Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	EP/C519698/1
Title:	Hydrothermal materials synthesis: next generation sample cells for synchrotron diffraction
Principal Investigator:	Hall, Professor C
Other Investigators:	Meller, Dr N
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Sch of Engineering
Organisation:	University of Edinburgh
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 October 2004	Ends:	31 March 2005	Value (£):	42,323
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Materials Characterisation Materials Synthesis & Growth Oil & Gas Extraction
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Manufacturing Energy
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
The study of wet mineral reactions at high temperatures is very difficult. Such reactions occur in cements and clays used in oil and gas wells. If you want to see the products of such a reaction the sample needs to be cooled after it is removed from a furnace or oven before it is analysed. But the reaction can easily reverse on cooling even if the cooling time is very rapid. Therefore we need to be able to see such reactions taking place in real time in order to see the real products. Ideally we should be able to build a container (a cell) which would house the reaction, in other words it would heat the sample. Then we would want to be able to put that cell into a piece of analytical equipment which could 'see' the reaction taking place. Then we would know what solid phases would exist before the reaction and what the products would be after the reaction. Knowing this helps us to understand the durability and engineering properties in these materials.X-rays are commonly used to determine the presence of different minerals or chemicals. In particular very high energy X-rays (synchrotron X-rays) are so intense that phases can be identified within one second, hence X-rays are ideal for monitoring chemical reactions in real time, particularly if the reactions are very rapid (<1 minute for one substance to change to another). The new station 6.2 at Daresbury Laboratories is capable of such rapid analysis times, and we wish to construct a cell through which the X-ray beam could pass and which could be heated to a minimum of 300 degC. While this would be relatively simple for dry samples, our samples are wet. This presents two problems. First by heating water it turns to steam aid exerts a pressure (internal fluid pressure) so the cell must be strong enough to withstand this pressure. Second, as the chemicals react in the water, the water can be turned either very acidic or very alkaline which can then start to attack the walls of the cell. If the walls are attacked by chemicals or destroyed by pressure the steam will be lost and the experiment will fail. Hence the cell has a number of strict requirements:-the X-ray beam must be able to penetrate the cell-the cell must be able to heat samples to a minimum of 300 degC -the cell must withstand internal fluid pressure -the cell must withstand chemical attack.Our project is to build a temperature-regulated cell having these capabilities. W e need this cell urgently for our research. W e wish to take advantage of the visit to the UK in September 2004 of Ian Madsen CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) Australia who also has experience of these x-ray methods. W e expect to start collaboration with Madsen on other cell designs in the future.
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