X-Ray and Neutron Diffraction – A World 1st

I believe we have just achieved a world first.  We test components for European Space Agency projects, Rolls Royce, Airbus, Lockheed Martin and many others. Their designs have to withstand some of the most punishing conditions imaginable. But they also need to weigh as little as possible. So they test and test and test their components to destruction. We measure how hard each square millimetre is stressed, at the surface using X-Ray diffraction in our laboratory, and beneath the surface using Neutron Diffraction at Big Science facilities (such as the ENGIN-X beamline at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source). No-one has tried to combine these complementary techniques in real time because you can’t stand close to a running neutron instrument (the radiation could kill you). This would only be possible if a robot could be developed to position the X-ray head to an accuracy of 0.05 mm and carry out remote measurements.  Then over the last five years, my company Stress-Space has developed a vision-guided robotic X-ray measurement system that uses best-in-class equipment (X-Raybot) from France with our own proprietary software developed in Oxford. In late March we demonstrated the feasibility of remotely positioning the X-Raybot and conducting “piggy-back” XRD surface residual stress measurements on the ENGIN-X neutron beamline.  We are very excited about the potential of this new breakthrough.  We look forward to working with industry partners and STFC beamline scientists to support pioneering experiments using this powerful new capability.