NBS

PUBLICATIONS

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NA^n ' NST 0F STANDARDS & TECH R.I.C.

NBS Research

Reports

A1 1102486781

/NBS research reports QC100 .U57 SP 680-5;1986 C.1 NBS-PUB-R 1

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

QC NBS SPECIAL PUBLICATION 680-5

100

• U57

680-5

1986
Cover photo: A new

computing machine invented at NBS performs complex processing of video

images in "real time" for

artificial vision systems.

Here, the "gray scale" value

of every point in the picture

is rescaled over the range 0

to 2-PI, the sine and cosine

are taken, multiplied to- gether, and doubled to pro- duce a new value. See page

10.
NBS

Research

Reports

CONTENTS

Research Update 2 A Perspective on the Future of NBS 5 Surface Roughness Monitor for Advanced Manufacturing Developed 9

Artificial Vision Device Performs

High-Speed Processing of Images 10

Taking the Guesswork'

Out of Making Polymer Blends 12 Standards and Global Trade: A Government Perspective 14

Counterfeit Chlorophyll, Artificial Algae— the Perfect Energy Device 18

Burgers, Fries, Pizza Pies: All Part of Massive Study of Worldwide Diets 21 JILA Astronomers First to Detect Magnetic Fields on a Flare Star 24

New Publications 26

Conference Calendar 28

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Malcolm Baldnge, Secretary

National Bureau of Standards

Ernest Ambler, Director

National Bureau ot Standards

Gaithersburg, MD 20899

301/921-1000

National Bureau of Standards

Boulder, CO 80303

303/497-3000

May 1986

NBS Special Publication 680-5 Prepared by the Public Information Division A903 Administration Building

National Bureau of Standards

Gaithersburg, MD 20899

301/921-3181

Library of Congress

Catalog Card Number:

86-600534

CODENXNBSAV

Any mention of commercial products

is for information only; it does not imply recommendation or endorsement

by the National Bureau of Standards

nor does it imply that the products mentioned are necessarily the best

available for the purpose. 1

NBS RESEARCH rNFORMATIOH
RESEARCH UPDATE

XXON AND NBS AGREE ON

JOINT MATERIALS RESEARCH

AND FACILITY Exxon Research and Engineering

Company and NBS have signed an agreement for cooperation in research and construction of an important materials science and engineering facility at NBS in GaithersPurg, Md. The 3-year agreement

provides for the funding and expertise

needed to develop a new small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) instrument at the NBS reactor cold neutron source. SANS is a method of using relatively low-energy

neutrons as probes to measure the struc- ture of materials in very great detail. It is a

nondestructive technique that has a diversity of applications ranging from the study

of density variations in alloys to the determination of the size and shape of large molecules such as in polymer chains or

proteins. The new instrument will offer a more extensive range of capabilities than

the existing SANS instrument at NBS. The program is intended to cover the

design, construction, and maintenance of the SANS instrument. Exxon and NBS

each will have the right to one-third of the

available time on the instrument and the remaining one-third will be available for use by third parties under suitable agreements

with NBS. NBS will own the completed

instrument, which is expected to cost an

estimated $1 million to be shared equally

by Exxon and NBS.

PTICAL TECHNOLOGY FOR

ELECTRIC UTILITY MEASUREMENTS FOCUS OF STUDY

Are there economic or technical advantages to using optical and

optical-fiber techniques to measure voltage

and current? Such measurements—

traditionally made using bulky but accurate

transformer systems- are crucial to ensure

proper operation of power stations and

substations. Converting to new optical tech- nology to make these electrical measure- ments could prove advantageous to electric

utilities. A government/ industry study involv- ing NBS, the Bonneville Power Administration (Ore.), the Electric Power Research

Institute (Calif.), and the Empire State Electric Energy Research Corporation (N.Y.) will focus on these questions.

The first part of the NBS study began

last year at the Bureau's Boulder, Colo., site and is focusing on the technical feasibility of producing high-accuracy optical sensors. The second phase, just begun, is being

conducted at the NBS high-voltage testing

laboratory in Gaithersburg, Md. It will compare the benefits of optical methods with conventional technologies and will identify additional research required to develop

cost-effective devices.

EW 10-FOLD QUASICRYSTAL

STRUCTURE FOUND

A new type of quasicrystal struc- ture has been found at NBS by

Dr. Leonid Bendersky, a guest

worker from Johns Hopkins University.

Bendersk/s 1 0-fold quasicrystal is a totally different kind of aperiodic crystal from the

first one of its kind discovered at NBS 3

years ago by Dr. Daniel Shechtman, a

guest worker from the Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa. The discovery by

Bendersky proves that other types of nonperiodic crystal structures exist and can be

made in materials with the possibility of producing new materials with radically

different properties. The 1 0-fold crystal was

found in an alloy of aluminum and man- ganese produced by the same rapid

solidification technique that Shechtmar

used at NBS. The crystal structures in these alloys defy a 100-year-old theory in crystallography that is based on the assumption of periodicity, which requires all crystal structures to have only 2-, 3-, 4-, and 6-fold symmetry axes in various combinations to fit in one or another of the 32

classical diffraction pattern symmetries.

/

CID RAIN ANALYSES SHOULD

BE IMPROVED WITH NEW

SOLUTIONS

Simulated Rainwater, a new

Standard Reference Material (SRM 2694), has been developed by NBS

at the urging of the Environmental Protection Agency to improve the reliability of rainwater analyses. The new material is intended for use as a control standard to check accuracy by calibrating instruments and assessing analytical methods used in investigating such factors as acidity and pH

levels in rainwater. A stable, homogeneous material packaged in polyethylene bottles, the SRM is certified for acidity, pH, specific conductance, and concentration of a variety of ele- ments and constituents such as sodium

and sulfate. It consists of four 50-milliliter bottles of solution -two each of pH levels

of 4.3 and 3.59. SRM 2694 is available for $158 from the Office of Standard Refer- ence Materials, B311 Chemistry Building, National Bureau of Standards, Gaithers- burg, MD 20899, 301/921-2045.

-RAY SPECTROMETER

INSTALLED AT THE NBS

SURF-II A team of researchers from NBS,

Oak Ridge National Laboratory,

and the University of Tennessee has

installed a new, extremely sensitive, x-ray spectrometer at the NBS Synchrotron

Ultraviolet Radiation Facility (SURF-II). The new instrument was specially designed to measure very-low-intensity radiation with

efficiencies 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than conventional spectrometers. This allows measurements to be made either with weaker sources, at much better resolutions, or in much less time (e.g., minutes

instead of days). It is particularly well suited

for experiments on fragile materials, includ- ing alloys, surface layers, and organics. Initial experiments have been on radiation- damage mechanisms in the alkali halides

that are often used as windows for UV

excimer lasers. The new spectrometer measures radiation in the range from 50 nm to 1 .2 nm (20 eV to 1 KeV).

2
OW-TEMPERATURE PROCESS

DEVELOPED FOR THE

PRODUCTION OF CERAMIC

POWDERS

Scientists at NBS have developed

a technique that offers ceramic producers a new way to make high-technology ceramic

powders at low temperatures with antici- pated improvements in product reliability and durability. Current chemical processes used to make silicon carbide, titanium diboride, and boron carbide powders for elec- tronic and structural ceramics applications are difficult to control and require temperatures of 1500 °C. A patent application has been filed for this new process which uses

a chemical reaction between silicon and

carbon tetrachlorides and sodium to generate a precursor or starting material for sili- con carbide powder at 130 °C. This type

of molecular chemistry permits other advanced boride and carbide ceramic

powders to be chemically generated at low

temperatures. The scientists also are investigating the new process for use in producing composite ceramic powders.

ADIONUCUDES FOR CANCER

THERAPY CALIBRATED

Yttrium-90 and Samarium-153,

two short half-life beta-particleemitting radionuclides being

evaluated for use in cancer therapy, have

been calibrated by NBS. There is renewed

interest in such short-lived radionuclides because better methods for "targeting" the

radioactive agents are being developed.

Yttrium-90, for example, is being incorporated in tumor-specific monoclonal antibodies which carry this high-energy beta

emitter directly to the cancerous tissue. It is being studied for use in the treatment of colon carcinomas, and accurate measure- ment of the doses being administered is

critical. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

regulations require no more than 5 percent

uncertainty in the injected dose. In calibrat- ing the solutions for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Missouri Research Reactor, two major suppliers of these radionuclides to pharmaceutical

researchers, NBS arrived at a measure- ment uncertainty of less than 1 percent.

UCLEAR WASTE CONTAINER

DESIGNS BEING EVALUATED

NBS materials researchers are

helping the Nuclear Regulatory

Commission (NRC) to evaluate

the design of containers for permanent stor- age of spent fuel rods from civilian power

plants, along with other forms of high-level nuclear wastes. The container packages

are being developed by the Department of Energy (DOE) under the Nuclear Waste

Policy Act of 1982. That law requires DOE

to develop container designs to isolate the

material within the waste package system

to protect human safety over a 300- to 1000-

year span. The design proposals are to be

submitted to the NRC by 1991 for review and licensing approval.

The information prepared by NBS from

reviews of the DOE documents will be

used by NRC to evaluate the waste package systems before granting licensing

approvals. Among the many materials the NBS scientists will evaluate for the effects of both general and localized corrosion are

ferrous metals, including low-carbon and

stainless steels, nickel-based alloys, and

copper alloys. They also will study the

effects of moisture on borosilicate glass

used to encapsulate reprocessed fuel pellets and military wastes in the event ground water penetrates the storage

container.

NITED STATES AND FRANCE

SIGN AGREEMENT FOR

ADVANCED MATERIALS

RESEARCH AND STANDARDS

A memorandum of understanding signed in January by the United States and France is the first step toward an inter- national accord between the United States and other nations participating in the Versailles Project on Advanced Materials (VAMAS). VAMAS is one of 18 cooperative

technical projects established at the Eco- nomic Summit of Heads of State at Versailles in 1982. The agreement was signed

by John P. McTague, acting director of the

Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President, and by

France's Minister of Research and Technology, Hubert Cunen. NBS is the U.S. representative to VAMAS. The memoran- dum will go into effect when signed by all the participating nations.

The principal aim of VAMAS is to stimulate the introduction of advanced materials

into high-technology products and

engineering structures and to encourage

international trade through agreement on codes of practice and performance. The

technical working areas include surface chemical analysis, weld characteristics, polymer composites, ceramics, polymer

blends, and bioengineering materials.

