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Sample Manipulator
The field of view for x-ray nanotomography is ~ 70 x 70 µm which requires the sample being scanned to be ~ 50 µm. Samples < 100 µm are extremely difficult to handle by hand. Additionally, nanotomography samples are attached to the tip of a pin as anything larger can obstruct the sample from the beam due to slight tilt of the sample holding pin tip. To address this issue we have designed a sample manipulator that can be attached to an optical microscope. This allows the viewing of a range of small sample samples, from which the desired sample is chosen and extracted by the needle of the manipulator and attached to the tip of the tomography mounting pin.
Compression/tension Cell with fluid flow-through
To perform in-situ x-ray nanoCT and radiography we have designed a compression/tension cell with fuild flow through capability. The applied load is measured using a high sensitivity load cell with maximum load capacity of 10 N.
X-ray Fluorescence Detector
XRF elemental maps of an Apollo 14 lunar basalt sample
Beamline 11.3.1 also has a silicon drift XRF detector from Amptek for performing composition analysis and elemental mapping of samples. Pixel size of XRF scans ranges from 100 to 8 µm. Along with XRF elemental mapping the detector can also be used to perform x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) in fluorescence mode as the beamline uses a Si <111> monochromator.
Thermoelectric Cold Stage
To observe the evolution of sample microstructure in sub-zero temperatures a thermoelectric cold stage has been developed at 11.3.1 beamline. Using the cold stage the sample can be cooled down to – 13oC.
Fluid Flow Cell
To observe the interaction of fluid with sample a fluid flow cell has been developed that houses the sample inside an 80 µm quartz capillary that is nearly the size of the nanoCT field of view. The flow of fluid in the cell is maintained by a syringe pump that allows different flow rates. This is highly useful in observing the initial interaction of fluid with the sample using radiography. Evolution of sample microstructure as a result of different fluid flow rates can also be observed using tomography. This helps to understand phenomenon such as pore fluid interaction, dissolution and precipitation.
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