Redifining RADEN's high-resolution neutron imaging capabilities

Sans-Planell, O.*; 篠原 武尚; Grazzi, F.*; Cantini, F.*; Su, Y. H.; 松本 吉弘*; Parker, J. D.*; Manke, I.*

Review of Scientific Instruments, 95(11), p.113702_1 - 113702_5, 2024/11

https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0235243

This study presents a significant development in the Energy-Resolved Neutron Imaging System RADEN, in the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex, Japan. Through a systematic study, the collimation power of the facility was reevaluated. To perform the calculation of the L/D factor of the beam, a state-of-the-art method has been used, along with a standard reference sample to measure the resolution of neutron images. To add robustness to the results, the study compares five different scintillators of different composition and thickness.

Application of neutron characterization techniques to metallic structural materials

Wang, Y.*; Gong, W.; Su, Y. H.; Li, B.*

Acta Metallurgica Sinica, 60(8), p.1001 - 1016, 2024/08

https://doi.org/10.11900/0412.1961.2024.00063

The correlation between the atomic structure, microstructure, and macroscopic properties of structural materials remains a core issue in materials research. In recent years, substantial progress has been achieved in constructing accelerator-based neutron sources and related experimental techniques, offering a robust platform for an in-depth understanding of the aforementioned correlation under real-time and in situ conditions. This article reviews the latest advancements in the application of major neutron characterization techniques, including neutron diffraction, Bragg-edge imaging, small-angle neutron scattering, pair distribution function analysis, and quasi-elastic/inelastic neutron scattering, in structural materials. Furthermore, it particularly highlights the origins and evolution of internal stresses during the phase transformations of steels, deformation mechanisms in light metals such as magnesium alloys, and microstructure and residual stress analyses using Bragg-edge imaging. Finally, a brief outlook on future development trends is provided.

Gradient residual stress and fatigue life prediction of induction hardened carbon steel S38C axles; Experiment and simulation

Qin, T. Y.*; Hu, F. F.*; 徐 平光; Zhang, H.*; Zhou, L.*; Ao, N.*; Su, Y. H.; 菖蒲 敬久; Wu, S. C.*

International Journal of Fatigue, 185, p.108336_1 - 108336_13, 2024/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2024.108336

Gradient distribution of triaxial residual stresses to a depth of several millimeters is retained in middle carbon steel S38C axles after high-frequency induction hardening, which has become a critical concern for fatigue structural integrity. To address this, the axial, hoop, and radial gradient residual strains inside the axles were measured for the first time by advanced neutron diffraction. The SIGINI Fortran subroutine was then adopted to reconstruct the global initial residual stress field from the measured data. Experimental and simulation results show that residual stresses of about -520 MPa (axial), -710 MPa (hoop), and -40 MPa (radial) residual stress were retained below the axle surface. Subsequently, the fatigue crack propagation behavior of S38C axles was numerically investigated in the framework of fracture mechanics. The calculated results clearly show that the compressive residual stresses at a depth of 0?3 mm from the axle surface lead to a low crack growth driving force, and that fatigue cracks do not propagate as long as the crack depth is less than 3.7 mm for hollow S38C axles. These results further indicate that the maximum defect size allowed in routine inspections is acceptable from a safety and economic point of view. Accurate measurement and characterization of the global gradient residual stress field through experiments and simulations can provide an important reference for optimizing the mileage intervals of nondestructive testing (NDT) of surface defects in these surface-strengthened railway axles.

Gradient residual strain measurement procedure in surface impacted railway steel axles by using neutron scattering

Zhou, L.*; Zhang, H.*; Qin, T. Y.*; Hu, F. F.*; 徐 平光; Ao, N.*; Su, Y. H.; He, L. H.*; Li, X. H.*; Zhang, J. R.*; et al.

