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DARTS HELPS SOLVE INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS
01 September 2005 - CCLRC Daresbury Laboratory
| With support from the Victorian Government's new Industry Synchrotron Access, Cetec, a risk management consulting group, contacted DARTS in order to help solve a manufacturing problem for MtM Pty Ltd, an Australian car exporter. Cetec and Mtm Pty Ltd had already used conventional analyses to determine that the problem lay in the bonding mechanism between the bright-metal-on-plastic components. Results suggested that the bonding process could be improved by modifying several stages of the process, but the distribution of metals and other elements below one part per million could not be determined without the use of a synchrotron radiation source. |
With support from the Victorian Government's new Industry Synchrotron Access, Cetec, a risk management consulting group, contacted DARTS in order to help solve a manufacturing problem for MtM Pty Ltd, an Australian car exporter. Cetec and Mtm Pty Ltd had already used conventional analyses to determine that the problem lay in the bonding mechanism between the bright-metal-on-plastic components. Results suggested that the bonding process could be improved by modifying several stages of the process, but the distribution of metals and other elements below one part per million could not be determined without the use of a synchrotron radiation source. Using high-intensity x-ray fluorescence, accessed through DARTS at Daresbury's Synchrotron Radiation Source, scientists were able to examine the BMOP components in more detail. Results confirmed that the weak adhesion was associated with low levels and uneven distribution of particular metal atoms; a vital link in understanding the way in which chemical treatments affected the final product. Australia's BMOP components are worth about $20 million a year which means that discarded automotive components cost money! This example clearly illustrates how DARTS can help solve industrial problems, increase productivity as well as ensuring exacting quality standards. For further details please access the case study which is available at the Australian Synchrotron website
http://www.darts.ac.uk
About: CCLRC Daresbury Laboratory
DARTS is a unique service offering solutions to materials characterisation problems that are unattainable in the conventional laboratory. This is possible because it makes use of the Synchrotron Radiation Source (SRS). Advantages of using the SRS include: • The ability to study small or weakly diffracting samples. Improved resolution, enabling structures intractable in the home laboratory to be solved. • The ability to select the optimum wavelength for a particular application. • Additional specialised techniques only possible using synchrotron radiation can be exploited. The DARTS team's ability to access and combine a range of complementary techniques provides information to help manufacturers control processing conditions and modify manufacturing techniques to improve a wide range of products. Even the everyday crisp packet has benefited from DARTS leading edge technology. Applications can cover materials from agrochemicals, pigments, polypeptides, microporous materials, organometallics, catalyst materials, minerals and samples from processing plants.
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