Materials Research and Resources Capabilities

Formulation

Development of ceramic and glass materials including:

• Energy
  • Solid oxide fuel cells, solar thermal concentrators, SSL, Thermoelectrics, Gas purification membranes, Hydrogen storage, Photovoltaics, Photocatalysts, Batteries
• Environment
  • Recycling of waste streams into value added products, Optimization of materials manufacturing processes to reduce energy consumption, waste and/or emissions, Porous filters, Anti-corrosion coating
• Healthcare
  • Bioactive materials for hard tissue repair, Antibacterial materials, Adsorbents for purification of biomolecules
• Defense/Homeland Security
  • High temperature capacitors, Radiation detectors, Hydrophones, High temperature propulsion components, High-strength ceramic and glass armor

Modeling

Computational modeling of material structure, properties, and performance including:

• Molecular dynamics
  • Relaxation behavior, ion migration in ionic conductors, diffusion, structure of ceramics and glass, fracture of brittle solids
• Static lattice methods
  • Structural stability, defect formation and stability
• Finite element analysis
  • Static and dynamic FEA, Multi-physics simulations including applied electromagnetic fields
• SciGlass database
  • Historical glass property database, includes calculators for glass property prediction and composition selection

Processing

Comprehensive facilities for the processing of ceramics and glasses, including:

• Materials synthesis methods
  • Solid state reaction, precipitation, combustion synthesis, micelle synthesis, sol-gel processing, hetrocoagulation for grain boundary engineering
• Glove boxes
  • Includes systems equipped with built-in furnaces for heating under inert atmospheres
• Ceramic processing equipment
  • High-intensity mixers, Multiple uniaxial presses (includes heated platens), Cold isostatic press, Filter press, Extruders, Injection molding, Slip casting, Spray drying, Milling equipment (ball, planetary, gyromill, vibratory, etc.), Heated Brabender mixer
• Furnaces for materials processing
  • Box furnaces (up to 1600 °C), tube furnaces for controlled atmospheric work, vacuum furnaces (2000 °C)
  • Hot isostatic presses, hot uniaxial press, hot forging
  • Customized high-temperature microwave furnaces, with atmospheric control
  • Resistively heated and gas-fired tunnel kilns
  • Spark plasma sintering system
• Thin film/thick film processing
  • Spin coating
  • Dip coating
  • Screen printing
  • Tape casting (includes cleanroom facilities for cutting, stacking, lamination, and firing)
  • Ion-assisted E-beam PVD
  • Magnetron sputtering (DC, Pulsed DC, RF)
• Glass processing equipment
  • Facilities for melting oxide and non-oxide glasses, Glass frit preparation, Glass fiber formation, Glass microsphere formation, Ion exchange of glass surfaces for chemical strengthening, refractive index modification

Characterization

Comprehensive facilities for characterizing the structure and properties of materials:

• Scanning electrion microscope (SEM)
  • Standard SEM with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy for qualitative chemical analysis
  • Field emission SEM with EDX; also includes Electron Backscatter Diffraction for crystallographic texture mapping and an accessory for high temperature SEM studies
• Atomic force microscopy
  • Surface morphology and roughness
  • Includes probe for magnetic force microscopy
• Optical microscopy
  • Capabilities include fractographic analysis for determination of failure mechanisms
• Electron microprobe
  • Multi-spectrometer wavelength dispersive spectrometers for quantitative chemical analysis
• Optical interferometry
  • Surface morphology and roughness
• X-ray diffraction (XRD)
  • Room temperature powder XRD for crystalline phase identification
  • High temperature XRD up to ~1500 °C in controlled atmosphere to monitor phase formation and evolution; can be used to trace reaction kinetics
  • Rietveld refinement capabilities for quantitative phase analysis and structure solution
  • High energy system for pair distribution functions
  • Thin film characterization
  • Small angle X-ray scattering
• Vibrational spectroscopy
  • Infrared spectrometer (transmission, diffuse reflectance, high temperature diffuse reflectance with controlled atmosphere for monitoring sample alteration as function of temperature and/or reaction with gases)
  • Infrared microscope
  • Confocal Raman microscope with chemical Spectroscopy
• X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
  • Quantitative analysis of surface composition and local chemical environments
  • Equipped with ion mill for depth profiling
• Inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometer
  • Chemical analysis of liquids; chemical analysis of solids with sample digestion
• X-ray fluorescence spectrometer
  • Chemical analysis of solid samples
• Powder characterization
  • Particle size (dynamic light scattering, X-ray desimentation), Surface area by gas adsorption, Density by helium pycnometry, Zeta potential as a function of pH, Potentiometric titration of suspensions, Viscosity of suspensions (stress-controlled rheometer, strain-controlled rheometer, annular shear cell)
• Glass characterization
  • Viscosity measurements (Beam bending, Fiber elongation, Parallel plate, Hot stage microscopy)
  • Furnace for measuring surface tension and density of melts by the pendant drop and sessile drop methods; capable of controlled atmosphere and temperature up to 1400 °C
• Optical property testing
  • UV-Vis-NIR spectrometry (transmission, specular reflectance, diffuse reflectance)
  • Fluorescence spectroscopy (includes fluorescence lifetime measurement)
  • Refractive index (Abbe refractometer, Spectroscopic ellipsometer, Becke line)
• Thermal property testing
  • Differential thermal analysis/Differential scanning calorimetry for measuring phase changes (melting, crystallization, polymorphic phase transformations), decomposition, combustion, glass transformation temperature, heat capacity, etc.
  • Dynamic modulus analyzer
  • Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for measuring mass change as a function of temperature under controlled; can be linked to dehydration or dehydroxylation, decomposition, nonstoichiometry, etc.
  • Dilatometry for measuring coefficient of thermal expansion, softening point of glasses, sintering profiles, etc.
  • Upcoming capabilities including TGA linked to a mass spectrometer for analysis of evolved gases and Laser Flash Thermal Diffusivity
• Electrical Property Testing
  • DC conductivity as a function of temperature
  • Impedance spectroscopy (controlled atmosphere and controlled temperature up to 1000 °C); multiple uses include AC conductivity measurements and corrosion testing.
  • Thermoelectric power measurement; Seebeck coefficient measurement
  • Measurement of capacitance, inductance, resistance, impedance, dielectric constant, loss factor, etc., at controlled temperature
  • Piezoelectric characterization by scalar and impedance circle methods
  • Measurement of strain and polarization as a function of applied field at temperatures between 20 °C to 280 °C at low frequencies; GHz frequencies for room temperature
  • Hall effect measurement at controlled temperature
  • Cryogenic measurement capabilities down to 15K
  • High temperature melt conductivity
• Mechanical property testing
  • Multiple Instron universal testing frames with fixtures for tenile testing, compression testing, flexure testing, etc.
  • Hardness indentation
  • Ultrasonic measurement of elastic modulus
  • Environmental chamber for testing at controlled temperature (-34 °C to 190 °C) and controlled humidity (10% to 95% RH); upcoming capabilities include a chamber for high temperature testing
  • High speed camera for ballistics testing
• Digital fabrication
  • Laboratory scale and pilot scale systems for additive manufacturing using the binder jetting technique
  • 5 axis CNC machining system capable of working with brittle materials
  • Coordinate measurement machine for part inspection
  • Laser cutting
  • Thermoplastic rapid prototyping equipment
  • Siemens NX software for integrated CAD/CAM/CAE
• Biomaterials testing
  • Standard laboratory equipment including: incubators for cell culture, centrifuges, freezers (-20 °C, -80 °C), flow hood for sterile work, autoclaves, Coulter counter, gel electrophoresis (native and denatured), freeze dryer
  • Multi-well plate UV-Vis spectrometer
  • Inverted optical microscope with fluorescence imaging capability
  • Cytotoxicity testing (Live/dead cell assays, cell morphology)
  • Antibacterial testing
  • In-vitro reactivity testing
  • Interactions of biological molecules with material surfaces