TANDARD REFERENCE

MATERIALS TO HELP

PETROLEUM REFINERS,

MANUFACTURERS. AND

ENGINEERS

NBS has developed two new measurement

reference materials to help analyze the chemical makeup of lubricating base oils and similar materials. One of the new

measurement tools, being sold by NBS as a Standard Reference Material (SRM), will be of special assistance to chemical

engineers and environmentalists analyzing

the total concentration of chlorine in these

oils. Environmental Protection Agency regulations require used oils with more than 50

parts per million of chlorine to be analyzed

for the presence of polychlorinated

biphenyls (PCB's), a hazardous material. The NBS reference material will help screen

out used base oils that do not have to be

examined for possible PCB's, thereby saving both time and expense. Standard

Reference Material 1818, Total Chlorine in Lubricating Base Oil, consists of a series of

five different 20-gram ampoules of re- ref'ned lubricating base oils having total chlorine concentrations ranging from 30 to 600 parts per million. The other SRM is a quality control standard

for petroleum refiners and manufacturers. It

will help calibrate instruments to determine

the total sulfur content in lubricating base

oil. Use of sulfur-containing additives is one way producers improve the performance of automotive engine lubricants, and the new SRM will help the industry to better under- stand how the additive affects the lubri- cant's performance. Standard Reference

Material 1819, Sulfur in Lubricating Base

Oil, consists of a series of five different 20- gram ampoules of virgin lubricating base
oils with sulfur concentrations ranging from 300 to 10,000 parts per million and costs $165 per set. Both SRM's can be pur- chased from the Office of Standard Refer- ence Materials, B31 1 Chemistry Building, National Bureau of Standards, Gaithers- burg, MD 20899, 301/921-2045.

OLUNTARY INDUSTRY STANDARD PROPOSED FOR USE BY

FEDERAL AGENCIES

A voluntary industry standard for the BASIC programming language

for computers is being proposed by NBS

for adoption as a Federal Information Processing Standard. The proposed stan- dard, adopted by a committee accredited by the American National Standards Insti- tute (ANSI), will bring major changes,

improvements, and additions to the specifi- cations for BASIC that are relied upon by

federal agencies. It would replace the current federal standard for BASIC to take into account broader provisions included

recently in the ANSI standard. Federal Information Processing Stan- dards are designed to give federal agencies more effective control over the

production, management, and use of the government's information resources. A

family of programming languages, which

include COBOL, FORTRAN, Pascal, and

Ada, is covered by the standards. They are expected to help agencies make better use

of programmers by ensuring that skills acguired in one job can be applied in other

positions, thereby minimizing programmer

retraining. Other benefits include increased programmer productivity and reduced soft- ware costs.

EASUREMENT STANDARD

FOR RADON IN WATER

DEVELOPED

NBS scientists have developed

a new standard for measuring

the concentration of the radioactive gas

radon in water. The standard was devel- oped for the Environmental Protection Agency, which believes that radon in domestic water supplies is one of the chief sources of indoor radon pollution. Exposure

to the decay products of radon, particularly

inside modern, well-insulated houses, is thought to be a significant cause of lung

cancer. The new NBS standard is a radon

generator consisting of a sealed radium- 226 source in a partially automated system

which dispenses measured samples of water with radon-222 in solution. The

generator, which is about 2 feet tall, can be

calibrated and certified in terms of the radon-222 concentration in the dispensed

samples when detailed operating proce- dures are followed. The overall uncertainty

of the calibration is estimated to be about

±4 percent.

YNTHETIC BODY 'PHANTOM'

EVALUATES TISSUE HEATING

PATTERNS

A new synthetic-organic material

that performs like living body

tissue when exposed to electromagnetic waves from medical instruments has been

developed by NBS polymer scientists. This

material will be a "phantom" substitute for

living muscle tissue in studies by the Food

and Drug Administration (FDA) to evaluate

heating patterns of various medical devices

used in diathermy and hyperthermia treat- ments. These machines generate elec- tromagnetic waves that heat body tissue for physical therapy, rewarm animals after low- temperature surgery, and treat many types

of cancers. The NBS formulation will pro- vide FDA with a more stable material that has a much longer "shelf life" than currently

available biopolymers. The material can be

used over the entire range of electromagnetic frequencies for dielectric heating and

it is free from attack by mold, bacteria, and

corrosion. The FDA will place the "phantom"

in test kits for the National Cancer Institute and others to use in checking the quality assurance of their medical devices.

LD PHENOMENON TAKES ON

NEW MEANING AS CRYSTAL

SURFACE PROBE

Research in the NBS Center for Chemical Physics has cleared up an old misunderstanding in electron spectroscopy, and thereby developed a

useful new tool for surface science. Spectral peaks in x-ray photoelectron spec- troscopy (XPS) and Auger electron

spectroscopy (AES) of crystals are enhanced in directions along the principal axes of the crystal, a phenomenon long

thought to be related to the "channeling" of electrons along the rows of atoms in the

crystal. NBS researcher Dr. William Egelhoff

has demonstrated that, in fact, this XPS

"searchlight effect" is not due to the deep

structure of the crystal, but rather to interfer- ence effects caused by atoms on or near

the surface of the crystal. As a result, the

searchlight effect is now seen as a surface probe which gives direct, easily analyzed

information on the structure and, in particular, the depth of features in the first few

atomic layers of a crystal. The searchlight

effect, says Egelhoff, can be an important

complement to other surface science tools

for such problems as developing more effi- cient catalysts or understanding the electri- cal nature of metal/semiconductor contacts.

EDICAL LEVELS OF SODIUM,

POTASSIUM FOCUS OF

JOINT PROJECT

The measurement of two elements— sodium and potas- sium-important in clinical tests because of their roles in high blood pressure, heart dis- ease, and general health, is the focus of a new joint agreement between NBS and

industry. The National Committee for Clini- cal Laboratory Standards (NCCLS), on

behalf of a consortium of corporations

interested in bettering clinical measurements, has sent researcher Chandrani Gunaratna to NBS as part of the agree- ment. She will examine a chemical relation- ship that is presently not known but is of great interest to clinical professionals: the

difference between total and ionized concentrations of sodium and potassium in bio- logical fluids such as blood serum. Since some instruments that analyze samples for the two elements read only levels of ionized elements, the analysis the instrument produces may differ from the total elemental concentration contained in the sample.

And because medical diagnoses may be

based on total levels, it is important for ensuring accuracy that a distinction be

made between ionized ("active") elements and nonionized ("bound^ ones. Gunaratna

will study this distinction using direct potentiometry with ion-selective electrodes.
A Perspective on the Future of NBS

Research chemist Joe Ritter (I.) and physical science technician Norman Adams are shown with the reactor they designed for synthesizing advanced ceramic powders at low

temperatures.

The following is excerpted from tes- timony of NBS Director Ernest Ambler before the Subcommittee on Science, Research and Technol- ogy of the Committee on Science

and Technology on Authorization of Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1987, on March 5, 1986.

hese hearings come at a crucial time for the United States. This sub- committee is fully aware of our

unsatisfactory trade position. You

have appreciated for a long time

the need for the United States to improve productivity, and one component of accomplishing that is developing and applying technol- ogy rapidly. Technology is one of

the few areas in which this country

has an advantage over our competitors. That is why our budget pro- posal for FY 1 987 gives top priority to support for the U.S. economy. Because our mission of aiding U.S. industry and science is so

broad, many people expect NBS to be all things to all people. Operating in the kind of fiscal environment

the federal government is faced

with today, we simply cannot do

that. Those of us who have formulated this budget recognize that, and our initiatives focus on the areas where we are likely to have

the biggest impact in helping U.S.

industry to compete and to do better in international trade.

In FY 1987, we are asking Congress for $123,953 million —

essentially level with last year's appropriation, but including

Gramm-Rudman-Hollings reductions

for 1986 and, we are told, those expected for 1987. This includes increases in several key research programs that are vital to U.S. trade

competitiveness.

Cold Neutron Research

Facility

Our proposal calls for $10 million to establish a cold neutron research

facility adjacent to the NBS reactor.
This will be a unique national facility which is critical in advancing

materials science and engineering

in the United States. This country is behind other nations, particularly

Germany, France, and Great Brit- ain, in the development of cold neutron research facilities. About

$150 million has been invested in the Grenoble, France, facility. Japan recently made a $50 million commitment to establish its own

cold neutron facility. Beams of neutrons produced by

specially-designed nuclear reactors are one of the fundamental tools of materials science. They are highly

. . . our initiatives focus on

the areas where we are

likely to have the biggest

impact in helping U.S.

industry to compete and

to do better in international trade.

penetrating, making it possible to probe deep within materials to observe, for example, micro-cracks

or voids. Other common probes,

such as x rays or electron beams,

can examine only very thin layers near the surface of materials. "Cold" neutrons' relatively slow speed

allows researchers to conduct

experiments that are impractical or even impossible with more conventional neutron beams.

Fortunately, since the NBS reactor already is designed to produce

cold neutrons, this is one area where we don't have to match the

competition's investment to match a

critical research capability. Secondly, this facility, which has

been accorded top priority by a

high-level committee of the National Academy of Sciences, will be

equipped in part by industry. In fact, we recently signed our first agreement with industry to establish

a participating research team using

the cold neutron source at the NBS

reactor. These kinds of investments mean scores of U.S. companies

and universities will have access to

this national facility when we build the necessary guidehall.

Advanced Ceramics

We are nearly halfway through the

first fiscal year in which Congress

has appropriated funds for increased NBS work in advanced

ceramics, and we are making good

progress. For example, our scientists recently developed a technique

that offers ceramics producers a new way to make high-technology

ceramic powders at low temperatures. We anticipate that this new

technique will significantly improve

ceramic product reliability and durability. The requested increase of $783,000 will bring our spending

for advanced ceramics to the $3

million level. This will permit us to continue our development of criti- cally needed measurement

methods and standards, data, and

predictive concepts to assure relia- ble performance of advanced

ceramics.

This new generation of materials, which is particularly well-suited for high-technology applications, pos- sesses unique properties, especially resistance to corrosion, high temperatures, and wear. Advanced

ceramics open up an array of applications in advanced heat

engines, cutting tools, sensors, bio- medical devices, and electronic and optical components. But the

inability to control production processes so that ceramic products possess uniform and predictable

performance characteristics remains a major obstacle. Our FY 1987

request would bolster our efforts to address the measurement prob- lems which make up a large part of that barrier. There's a huge market for advanced ceramics. If we don't make the effort now to solve the

. . .we recently signed our

first agreement with

industry to establish a

participating research

team using the cold neutron source at the NBS

reactor.

measurement problems which

stand in the way of the develop- ment of ceramics, you can be sure our top competitors, like the Japanese— who have been working on these problems for years already- will fill the void and take over another important market.

Fiber Optics

In another area of emerging tech- nology and intense competition,

fiber optics, the situation is the same. The FY 1 987 request of $950,000 will enable NBS to pro- vide critical measurement technol- ogy and services for fiber optics

components of modern communications and computer systems.

Fiber optics are the basis for a new industry which uses light and

hair-thin glass filaments rather than

electricity and copper wire to trans- mit information. This "lightwave

technology" is undergoing rapid

international growth. The current world market is more than $1 billion per year and is growing more than 30 percent annually.

The core components of the lightwave communication industry,

optical fibers and laser diodes, were invented in the United States. But in what sounds like an all-too- familiar story, our lead is challenged

in several important areas by

rapidly growing international competition. Japan and several Euro- pean countries are moving ahead

to produce and deploy these tech- nologies. To compete successfully,
U.S. industries must deliver technically advanced, cost-effective components and systems and prove

their performance and compatibility

in the marketplace. Based on our experience working closely with industry on the optical fibers themselves, we know that today's chal- lenge is to make the measurement

advances and provide the services

for the other components and sys- tems which send, receive, and

process signals sent over the fibers.

