The background scattering from numerous frequently used sample adhesives has been investigated to determine the background contribution of these glues when used for inelastic neutron scattering measurements. Starting with a bare Cu sheet, different glues have been trialled, such as GE varnish, CYTOP solution, Teflon tape, Fomblin oil and two-component epoxy glue. Measurements were collected using the PELICAN cold-neutron time-of-flight spectrometer at ANSTO, which is capable of collecting data over a wide range of Q–ω space simultaneously. The results indicate that those glues containing hydrogen give much higher background signals, while those that do not contain hydrogen have a much smaller impact on the background signal. This was observed for both elastic and inelastic neutron scattering.
