Spectrometer for Materials Research at Temperature and Stress | SMARTS

Materials in Extreme Environments and Geoscience

The SMARTS is a third-generation neutron diffractometer optimized for the study of engineering materials. It was funded by DOE and constructed at the Lujan Center, coming online in the summer of 2001.

SMARTS provides an exciting range of capabilities for studying polycrystalline materials focusing on two areas: the measurement of deformation under stress and extreme temperature, and the measurement of spatially resolved strain fields. The underpinning technique is neutron diffraction, which has been used to study engineering structural materials since the early 1980s. SMARTS expands the application base of neutron diffraction to a wider range of engineering problems than previously possible.

With an extensive array of in situ capabilities for sample environments, it enables measurements on small (1 mm³) or large (1 m³) samples. Components with dimensions up to 1 m and up to 1,500 kg can be positioned precisely in the beam. Permanently mounted alignment theodolites provide a simple and efficient way to position samples or equipment to within 0.01 mm.The furnace and load frame suite allows research on materials under extreme loads (250 KN) and at extreme temperatures (1,500°C). In situ uniaxial loading on samples up to 1 cm in diameter at stresses of 2 GPa and with lower stresses at temperatures up to 1,500°C are routine.