AN APPARATUS FOR STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF HIGH TEMPERATURE MATERIALS USING SYNCHROTRON RADIATION

X-RAY AND NEUTRON SCATTERING ARE POWERFUL TECHNIQUES FOR STRUCTUAL MEASUREMENTS ON SOLIDS AND LIQUIDS. ALTHOUGH STRUCTURAL ANALYSES OF HIGH TEMPERATURE MATERIALS ARE IMPORTANT, THEY HAVE BEEN LIMITED BY TWO SOURCES OF ERROR. FIRST, THE MATERIALS OF INTEREST BECOME CONTAMINATED BY REACTION WITH THEIR CONTAINERS. SECOND, THE CONTAINERS PRODUCE UNWANTED SCATTERING AND ABSORPTION OF THE PROBE BEAMS. THESE ERRORS COMBINE TO PRODUCE INTRACTABLE PROBLEMS IN THE ANALYSIS OF DATA. THESE PROBLEMS WILL BE ELIMINATED IN THIS PROJECT BY APPLYING CONTAINERLESS TECHNIQUES FOR X-RAY AND NEUTRON SCATTERING MEASUREMENTS ON HIGH TEMPERATURE LIQUIDS AND SOLIDS, BOTH METALS AND CERAMICS. THE METHODS FOR ACHIEVING CONTAINERLESS CONDITIONS WILL BE ELECTROMAGNETIC LEVITATION FOR METALLIC MATERIALS AND CONICAL NOZZLE LEVITATION FOR BOTH METALS AND CERAMICS. THE ELECTROMAGNETIC LEVITATION APPROACH WAS DEMONSTRATED IN PRELIMINARY NEUTRON SCATTERING EXPERIMENTS. THE CONICAL NOZZLE METHOD WAS DEMONSTRATED IN THE LABORATORY ON MOLTEN ALUMINUM OXIDE AND OTHER CERAMICS. THE MAIN GOAL OF THE PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP THE X-RAY ANALYSIS OF HIGH TEMPERATURE MATERIALS USING TE CONICAL NOZZLE TECHNIQUE WITH SYNCHROTRON RADIATION. THE CONICAL NOZZLE LEVITATION METHOD WILL BE INVESTIGATED FOR METALLIC AND CERAMIC LIQUIDS OF INTEREST DURING PHASE I. THE RESEARCH WILL INCLUDE SYNCHROTRON SCATTERING EXPERIMENTS ON LEVITATED MATERIALS OF KNOWN STRUCTURE, USING THE NATIONAL SYNCHROTRON LIGHT SOURCE. PHASE II WOULD PROVIDE A PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR APPLICATION AT SYNCHROTRON RADIATION AND NEUTRON BEAM FACILITIES FOR STRUCTURAL ANALYSES OF HIGH TEMPERATURE MATERIALS.