Neutrons Sciences Directorate at ORNL

The Engineering Materials Diffractometer at SNS

VULCAN with the multiaxial loadframe on the sample stage.

VULCAN with the multiaxial loadframe on the sample stage.

VULCAN is designed for deformation, phase transformation, residual stress, texture, and microstructure studies. Load frames, furnaces, battery chargers, and other auxiliary equipment for in situ and time-resolved measurements are integrated in the instrument. As a time-of-flight diffractometer at the world's most intense pulsed, accelerator-based neutron source, VULCAN provides rapid volumetric mapping with a sampling volume of 1 mm3 and a measurement time of minutes for common engineering materials. In extreme cases, VULCAN has the ability to study kinetic behaviors in sub-second time frames.

Applications

VULCAN covers a broad range of applications in materials science and engineering, from residual stress determination in engineering components to understanding the fundamental aspects of material behaviors during synthesis, processing, and service. Research areas that VULCAN can benefit include but are not limited to the following:

VULCAN--heated coil

Induction heating on VULCAN loadframe.

  • In situ studies of materials behavior during processing: phase formation, temperature distribution, texture changes, stress development, precipitation.
  • In situ loading studies of crystalline/amorphous materials at high temperatures: phase transformation, fatigue damage, deformation in nanostructured materials, creep behaviors, piezoelectric and shape-memory alloys.
  • Residual stress and microstructure changes in engineering components.
  • Phase transformation/transition kinetics during material synthesis.