Mechanical properties of solid neon and structural modeling of the XRS solid neon dewar

Compression tests have been performed on solid neon to determine Young's modulus and compressive strengths in the temperature range from 8 to 23 K. This data was used for structural analysis of the X-Ray Spectrometer's (XRS) solid neon dewar. The dewar is nearly full of a 2.5% dense aluminum foam, so measurements were made for samples where solid neon was formed within the aluminum matrix as well as pure solid neon samples. The latter measurements were made in order to determine, at least qualitatively, how the mechanical properties of solid neon are affected by the aluminum foam and to allow direct comparisons with Young's moduli obtained from literature data as a check on the experimental technique. As a further check and to verify the structural model, thermal cycle tests were conducted on a small-scale toroidal dewar filled with solid neon. Mechanical properties measurements and data are described, along with model predictions and actual performance of both the engineering unit XRS dewar and the sub-scale dewar.