Portable Positron Measurement System
Researchers at the Idaho National Laboratory have developed the Portable Positron Measurement System (PPMS), an automated, non-destructive inspection system based on positron annihilation, which characterizes a material's in situatomic-level properties during the manufacturing processes of formation, solidification, and heat treatment. Simultaneous manufacturing and quality monitoring now are possible.
Transcript
00:00:04 the quest for agility especially in optimizing properties during material manufacturing has been elusive in product manufacturing until now researchers at the idaho national laboratory have developed the portable positron measurement system or ppm s which non-destructively test materials at the atomic level throughout the production process p PMS provides
00:00:26 feedback and control capabilities during high temperature fabrication solidification and heat treatment it uses photon induced positron annihilation to ascertain material properties until now engineers relied upon non-destructive and destructive testing of completed product samples which has yielded unacceptable failure rates simultaneous manufacturing and
00:00:48 monitoring were prevented by the complex interplay of temperature time and temperature cooling rates heat treatments and strain reduction during fabrication and heat treatment the P PMS is a highly automated portable system for in-situ use at commercial facilities this system allows you to measure the sub nanoscale lattice structure of materials directly and also to measure
00:01:11 the change in dislocation densities of those materials very precisely it allows you to monitor the entire material formation process from the actual initial melting through the cooling and the heat treatment process itself initially developed to optimize the production of high-quality semiconductor and scintillation detector materials for national security this technology
00:01:33 uniquely characterizes metallic and nonmetallic materials during material formation processes involving melt solidification and/or heat treatment the ppm s works on the principle that positrons which are positively charged electrons interact with the electronic structure of a material and provide a direct measure of that electronic structure and as you change that
00:01:57 material due to the introduction of dislocations into the material it allows you to quantify that also this allows us to monitor the entire process of the material formation from the initial liquification solidification and through the entire heat treatment process in contrast other materials previously to this technique only allowed you to monitor between about 10 and 50 microns
00:02:20 into the material whereas the p pms allows us to measure up to 10 centimeters into the material and allows us to depth profile the material to monitor the atomic properties of that material during the entire material fabrication process small portable and automated p PMS uses radioisotopes or a linear accelerator to induce positrons in a material during production even in
00:02:44 materials being formed in furnaces at 1,600 degrees centigrade p PMS provides data on critical properties of the material such as lattice structure changes dislocation density pore size and density and strain an automated scanning system is used to profile the positron response at various locations in the material to evaluate homogeneity and the development of multiple phases
00:03:07 or inclusions during the process features of the system include fully automated data acquisition and analysis suitable for non physics or non-technical users system performance monitoring with control charts material specific preset parametric analysis variables continuous data acquisition analysis mode easily modifiable for continuous QA applications p PMS
00:03:33 surpasses all current formation processes by monitoring material properties throughout the formation process operating in production environments instead of post-production situations functioning in high temperature environments as high as 300 to 1600 degrees centigrade recording continuous feedback data for production control and presenting fully automated
00:03:54 quality analysis during production tpms is very easy to use and requires minimal operator training best of all it offers a low product cost and maintenance expenditures p PMS solves the mystery of knowing the material condition of a product as it is formed the ability to know this offers exciting changes to material production and product quality you