Other Increases,

Decreases

We are requesting $550,000 to enable us to improve the productivity of the Department of Commerce Consolidated Scientific

Computer System. This new super- computer serves NBS, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Telecommunications and Information

Administration. It is already operating 24 hours a day at more than 75 percent of its capacity after just 7 months of operation. But present

staffing levels can provide only

minimum user support. To improve

the computer's productivity and the

productivity of the people using the system, we must hire more computer scientists and systems

specialists. The NBS FY 1987 budget pro- poses several reductions. Both the NBS Center for Building Technol- ogy (-$3.1 million) and the Center

for Fire Research (-$5.1 million)

would be eliminated. The federal government has invested a total of nearly $100 million in these two programs over the past 10 years, and it now is appropriate for this

effort to be assumed by the private sector and state and local governments.

It also proposes decreases for the Institute for Computer Sciences

and Technology (-$4.7 million), recognizing the need for greater

private sector involvement in this area. We would terminate R&D in several areas and concentrate on

standards and guidelines develop- ment activities in areas that support

the ADP needs of the federal government. Our remaining

resources would focus on networking, information management, comThis supercomputer facility at NBS was installed to meet its large-scale scientific computing needs as well as those of the Environmental Research Laboratories of the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Institute of Telecommunication Sciences

of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
puter software management, end

user computing, and computer

security. Other decreases are for the technical competence program (-$1.5

million) and for the Postdoctoral Research Associate Program

(-$1.6 million).

Cooperative Technology

Transfer

This is a time of great budget constraints. It also is a time of great trade competition and pressure. I've had good cause lately to try to reconcile these two facts of life. Looking at where we are today and

where we want to be -both for NBS as an institution and the nation

. . .our scientists recently

developed a technique

that offers ceramics

producers a new way to

make high-technology

ceramic powders at low

temperatures.

as a whole -one basic fact keeps

coming to mind. Our knowledge

and technology are this country's major asset and advantage, both in ensuring domestic strength and

health and in competing with other

nations. That means we have got to make the most of our research resources- our eguipment as well as our people. Cooperation in research and development is one

obvious answer.

This is something that we at NBS

have been doing right from the

start. We have made cooperation

with industry a way of doing busi- ness, and we have served as a model for cooperative arrange- ments which are becoming more

popular today as industry, universities, and government form research

partnerships all across the country. We are using cost-sharing arrange- ments with others whenever and

wherever possible. But cooperation in R&D won't be

enough. Doing the research is only

half the battle. The results of this research must be incorporated into new ideas, new processes, and new products. New technology must diffuse throughout our industries, and diffuse more rapidly than

it does now. We need to think about cooperation in the transfer and diffusion of technology in the same way that we have addressed

cooperation in research and

development.

NBS is taking a lead here, too. We spend a good deal of time with

visiting scientists, engineers, and

managers from industrial firms. About 200 of these specialists work

at NBS each year as research

associates, with their sponsoring

organizations paying their salaries. They come to NBS to conduct

research, but they also come to learn how they can put our work to use.We have taken other steps to encourage technology transfer, by

holding literally hundreds of confer- ences, workshops, and seminars

each year, by encouraging our staff to publish results of their work as

broadly as possible, and by working actively with professional and

technical societies and standards

organizations.

We are using videotapes to explain our research so that others can take advantage of our work. We now are making many of our databases and experts available through computers, and we are considering expanding this service so that industry will be able to tap

into even more of our information. We are looking for new outlets, new ways to disseminate our

Our proposal calls for $10

million to establish a cold

neutron research facility

adjacent to the NBS reactor. This will be a unique

national facility which is critical in advancing

materials science and

engineering in the United

States.

research results and services throughout the U.S. economy. And

I am convinced that as a nation we

must all join together to develop

creative ways to transfer technol- ogy, just as we now seem to be

developing the capacity to conduct

research together. There isn't much

choice if we want this country to be

competitive in a changing world economy.

I stress the importance of cooperative R&D and technology transfer because I see it as a way for us to deal with the dual problem of tight federal budgets and growing trade

deficits. We have had to make hard deci- sions on priorities for NBS. Our pro- posed budget, including increases

to expand certain programs and

reductions for others, represents a

careful review of those priorities. Facilities like our proposed cold neutron research facility are crucial, and we give it top priority. I know

that there are conflicting views on where the federal government

should and should not be spending

its scarce resources. But I also know that we must find a way for the system to work so that we can move forward with the cold neutron research and other measurement

work this nation sorely needs.
Surface Roughness Monitor for

Advanced Manufacturing Develoi

The ultrasonic pulse-echo approach to monitoring sur- face roughness uses a special coolant nozzle to couple

the sound between the transducer and the part.

MONITOR

ULTRASONIC

PULSER/RECEIVER AND DETECTORCOMPUTER

TRANSDUCER

COUPLANTSQUIRTER

ASSEMBLY

STREAM OF COUPLANT

laboratory model of an ultrasound probe that can monitor automatically the surface finish of a part while the part is being machined

has been demonstrated by NBS

engineers.

One important application of the

device, says NBS engineer Gerald

Blessing, is to maintain a constant check on the condition of the cut- ting tools in an automated machine

tool, so that they can be changed

when their cutting edges become

damaged or too worn to produce

acceptable parts. Previous methods of checking

surface finish, using either the tactile senses of the machine's operator or a stylus gauge drawn across a section of the part, are unsuitable

for automated manufacturing operations, largely because they reguire

This laboratory set-up

ultrasonically monitors the

surface condition on a ro- tating part by means of

sound echoed from the

part surface.

manual intervention and interruption

of the machining process. The NBS ultrasound probe was

designed to take advantage of the cooling systems that are used commonly on high-speed metal-cutting

machinery to flood the work piece

with a cooling and lubricating fluid. The steady stream of coolant acts as a guide to "couple" the ultra- sound to the surface of the part. An ultrasonic transducer located m a specially designed coolant nozzle sends pulses of ultrasound down the coolant stream to the work piece. Some of the sound is reflected back up the coolant

stream, where it is detected by the

transducer. The proportion of ultrasound

returning back upstream is a measure of the roughness of the work

piece.

The new probe has been tested on stationary objects, both flat and

curved, with average surface roughness values ranging from 25

to more than 1000 microinches to a

resolution of about 100 microinches.

(For comparison, a newspaper has

an average surface roughness of about 100 microinches, and a win- dowpane somewhat below 1 microinch.) Modifications should make it possible to achieve a resolution of about 25 microinches, according to Blessing. Even more importantly, the tech- nigue works on curved, moving

surfaces such as would be found in automated turning centers. Reliable surface finish measurements have

been made on cylinders rotating with a surface speed of up to 1000

feet per minute (5 meters per second). Both tap water and cutting oil mixtures have been used as the

fluid medium.

NBS is applying for a patent on

the ultrasound surface finish probe.

A prototype system is now being

developed for testing in the Bureau's Automated Manufacturing

Research Facility. by Michael Baum

NBS Public Affairs Specialist
Performs

? if images

esearchers at NBS are testing a

prototype of a new computing

device for machine vision systems

that continually processes images

from a television camera at previ- ously unheard-of levels of per- formance. The device, called a Pipelined

Image Processing Engine (PIPE), is expected to have applications in a wide variety of advanced imagesensing equipment where continu- ous, "real-time" processing is necessary. Examples range from artificial "eyes" for robots and robotic vehi- cles to improved medical diagnostic

tools. PIPE, according to its inventor,

Dr. Ernest Kent, is a comparatively

low-cost computing "engine" that handles the vast number of calculations necessary to pre-process a

television image so that it can be

understood by a computer. "PIPE does not actually 'recognize' the image it is working with. Rather, it handles all the analysis needed to

recognize specific features of the image-for example, texture, shade, the presence or absence of an edge, and motion — at each

point in the picture. It is modeled

after the processes in the human

visual cortex," says Kent. A standard black-and-white digital video camera sends numbers cor- responding to the levels of gray in

PIPE. . .is a comparatively

low-cost computing

"engine" that handles the

vast number of calculations necessary to preprocess a television image

so that it can be understood by a computer.

a 256 x 256 point "frame" 60 times a second — 65,536 points every

1/60 of a second.

For each point in each frame, PIPE can be programmed to do

mathematical computations on not only the point itself, but also on its relationship to surrounding points in "neighborhoods" of varying sizes. PIPE maintains several frames—

up to 10 in the current prototype

simultaneously as they move

through the computational "pipeline." As a result, it can also compare a point or its neighborhood

with the equivalent points and

neighborhoods both backwards

and forwards in time, noting, for example, whether anything

changes.

The current prototype PIPE per- forms approximately 450 million 8-

bit operations per second, outpacing even supercomputers at its particular task. PIPE was created for the NBS

Automated Manufacturing Research

Facility (AMRF) project to meet the need for a powerful, flexible vision processor that could handle data at

Inventor Dr. Ernest Kent demonstrates

some off the capabilities of the Pipelined

Image Processing Engine. Every point on

the screen has a "gray scale" value

ranging from -128 (black) to 127 (white).

PIPE can perform calculations on each in- dividual point, including its relationship to

other points around it, or before or after it in time. First (a), the image is rescaled to expand the values near 0 to cover the full range, resulting in a high-contrast Image.

In the next image (b), only changes in intensity along the horizontal axis are displayed.

10
the speeds needed for practical

applications on the factory floor. General-purpose computers cannot

begin to do the calculations fast enough, and even though highly

specialized image-analysis

machines exist that can perform more calculations than PIPE, none

is capable of the continuous, frameafter-frame calculations necessary to analyze a constant video signal in a

rapidly changing situation. A typical problem might be to detect moving objects from a robot arm or some sort of robot vehicle

while the robot's camera "eye" is

itself moving.

One way of solving this with PIPE is to compare an older neighborhood of points in the pipeline

with its equivalent in a more recent image to detect horizontal motion,

do the same thing to detect vertical motion, and combine the two cal- culations using trigonometric functions to get a number that represents the magnitude and

direction of the motion. The

processed image at this point, instead of showing the original view, shows the direction and

The current prototype

PIPE performs approximately 450 million 8-bit

operations per second,

outpacing even supercomputers at its particular

task.

amount of motion of each point in that scene. Further calculations then

are done to detect "edges" in the scene. Anything which is moving on its own in the robot's field of vision shows up as a moving object

against a dull gray background.

The entire set of calculations is repeated 65,536 times every 1/60

of a second. PIPE features include a "multiple instruction-stream, multiple datastream" (MIMD) facility that allows it to perform different types of analyses on the same frame, depending on the nature of each point, and the ability to do a wide variety

of motion-analysis, and stereo operations. Other features include a

sophisticated, graphics-oriented

programming capability and a highspeed interface system that organizes the results of PIPE analyses in a convenient form in the memory of another computer. PIPE is designed as a series of processing modules that can be

assembled to provide the desired number of processing stages. The

current prototype is a three-stage PIPE. Prototype versions of PIPE were

developed and built for NBS by

Digital/Analog Design Associates,

Inc., of New York City; PIPE is a

registered trademark of Digital/Analog Design Associates, Inc. NBS is applying for a patent on the device.

Vertical lines are sharply defined, but horizontal lines are invisible. Here (c) logical

operations are used to display only those

points at which the gray scale value

changes between negative and positive.

These points are displayed in black. PIPE can "pyramid" images as well (d). In a

process repeated three times, each 2x2

area of points on the screen is averaged,

and the resulting value becomes a single

point in an image half the size of the

original. The final image is then magnified.

