Nsoft: A NIST-Industry Consortium Focused on Neutron Measurements

The nSoft consortium at the National Institute for Standards and Technology is a partnership between NIST and industrial consortium members. The consortium has several goals including the development of industrially relevant neutron measurement science, transfer of neutron scattering expertise to industry, and fostering collaborations between industrial partners and NIST. On this poster we will focus on sharing some of the measurement techniques we have developed or are continuing to develop within the consortium. Examples include: using deuterated vapor or solvents to resolve structures in films, use of automation and machine learning as tools for neutron scattering, measuring boron containing materials penetration into synthetic skin, and development of various rheo-scattering techniques.

Materials under flow are commonly observed in nature and industry, and it is therefore important to understand how deformation affects the structure of such materials. NIST has long history of developing rheo-scattering tools for neutron scattering experiments that are used to probe the structure of complex fluids under shear. These tools include rheometers, shear cells and other flow cells that have been developed or modified specifically to enable structural characterization during material deformation. RheoSANS has been used to elucidate the origin of strain hardening in certain biopolymer gels, measure shear induced structure formation in a range of micellar systems and colloidal suspensions, measure the evolving structure of polymers undergoing gelation, and more generally to explore structure-mechanical property relationships in a wide range of soft materials. Recently we have been focused on developing slit and capillary rheometer for high shear rate rheoSANS studies. In our newly developed instruments we will be able to probe shear rates in excess of 10⁶ s^‑1.