Abstract
A method of time-of-flight, small-angle neutron scattering (TOF-SANS) has been developed based on the iMATERIA powder diffractometer at BL20, of the Materials and Life Sciences Facility (MLF) at the high-intensity proton accelerator (J-PARC). A large-area detector for SANS, which is composed of triple-layered 3He tube detectors, has a hole at its center in order to release a direct beam behind and to detect ultra-small-angle scattering. As a result, the pulsed-neutron TOF method enables us to perform multiscale observations covering 0.003 < q (Å−1) < 40 (qmax/qmix = 1.3 × 104) and to determine the static structure factor S(q) and/or form factor P(q) under real-time and in-situ conditions. Our challenge, using unique sample accessories of a super-conducting magnet and polarized neutron, is dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) for contrast variation, especially for industrial use. To reinforce conventional SANS measurements with powder materials, grazing-incidence small-angle neutron scattering (GISANS) or reflectivity is also available on the iMATERIA instrument.
Highlights
The softness of materials such as gels, foams and rubber is attributed to the reorganization of self-assembled molecular structures [1]
When we look at the cell
We report on recent developments and the current status of time-of-flight SANS on the iMATERIA diffractometer at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC)
Summary
The softness of materials such as gels, foams and rubber is attributed to the reorganization of self-assembled molecular structures [1]. The interaction energy to associate molecules (hydrogen bonding, van der Waals or hydrophobic interactions) is of the order of the thermal energy at room temperature (~kBT). Molecules comprising soft materials possess a large amount of internal degrees of freedom. Soft materials react in a viscoelastic manner to external stimuli such as deformation (stretching or shear), and/or temperature or pressure jumps. The taste and texture of foods, the softness of clothes, and the fuel efficiency and stopping performance of tires, are all related to viscoelasticity coupled with the hierarchical structure. Time-of-flight (TOF) neutron scattering, as reported in this paper, is an experimental method to delicately and instantaneously detect the hierarchical structure over a wide range from mesoscopic to microscopic atomic scales
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