PIPE is the only full-scale machine capable

of doing this pyramiding in real time.

11
1 1 ml

olymer scientists at the National Bureau of Standards are working to provide chemical producers,

manufacturers, engineers, and

designers with important new

measurement tools to take the guesswork out of making products from blends of polymer materials. "Most polymer blends on the market today were produced by

intuition," says Dr. Leslie E. Smith,

chief of the NBS Polymers Division. Smith explains that industry lacks basic measurement information to predict whether two polymers will mix to form a new material. Instead

These results will be used

to develop information

that will permit plastics

producers to process

blends. . .to "freeze in"

the desirable microstructures.

of forming a homogeneous alloy, the molecules in many base poly- mers remain clustered together during the blending process and,

much like oil and water, they retain

their original characteristics. Because the properties of poly- mer blends can be tailored to

specific markets, blends represent one of the most rapidly growing

fields in the industry. It is estimated

that approximately 1 5 to 20 percent

of the 47 billion pounds of plastic materials produced in the United

States during 1985 was made from polymer blends. Even though these blends offer opportunities for new materials with- out the cost of developing new

classes of generic plastics, information is needed to explain why some

polymer molecules will mix and

others will not. A number of these materials work well together to produce

desirable products. For example,

the tough plastics used in many

automobile bumpers and other products are made from blends of plastics and rubber. It is the blending of rubber with a solid brittle plastic that makes the material

impact-resistant. "A successful blend has good

adhesion between the two chemical

systems, or phases, and it has a

controlled size and shape of one

phase within the other," Smith says.

It is the various pairs of base poly- mers that do not mix that are of pri- mary interest to Drs. Isaac C. Sanchez and Charles C. Han, NBS

polymer physicists. The NBS research strategy is to conduct a series of measurements

on test films of a well-controlled blend system of polystyrene and

poly (vinyl methylether) PS/PVME.

These results will be used to develop information that will permit

plastics producers to process

blends for specific times at specific

high temperatures, then rapidly cool

or quench the material to "freeze in" the desirable microstructures. The NBS scientists are using two

research tools to obtain the basic measurements, small-angle neutron

scattering (SANS) and temperaturejump light scattering (TJLS). The SANS measurements are being made at the NBS research

reactor where low-energy neutrons

Because the properties of

polymer blends can be

tailored to specific markets, blends represent

one of the most rapidly

growing fields in the

industry.

are used as probes to measure the

structure of polymer chains in the

test films from 10 to a few hundred

angstroms, or roughly the distance between atoms in the polymer

molecules. These measurements

are made while the samples are heated over a range of temperatures up to 180 °C. The neutron

scattering pattern is recorded on a two-dimensional detector linked to computers.

The SANS information is being

used by the researchers to develop

research phase diagrams, which

guide their kinetic studies with the TJLS instrument, a computercontrolled light scattering photometer developed at NBS. The TJLS instrument, which operates somewhat like a slide projector, has a movable sample holder and two temperature blocks for heating polymer film samples. Test

films of the PS/PVME material are preheated at the first temperature

block to melt them into a homogeneous blend. The sample

then is mechanically moved into another block where a higher temperature "jumps" the material into a

region where mixing cannot take place and phase separation begins.

The device permits the scientists to record the phase separation

12
behavior of the molecules in the samples over a period of several

hours, as well as to measure the

size of the phase-separated microstructures up to 1 micrometer. The scientists are combining the measurement information from the SANS and TJLS experiments to develop a series of polymer phase

diagrams, or "road maps," for use

by industry and others. This infor- mation will help plastic producers to

better understand the phase separation of molecules and how it affects the physical properties of the

material. The phase diagrams will be

important measurement tools for the producers of raw materials, the engineers who develop industrial processes, and the designers who

select materials for new products.

Han says, "We do not pretend to understand everything about the

This information will help

plastic producers to better

understand the phase

separation of molecules

and how it affects the

physical properties of the

material.

thermodynamic and kinetic behavior of the phase separation of molecules in polymer blends. And

even though more experimental data are needed we believe that our procedures offer significant potential for providing a clear understanding of the problem."

by Roger Rensberger

NBS Public Affairs Specialist

Dr. Takahiro Sato, a guest scientist from Osaka

University, Japan, uses the temperature-jump light scattering technique to record the phase separation behavior

in molecules.

13
The following is excerpted from a speech delivered by Dr. Donald R. Johnson at the Executive Standards

Briefing of the Instrument Society of America on October 22, 1985, in Philadelphia. Johnson is director of the NBS National Measurement

Laboratory. ne of the most important economic

issues facing the country today is balance of trade. From 1874 until 1977, this nation enjoyed a trade

surplus. Since 1977, we have

experienced a steadily increasing trade deficit. [Last year, it totalled $148.5 billion.]

The forces driving and sustaining

this turnaround are many. But by

and large, the biggest challenge to our dominant position in the marketplace is often the last one mentioned: fair and worthy competition from other nations.

In other words, the United States has to fight hard today to be first among equals in the world market. But we are not used to competing on those terms. We got used to preeminence, and now we are sur- prised to find ourselves struggling

in some areas to stay on equal

footing with our trading partners.

What puts competitors on equal

footing in the global marketplace?

Good manufacturing and marketing

practices, beneficial government

policies, fair global trade

practices -these and other factors we are all keenly aware of. Rather

than discussing production-line effi- ciency, or export controls, or dumping, I want to talk about an

important but often overlooked factor in global trade: standards. Why are standards important? Because they are the rules for converting all the terms of a buyerseller equation to a common

As part of its responsibilities under the GATT Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade,

NBS operates the National Center for Standards and Certification Information which is the

central repository of standards-related information in the United States.
denominator. If I'm

a manufacturer and I don't understand the rules, I can't deliver the desired product. But if standards are indeed so

fundamental, how could we over- look their importance on the inter- national level? For the very reason we could also underestimate the growing prowess of foreign competitors for so long: Because we easily dominated both the trade and

standards arenas of the free world

for

a time, and we grew complacent. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Clarence Brown sounded

the following warning ata Confer- ence on International Standards

held at NBS last summer. He said, The United States faces increasing

competition in trade and should not expect that its domestic standards

will continue to be accepted

worldwide." What will this mean?

Consensus standards are the

preferred means of communication

between buyer and seller in both

the domestic and international marketplace. And because U.S. tech- nology was preeminent after World

Consensus standards are the preferred means of

communication between

buyer and seller in both

the domestic and international marketplace.

War II, this conferred an automatic advantage to U.S. standards. Our

standards became the de facto standards of the world as a result. Standardization usually follows technology development rather than keeping pace with it. So today, our standards still dominate, although

our technology is no longer preeminent in many areas. Consequently,

our standards now convey an

advantage to our technology:

Buyers feel they are on safe ground if they can procure what

they want on the basis of standards

that the people they are buying

from understand. Since U.S. stan- dards are still strong, U.S. manufacturers who helped develop them

are ina favorable position. But, as Deputy Secretary Brown

warned, the competition in international standards is heating up. Standards-writing organizations

around the world are vying to get

their standards recognized or adopted internationally. There are some 400 domestic consensus-standards organizations

in the United States. Written stan- dards other than consensus stan- dards are produced by many

organizations, especially the U.S. government. The Department of Defense is the biggest standardswriter in this country. It is responsible for nearly one-half of the approximately 80,000 U.S. written standards in place today. Over the

last 4 or 5 years, however, the number of standards being devel- oped within federal agencies has

decreased. Wherever possible the

federal government now seeks to adopt consensus standards for use

in purchase specifications and

regulations.

On the international level, there are two primary consensus stan- dards groups: the International Organization for Standardization

(ISO), with about 5,000 standards,

and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), which has adopted 1 ,800 standards. Other

organizations have contributed to the total of nearly 10,000 international voluntary standards. These

consensus standards, by the way,

are adopted in many countries as

national standards. Regional stan- dards organizations and organizations created by international treaty also produce written standards, and

Rather than discussing

production-line efficiency, or export controls, or dumping, I want to talk

about an important but

often overlooked factor in global trade: standards.

these are intended for legal use by

participating governments.

In spite of these realities, the United States historically has looked upon international standards development with indifference. In fact, as de facto standards writer

for the world, we virtually ignored

the subject altogether as long as

possible. It took the shock of having American manufacturers shut

out of parts of the European market

to get our attention in the 1960s.

Gradually, the United States has

developed policy on international standards. That is important

because it gives us alla framework

for actively influencing standardization on the international level. This

policy comes in three parts, and

part one is concerned with the role

of the private sector. People of other countries have

a

hard time figuring out our system,

and so do we at times. They want

to know who is in charge of stan- dardization domestically and who

represents the United States inter- nationally. The answer is, our sys- tem is unique. Private sector organizations represent U.S.

interests in non-governmental inter- national standards bodies.

Part two of our U.S. policy on

international standards concerns the

legislated areas of involvement. Federal agencies represent the United States when our govern- ment is party to a treaty or agree- ment. There are about 70 treaty

*5
NBS GATT Standards Code Activities

The GATT Standards Code,

which went into effect on January 1 , 1 980, was designed to eliminate the use of standards,

technical regulations, and certifi- cation systems as unnecessary

barriers to trade. Four federal agencies oversee its implementation: Office of the U.S. Trade

Representative, trade policy; Department of Commerce,

domestic policy, inquiry point, and technical office for nonagricultural products; Depart- ment of State, diplomatic policy; and Department of Agriculture, technical office for agricultural

products.

The Department of Commerce

assigned to the NBS Office of Product Standards Policy several responsibilities in the areas

of standards information and

technical assistance. Specifically: The Bureau operates the

National Center for Standards

and Certification Information (NCSCI). NCSCI provides infor- mation on more than 250,000

domestic and international stan- dards from all parts of the world. Write or call: NCSCI, A629

Administration Bldg., National Bureau of Standards, Gaithers- burg, MD 20899, 301/921-2587.

NBS maintains a GATT hotline

for up-to-date information on

notifications of proposed foreign

regulations. Call 301/921-3200.

NBS acts as the U.S. GATT

Inquiry Point. Inquiry Point staff report proposed U.S. govern- ment technical rules that might

affect trade to the GATT

Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland. They also circulate and

publish notifications of proposed

foreign regulations. For information, write or call Standards

Code and Information, A629

Administration Bldg., Gaithers- burg, MD 20899, 301/921-2092.

A newsletter that informs readers

of federal services available to industry in support of the GATT

Standards Code can be

obtained from the same office.

In addition, the Bureau operates a technical office to provide

assistance to U.S. exporters on

specific technically-based, standards-related issues. The

office also handles complaints from U.S. industry concerning

current foreign standards and

certification practices that are considered technical barriers to trade. For assistance, call 301/921-3272.

organizations concerned with stan- dards, but three are probably of primary importance: the Treaty of the Meter, the General Agreement

on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and

the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML). The

National Bureau of Standards has

been delegated responsibility in all three. Under the Treaty of the

Meter, adhered to by all the devel- oped nations of the world, we keep

our country's basic measurement

standards in harmony with those of other nations. These physical measurement standards are the underpinning for virtually all of the world's

written technical standards. The International Organization of Legal Metrology is an offshoot of

the Treaty, of the Meter. It was

established in 1955, but the United

States didn't join until 1972. NBS

has managed this country's partici- pation since that time. OIML deals

with the generally regulated areas

of metrology, like weights and

measures, pollution monitoring and

control systems, and medical instru- ments and products. The Bureau

seeks advice from all major interest groups as it represents the U.S.

position on OIML standards.

