A versatile shear cell for investigation of structure of food materials under shear

摘要

A versatile cell for X-ray and neutron scattering experiments on samples under shear has been designed. To our knowledge, it is the first shear cell which can be used for both SAXS and SANS in respectively synchrotron or reactor beamlines. The cell is mainly intended for scattering experiments in so-called "1-2 plane geometry", but can also be modified into cone-plate and plate-plate rheological geometries, giving access to the 1-3 scattering plane. The latter two geometries, however, can only be used with neutron scattering. The final cell design is compact, which allows it to be used even with lab-based X-ray sources. A special thermostatic shell allows for the temperature control of the samples under investigation in the range from 5 up to 100 degrees C. Several X-ray and neutron scattering experiments performed with the cell have helped in better understanding of the structuring under shear of food materials, such as: cellulose suspensions, fat crystal networks and milk proteins.