Kowari (strain scanner)
At the beginning of 2008 the last remaining piece of hardware of Kowari arrived - the double-focusing Si monochromator (see photo below). After "hiding" most of the aluminium parts with boroflex in order to reduce any unwanted scattered neutrons the monochromator was mounted inside the monochromator shielding drum. We are looking forward to using it soon.
A load frame for tension, compression and fatigue testing of samples on Kowari has recently been tested, see photo below, at the manufacturer Instron (High Wycombe, UK) and will be shipped at the end of the April. This 100kN load frame can fatigue-test samples at up to 10 Hz and can be operated on or off the strain scanner. In June, the load frame will be tested and installed at the Bragg Institute.