In particular, I want to focus on

the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. NBS has been

assigned a number of responsibilities under the GATT [see box], the system of free trade espoused by some 90 nations. The last round of the Multilateral Trade Negotiations

under the GATT produced the GATT Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (popularly known as

the Standards Code), which is a set

of principles governing how a

nation should set standards and

regulations and test products. The

intent is to make standards and

certification "trade neutral." Signatories to the Standards Code are obliged to make their domestic

standards consistent with international standards wherever possible.

The Code also provides a means

by which one nation can comment

on another nation's proposed stan- dards and a mechanism for resolv- ing complaints concerning Code

violations. The GATT Standards Code is embodied in U.S. law through the Trade Agreements Act of 1979. Under this law, the Code is carried out by several government bodies,

including the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Depart- ment of Agriculture, and the Department of Commerce- in particular NBS-all in consultation with industry through an industrial advi- sory committee.
Finally, we come to part three of U.S. standards policy: policy of the Executive Branch, which is set out

in circular A1 19 from the Office of Management and Budget. It complements the Gatt Code legislation, stating that it is government policy

to rely on voluntary standards,

domestic and international; to participate in voluntary standards bodies; and to coordinate agency

participation in voluntary standards. NBS has major responsibility for OMB A119. The Bureau is delegated authority, by the Secretary of Commerce, to coordinate and encourage adherence to A1 19

guidelines. NBS is also responsible

Standards-writing organizations around the world

are vying to get their

standards recognized or adopted internationally.

for managing the interagency Committee on Standards Policy.

I have iterated in some detail all these various mechanisms for stan- dards development and application.

And now you're probably wondering . . .So what?

Let me phrase the question in perhaps a more productive way. Why should government and industry be interested in standards development? Especially why

should government care about

industrial standardization? Larry

Eicher, secretary general of the

International Organization for Standardization, addressed that question at the NBS Conference on

International Standardization last summer. He gave four main rea- sons for government interest in standardization:

1) Governments are concerned

about national economic well-being. Standardization is understood to

affect production, output, quality, interchangeability, and so on.

2) Government wants to effect better safety, health, environmental

quality, and so on. Most important,

it can often do so by turning to standardization to accomplish its goal without regulation.

3) Standards help translate research into practice, and govern- ment is a big spender in R&D

generally, so it has a vested interest

in seeing this accomplished.

4) Finally, government can use

standards conveniently and effi- ciently to procure items. Now how about industry. Why

should industry care about international standards — or domestic

standards- enough to spend

money to support their development.

NBS has been asking that question of many companies. They per- ceive that they need to participate

in standardization, particularly inter- national standardization, for the fol- lowing purposes: for universal product or test method standards;

for defensive action (to counter for- eign competition); to minimize

regulatory standards; to advance

U.S. position in standards develop- ment; and for rapid state-of-the-art advance in technology.

Next, we see that companies feel a number of benefits accrue to them when they participate in stan- dardization. Among them: stan- dardization contributes to broader market base for exports; it is a source of information on foreign

technology; higher quality stan- dards result from U.S. presence; and participants achieve professional growth.

Now we know each other's rea- sons for participating in standardization. What is left to make a success

out of our joint venture? We -government and industry

must participate actively, effectively, and cooperatively, over time, in the domestic and international stan- dards arenas.

We—government and

industry— must participate

actively, effectively, and

cooperatively, over time,

in the domestic and international standards arenas.

We have other alternatives, of course. We can refuse to partici- pate, or do so ineffectively, or even

try to impede the system. But we

can count on one outcome what- ever course we choose: International standardization will go on with

us, without us, or in spite of us.

Finally, lefs talk about commitment. I can't speak to yours, but I can speak for the commitment of the National Bureau of Standards to the consensus-standards process. We have 440 of our staff currently

holding some 1 ,400 standards- committee memberships in domestic and international organizations.

Furthermore, we consider our- selves a national resource in support of the competitive interests of U.S. industry. We're ready, willing, and able to help you succeed in the global marketplace. I invite you

to come to NBS for a visit, and we

can go into detail about the many

mechanisms NBS has for cooperative research and supporting ser- vices to industry.

I also urge you to carefully examine your commitment to standardization. Your goal, I know, is to remain successful in the world market. It takes company money and

staff time to support standards making. But it is an investment in your

competitive success, worldwide,

and the economic health of this nation.
mmm

or years, a certain group of research chemists have nursed this dream.

There is a black -well, blue- green -box lying in the sunlight. Water is piped into one end, and

hydrogen and oxygen are pumped

out the other. Later that night, the hydrogen and oxygen are combined to recreate the water and

release the Sun's energy in the form of heat or electricity. The perfect energy device. Physicists have been very visible in their search for ways to use the Sun's energy, either with solar heating

units or photoelectric cells, but chemists know there is another way, one thafs been used by

Nature for billions of years. Photosynthesis. For 3 years now, Anthony Harriman of London's

Royal Institution, Pedatsur Neta of the National Bureau of Standards' Center for Chemical Physics, and

their colleagues in London and

Gaithersburg, Md., have been

working to improve a technology

invented by Nature. Plants do fairly well, but their end product is really not the best fuel. What would be

really nice is a neat, simple system,

completely controlled, with nothing

to add but water, and no waste

products to worry about. Such a chemical quest is an

arcane-sounding undertaking, but

for the researchers involved, it boils down to a long, long time spent try- ing one chemical combination after another, analyzing the results

looking for clues to the most effi- cient, practical system.

"Breaking down water into hydrogen and oxygen, there are really two reactions to consider," explains Neta at a chalkboard. "They are the

oxidation of two water molecules to an oxygen molecule, plus four hydrogen ions, plus four electrons, and the complementary reaction, where two hydrogen ions plus two

electrons are reduced to a molecule of hydrogen gas.

"In all plants you can isolate these two reactions," Neta says. The first complication is that water does not by itself absorb light to power these reactions. Something must be added to absorb

light energy. This, Neta, explains, leads to another pair of reactions.

Some molecule called a "donor" receives a photon of light and

becomes a donor with excess energy -chemists call it a molecule

in an "excited state." It resolves this by "donating" an electron to another

molecule, called an "acceptor." We're left with a donor shy an electron, and an acceptor with one too many electrons. The whole game is played by shuffling electrons around. Now that we have electronshuffling agents, we can go back to the original problem. The acceptor

molecules, now each with an extra

electron, promote the production of hydrogen molecules from water, because that reaction requires additional electrons. This leaves the ionized donor

molecules each looking for an additional electron, but they can be

used in the production of oxygen

molecules from water because that reaction produces extra electrons.

If everything works out just right, the donor and acceptor molecules

are left back in their original states, ready to begin the cycle over

again. (They are called catalysts, Counterfeit Chlorophyll

As Easy As One, Two, Three...

<$ €0 Op

Sunlight

1. Breaking down water molecules info

their component gases involves two basic

events. The creation of an oxygen gas

molecule (with two oxygen atoms) releases

four electrons. The creation of a hydrogen

gas molecule (with two hydrogen atoms) re- quires two electrons. The two reactions

balance, but the process requires adding

energy.
because they promote the reactions without themselves being changed.)

Oddly enough, Harriman

explains, the critical difficulty is not

to produce the fuel, but rather to produce the oxygen molecules. "The problem isn't on the acceptor

end. Many people have produced

hydrogen gas from water

molecules, but they allow the donors to react with something

other than water. That ends up

costing you energy and money, because whatever you react with the donor gets transformed and lost to the system. You have to keep

supplying more of it.

"It looks unimportant, because

you don't need any extra oxygen;

when you want to burn the hydro- gen, there's plenty of oxygen to be

had. But if you don't balance the system, producing oxygen as well as hydrogen, it costs you." Green plants manage this trick by using chlorophyll, which is fine

for them, but chlorophyll is too unstable for use on an industrial scale. Still, it might be possible to use some simplified form of chlorophyll.

A number of photosynthesis researchers thought of a group of chemicals called porphyrins, which

are basic constituents of both chlorophyll and hemoglobin, but after a

great deal of work at several differ- ent laboratories, there was still no

conclusive evidence that one could

oxidize water using a porphyrin.

The main problem was that the

positively charged (electron-poor) ions of porphyrin were very unstable. They didn't last long enough to get involved in the oxygenproducing reaction. The NBS-Royal Institution collaboration, with support from the U.S. Department of Energy, brought

exacting analysis techniques to bear on the problem. Royal Institu- tion chemists are conducting painstaking experiments to measure the oxygen produced in reactions with each possible porphyrin -a

challenging piece of lab work,

because any atmospheric oxygen

in the system will contaminate the experiment and lower the accuracy

of the results. Neta at NBS contributes pulse

radiolysis analyses -an advanced

measurement technique that allows the researcher to create, almost

instantaneously, a quantity of a

specific reactant under controlled conditions and observe the progress of the reaction. Pulse radiolysis

analysis is capable of observing

chemical reactions over amazingly

short periods of time; some that Neta works with take just a few

thousandths of a second. NBS is one of only a handful of institutions

in the world with a laboratory for pulse radiolysis experiments. "We set out to prove that it is possible to take a porphyrin as a model for chlorophyll and use it for oxygen generation, something

which had never been done

before," explains Harriman. Based

on their reaction studies, they

selected a zinc porphyrin, a

porphyrin-based compound built around a zinc atom. Which brought up the second, even trickier, problem: getting all the components of the reaction together in one place long enough

for the reaction to occur.

"That problem hasn't anything to do with the photochemistry," says

2. Since water doesn't absorb energy from

sunlight very efficiently, special "donor"

and "acceptor" molecules are used. The

donor absorbs energy from sunlight, and

uses that energy to release an electron,

which is captured by the acceptor.

o 00

0

3. Combining the proper donor/acceptor

system with water molecules gives a bal- anced system that converts sunlight into

the energy needed to separate water into

its component gases, in theory.

0

O

0

o

19
Dr. Pedatsur Neta uses pulse radiolysis

analysis to observe chemical reactions that

take place in just a few thousandths of a second.

Harriman. "You can generate the donor ions at near 100 percent effi- ciency. The problem is that the

basic photochemical reaction involves only one electron at a time. But you can see from the reaction equations that you have to get four

positively charged donors together

at the same place, at the same

time, so that the electron exchange

can occur." What's needed is a sort of match- making catalyst that fastens down

four ionized zinc porphyrin molecules close enough to each

20

other to attract the attention of a water molecule. "The catalyst we arrived at, ruthenium oxide, was identified by

electrochemists 40 or 50 years ago

as being good for generating molecular oxygen," Harriman continues. "The trick was to get it in a

colloidal form so that it would be a good catalyst for the photochemical

process." A colloid is a very fine collection

of particles suspended in a fluid —

not unlike a gel. The ruthenium

oxide promotes the oxygengenerating reaction by providing a

surface where the four zinc porphyrin molecules and the two water molecules can get together. The

greater the surface area, the better the reaction works. Colloidal sus- pensions have a lot of surface area. "One big problem has been that the catalysts made in any one lab have tended to be unique for one

reason or another— people couldn't reproduce the work done in other

labs. One of our major contributions has been the development of this very basic ruthenium oxide catalyst:

It's effective, readily available, not horrendously expensive, and any- one can make it and get the same

results," Neta observes.

