A portable hydro-thermo-mechanical loading cell for in-situ small angle neutron scattering studies of proton exchange membranes

Journal Article · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2013 · Review of Scientific Instruments

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4826349· OSTI ID:1110947

Yu, Dunji ^[1]; An, Ke ^[1]; Gao, Carrie Y ^[1]; Heller, William T ^[1]; Chen, Xu ^[2]

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1. ORNL
2. Tianjin UNiversity, China

A portable hydro-thermo-mechanical loading cell has been designed to enable in-situ small angle neutron scattering (SANS) studies of proton exchange membranes (PEM) 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 & 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 70oC 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.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Spallation Neutron Source (SNS)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1110947
• Journal Information: Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 84, Issue 10; ISSN 0034-6748
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

in-situ SANS
proton exchange membrane
immersed
hydro-thermo-mechanical.