Small-Angle and Ultrasmall-Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS/USANS) Study of New Albany Shale: A Treatise on Microporosity

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and ultrasmall-angle neutron scattering (USANS) techniques were applied to study the microstructure of several New Albany shales of different maturity. It has been established that the total porosity decreases with maturity and increases somewhat for post-mature samples. A new method of SANS data analysis was developed, which allows the extraction of information about the size range and number density of micropores from the relatively flat scattering intensity observed in the limit of the large scattering vector Q. Macropores and significant number of mesopores are surface fractals, and their structure can be described in terms of the polydisperse spheres (PDSP) model. The model-independent Porod invariant method was employed to estimate total porosity, and the results were compared with the PDSP model results. It has been demonstrated that independent evaluation of incoherent background is crucial for accurate interpretation of the scattering data in the limit of large Q-values. Pore volumes estimated by the N-2 and CO2 adsorption, as well as via the mercury intrusion technique, have been compared with those measured by SANS/USANS, and possible reasons for the observed discrepancies are discussed.