At the end of last year, the team

produced the first examples of oxy- gen generated from water by a

catalyzed zinc porphyrin.

So is the vision a reality now?

"We're about half finished," Harriman

estimates, "we need to know much

more about the kinetics of these reactions- how they happen, and

at what rates— and about the basic mechanisms of the catalysts. Although we can describe it quite

simply, we really need a much

more basic understanding. "The pulse radiolysis analysis is very helpful for just that reason, it allows you to observe the kinetics

of the reaction. As a matter of fact, we're now in a position to help the

electrochemists, because ifs very

difficult for them to do these kinetic measurements. We can give them some information back in return for

having stolen the idea of using

ruthenium oxide," says Harriman. "We are now trying different catalysts and different porphyrins to

try and optimize the reaction," says

Neta. "One problem at present is that the rate of oxygen production

Neta at NBS contributes

pulse radiolysis

analyses— an advanced

measurement technique

that allows the researcher

to create, almost instantaneously, a quantity of a

specific reactant under

controlled conditions and

observe the progress of

the reaction.

improves as the solution gets more

alkaline. Right now we're working at about pH 10. The hydrogen

production goes the other way, however, so ideally you'd want to work with a nearly neutral solution -about pH 7. "The number of combinations

and experiments is almost limitless, but the pulse radiolysis technique at least shows what direction to move

towards. It's surprising, too. There

are porphyrins that, based strictly on chemical energy considerations, should work very well; when you examine the reaction kinetics with pulse radiolysis, you discover that they don't interact with the ruthenium oxide catalyst." Careful, cautious measurements

are necessary to sort through all the possible combinations of reactants and catalysts to find the best

solution, Neta and Harriman agree. A long task, and challenging, but

there's a certain air of exciting competition.

"It's sort of a battle, or maybe a

race," remarks Harriman, "to see where the best solar energy system

will come from -chemical photosynthesis or solid-state electronics." M.B.
' ...J

he scientist pulls a slice of pizza out

of a freezer and drops it into a

large blender. He does the same with frozen samples of cooked steak, french

fries, spinach, eggs, and other sta- ples of the American diet. Even

water. Tossing in some "cocktail" made of whiskey, beer, and other commonly consumed beverages,

he revs up the blender and the blades start whirring.

The resulting creamy broth is a

research "recipe": an accurate composite that represents the average

daily food intake of a 25- to 30-

year-old adult male in this country. About 3,075 grams- roughly 15

coffee cups full -make up this portion. At this point, the 201 different foods that make up breakfast, lunch, and dinner are now a scientific material that will be freezedried, then studied, and studied

again.

The scene is the National Bureau

of Standards. Here, NBS scientists, along with researchers from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA), have joined forces with the Vienna, Austria- based International Atomic Energy

Agency (IAEA), which has initiated an elaborate study of diets in 1

countries, including the United

States. Dubbed the "Coordinated Research Program on Human Dietary Intakes of Biologically Important Trace Elements," the project is what

Dr. Venkatesh Iyengar, chief scientist of the U.S. portion of the study,

calls "an unusual meeting of minds

in which each agency's expertise is a crucial link for making the pro- gram a success." Iyengar brings his dietary experience to the project from a 1983 international nutritional

study of mother's milk sponsored

by the World Health Organization

and the IAEA. The IAEA's main motivation for starting the new study and involv- ing the U.S. experts is that very lit- tle nutritional information, especially

for trace elements, exists for many

different foreign countries or population groups. Also, much of the

available information is of unknown

reliability because of poor or no

quality control in sample collection and analysis.

On the other hand, the United

States holds a leading position in several aspects of nutritional sciences. For example, over a

period of about 40 years, the con- cept of Recommended Dietary

Allowances (RDA), which are daily requirements deemed necessary for good health, has evolved. This list of numbers is often found on packaged food products sold in the

NBS is developing analytical methods for measuring trace element

concentration with

emphasis on assuring the

quality of data collection.

United States and is used in numerous government-sponsored

food programs, such as school lunches and food stamps, to deter- mine allocations. The current dietary study will examine 24 biologically important

trace elements. These include well- known ones such as calcium, iron, and zinc; beneficial elements like chromium and selenium, which can be toxic in large doses; and other components such as aluminum,

arsenic, cadmium, and lead, which

besides being part of the daily diet

Each country is developing mixed total diet samples representative of

foods consumed by typical families in each of

three target population

groups ....

are considered potential health haz- ards at elevated concentrations. Also to be measured will be food

energy, fiber content, and phytates

(which affect nutrient absorption).

In addition to examining the U.S.

diet, the study will analyze diets from Brazil, Canada, China, Iran,

Italy, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Thailand, and Turkey (all chosen by the

IAEA). Each country is developing

mixed total diet samples representative of foods consumed by typical families in each of three target population groups- high, average, and low incomes. Sampling procedures, sample preparation, and

data evaluation all are being rigidly controlled. An international network of refer- ence laboratories around the world

will perform analyses after being

checked for accuracy with NBS

food composite standards. Some

freeze-dried diet composites are being bottled at NBS as standards

for determining the reference labs' performance. Bureau scientists are banking others periodically in liquid nitrogen freezers -at about - 150 °C-as "yardsticks" to track

future trends in nutrient intake. The idea of freezing biological

samples for future analysis is one NBS has been practicing for several years. The Bureau entered

21
1

X L • 1

v Y

Drs. Venkatesh Iyengar (I.) and Rolf Zeisler drop food

specimens into a blender

that will mix them into composite diet samples rep- resenting the daily dietary

intake of the average

30-year-old male in the

United States.

: the field of biological monitoring in 1978 with the establishment of its Pilot Environmental Specimen

Bank. This project, initially sup- ported by the Environmental Protection Agency and now funded by

other agencies as well, has devel- oped methods for selection, collection, analysis, and storage of biological specimens such as human livers and marine mussels

for future examination. Experience

gained from specimen banking is proving valuable to the human die- tary study.

Dietary project researchers eventually hope to build a scientific data- base of food composition and

intake that will help pinpoint nutri- tional deficiencies, especially in the

22
developing countries included in the project. "When we get enough

data of selected population groups, we plan to compare actual dietary intakes with present estimates of requirements to detect possible

imbalances in trace element consumption," Iyengar says. "This will open the way to linking health problems to nutritional inadequacies

Dietary project

researchers eventually

hope to build a scientific

database of food composition and intake that will

help pinpoint nutritional

deficiencies, especially in the developing countries

included in the project.

and will set the stage for intervention if necessary to improve the

health of the target population

group." Though such a study can have

important global importance, very

little federal money has been

needed for this project. Iyengar, a

visiting scientist at NBS whose sal- ary is split by the three federal agencies, says, "The beauty of our

project is that the resources already

existed in the different agencies,

and we merely had to pool them." He adds that another advantage

of involving several agencies and

countries is that "we get the contri- butions of different scientific dis- ciplines, and after the work is done,

the things we have all learned will be shared with participating

countries." The primary contributions of the

participants are as follows: The IAEA is in charge of coordinating the entire program and

ensuring reliable sample collection

in the countries involved in the project. Dr. Robert M. Parr, who heads

the IAEA's medical applications

department, is supervising this work.The FDA will collect the U.S. food samples for delivery to NBS.

An FDA program, called the Total

Diet Survey, already exists in which

foods are purchased from grocers across the country and evaluated

for exposure to factors such as

nutritionally important elements,

industrial pollutants, and pesticides.

Dr. James Tanner, an FDA specialist in nutrient surveillance, is coordinating his agency's contribution. The USDA is responsible for analyzing the phytate levels of all the samples and for developing

procedures to evaluate the project's research data. USDA research chemist Dr. Wayne R. Wolf is at the helm of this part of the project. NBS is developing analytical

methods for measuring trace ele- ment concentration with emphasis

on assuring the quality of data collection. As the nation's measure- ment reference laboratory, NBS

practices this type of chemistry in a

variety of applications. Food analysis is a fairly new addition to the Bureau's chemical specialties. Iyengar and Dr. Rolf Zeisler, a Bureau specialist in analysis of inor- ganic trace elements, will handle

the NBS duties. Zeisler recalls that at about the time the project began in the early

1980s, NBS was planning to use

its newly established Environmental

Specimen Bank — which was

already slated to bank human livers

The current dietary study

will examine 24 biologically important trace

elements.

and marine mussels-for storage of food samples. At the same time, the IAEA was interested in starting a global dietary study but needed

help. With NBS' interest and the

Several of the 201 foods

being analyzed for the human dietary study are shown. The small disc is a compressed sample of

freeze-dried food composites that will be

analyzed for concentration

of certain trace elements.

addition of the FDA and USDA, the

project is now under way.

"This is an excellent opportunity

for NBS to share its expertise in a

nutritional study by developing

improved analytical procedures and

standards," Zeisler says. "This is only a pilot project, but it gives us a chance to test our skills and think about what needs to be done to achieve more reliable measurements."

Zeisler adds that the experience

gained from the study will allow fur- ther dietary investigations that would examine factors such as

organic nutrients (vitamins) or

potential contaminants. by John Henkel NBS Public Affairs Specialist
tronomers First to Detect

c Fields on a Flare Star

stronomers at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (J I LA) in Boulder, Colo., have for the first time detected the presence of strong magnetic fields on the sur- face of a flare star. Their finding should aid in the understanding of

stellar activity, such as flares, "spots," and hot coronas on some

stars. Dr. Jeffrey L. Lmsky and Mr. Steven H. Saar made their discov- ery based on observations made in March 1985 with the National Optical Astronomical Observatories' (NOAO) 4-meter Fourier Transform

. . . result may provide the

key as to why flares

observed on the flare

stars are vastly more

energetic than on the

Sun.

Spectrometer located at Kitt Peak

National Observatory near Tucson,

Ariz. Their results were reported in the December 1, 1985 issue of the Astrophysical Journal. JILA is a joint operation of the

National Bureau of Standards and

the University of Colorado (CU) and

is located on the university campus

in Boulder. Lmsky is an NBS

astronomer; Saar is a CU graduate

student. The presence of magnetic fields on the Sun has been known for more than 60 years, and strong

magnetic fields were presumed to

exist on other stars. Measuring

those fields, however, has been

extremely difficult. Normal spectro- graphs techniques that measure

the circular polarization produced

by magnetic fields, one aspect of the so-called Zeeman effect, do not work because the magnetic fields are randomly oriented and the circular polarizations from different portions of the stellar surface are cancelled out in the light from the whole star.

