Neutron Diffraction

1450°C oven for neutron diffraction

Neutron diffraction is a technology to determine the atomic structure of solid substances and, for example, to analyse residual stresses. For the analyses of advanced high temperature composites an oven was needed to heat these composites to 1600°C, during measurement. A boundary condition is that as few as possible neutrons are being captured by the oven. The test pieces that have to be analysed are tubular with a diameter of 50 mm and a lenght of 100 mm.

As heating mechanism, a tubular test piece is irradiated from the inside with a Mo heating element. This way, the heatingelement does not get in the way of the neutrons. For the protection of the composite as well as the Mo heating element, a vacuum is being created in a quartz glass enclosure. To achieve a homogeneous temperature and to restrict the capacity and the temperature of the quartz, graphite radiation screens are being used. To avoid degradation of the Mo, an 'oxygencollector' is being used, to remove the residual oxygen.