A materials oscilloscope is a time-resolved

synchrotron A synchrotron is a particular type of cyclic particle accelerator, descended from the cyclotron, in which the accelerating particle beam travels around a fixed closed-loop path. The strength of the magnetic field which bends the particle beam i ...

high-energy X-ray technique to study rapid

phase Phase or phases may refer to: Science *State of matter, or phase, one of the distinct forms in which matter can exist *Phase (matter), a region of space throughout which all physical properties are essentially uniform *Phase space, a mathematica ...

composition and microstructural related changes in a polycrystalline sample. Such device has been developed for in-situ studies of specimens undergoing physical thermo-mechanical simulation.

Principle

Two-dimensional diffraction images of a fine synchrotron beam interacting with the specimen are recorded in time frames, such that reflections stemming from individual crystallites of the polycrystalline material can be distinguished. Data treatment is undertaken in a way that diffraction rings are straightened and presented line by line streaked in time. The traces, so-called timelines in azimuthal-angle/time plots resemble to traces of an oscilloscope, giving insight on the processes happening in the material, while undergoing plastic deformation, or heating, or both, These timelines allow to distinguish grain growth or refinement, subgrain formation, slip deformation systems, crystallographic twinning, dynamic recovery, dynamic recrystallization, simultaneously in multiple phases.

History

The development has been undertaken from a project on modern diffraction methods for the investigation of thermo-mechanical processeses, and started with cold deformation of a copper specimen at the ESRF in 2007, followed by hot deformation of zirconium alloy at APS in 2008. Soon afterwards, a series of other materials has been tested and experience with the timeline traces gained. While

ESRF The European Synchrotron (ESRF) is a joint research facility situated in Grenoble, France, supported by 19 countries (13 member countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switz ...

and APS played the major role in experimental facilities, the Japanese high-energy synchrotron in the round, SPring-8 followed in 2013 by performing feasibility studies of this kind. Meanwhile, the new

PETRA III Petra (; "Rock"), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu (Nabataean: or , *''Raqēmō''), is an ancient city and archaeological site in southern Jordan. Famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit systems, Petra is also called ...

synchrotron at

DESY DESY, short for Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (English: ''German Electron Synchrotron''), is a national research centre for fundamental science located in Hamburg and Zeuthen near Berlin in Germany. It operates particle accelerators used to ...

built a dedicated beamline for this purpose, opening the Materials Oscilloscope investigations to a larger public. The name materials oscilloscope was introduced in 2013 and used onward upon conferences such as MRS and TMS.Neutron and synchrotron radiation with applications for in-situ studies in materials science http://www.campnano.org/web/en/communication/invited_visitors/2014/1016/728.html

Implementation

Besides setups in multi-purpose facilities, the first dedicated end-station has been built at the PETRA-III storage ring, where this technique is routinely applied.

References

{{reflist Materials science Metallurgy Materials testing Metal forming Diffraction Synchrotron-related techniques Synchrotron radiation X-rays Engineering thermodynamics Laboratory techniques in condensed matter physics Phases of matter Deformation (mechanics)