In 1979 Richard Robinson of NOAOs Sacramento Peak Observatory proposed a different measurement technique. He suggested

that the magnetic field on a star could be measured from spectra in unpolanzed light by comparing

pairs of dark lines, one with large

magnetic broadening (the other aspect of the Zeeman effect) and

one with lesser broadening. This technique works in measuring solar magnetic fields because dark lines are broadened both when the magnetic field is pointed towards

and away from the observer. Also, on the solar surface away from

dark sunspots, the magnetic field appears to be clumped into thin tubes, most of which appear to have the same magnetic field strength (about 1500 gauss, or some 3000 times the Earth's field). Robinson and his coworkers,

Drs. S. Peter Worden and John

Harvey of the National Solar Observatory, applied this new technique

to the star Xi Bootis A, a star similar

to but somewhat younger than the Sun, and detected a magnetic field of 2550 gauss covering about 30

percent of the stellar surface. Subsequently, Dr. Geoffrey Marcy of the University of California at Santa Cruz and several other astronomers have measured fields in a number

of stars similar in temperature to the Sun.The next logical step would be to measure fields in the stars for which

the largest fields have been

predicted. These are the flare stars, so called because these cool red dwarf stars are known to suddenly

increase in brightness during flares that are thousands of times more

energetic than analogous flares on

the Sun. Several previous attempts

to measure fields on these stars have been unsuccessful because

these stars are very faint and their spectra are very complex.

"To understand solar

activity, we must understand magnetic fields and

how they interact with hot

plasmas in the solar

atmosphere," Linsky says.

To accomplish their goal of measuring the magnetic field on a

flare star, Linsky and Saar selected AD Leonis, one of the nearby

members of this class. They elected

to examine the star in the infrared because red dwarf stars like AD

Leonis are brighter and the magnetic broadening of spectral lines is greater in the infrared than in the

visible. Their analysis technique was

an extension of Robinson's, except

that they solved exactly the equations governing the formation of spectral lines. Linsky and Saar detected the presence of strong magnetic fields with an average strength of 3800

gauss on AD Leonis in active regions outside of dark spots. This value of the field strength is very

interesting because the resulting pressure of the magnetic field equals the gas pressure at the deepest layers of the star visible

optically, a phenomenon found

earlier on the Sun. The magnetic

fields on AD Leonis and presumably the other flare stars are much

stronger than on the Sun because

the gas pressure in the visible layers is much greater. The result may provide the key as to why

flares observed on the flare stars are vastly more energetic than on

the Sun. Knowledge of magnetic fields is considered of prime importance to astronomers. On the Sun, for example, many of the most interesting

phenomena such as flares, hot coronas, microwave emissions, and

variable ultraviolet radiation are
1.0

0.8

X

0.6

Li_ 0.4

0.2

0

_l

Til 4480.95 cm" 1 g= 2.500

r

AD LEO B =3600 G

f = 0.68

B =2900 G

fsl.O

Til 4488.30 cm" 1 g= 1.583

B = 4200 G f =0.78

SUNSPOT B=2900 G

f = I 0

I 4480 448 I 4482 4487 4488 4489

0

Til 4501.00 cm" 1 g = 2.000

B =3600G

f =0.72

B = 2900 G

f ~ 1.0

Til 4565.51 cm" 1 g = 1167

+

AD LEO

B =3900 f = 0 80

4500 4501 4502 4564 4565

WAVENUMBER (cm-1

)

4566

The spectra of the flare star AD Leonis (crosses) are compared here with similar spectra

of the magnetically inactive star 61 Cygni A and a sunspot. These data were obtained using the 4-meter Fourier Transform Spectrometer at Kitt Peak National Observatory. The

magnetic Zeeman splitting of the four spectral lines of titanium is clearly present in the

sunspot spectra and the AD Leonis spectra, but not in the spectra of the magnetically in- active star 61 Cygni A. The solid line through the spectra of AD Leonis is a theoretical fit to the magnetic Zeeman pattern for that star.

magnetically connected. To understand solar activity, we must under- stand magnetic fields and how they

interact with hot plasmas in the

solar atmosphere," Linsky says. He

adds, "We presume the same hap- pens on the most active stars, the

flare stars. This observation of a

strong field on the star AD Leonis

is the first direct and unambiguous

piece of evidence that such fields

exist."

by Fred McGehan

NBS Public Affairs Specialist
NEW PUBLICATIONS

MEASUREMENT NEEDS OF CHEMICAL

AND PROCESS INDUSTRIES

Hord J , Survey of Measurement Needs

in the Chemical and Related Industries,

Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), NBS Tech. Note

1087, 104 pages (July 1985). Order by

stock no. 003-003-02671-9 from GPO,

$3. 75 prepaid.

A survey of the measurement needs of the chemical and related processing industries has been conducted by the NBS Center

for Chemical Engineering. The survey was

part of a continuing effort to help instrument manufacturers and users as well as govern- ment agencies focus available national resources on the most pressing measure- ment problems of these industries, in order

to improve product/process quality and

reduce costs. Survey questions were answered by 65 recognized experts from

the chemical, oil and gas, pharmaceutical,

electronic chemicals, energy, instrument manufacturing, food, and plastics sectors of industry. They identified 133 measurement

problems; the most frequently cited areas

in need of improvement were flow, composition/concentration, and temperature.

FUTURE OF U.S. ADVANCED

CERAMICS INDUSTRY

Schneider, S.J., A National Prospectus on the Future of the U.S. Advanced

Ceramics Industry, Natl. Bur. Stand.

(U.S.), NBSIR 85-3240, 147 pages (July

1985). Send a self-addressed label to Samuel J. Schneider, B309 Materials Building, National Bureau of Standards,

Gaithersburg, MD 20899, 301/921-2891.

In July 1985, a group of 140 leaders in ceramics from industry, government, and

universities agreed they must aggressively

exploit the potential for cooperative industrial research and development if industry is to take advantage of new markets esti- mated to be tens of billions of dollars annually by the end of the century. They met at NBS to assess the competitive position of the U.S. advanced ceramics industry and

to develop approaches for improving

growth and productivity. Participants con- cluded that some markets may be lost, but

26

future opportunities exist for highperformance ceramics in heat engines, cut- ting tools, and advanced electronics. This

publication reports on the July conference sponsored by NBS and the Department of Commerce. The proceedings contain remarks by keynote speaker Rep. Don

Ritter, R-Pa., and industry overviews and

assessments by Albert R.C. Westwood of Martin Marietta Laboratories, Sy L. Blum of Charles River Associates, Inc., and Julius Harwood of Ovonic Synthetic Materials Co.

At the request of conference attendees, the Department of Commerce has agreed to work with an industrial steering committee

to promote cooperative research in this area.

SURVEY OF WORLDWIDE

OPTOELECTRONICS INFLUENCE

Tassey, G., Technology and Economic

Assessment of Optoelectronics, Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Planning Report 23, 84

pages (October 1985). Send a self- addressed label to Dr. Gregory C. Tassey, A1 002 Administration Building, National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD

20899, 301/921-3872.

Japan is currently ahead in the worldwide

race to commercialize the optoelectronic

products that constitute major components

of fiber-optic and other information-handling

systems. However, the United States, through its superior science base, can

catch up if industry and government pro- grams concentrate on transferring products

to market quicker. This NBS report projects the impacts of optoelectronics technology on the economy between now and the turn

of the century. (Worldwide research and

development in this technology is projected

to reach $1 billion annually by 1987.) The

study also estimates that the federal government's contribution to optoelectronics measurement technology could save the economy $100 million to $200 million a

year by 2000. But the report cites other

studies that suggest industry will likely underinvest in measurement despite the

critical importance of such technology in boosting U.S. competitiveness in marketing

optoelectronics. The Bureau study urges a

strong liaison between NBS, the nation's primary supplier of nonproprietary measure- ment and test methods, and industrial firms

to bolster this crucial optical measurement

technology.

HIGH VOLTAGE, RESISTANCE

CALIBRATION REPORTED

Misakian, M , High Voltage Divider and

Resistor Calibrations, Natl. Bur. Stand.

(U.S.), NBS Tech. Note 1215, 31 pages

(July 1985). Order by stock no. 003-003- 02672-7 from GPO, $1.25 prepaid.

Industrial and government laboratories that have devices calibrated as standards for measuring high direct current (dc) voltages

and resistances should find this NBS report

useful. It is a guide to the NBS calibration service for determining dc voltage ratios and total resistance of voltage dividers and

resistors. Typical applications of calibrated high dc voltages include x-ray machines,

paint sprayers, and transmission of electri- cal energy. The publication contains dia- grams and photographs of the Bureau's

calibration apparatus, including descriptions

of the Wheatstone bridge circuit and stan- dard resistors that form the heart of the cal- ibration system. Also discussed are the operating procedures NBS used to maintain the apparatus and to perform the

calibrations.

THEORY OF MEASUREMENT OF

LASER PULSE ELECTRIC FIELD

Johnson, E.G., Jr., Direct Measurement of the Electric Field of a Laser Pulse—

Theory, Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), NBS

Tech. Note 1084, 60 pages (August 1985). Order by stock no. 003-003-02697-2 from GPO, $2.25 prepaid.

NBS has begun to develop a system to measure the time and spatial features of the electric field of a laser pulse with at least 1 percent accuracy. The principal fea- tures of the system include use of a computer-generated spatial filter to convert

the laser beam into a form suitable for fiber-optic processing; an optical fiber located at each selected measurement

point in the filtered beam -these fibers contain a "pinched" section to eliminate all but the fundamental modes; and a detector to measure the power from each fiber. The

theoretical basis for the methodology and

instrumentation is described in this report.
DIRECTORY TO STANDARD

REFERENCE DATABASES PUBLISHED

Sauerwein, J.C. and Dalton, G.R., Stan- dard Reference Data Publications,

1964-1984, Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), NBS

Spec. Pub. 708, 143 pages (December

1985). Order by stock no. 003-003-02705-7

from GPO, $5 prepaid.

NBS through the National Standard Refer- ence Data System (NSRDS) has prepared a new directory of publications and computerized databases for scientists, engineers, and others in industry, government, and universities who need reliable evaluated data on the chemical and physical properties of substances. The directory

lists reprints and supplements from the Journal of Physical and Chemical Refer- ence Data, other NSRDS data compilations

and critical bibliographies, computer pro- grams for handling technical data, and

magnetic tapes in the National Standard

Reference Database series. Authors,

materials, and properties indexes as well as

ordering information and price lists are

included.

NEW SCALE CODES NOW IN PLACE

Warnlof, O.K., editor, Specifications,

Tolerances, and Other Technical

Requirements for Weighing and Measuring Devices, Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), NBS

Hdbk. 44-1986, 289 pages (September

1985). Order by stock no. 003-003-02679-4

from GPO, $12 prepaid.

The work of hundreds of state and local inspectors who regulate weighing and

measuring devices will be made easier now that the new "Scales Code" described

in this handbook became effective January

1, 1986. Service and sales personnel,

manufacturers, and users of these devices

also will benefit from the new code, which

is a major revision to the handbook. It pro- vides a new tolerance structure based on

the value and number of scale divisions and established classes of scales. The new

code requires that scales manufactured

after January 1, 1986, be marked to show

the class designation for which they are designed. The new scales code has been

adopted by the National Conference on

Weights and Measures (NCWM), an organization of state, county, and city- weights

and measures enforcement officials and

assorted business and consumer representatives. Through its Office of Weights and

Measures, NBS provides technical assistance to NCWM and its committees.

