Characterization of microstructures with sizes from the sub-nm to the μm-range by extended small-angle neutron scattering

Abstract

Conventional SANS facilities cover scattering vectors q between about 0.01 and 3 nm −1 and are well suited for analyzing microstructures in materials with sizes from 1 to about 100 nm. At the Geesthacht neutron facility (GeNF), this range has been greatly extended. Larger values of q (up to 25 nm −1) are made accessible at the pin-hole facility SANS-2 by means of a second area detector, which can be rotated around the sample. Smaller q-values down to 10 −3 nm −1 can be covered at the SANS-2 by means of the beam broadening (BB) technique. With the use of a double-crystal diffractometer (DCD) still smaller q-values down to 10 −4 nm −1 become accessible. Investigations of extremely small structures (cluster with radii of only 0.3 nm), and extremely large ones (creep pores in ceramics with size up to some μm) are presented.