Sound Velocity Measurements of tin at High Pressures in Large Volume Presses

Accurate measurements of material elastic properties such as the bulk, shear, and Young’s moduli are essential for designing and modeling components for use in the aerospace, biomedical, energy and other industries. Additionally, if parts are likely to be subjected to elevated temperatures and/or stress, determining the elastic properties at relevant conditions is required to optimize design. To measure the elastic properties of materials, we have performed in situ ultrasound time-of-flight, X-ray radiography, and mass density measurements as a function of temperature and pressure in a Paris-Edinburgh-style (PE) large volume hydraulic press at HPCAT Sector 16 of the Advanced Photon Source and in a Multi-Anvil (MA) Press at DESY PETRA III beamline P61b: LVP. Ultrasound time-of-flight is obtained via the pulse-echo method, sample dimensions are determined by X-ray radiography, and X-ray diffraction is used to measure density and pressure. We use the recently developed SonicPy software suite to acquire and analyze the data and to extract the elastic moduli. In this presentation, we give an overview of the techniques and equipment used to make these measurements and present some recent results from a study of tin.