flow. Delineation between the growing dendrites and eutectic structure with the ”quenched-in” liquid was
sharp, attesting to the efficacy of the helium quench. BUNDLE’s conception, development, capability, and adaptability are presented
(in view of Flight PI’s needs and science requirements) through viewgraphs depicting actual hardware, generated thermal
analysis, and micrographs prepared from BUNDLE processed, flight-like samples.
Author
Directional Solidification (Crystals); Furnaces; Microgravity; Aluminum Alloys; Bridgman Method; Dendritic Crystals; Lead
Alloys; Spaceborne Experiments
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