Irradiation and Post-Irradiation Examination Capabilities
The University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) provides versatile irradiation facilities to support irradiation and post-irradiation examination (PIE) experiments for advanced materials research. Learn more on the Nuclear Materials page.
Advantages of neutrons:
- Highly penetrating: Neutrons have no electric charge and, thus, penetrate easily through bulk materials, such as ½” steel.
- Non-destructive: Neutron measuring techniques are non-destructive, and, therefore, can be used on delicate biological samples without causing sample degradation.
- Interaction with nucleus: Neutrons interact via the strong nuclear force with the nucleus of an atom, making neutron scattering dependent on the isotope. This allows neutrons to distinguish light atoms in the presence of heavy atoms and also distinguish between neighboring elements in the periodic table, because the scattering cross sections of neighboring atoms are often substantially different.
- Contrast variation by isotope substitution: Isotopes of the same element can have significantly different neutron scattering lengths, enabling the use of “isotopic substitution” to gain structural and dynamic details of a system without changing its chemical composition. This technique is commonly applied in H/D substitution in hydrogenous materials (such as polymers and biological structures), a method known as contrast variation.
- Magnetic dipole moment: When neutrons interact with magnetic atoms or ions, a magnetic dipole interaction occurs between the neutron’s magnetic moment (µ) and the atom’s or ion’s magnetic field. Therefore, neutron scattering is an excellent tool for studying magnetic materials and structures.
- Excitations: Since the energy of neutrons is comparable with the energy of vibrational excitations (phonons or lattice vibrations in a crystal) and magnetic excitations (magnons or spin density waves in magnetic crystals), neutrons can gain or lose energy, which can be measured using inelastic neutron scattering.
Collaborate with us
MURR invites and supports collaborations with scientists of the four University of Missouri campuses, as well as outside institutions on a participating research team basis. For more information about neutron scattering instrumentation and MURR’s capabilities, contact Dr. Tom Heitmann at HeitmannT@missouri.edu.
