Abstract
A portable hydro-thermo-mechanical loading cell has been designed to enable in situ small angle neutron scattering (SANS) studies of proton exchange membranes (PEMs) under immersed tensile loadings at different temperatures. The cell consists of three main parts as follows: a letter-paper-size motor-driven mechanical load frame, a SANS friendly reservoir that provides stable immersed and thermal sample conditions, and a data acquisition and control system. The ex situ tensile tests of Nafion 212 membranes demonstrated a satisfactory thermo-mechanical testing performance of the cell for either dry or immersed conditions at elevated temperatures. The in situ SANS tensile measurements on the Nafion 212 membranes immersed in D2O at 70 °C proved the feasibility and capability of the cell for small angle scattering study on deformation behaviors of PEM and other polymer materials under hydro-thermo-mechanical loading.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 105115 |
| Journal | Review of Scientific Instruments |
| Volume | 84 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 2013 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
This research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)'s Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) was sponsored by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy. The authors thank Sample Environment Team at SNS, ORNL for their great efforts, including Mr. Douglas Armitage for his advice on the design of the reservoir, Mr. Bruce Hill for his assistance on the setup of the portable cell, and Mr. John Wenzel and Mrs. Rebecca Mills for helping on the heat controller. D.Y. also greatly thanks China Scholarship Council for his visiting financial support at SNS, ORNL.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Scientific User Facilities Division | |
| U.S. Department of Energy | |
| Basic Energy Sciences | |
| Oak Ridge National Laboratory | |
| China Scholarship Council |
