Synchrotron X-ray diffraction is a technique that allows us to obtain precise and detailed structural information of materials and their properties, and to fundamentally understand physical processes at the atomic level.
“It all started with a project financed by the Swedish Research Council. We carried out an experiment at MAX IV, but then we got stuck with the data analysis,” Filip Lenrick tells us.
“Data analysis is a well-known challenge”
As a researcher in production and materials engineering, with many industrial collaborations, he immediately saw the need for unravelling the data.
Since the data sets generated by next-generation synchrotrons such as MAX IV are so massive, this is easier said than done. When Filip Lenrick mentioned his idea to Jesper Wallentin, a professor at Synchrotron Radiation Research, he was prompt in getting on board.
“Data analysis is a well-known challenge, and we decided to address it,” says Jesper Wallentin.
Huge gap
“It typically takes far more time to process and analyse the data, than to conduct the experiment itself. It’s a huge gap: Months of analysis, compared to a couple of days of experiment,” says Megan Hill, a postdoctoral researcher split between the physics department and the MAX IV synchrotron at Lund University.
She joined the team, as did Huaiyu Chen, a PhD student at Synchrotron Radiation Research and NanoLund.
Some serious amount of programming and coding needed to be done. Filip Lenrick came up with the idea of a summer school event on industry data analysis. It was named “Deep Dive into Synchrotron Analysis – Summer 2024”.
Four students were recruited: Ingrid Klint from Engineering Physics, Aksel Mihailov, and Jesper Larsson from the Master of Science in Physics programme, and Jesús Carrero Robles, a master’s student in Production and Materials Engineering.
Months of analysis, compared to a couple of days of experiment.
The group got down to business straight away. Access to the MAX IV computing facilities and a shared office was granted. Using Python, they sit down, tackling the large data sets to make sense of it. The four summer school students come from different approaches, which can shed light on different parts of the problem.
“I’ve already learned so much. I know my basic fundamental mathematics, but I haven’t seen these phase diagrams before,” says Jesper Larsson.
The work is to be done by the end of this summer. The three projects concern cast iron, brazed joints and how to prevent them from breaking under stress, and how to treat tool surfaces to prevent them from cracking during stress as drilling, milling, or other kinds of machining. The companies involved – Alfa Laval, Volvo Group, and Seco Tools – will get their separate briefings, but the project initiators also do hope for scientific results.
“If we find something intriguing, our next task is to publish the results,” says Filip Lenrick.