Facilities

Electron microscopy enables the study of micro and nano-scale structures of materials along with high resolution imaging and elemental analysis. This facility includes equipment for transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) including electron back-scattering diffraction (EBSD) for elemental analysis, Raman spectroscopy and sample preparation.

Materials Analysis Laboratories, a part of the Nanoscale Characterization Core (NCC), provide a powerful suite of imaging, spectrometry, and diffraction instruments to interrogate structure, chemistry, and other properties from atomic to micro scales.

Mechanical Testing involves applying stresses to specimens to determine direct, comparative, or derived physical properties. Examples include: maximum tensile force, elongation, fracture toughness, hardness, creep stress, Young’s Modulus and many, many more.

Metallography involves the preparation and examination of specimens for their microscopic structure which determines their bulk physical properties.  Despite its name, metallographic methods can be applied to ceramics, glasses, polymers and biological materials as well as metals.