The HEMS beamline at PETRA III has a main energy of 120 keV, is tunable in the range 30-200 keV, and optimized for sub-micrometer focusing with Compound Refractive Lenses. Design, construction, and main funding was the responsibility of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, HZG. Approximately 70 % of the beamtime is dedicated to Materials Research, the rest reserved for “general physics” experiments covered by DESY, Hamburg. The beamline P07 in sector 5 consists of an undulator source optimized for high energies, a white beam optics hutch, an in-house test facility and three independent experimental hutches, plus additional set-up and storage space for long-term experiments. HEMS has partly been operational since summer 2010. First experiments are introduced coming from (a) fundamental research for the investigation of the relation between macroscopic and micro-structural properties of polycrystalline materials, grain-grain-interactions, recrystallisation processes, and the development of new & smart materials or processes; (b) applied research for manufacturing process optimization benefitting from the high flux in combination with ultra-fast detector systems allowing complex and highly dynamic in-situ studies of microstructural transformations, e.g. in-situ friction stir welding; (c) experiments targeting the industrial user community.

High‐energy X‐rays offer the large penetration depths that are often required for determination of bulk properties in engineering materials research. Photon energies of 150 keV and more are available at synchrotron sources, depending on storage ring and insertion device. In addition, synchrotron sources can offer very high intensities on the sample even at these energies. They can be used not only to obtain high spatial resolution using very small beams, but also high time resolution in combination with a fast detector. This opens up possibilities for a wide range of in situ experiments. Typical examples that are already widely used are heating or tensile testing in the beam. However, there are also more challenging in situ experiments in the field of engineering materials research like e.g. dilatometry, differential scanning calorimetry, or cutting. Nevertheless, there are a number of applications where neutron techniques are still favorable and both probes, photons and neutrons, should be regarded as complementary. A number of in situ experiments were realized at the GKSS synchrotron and neutron beamlines and selected examples are presented in the following.

Residual stress fields were measured in three different sizes of Compact-Tension (C(T)) and eccentrically loaded single edge notch (ESE(T)) specimens containing transverse or longitudinal welds. The effect of size on residual stress profiles was studied. Fatigue crack growth tests were carried out with cracks growing into or away from the weld line, as well as growing along the weld centre line. Effects of weld residual stresses on fatigue crack growth rates parallel and perpendicular to the friction stir welds were studied. It wan found that compressive residual stresses around the sample notch had significant retarding effects on both crack initiation and crack growth rates for cracks growing towards the weld line.Effects of residual stress on crack growth rates declined with increasing crack length.When cracks grew parallel to the weld line in C(T) samples the crack growth rate was around 20% lower than in parent material.

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) imparts both heat and deformation to the metal being joined, producing profound microstructural changes that determine the weld properties. In the case of welding of aerospace aluminium alloys, the most important change is the modification of the size, nature, and fraction of strengthening precipitates. To understand these changes requires the ability to measure the microstructural evolution during the welding process. This paper describes a new tool, the FlexiStir system, a portable friction stir unit designed for use in a high-energy synchrotron beamline that enables in-situ studies of microstructural evolution during FSW. FlexiStir has been used to measure precipitate evolution during FSW of aluminium alloy 7449-TAF and provide time-resolved measurement of precipitate size and volume fraction via small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). These measurements have been interpreted with the aid of a previously developed microstructural model. The

In this work, a defocused laser was used to modify the residual stress state in AA2198-T8 C(T)100 specimens with the goal of retarding fatigue crack growth. The manuscript provides a description of the process, the resulting changes of the material properties and the modified fatigue crack growth behaviour. The performed experiments, including thermocouple measurements, microscopical examinations, micro-hardness measurements, residual stress measurements and fatigue crack growth measurements under constant amplitude loading show, that via laser heating a substantial retardation of fatigue crack growth can be achieved.