Back on 1st Oct 2021, UKAEA was proud to announce that in collaboration with various academic and industrial companies, they had secured a total of £7.8m funding across three projects over 2 years from 1st Oct 21. This funding will significantly increase the testing capability at the Materials Research Facility (MRF) on the Culham UKAEA site.
The latest update on the 3 projects are:
PFIB
- The research room and associated equipment have now been upgraded and are ready to accept the Plasma Focused Ion Beam (PFIB) Instrument supplied by Tescan. The current delivery date is 5th September 22. The UKAEA are advanced in the procurement
and delivery of remote-robotic loading capability for this room and are planning to complete commissioning by the end of Nov 22, which would enable use with higher levels of radioactive material.
- An EBSD (Electron Back Scatter Detection) camera has been delivered to the MRF and a trial installation completed. The installation, commissioning and handover to MRF is scheduled for the beginning of September 22. A cryogenic stage and a vacuum transfer system is on order with Leica and is due to be delivered in late September 22
TEM
- The research room and associated equipment have now been supplied and is now ready to accept the Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) supplied by JEOL. The current delivery date is 8 November 2022. The Gas Cell procured and supplied by The University of Manchester has been delivered and awaiting integration in Jan 23.
Fascinate (Facility for the Structural Characterisation of materials for Nuclear Applications operating at high Temperatures)
A hot stage under vacuum has been procured from Rigaku and is scheduled for delivery in mid-October 2022. Integration into the existing XRD will follow on shortly afterwards. The UKAEA are advanced in the procurement and delivery of remote-robotic capability’s for this room and are currently planning the commissioning- An In-Situ Mechanical Test instrument contract has been placed with Alemnis with instrument delivery tentatively planned in for June 23. This instrument will be integrated into the existing Scanning Electron Microscope at MRF. However it will have the capability to be moved to other test instruments.
- A High Vacuum Differential Scanning Calorimeter solution is currently out to tender with proposals due back by the end of August. Following scoring and moderation The UKAEA will choose the most appropriate supplier