13 - X-ray and Neutron Scattering

Abstract

This chapter describes the use of neutrons and X-rays as probes in the study of structural and dynamic properties of metallic materials. Crystalline materials are characterized by their diffraction peaks related to their average crystallographic structure. In real crystals, locally displaced atoms and chemically (or isotopically for neutrons) different species may lead not only to changes of peak shapes and positions, but also to additional (diffuse) scattering between Bragg peak, including scattering around the primary beam (small-angle scattering). All these features can be used to extract information about the state of a sample, its compositional and structural variations on a scale depending on the scattering, in static and time-resolved kinetic studies. Energy-resolved scattering also offers an insight into solid-state dynamics on a microscopic scale. Some of the most important methods will be described and illustrated by instructive examples. The presentation offers a combined view of neutron and X-ray scattering, with the necessary simplifications dictated by space limitations. The special properties of thermal neutrons and of hard X-rays (now widely available at synchrotron radiation sources), their mutual combination, and combinations with other methods, in particular electron microscopy, offer ample opportunity to better understand and control materials properties. After a brief introduction to scattering from real crystals and some general ideas about long-range strains and Bragg peaks, the vicinity of Bragg peaks (displacement scattering at large scattering angles), the scattering far away from Bragg peaks (chemical heterogeneities, short-range order), and, in greater detail, small-angle scattering (which is not sensitive to the extent of crystallinity, but to nanoscale variations of chemical composition and of magnetization, precipitation) will be described, along with classical and more recent applications related to short-range ordering and precipitation in bulk and nanostructured alloys. Some other fields are only briefly addressed (grazing-incidence studies of surfaces, radiography, absorption spectroscopies, coherent X-rays). The final section offers some information on the influence of defects on lattice dynamics and on (slow) diffusive motion in materials.