Page 93 - ILL Annual Report 2019

THE ILU’s work has two main strands: the first entails
significant outreach efforts, the need for this being significant since neutron scattering is not a lab-based technique; the second involves exploring different ways of working with industry, ranging from funded research projects to paid-for services. One important activity
in 2019 was therefore the renewal of the industry web pages on the ILL site (https://www.ill.eu/ neutrons-for-society/industry).
Most techniques of interest to industry are high throughput, like imaging, SANS, reflectometry and powder diffraction. Moreover, the costs for direct industry use of these techniques is reasonable, since one day of beamtime is often sufficient to collect data on several tens of samples. However, strain scanning is an exception to this rule. With the development of additive manufacturing (AM) and increasing understanding of ageing in critical metallic components, this technique is of growing interest to industry. Following the involvement of SALSA scientists
in pre-standardisation activities for AM, an MoU will be signed early in 2020 with the Manufacturing Technology Centre (Coventry, UK) and the ESRF and the ILL together.
Energy materials, and battery research in particular, present an exciting opportunity for advanced analytical techniques, industry and innovation. ILU and ILL scientists have joined up with the ESRF and the CEA, under the banner of GIANT, to promote characterisation techniques for modern batteries. The ILL has also become an active member in a consortium of over 30 industrial and academic partners for the European Call LC-BAT-12-2020 for Battery 2030+. If successful, this exciting project will place neutron techniques and the ILL at the forefront of long-term, battery technology research in Europe.
Funded projects remain a key mechanism for opening up academically developed research techniques to industry R&D in order to drive innovation. The industry consultancy work package in the EU-funded SINE2020 (see p.110) focused on outreach actions (including, e.g. a SANS animation movie) and feasibility studies for industrial R&D. The ILU also played a leading role in the obtention and first phases of the Horizon2020, MSCA COFUND PhD programme InnovaXN—Innovation with X-rays and Neutrons (see p.110).
Anne Martel on D22.
INDUSTRIAL ACTVITIES AT THE ILL
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The IRT-nanoelec (Research Institute for Technology for Nanoelectronics) is a French government-funded project that has led to the creation of the Platform for Advanced Characterisation in Grenoble (PAC-G). The Platform offers a range of advanced neutron (ILL), X-ray (ESRF) and other analytical techniques to the electronics industry. Funding for the programme, involving the ILL, ESRF, LPSC and CEA, has recently been extended to 2020. A second phase of the IRT is being prepared for the period 2021–2025.
The PAC-G team is now adapting to offering its services on the ILL’s public instruments, as with other activities within the ILU unit, and developing dedicated services, in particular concerning the irradiation sensitivity of electronics.
D50 is an instrument that enables neutron imaging,
a technique that will be of considerable interest and benefit to industry. It is to be implemented at the ILL,
in collaboration with Grenoble-Alpes University—see https://next-grenoble.fr/. In 2019, D50 achieved excellent levels of performance, including 1-second tomography measurements, 4-micron spatial resolution and 85 % of experiments combining in situ neutron and X-ray capability. Benefitting from a major upgrade under the Endurance programme, D50 will be dedicated to neutron imaging from mid-2020 and will become a public imaging instrument in the Large-Scale Structures group.
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