Neutron diffraction experiment approved at FLNR pulsed reactor, Dubna, Russia

The Micro-Stress MAP Project team has gained acceptance of a neutron diffraction experiment for the determination of microscopic residual stresses in aluminum samples subjected to high annealing times (500h). The experiment will be performed on the FSD instrument of the Frank Laboratory on Neutron Phyics JINR (Dubna, Russia) during April 2021. The FSD diffractometer (Fourier Stress Diffractometer) takes advantage of the characteristics of the pulsed source of the reactor with the incorporation of a chopper that allows reaching the highest resolution among instruments of this type worldwide. This aspect is fundamental to achieve the objectives described in the Micro-stress MAP Project. The work will be carried out in collaboration with Dr. Gizo Bokuchava, an expert in neutron diffraction, Rietveld analysis and residual stresses in metallic alloys. The results of this experiment will allow to deepen the description of microscopic residual stresses in a situation where macroscopic residual stresses have been completely eliminated. It is expected to achieve a substantial improvement in the description of the correlation between microstructure parameters and residual stresses that has been initiated in previous experiments within MIcro-Stress MAP.