David S. Eastwood

A novel high-temperature furnace for combined in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction and infrared thermal imaging to investigate the effects of thermal gradients upon the structure of ceramic materials

A combined X-ray diffraction and thermal imaging technique is described to investigate the effect of thermal gradients on high-temperature composite materials.

Transmission x-ray microscopy at Diamond-Manchester I13 Imaging Branchline

Full-field Transmission X-ray Microscopy (TXM) has been shown to be a powerful method for obtaining quantitative internal structural and chemical information from materials at the nanoscale. The installation of a Full-field TXM station will extend the current microtomographic capabilities of the Diamond-Manchester I13 Imaging Branchline at Diamond Light Source (UK) into the sub-100 nm spatial resolution range using photon energies from 8 to 14 keV. The dedicated Full-field TXM station will be built in-house with contributions of Diamond Light Source support divisions and via collaboration with the X-ray Optics Group of Paul Scherrer Institut (Switzerland) which will develop state-of-the-art diffractive X-ray optical elements. Preliminary results of the I13 Full-field TXM station are shown. The Full-field TXM will become an important Diamond Light Source direct imaging asset for material science, energy science and biology at the nanoscale.

3D Pore Structure Investigation of Albian Carbonates from Campos Basin

The pore structure of three samples from two neighbouring wells in the Campos Basin, offshore Brazil, were investigated by high resolution X-ray tomography. The samples show an inverse relationship between velocity and porosity and velocity and permeability, but there are important deviations on those trends. In order to explain this behavior, the sample pore structure was investigated using a high resolution µCT. This technique provided reliable information about 3D geometry of macropores and allowed estimation of the volume of microporosity. The analysis showed an expressive difference between the pore size of samples with different textures, but not enough information to explain differences in RQI values, suggesting that other parameters, like tortuosity, are controlling permeability. The aspect ratio (ratio between width and length) does not offer a clear control on velocity trend deviation, suggesting that small differences in rock texture or cement distribution might be in control of acoustic properties of these rocks.

Time-Resolved Tomographic Quantification of the Microstructural Evolution of Ice Cream

Ice cream is a complex multi-phase colloidal soft-solid and its three-dimensional microstructure plays a critical role in determining the oral sensory experience or mouthfeel. Using in-line phase contrast synchrotron X-ray tomography, we capture the rapid evolution of the ice cream microstructure during heat shock conditions in situ and operando, on a time scale of minutes. The further evolution of the ice cream microstructure during storage and abuse was captured using ex situ tomography on a time scale of days. The morphology of the ice crystals and unfrozen matrix during these thermal cycles was quantified as an indicator for the texture and oral sensory perception. Our results reveal that the coarsening is due to both Ostwald ripening and physical agglomeration, enhancing our understanding of the microstructural evolution of ice cream during both manufacturing and storage. The microstructural evolution of this complex material was quantified, providing new insights into the behavior of soft-solids and semi-solids, including many foodstuffs, and invaluable data to both inform and validate models of their processing.