NEW FIELD MANUAL FOR STATE

AND LOCAL INSPECTORS

Bnckenkamp, C.S., Hasko, S., and Natrella, M G Package Checking Field Manual

to Accompany NBS Handbook 133,

"Checking the Net Contents of Packaged Goods," Natl. Bur. Stand. (US),

NBSIR 83-3172, 128 pages (August 1985). Order by stock no. PB 86-1 08776/AS from

NTIS, $16.95 prepaid.

Manufacturers and producers of goods

who must comply with the rules for anything put into a container, wrapped,

branded, or labeled as to quantity should be interested in this supplement to NBS

Handbook 133. Based on feedback from 30 workshops conducted by the NBS

Office of Weights and Measures on packaged products compliance testing, it is an

important field manual for both the experienced and novice inspector. It contains information on what industry needs to know about field and plant inspections and

will assist users in maintaining quality control and assurance for packaged goods in the marketplace.

OPEN DATING REGULATION

IN NBS HANDBOOK

Brickenkamp, C.S., editor, NBS Handbook

130-1986, Uniform Laws and Regulations, Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.). NBS Hdbk.

130. 155 pages (September 1985). Order

by stock no. 003-003-02676-0 from GPO.

$7 prepaid.

This edition contains important information

for food producers and retailers on the new

uniform open dating regulation adopted by

the 70th National Conference on Weights

and Measures (NCWM). Developed by

NCWM and the Association of Food and

Drug Officials, the regulation resolves differ- ences in previous regulations produced by

both organizations. It provides the states

with two options: one requires open dating on all perishable foods, while the other sets

a standard that must be followed by those who voluntarily use open dating. Another

change in the handbook provides the

states with options for adopting all recom- mended NCWM weights and measures

regulations by reference and/or by auto- matic adoption of supplements or revisions

of an NCWM regulation. NBS provides

technical assistance to NCWM, an organization of state, county, and city weights

and measures enforcement officials and

associated business and consumer

representatives.

STANDARD REFERENCE MATERIAL

USERS GUIDE

Taylor, J.K., Handbook for SRM Users,

Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.). NBS Spec. Pub.

260-100, 98 pages (September 1985). Order from the Office of Standard Refer- ence Materials. B311 Chemistry Building. National Bureau of Standards. Gaithers- burg. MD 20899. 301/921-2045.

NBS has published a handbook for users

of its more than 900 different Standard

Reference Materials (SRM's). Used as pri- mary standards in science, industry, and

technology, SRM's include materials such

as environmental pollutants, cements, ores, glasses, foods, and metals. Though numer- ous journal articles and technical reports are available on the subject, this 85-page

guide offers a detailed review of SRM use. Sections are included on quality assurance,

precision and accuracy, reporting analytical data, and NBS services related to SRM's.

Important factors such as calibration,

statistical control, traceability, and data

uncertainty also are covered.

ORDERING INFORMATION

To order publications from NTIS, send

request with payment to: National Technical

Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161.

Publications can be ordered from GPO by

mailing order with payment to: Superinten- dent of Documents, U.S. Government Print- ing Office. Washington, DC 20402.

2~
CONFERENCE CALENDAR

Workshop on Quantitative X-ray Diffrac- tion Analysis, NBS, Gaithersburg, MD

June 23-24, 1986

This workshop will cover fundamental

aspects of quantitative x-ray diffraction analysis and how they should be applied in the development of methods for quantitative

analysis. Instrumentation, analytical tech- niques, and standards for quantitative x-ray

diffraction will be discussed. Speakers will describe quantitative analysis of a number

of specific materials, such as portland

cement, ceramics, and clays. The expected

participants are technical and research staff from a wide variety of industries. Sponsored by NBS. Contact: Leslie J. Struble, B348 Building Research Building, NBS,

Gaithersburg, MD 20899, 301/921-2635 or

Dr. Camden R. Hubbard, A247 Materials

Building, NBS, Gaithersburg, MD 20899,

301/921-2845.

Conference on Precision Electromagnetic Measurements, CPEM 86, NBS,

Gaithersburg, MD

June 23-27, 1986

CPEM 86 is the world's premier international conference for those in the fields of electromagnetic metrology and related fun- damental physical constants. Papers

describing original work, not previously

published or presented, covering the theory, design, performance, simulation, or application of electromagnetic standards,

measurements, techniques, instruments, or systems will be presented. Topics will include the following: EM-related fundamental constants and standards; direct current, low frequency, and RF; time, time-interval, and frequency; antennae and fields; micro- waves and millimeter waves; infrared, visi- ble, and ultraviolet radiation; lasers; electro and fiber optics; cryo-electronics; auto- mated measurements; and technical cali- bration services. The 1985 Nobel laureate in physics, Klaus von Klitzing, will give a talk on his award-winning work in solid-state physics.

Von Klitzing, who directs the Max Planck

28

Institute for Solid State Research in Stutt- gart, West Germany, was given the Nobel

prize for his discovery of the quantization of the classical Hall effect in certain semiconductor devices at cryogenic temperatures

and in the presence of a strong magnetic

field. Sponsored by NBS, IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society, and

Union Radio Scientifique Internationale. Contact: Norman Belecki, B146 Metrology

Building, NBS, Gaithersburg, MD 20899,

301/921-2715.

10th Triennial Congress of the International Council for Building Research,

Studies, and Documentation (CIB), Convention Center, Washington, DC

September 21-26, 1986

The technological and social issues facing the international building industry in advancing building technology in the coming years will be the focus of this congress. The conference theme will be addressed

by examining three sub-themes: for the computer age, the challenges of advanced

computation and automation to the building

industry; for shelter for the homeless in developing countries, the development and

implementation of appropriate technologies

using local materials and building practices;

and for translating research into practice, the results of CIB's technical working commissions and international building research and practice organizations in producing

improved building practices. Over 600

abstracts have been approved for this congress. CIB is an international building professional organization through which the inter- national building community develops and

exchanges findings on building research and practices. Its members come from 64

countries. The congress will interest the

building industry worldwide -engineers,

architects, builders, owners, developers,

manufacturers, policymakers, regulatory offi- cials, representatives from professional

organizations, academia, and research

laboratories. Sponsored by the Building

Research Board, National Research Council of the National Academies of Sciences

and Engineering and NBS. Contact: Noel

J. Raufaste, CIB. 86 Director, B226 Building

Research Building, NBS, Gaithersburg, MD

20899, 301/921-3106.

7986 Meeting of the National Confer- ence of Standards Laboratories, 25

Years of Measurement Progress, NBS,

Gaithersburg, MD

October 6-9, 1986

Emphasis at this conference will be on new

developments in metrology, new management techniques to efficiently utilize resources, as well as the emerging role of the metrologist in contributing to improved

product quality and reliability. In addition, the program will give timely recognition to the pioneers of measurement science, and

will take a look at the progress in measure- ment science over the past 25 years. Workshops will include special hands-on

sessions to keep the metrology manager

and engineer abreast of technological

advances and new innovative ideas. Since

the National Conference of Standards

Laboratories (NCSL) will be celebrating its 25th anniversary during 1986, the program

will include a special session dealing with the history and progress of the organization. Sponsored by NCSL and NBS. Contact: Ernest L. Garner, B362 Physics

Building, NBS, Gaithersburg, MD 20899,

301/921-2805.

Thirty-Second Annual Conference on

Bioassay, Analytical and Environmental

Radiochemistry, NBS, Gaithersburg, MD

October 21-23, 1986

The ability to quantify minute amounts of radionuclides in a variety of difficult matrices continues to be important for the study and protection of humans and the environment. In this informal conference,

researchers and analysts from government,

industry, and academia will discuss new,

improved, or even problem, analytical

methods, interpret subsequent data, and

evaluate health and environmental implications. The scope for the conference will include in vivo and in vitro bioassay, analytical method development, distribution and

partition of radionuclides in the environ- ment, and modeling and health significance

of radionuclide pathways to humans. Sponsored by NBS, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Nuclear

Regulatory Commission, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Contact: Kathy

Stang, A353 Physics Building. NBS,

Gaithersburg, MD 20899, 301/921-2255.
The National Bureau of Standards was established by an act of Congress on March 3, 1901. The Bureau's overall goal

is to strengthen and advance the nation's science and technology and facilitate their effective application for public benefit. To this end, the Bureau conducts research and provides: (1) a basis for the nation's physical measurement system; (2) scientific and technological services for industry and government; (3) a technical basis for equity in trade; and (4) technical services to promote public safety. The Bureau's technical work is performed by the National Measurement Laboratory, the

National Engineering Laboratory, the Institute for Computer Sciences and Technology, and the Institute for Materials Sci- ence and Engineering.

THE NATIONAL MEASUREMENT

LABORATORY

Provides the national system of physical

and chemical measurement; coordinates

the system with measurement systems of other nations and furnishes essential ser- vices leading to accurate and uniform

physical and chemical measurement

throughout the nation's scientific community, industry, and commerce; provides

advisory and research services to other government agencies; conducts physical

and chemical research; develops, pro- duces, and distributes Standard Refer- ence Materials; and provides calibration services. The laboratory consists of the

following areas:

• Standard Reference Data

• Measurement Services

• Basic Standards

• Radiation Research

• Chemical Physics

• Analytical Chemistry

THE NATIONAL ENGINEERING

LABORATORY

Provides technology and technical ser- vices to the public and private sectors to address national needs and to solve national problems; conducts research in engineering and applied science in support

of these efforts; builds and maintains

competence in the necessary disciplines

required to carry out this research and

technical service; develops engineering

data and measurement capabilities; pro- vides engineering measurement traceability services; develops test methods

and proposes engineering standards and

code changes; develops and proposes new engineering practices; and develops

and improves mechanisms to transfer re- sults of its research to the ultimate user. The laboratory consists of the following centers:

• Applied Mathematics

• Electronics and Electrical Engineering

• Manufacturing Engineering

• Building Technology

• Fire Research

• Chemical Engineering

THE INSTITUTE FOR COMPUTER

SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

Conducts research and provides sci- entific and technical services to aid federal agencies in the selection, acquisition, application and use of computer

technology to improve effectiveness and

economy in government operations in ac- cordance with Public Law 89-306 (40 U.S.C. 759), relevant Executive Orders,

and other directives; carries out this mis- sion by managing the Federal Information Processing Standards Program, developing federal ADP standards

guidelines, and managing federal participation in ADP voluntary standardization activities; provides scientific and

technological advisory services and assistance to federal agencies; and pro- vides the technical foundation for computer-related policies of the federal government. The institute consists of the

following centers:

• Programming Science and Technology

• Computer Systems Engineering

THE INSTITUTE FOR MATERIALS

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Conducts research and provides measurements, data, standards, reference

materials, quantitative understanding,

and other technical information funda- mental to the processing, structure, properties, and performance of materials; ad- dresses the scientific basis for new

advanced materials technologies; plans

research around cross-country scientific themes such as nondestructive evaluation and phase diagram development; oversees Bureau-wide technical pro- grams in nuclear reactor radiation re- search and nondestructive evaluation; and broadly disseminates generic technical information resulting from its pro- grams. The institute consists of the fol- lowing divisions:

• Nondestructive Evaluation

• Inorganic Materials

• Fracture and Deformation

• Polymers

• Metallurgy

• Reactor Radiation
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Bureau of Standards

Gaithersburg, MD 20899 ___ BULK RATE

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