MRI: Acquisition of XRD Attachments for Extending X-Ray Lab Capabilities with Temperature and Atmosphere Control

0923042 BiernackiTennessee Technology U.技术总结：原位X射线研究正成为能源、环境和基础设施应用材料开发快速发展的日益重要的技术。 田纳西理工大学（TTU）的研究人员正在进行的项目包括：（1）燃料电池，电池，燃气轮机和能源转换;（2）先进的高性能材料。用于结构汽车和飞机系统的矿物增强聚合物基质制成的下一代纳米复合材料，用于基础设施应用的先进水泥系统以及用于燃料电池和高性能热力发动机开发的薄膜材料是两个推力领域内代表的材料和材料系统的具体示例。 该项目将扩大TTU不断增长的仪器群的能力，用于对材料系统进行集中的多尺度研究，以进一步加强田纳西州更广泛的科学，技术和工程界的研究和教育设施。 新的仪器，一系列的三个温度阶段和大气控制室X射线衍射系统（附件），将成为现有协同基础设施的一部分，包括新购买的X射线衍射系统，环境扫描电子显微镜（ESEM），闭环机械测试负载框架和光学成像站，所有这些都由NSF资助，并将访问整个TTU研究社区，工业合作者，区域K-12科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）教育社区和其他大学研究人员。 虽然多尺度解释的概念并不新鲜，但TTU团队努力将这一概念作为一种普遍的调查形式，延伸到多个学科。 X射线仪器附件代表了一个协同元素，与现有工具相结合，将使TTU研究团队能够为环境，结构无机和有机材料系统开发多尺度实验数据集，具有广泛的21世纪世纪影响，包括氢经济，基础设施和纳米级加工。除了新的X光附件外，该团队还将整合通信、学习和可视化技术，以提高这些先进工具在教学环境中的适用性。Layman总结：许多材料的行为只能通过在许多长度尺度上获得有关结构和性质的详细信息来解释。 用于探索材料的各种工具包括机械试验机和显微镜。 这些仪器揭示了大规模的属性，那些影响性能的厘米（厘米）或米（米）规模和微观属性，那些一个规模的毫米（毫米），甚至？微米（μ m）。 为了在更小的尺度（纳米尺度）上揭示信息，科学家和工程师利用X射线衍射等工具。 衍射是一种以原子之间的距离为尺度产生物质结构信息的方法。 这种相当奇怪的材料成像方式可以揭示从材料中每个原子的组成到确切位置的细节的一切。 这些信息对于在最小的化学显著长度尺度上理解材料的特性至关重要。 田纳西理工大学（TTU）的研究人员正在研究一些新的材料系统，他们希望这些系统将影响美国的能源、环境和基础设施的未来。这些包括用于结构汽车和飞机系统的由微小纳米级矿物增强聚合物基质制成的下一代复合材料，用于基础设施应用的先进水泥系统以及用于燃料电池和高性能热力发动机开发的薄膜。 为了快速推进这项工作，TTU团队将扩展他们现有的X射线实验室能力，包括特殊的腔室，使他们能够在模拟材料在应用中使用方式的环境中研究这些材料。 例如，用于涡轮机的膜将暴露于非常高的温度。 至关重要的是，科学家们在这些温度下直接研究这些材料，这就是所谓的实时，这意味着“进行直接观察”。此外，TTU团队知道，对大学生、高中教师和大学预科学生的科学培训对我们国家的技术和经济未来至关重要。 因此，TTU团队计划将新工具整合到许多现有的和新的课程中，并在正在进行的教师培训和推广活动中使用相同的工具，以通过TTU的扩展影响力范围接触尽可能多的潜在新科学家和工程师。

0923042BiernackiTennessee Technological U.Technical Summary: In situ x-ray studies are becoming increasingly important techniques for the rapid advancement of materials development for energy, environment and infrastructure applications. Researchers at Tennessee Technological University (TTU) have ongoing projects on: (1) fuel cells, batteries, gas turbines and energy transformation; and (2) advanced, high performance materials. Next generation nano-composites made of mineral reinforced polymer matrices for structural automotive and aircraft systems, advanced cementitious systems for infrastructure applications and thin film materials for fuel cell and high performance heat engine development are specific examples of materials and material systems that are represented within the two thrust areas. This project will expand the capabilities of TTU¡¦s growing instrument cluster for focused multi-scale studies of material systems to further enhance research and educational facilities for the broader science, technology, and engineering community in Tennessee. The new instruments, a series of three temperature stages and atmospherically controlled chambers (attachments) for an x-ray diffraction system, will become part of existing synergistic infrastructures consisting of a newly purchased X-ray diffraction system, an environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM), a closed loop mechanical testing load frame and an optical imaging station, all previously funded by the NSF, and will be accessible to the entire TTU research community, industrial collaborators, the regional K-12 science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education community and other university researchers. While the concept of multi-scale interpretation is not new, the TTU team endeavors to engage the concept as a pervasive form of investigation, extending across multiple disciplines. The X-ray instrument attachments represents a synergistic element that, in combination with existing tools, will enable TTU research teams to develop multi-scale experimental datasets for environmental, structural inorganic and organic materials systems with broad reaching 21st Century implications including the hydrogen economy, infrastructure and nano-scale processing. In addition to the new x-ray attachments, the team will also integrate communications, learning and visualization technology to enhance the applicability of these advanced tools in teaching and learning environments. Layman Summary: The behavior of many materials can only be explained by having detailed information about the structure and properties at many length scales. Various tools for exploring materials include mechanical testing machines and microscopes. These instruments reveal both large-scale properties, those affecting the performance on the cm (centimeter) or m (meter) scale and microscopic properties, those one the scale of mm (millimeters) or even ?Ým (micrometers). To reveal information at an even smaller scale, the nanometer scale, scientists and engineers utilize tools such as X-ray diffraction. Diffraction is a way to generate information about the structure of matter on the scale of the distances between the very atoms. This rather strange way of imaging a material can reveal everything from the composition to details of the exact location of every atom in the material. Such information is critical for to understand the material¡¦s properties at the very smallest chemically significant length-scale. Researchers at Tennessee Technological University (TTU) are working on a number of new material systems that they hope will impact the Nation¡¦s energy, environmental and infrastructure future; these include next generation composites made of tiny nano-scale mineral reinforced polymer matrices for structural automotive and aircraft systems, advanced cementitious systems for infrastructure applications and thin films for fuel cell and high performance heat engine development. To rapidly advance this work, the TTU team will be extending their existing X-ray laboratory capabilities to include special chambers that will enable them to study these materials in environments that simulate the way the materials will be used in their applications. For example, films to be used in turbine will be exposed to very high temperatures. It is critical that scientists directly study these materials at those temperatures in what is called real-time, this means ¡§to make direct observations.¡¨ In addition, the TTU team knows that science training for both college students, high school teachers and pre-college age students is crucial to our Nation¡¦s technological and economic future. The TTU team, therefore, has plans to integrate the new tools, into many existing and new courses for their students and to use the same in ongoing teacher training and outreach initiatives to reach as many potential new scientists and engineers as possible through TTU¡¦s extended sphere of influence.