Laboratory 3D micro X-ray diffraction

Essentially all materials microstructures are three-dimensional (3D). In spite of this, by far the most widely applied characterization tool is microscopy, which gives 2D images only. There is a need to go to 3D, and daily access to 3D measurements is required.

Instruments that can be operated at home laboratories is thus the way forward.Our solution is to use newly developed and commercially available X-ray optics to focus the X-ray beam down to micrometer size in a laboratory X-ray instrument, and adapt measurement principles inspired by synchrotron X-ray techniques to enable nondestructive 3D imaging with a spatial resolution of 1 μm.

The resulting laboratory 3D micro X-ray diffraction (LabμXRD) method will outperform all existing tools for mapping crystallographic orientations and be the first of its kind enabling measurements of strain tensors within local microstructural elements.The project objectives are: •to prove the concept and demonstrate the innovation potential of our LabμXRD idea (filed as a patent application);•to validate LabμXRD results, quantify resolution specifications as well as the strain measurement potentials and provide guidelines for LabµXRD measurements for different types of samples;•to complete a first business plan for commercialization.In this project, we will focus on demonstrating the potential of LabμXRD for non-destructive 3D microstructural characterization by the use of metallic materials.

It must, however, be noted that LabμXRD can be used for characterization of any crystalline material with grain/subgrain size down to 2 μm.

When LabμXRD is manufactured and commercialized at a sales price within reach for leading universities and industries, in the order of 1.5 M €, we foresee that it in time will revolutionize the way materials are characterized – moving away from the present 2D methods to full non-destructive 3D characterizations of the distribution of both crystal orientations and local strains.