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, 55(7), p.2175 - 2185, 2024/07

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-024-07352-5

High-speed railway S38C axles undergo surface induction hardening for durability, but are susceptible to fatigue cracks from foreign object impact. The neutron diffraction method was employed to measure the residual strain in S38C axles, obtaining microscopic lattice distortion data, for the gradient layer at a depth of 8 mm under the surface. The results showed that after induction-hardening, the microscopic lattice distortion had a gradient distribution, decreasing with the distance from the surface. However, in the case of impacting speed of 600 km/m, the average microscopic lattice distortion increased with the distance from the surface, reaching a maximum augmentation of 55 pct. These findings indicate a strong experimental basis, and improve our understanding of the relationship between macroscopic residual stress and decision-making, in regard to operation and maintenance.

Cryogenic impact fracture behavior of a high-Mn austenitic steel using electron backscatter diffraction and neutron Bragg-edge transmission imaging

Wang, Y. W.*; Wang, H. H.*; Su, Y. H.; 徐 平光; 篠原 武尚

Materials Science & Engineering A, 887, p.145768_1 - 145768_13, 2023/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2023.145768

A unique impact fracture behavior is found in a high-Mn austenitic steel (24Mn-4Cr-0.4C-0.3Cu) in this work. The steel exhibits concurrent twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) effect and the transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) effect. By analyzing the load-deflection curves recorded during Charpy impact testing, the resistance to crack initiation and propagation is quantified from the absorbed energy. The high-Mn steel demonstrates good resistance to crack initiation at 273 K and 77 K. However, as the temperature decreases from 273 K to 77 K, there is an accelerated transition from stable crack growth to unstable crack growth during impact, resulting in the deterioration of resistance to crack propagation. The plastic deformation of the impact-tested samples, especially in the region close to the crack-path profile was quantitatively analyzed using neutron Bragg-edge transmission (BET) imaging. The deformation zones, divided by using the width of the 200 Bragg edge, exhibit good agreement with the impact absorbed energy characteristics obtained from dynamic load-deflection curves. Moreover, the unstable growth transition point was roughly determined on the impact-tested sample. Then, the electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) technique is employed to examine the deformation microstructure along the crack-path in the impact-tested samples. The results revealed the dual roles of TRIP effect in impact toughness of the high-Mn steel. On one hand, the TRIP effect plays a positive role in improving resistance to crack initiation and propagation. On the other hand, the excessive accumulation of brittle /'-martensite caused by the enhanced TRIP effect at 77 K leads to quasi-cleavage fracture, thereby playing a negative role. Finally, we discussed the prominent toughening mechanisms associated with the TWIP and TRIP effects, which greatly impact the impact fracture behavior.

Update of Bragg edge analysis software "GUI-RITS"

及川 健一; 佐藤 博隆*; 渡辺 賢一*; Su, Y. H.; 篠原 武尚; 甲斐 哲也; 鬼柳 善明*; 長谷美 宏幸

Journal of Physics; Conference Series, 2605, p.012013_1 - 012013_6, 2023/10

https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2605/1/012013

Spectral data of Bragg-edge imaging, which is one of the energy-resolved neutron imaging methods, can be analyzed by single-edge analysis and full-pattern analysis with the Bragg-edge analysis code RITS developed by Sato et al. This program has a function to generate neutron transmission data considering wavelength-dependent pulse-shape function, atomic number density, crystalline structure, etc., and to extract these parameters from the measured data by the nonlinear least-squares fitting. Last year, we worked on updating the operating environment of the platform Scientific Linux 6 and the language Python 2, which have been discontinued, to Windows 10 and Python 3, and added some functions to improve usability. GUI-RITS for the windows platform has been released to users. In this presentation, we will show concrete examples of the results of the analysis of the same data by the old and new programs, and compare the efficiency of data analysis.

Corrosion fatigue crack growth behavior of a structurally gradient steel for high-speed railway axles

Ao, N.*; Zhang, H.*; Xu, H. H.*; Wu, S. C.*; Liu, D.*; 徐 平光; Su, Y. H.; Kang, Q. H.*; Kang, G. Z.*

Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 281, p.109166_1 - 109166_14, 2023/03

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfracmech.2023.109166

Considering the complex service environments that high-speed railway axles are subjected to, the fatigue crack growth (FCG) behavior of a structurally gradient axle steel with different pre-crack depths both in air and corrosive medium was investigated at a frequency of 5 Hz. The results indicated that in the high region, FCG rate was dramatically accelerated by corrosion, but the gap narrows as decreased. The accelerated corrosion FCG rate was a comprehensive result of the acceleration effect of the anodic dissolution, hydrogen-enhanced localized plasticity and the retardation effect of corrosion-induced crack-tip blunting. Despite the fact that the corrosion resistance gradually decreased as the pre-crack depth increased, the FCG rate in the corrosive medium gradually decreased. This was because fatigue loading played a more important role than corrosion in accelerating the corrosion FCG rate.

