APS 6BM-B Beamline: A Dedicated Large Volume High Pressure Facility for Mineral and Rock Properties Research in Earth and Planetary Science

The APS 6BM-B Beamline was established in 2015 at the Argonne National Laboratory as a partial reincarnation of the NSLS X17B2 Beamline, a renowned leader in innovative large-volume high-pressure research using synchrotron-based techniques. Supported by NSF, it is dedicated to materials property research in Earth and planetary sciences, especially rock and mineral physics.

6BM-B's standard high-pressure setup includes a 250-ton hydraulic press equipped with a D-DIA module and a Rotational Drickamer Apparatus from Yale University, covering a pressure range from the crust to the lower mantle. This beamline is uniquely designed to investigate the rheological properties of minerals and rocks, in addition to straightforward phase transition and equation of state studies based on X-ray diffraction.

It probes materials' structural information using energy dispersive X-ray powder diffraction (ED-XPD) in the energy range of 20-100 keV. With a state-of-the-art 10-element solid-state Ge array detector in a circular geometry for ED-XPD data collection, stress can be measured in real-time. Sample strain and strain rate are obtained by direct radiographic imaging using a CCD camera and scintillating YAG crystals. Together, this allows rapid exploration of stress-strain relationships under various conditions, ideal for studies of steady-state and dynamic deformation processes.

6BM-B Beamline is also equipped with a newly developed ultrasonic sound velocity measurement system DIASCoPE (Directly integrated acoustic system combined with pressure experiments), which is a few orders of magnitude faster than current techniques. Synchronization of DIASCoPE with other available techniques at the beamline has opened the door to simultaneous measurement of materials properties at mHz and MHz frequencies.

In the past eight years, 6BM-B Beamline has been a workhorse for scientists around the world. An upgrade is planned to expand the technical capabilities of 6BM-B to include tomography under pressure.

To contact 6BM-B Beamline Scientist Haiyan Chen

Phone: 630-252-0067 (office)
E-mail: haiyan.chen@stonybrook.edu

Address: Building 432-B009, Advanced Photon Source
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 S. Cass Ave, Lemont IL 60439

To become an APS user:
https://beam.aps.anl.gov/pls/apsweb/ufr_reg_tx_hdr_edit_pkg.new_form?i_pid=359545272351942

To submit a proposal:
https://beam.aps.anl.gov/pls/apsweb/gup0005.start_page