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Engin-X
Engin-X is a neutron strain scanner that can be used to non-destructively measure internal strains and stresses in materials, offering insights critical for industries like aerospace, power generation and transportation. Its precise, deep-penetration capabilities make it ideal for studying stresses in large and complex components.
Technical information
Primary flight path: 50 m
Secondary flight path: 1.5 m
Disc choppers: At 6.4 m and 9.6 m
Detectors:
- 2θ = ±90° diffraction banks, ZnS scintillators
- Horizontal resolution: 3mm
- 10 × 10 pixel transmission detector (2.5 mm square pixel pitch)
Detector coverage:
- 2θ range: 76° to 104°
- Vertical range: ±21°
Wavelength range: 0.5 to 6 Å
Incoming beam collimation:
- Vertical: 0.2 to 20 mm
- Horizontal: 0.2 to 10 mm
Outgoing beam collimation: 0.5, 1, 2, 3, or 4 mm
Sample stage:
- Horizontal motion: 2 orthogonal axes (X and Y), each with ± 250 mm
- Vertical motion (Z): 600 mm travel
- Rotation about vertical axis (ω): 370°
- Nominal translational accuracy: 10 mm/100 mm (500 kg load)
- Weight capacity: 1000 kg
Related resources
Sample environments
- Two custom-built uniaxial hydraulic stress rigs (by Instron) are available, enabling simultaneous on-beam and off-beam mechanical or fatigue testing. These rigs have maximum loading capacities of 50 kN and 100 kN, respectively.
- A radiant furnace can be mounted on the stress rig for elevated-temperature mechanical testing up to 1100°C.
- A cryostat can also be mounted on the stress rig, allowing cryogenic mechanical testing under vacuum and load up to 100 kN, with a temperature range of 6 K to 300 K.
- The Cybaman Manipulator is a high-capacity robotic arm capable of rotating samples up to 20 kg. When used alongside SScanSS 2 virtual laboratory software, it enables automatic sample orientation, allowing any strain component to be measured in a single setup.
Software
The Mantid Engineering Diffraction Interface is part of the Mantid software suite, specifically designed for processing and analysing diffraction data from instruments like Engin-X. It provides a user-friendly interface for performing tasks, such as calibrating the instrument, loading data, visualising diffraction patterns, and performing strain and stress analysis.
SScanSS 2 (pronounced “scans two”) provides a virtual laboratory for planning, visualising, and setting-up strain scanning experiments on engineering beam-line instruments.
SScanSS 2, which is an acronym for Strain Scanning Simulation Software, uses a computer model of the instrument, i.e. jaws, collimators, positioning system and 3D model of the sample to simulate the measurement procedure. The main output of the simulation is a script that can be used to drive the real-world positioning system to the desired measurement positions.
Recent publications
Instrument reference
All publications and datasets based on experiments using Engin-X should cite that the data is collected by DOI: 10.5286/isis.instrument.3169. Experiment DOIs follow the format 10.5286/ISIS.E.RBXXXXXXX, where XXXXXXX is the 7-digit experiment (RB) number and these can be viewed via the Data Gateway.
Reference paper: Engin-X: a third-generation neutron strain scanner, Journal of Applied Crystallography, 39, 6, 2006, 812-825, DOI: 10.1107/S0021889806042245.