Abstract
The European Spallation Source (ESS), which is under construction in Lund (Sweden), will be the leading and most brilliant neutron source and aims at starting user operation at the end of 2023. Among others, two small angle neutron scattering (SANS) machines will be operated. Due to the high brilliance of the source, it is important to minimize the downtime of the instruments. For this, a collaboration between three German universities and the ESS was initialized to develop and construct a unified sample environment (SE) system. The main focus was set on the use of a robust carrier system for the different SEs, which allows setting up experiments and first prealignment outside the SANS instruments. This article covers the development and construction of a SE for SANS experiments with foams, which allows measuring foams at different drainage states and the control of the rate of foam formation, temperature, and measurement position. The functionality under ESS conditions was tested and neutron test measurement were carried out.
Highlights
The sample environment (SE) allows the control of the gas flow rate used for foam formation and offers the possibility to control the temperature
The complete foam cylinder is made from neutron-transparent quartz glass, which enables small angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements at any position along the foam height and the possibility to study different drainage stages in a single experiment
SANS test measurements were successfully performed at the KWS-1 beamline at the MLZ with a model foam already reported in literature
Summary
This made it possible to probe the foam at different (gravitational) drainage stages Following this approach, we designed a foam cell that allows SANS measurements at any desired height along the foam cylinder. Since the foam formation before each SANS experiment takes several minutes, the presented SE includes a sample changer for up to three foam cells, allowing foaming the sample during the measurement of the previous one. As stated above, this is especially important for highly brilliant neutron sources such as the ESS in order to reduce the downtime between sample changes. Detailed technical aspects of the measurement cell itself and the peripheral components such as temperature control, gas flow control, and sample positioning, as well as first benchmarks for measurements with neutrons, are shown
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