Evaluation of anisotropic small-angle neutron scattering data; a faster approach

An improvement of the anisotropic small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) data evaluation program is presented. The program is particularly suited for treatment of data from dense precipitate systems like those appearing in single crystal Ni-base superalloys. A new model of the precipitate microstructure was implemented allowing for a significant shortening of the evaluation time which is necessary mainly for in-situ studies. The change concerns the mode in which the size distribution is calculated. The local random smearing of the size as well as the distance of particles was introduced, too, which leads to a more realistic look of the microstructure model. The form of individual cuboidal particle was changed as well. The characteristics of the new microstructure model with respect to the SANS data modeling are tested on several measured as well as simulated data.