Fast x-ray scattering measurements on molten alumina using a 120° curved position sensitive detector

Abstract

Fast x-ray scattering measurements on molten alumina were performed on the H10 beam line at the DCI Synchrotron of LURE (Orsay, France). A high-temperature chamber with a levitation device was coupled with the four-circle goniometer of the beam line. A 100 W CO2 laser was used to melt the sample and the temperature was measured using an optical pyrometer operating at 0.85 μm. Usually, measurements of the total structure factor S(Q) on molten materials are performed using a fixed detector scanned over an angular range. In this work, in order to reduce the total scan duration, x-ray scattered intensities were measured with a 120° position sensitive detector (INEL CPS120). We performed several measurements with different acquisition times varying from 10 s to 5 min. In 5 min it was possible to obtain a good determination of S(Q) with a usable signal up to the Q range limit (13 Å−1). The intensity was comparable with a 1 h measurement with a NaI (Tl) scintillator scanned over the 120° 2θ range. On reducing the counting time the statistics are degraded and the data are noisier, especially in the high Q region. Nevertheless, even with 10 s, the S(Q) data remain usable and give good results. Performing the Fourier transformation of S(Q), we obtain similar reliable pair-correlation functions with both 5 min and 10 s acquisition times.