Examining changes in complex materials

Citation

(2001), "Examining changes in complex materials", Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, Vol. 48 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/acmm.2001.12848aab.004

Examining changes in complex materials

Examining changes in complex materials

Keywords: Furnaces, X-ray, R&D, Corrosion monitoring

A compact furnace combined with high-energy X-rays is enabling researchers at the US Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory (Ames, Iowa) to record directly the chemical and structural changes of complex materials at high temperatures and under real processing conditions.

This information is crucial to understanding and controlling the composition and microstructure of new materials. Previously, it took months or years to collect such data through the laborious process of heating, quenching, and analysing numerous samples. Now, the researchers can gather the data in a few days while getting a more detailed picture of what happens to a material's crystal structure when it is heated and cooled. The new system is ideal, the researchers say, for complex materials such as structural ceramics, superconducting wires, nanostructural materials, and in detecting corrosion.

The furnace uses an analytical technique known as X-ray diffraction, in which an X-ray beam is focused on a small sample of material. The beam is diffracted by the crystal structure of each material, resulting in a unique pattern of concentric rings called "Debye rings". By capturing images of the changes in the ring pattern, as the material is heated and cooled, the scientists gain a better fundamental understanding of what happens to the material's crystal structure at various temperatures.