Revealing microscale bulk structures in polymer–carbon nanocomposites using spin-echo SANS
L.V. Tiihonen (TU Delft - RST/Neutron and Positron Methods in Materials)
M.P. Weir (University of Nottingham)
Andrew J. Parnell (University of Sheffield)
S.C. Boothroyd (Durham University)
D.W. Johnson (Centre for Process Innovation, Durham)
M. Bleuel (National Institute of Standards and Technology)
Chris P. Duif (TU Delft - RID/TS/Technici Pool, TU Delft - RST/Technici Pool)
W.G. Bouwman (TU Delft - RST/Neutron and Positron Methods in Materials)
S. R. Parnell (ISIS, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, TU Delft - RID/TS/Instrumenten groep)
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Abstract
We have used spin-echo small-angle neutron scattering (SESANS) to probe the hierarchy of structures present in polymer–carbon nanocomposites, with length scales spanning over three orders of magnitude, from 10 nm to 16 μm. The data processing and reduction show a unified approach across two SESANS instruments (TU Delft and Larmor at the ISIS neutron source) and yield consistent data that are able to be modelled using well-established hierarchical models in freely available software such as SasView. Using this approach, we are able to extend the measured length scales by over an order of magnitude compared to traditional scattering methods. This yields information about the structure in the bulk that is inaccessible with conventional scattering techniques (SANS/SAXS) and points to a way for interrogating and investigating polymer nanocomposites routinely across multiple length scales.
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