THE SKAT TEXTURE DIFFRACTOMETER AT THE PULSED REACTOR IBR-2 AT DUBNA - EXPERIMENTAL LAYOUT AND FIRST MEASUREMENTS

Neutron diffraction is not only of interest for structure investigatio ns, but for the investigation of the lattice preferred orientation, to o. Recently, the interest of geoscientists in the measurement of textu res with neutrons increased, as better estimates of the global texture may be obtained from the neutron experiment, and also because of the close relationship between the anisotropic physical rock properties an d the textures of the rock-forming minerals. Geological studies often require a large number of texture measurements, therefore fast and eas y to realise texture measurements are desirable. The new SKAT diffract ometer at beam line 7A of the pulsed reactor IBR-2 at Dubna was especi ally designed to fulfill these conditions, it is now available for rou tine texture investigations. The main characteristics of the instrumen t are presented and first applications are discussed. (C) 1998 Elsevie r Science B.V. All rights reserved.