Failure of ceramic materials for high-temperature applications is init
iated by the formation of creep pores. Thus, the determination of the
sizes and number densities of pores induced during creep testing is on
e key to an understanding of their failure mechanisms. Small-angle neu
tron scattering (SANS) techniques are for this purpose one of the most
potential tools as demonstrated by an analysis of creep pores in liqu
id-phase-sintered, hot isostatically pressed alumina. The exploration
of creep induced pores requires the analysis of SANS intensity over an
extremely extended region of scattering vectors, the scanning of whic
h needs joint use of both conventional SANS and double crystal diffrac
tometry (DCD), an ultra-small-angle scattering technique.