ForMAX is the 15th beamline to come online at MAX IV. A large part of the research to be conducted at the beamline will promote the development of new materials and speciality chemicals from renewable forest resources. ForMAX is funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and industrial partners through the Treesearch consortium.
Half of the time for experiments at ForMAX will be reserved for academic and industrial members of the Treesearch consortium. The aim is multiscale structural characterisation of forest-based materials from nanometer to micrometer scale. The rest of the available user beamtime will be available to all users in open calls.
The beamline has just entered the commissioning phase.
“We will in parallel commission the beamline and finish up the installation of the experimental station. We have at the moment an open call for commissioning experts, and hope to welcome them starting late this year,” says Kim Nygård, scientist and ForMAX project manager. “It is very gratifying to see that all the hard work of all the staff involved, during challenging times, is paying off.”
Kim Nygård started working at MAX IV in September 2017, with the task of developing conceptual and detailed designs of the beamline. By that time, discussions about the beamline were already ongoing. The final funding decision, which one could say marks the start of the beamline project, was taken in November 2018. Three and a half years later the light has arrived.
”I hope that ForMAX will contribute not only to great scientific publications but in the longer term also to new sustainable consumer products,” concludes Kim Nygård.
