Oak Ridge, UT Join Forces for Neutron Research
Published Apr 08, 2003
An artist’s rendering shows what the Spallation Neutron Source will look like when it is completed in 2006.
Neutron scattering, a three-dimensional method of scanning and understanding the nature and property of materials, is the wave of the future for materials research. Tennessee will be at the front of that wave when the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is up and running in June of 2006.
When it is finished, the facility will be the world’s foremost research facility that uses neutron beams to study materials. Neutrons are important because they allow researchers to analyze materials such as metals, plastics and crystals at the atomic level.
“ SNS is intended to be a scientific user facility by the Office of Science Department of Energy,” says Thom Mason, associate laboratory director for the SNS. “What that means is when it is up and running it will provide a research capability to researchers of chemistry, physics, biology, materials science and engineering who want to understand the structure and the dynamics of material on a kind of atom-by-atom basis.”
Construction for the $1.4 billion project is about half finished. When completed, it will be one of only a handful of neutron-scattering beams in the country and will beckon scientists from all over the world to come to Tennessee. The SNS will put Tennessee on the map of places where high-end technology dovetails with economic development.
Typical research teams will consist of a university faculty member, students and a post-doctoral fellow. Two thousand or so research teams are expected to visit the SNS at Oak Ridge each year.
Mason says one of the advantages will be the accrued knowledge from the results. A small portion of the research will be proprietary, but most will be published in scientific journals such as Science and Nature.
As technology continues to advance, more and more data needs to be compressed onto magnetic materials, Mason says, making the SNS a perfect tool for research on computer systems.
“ You can study magnetic materials with neutron scattering because each individual neutron is a little magnet and people making magnetic devices for data storage need new materials that will allow them to make higher-density hard drives,” Mason says.
And scientists will be prepared to take advantage of the SNS’ capabilities as soon as it is completed.
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville and the Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences at Oak Ridge announced last year that the National Science Foundation has awarded $4.73 million to researchers at the University of Tennessee College of Engineering and Oak Ridge National Laboratory to establish an international center at UT to study neutron sciences and materials research. The International Materials Institute at UT will be part of the international Advanced Neutron Scattering netWork for Education and Research, or ANSWER.
“ We are a think tank,” says Dr. Linda Magid, acting director of the Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences. “We will bring groups of scientists together who want to think the next great thoughts. What’s the next great thing using neutron scattering? The president’s hydrogen economy is a great example. How do you make better materials for hydrogen storage if you are going to move the country to a hydrogen economy?”
Fred Tompkins, interim dean of engineering, says UT, Princeton and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute received the only three NSF international materials institute grants out of more than 70 proposals.
“ Neutron scattering is one of the most powerful techniques available for materials research,” Tompkins says. “The Spallation Neutron Source provides a unique opportunity for UT to partner with SNS and lead the nation in the science and education of the application of neutron scattering in materials research, specifically in the study of mechanical behavior of advanced materials.”
Other universities that will participate in the IMI are the California Institute of Technology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, University of Missouri at Columbia and University of Pennsylvania.
National labs that will participate in IMI’s research include the Spallation Neutron Source, High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge, Los Alamos Neutron Science Center in New Mexico, and Intense Pulsed Neutron Source at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois.
The project also will include researchers and neutron scattering facilities from foreign universities and national laboratories in Canada, Europe, China and Korea.
Story by Colleen Creamer
Current Weather Conditions In Nashville, TN (37243)
Cloudy, and 44 ° F. For more details?
Click here...
