4R & 6R

The SANS rotating cell holders¹ tumble a sealed sample cell with the center of the rotation at the center of the sample. This tumbling motion prevents settling of precipitates that form over the time-scale of the SANS measurement. Two sets of rotational holders are available. A set of four rotating holders (4R) are currently on long-term loan from Uppsala University for use at all SANS beamlines. A set six rotating holders (6R), owned and maintained by the NCNR, are available for any instrument but the USANS. The BT5 USANS instrument has only enough space for 4 holders.

Two styles of sample drums are available. The drum pictured holds circular and rectanglar Hellma© cells. The second style holds any size of the standard SANS demountable cells. Temperature control from ambient to 60°C has been achieved using halogen heat lamps², but the holders operate at ambient temperature under standard conditions.

1. "A holder to rotate sample cells to avoid sedimentation in small-angle neutron scattering and ultra small-angle neutron scattering experiments," A. Olsson, et. al., 2013, Meas. Sci. Technol. 24 105901
2. "Dynamic infrared sample controlled (DISCO) temperature for the tumbler cells for ultra small angle neutron scattering (USANS)," J. Leao, et. al. 2017, J. Neutron Research 19 (1-2) 23-26