NOVEL APPLICATIONS OF ENERGY-DISPERSIVE DIFFRACTION IN MATERIALS AND INDUSTRIAL SCIENCE

Paul Barnes, Sally L.Colston, Andrew Jupe, Simon Jacques, Jeremy K.Cockcroft & Christopher Hall*

Industrial Materials Group, Dept. Crystallography, Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, U.K.
*Schlumberger Cambridge Research, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OEL, U.K.

It has long been known that synchrotron radiation - energy-dispersive diffraction (SR-EDD) is an ideal technique for in-situ studies of rapid reactions under various chemical and physical environments; some examples of these will be given. However its main drawback is its relatively poor resolution and coverage of reciprocal-space. Two very recent and important variations on the EDD method are:

1. a multi-angle (detector) ED-diffractometer;
2. an EDD-tomographic device.

These new instruments have resulted in

• a greatly improved coverage of reciprocal space;
• a better matching of intensity/resolution to the problem under study;
• the ability to monitor density changes with time;
• the ability to non-destructively examine compositional variations within bulk material.

Examples illustrating these (and other) aspects will be taken from the fields of oil-well geo-engineering, cement hydration and micro-mechanics.