Strain distribution visualization of punched electrical steel sheets using neutron Bragg-edge transmission imaging

笹田 星児*; Takahashi, Yoshihito*; Takeuchi, Keisuke*; 廣井 孝介; Su, Y. H.; 篠原 武尚; 渡辺 賢一*; 瓜谷 章*

Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 61(4), p.046004_1 - 046004_8, 2022/03

https://doi.org/10.35848/1347-4065/ac5153

Residual strains in a punched electrical steel sheet increase the iron loss in the steel sheet. To accurately estimate the effect of residual strain on iron loss, the residual strain distribution in a punched electrical steel sheet should be evaluated. In this study, we demonstrated the two- dimensional imaging of the residual strain distribution in a punched electrical steel sheet using the neutron Bragg-edge transmission imaging method. To improve the accuracy of strain measurement with minimal deterioration of spatial resolution, we applied a process of superposing many specimen images. The tensile strain near the punched edge and the compressive strain inside the core were experimentally confirmed using this method. Finally, the neutron Bragg-edge imaging results and those obtained from kernel average misorientation map using electron backscattered diffraction were compared to verify the validity of the proposed method.

Neutron Bragg-edge transmission imaging for microstructure and residual strain in induction hardened gears

Su, Y. H.; 及川 健一; 篠原 武尚; 甲斐 哲也; 堀野 孝*; 井戸原 修*; 三阪 佳孝*; 友田 陽*

Scientific Reports (Internet), 11, p.4155_1 - 4155_14, 2021/02

AA2020-0778.pdf:6.49MB

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-83555-9

A time-of-flight Bragg-edge neutron transmission imaging was used to investigate the microstructure and strain distributions in a gear hardened by a newly developed two-step induction-heating method: precursor (Sample 1) and final product (Sample 2). The edge- position and edge-broadening were determined and mapped with high spatial resolution, which enabled us to confirm the two-dimensional distributions of the microstructure and residual strain. A deep hardened layer was made for Sample 1 in which martensite was formed on the entire teeth and the outer peripheral portion of the gear body. Sample 2 was subjected to double induction-hardening, where a tempered martensite was formed as the thermal refined microstructure between a fine-grained martensite at the tooth surface and a ferrite-pearlite microstructure at the core. The relationship between edge-broadening and the Vickers hardness described by a linear equation was employed to derive the elastic residual strain. The residual strain map for Sample 2 revealed that a steep compressive strain was introduced into the fine-grained martensite at the tooth surface by the super rapid induction- heating and quenching process. The reversal of tension was speculated to occur below 2 mm from the tooth tip, and the strain was almost zero in the core region.

Development of event-type neutron imaging detectors at the energy-resolved neutron imaging system RADEN at J-PARC

Parker, J. D.*; 原田 正英; 林田 洋寿*; 廣井 孝介; 甲斐 哲也; 松本 吉弘*; 中谷 健; 及川 健一; 瀬川 麻里子; 篠原 武尚; et al.

Materials Research Proceedings, Vol.15, p.102 - 107, 2020/05

https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644900574-17

At the RADEN instrument, we take advantage of the accurate measurement of neutron energy by time-of-flight to perform energy-resolved neutron imaging using event-type neutron imaging detectors. We are continually working to improve these detectors for better spatial resolution and shorter measurement times and, as a user facility, to improve the ease-of-use of their control and analysis software. In particular, we are actively developing a He-based gaseous micropattern detector known as the Micro-pixel chamber based Neutron Imaging Detector ( NID). We have recently redesigned the NID control software to allow full integration into the automated experiment control system at RADEN, and we are carrying out optimization of the analysis algorithms for improved image quality and rate performance.