Characterization

Chemical Characterization Capabilities

High-End Melt –Extraction Analyzer (Bruker G8-GALILEO) is used for determination of Oxygen, Nitrogen, and Hydrogen in metals. It contains a dual IR detector for Oxygen and thermal conductivity cell for Nitrogen and Hydrogen with high resolution and reproducibility. It can regulate temperatures up to 2500° C and contains an automatic furnace cleaning and crucible removal. Furthermore, it has a built-in internal connector for mass spectroscopy for Argon and diffusible Hydrogen detection.

High Performance carbon and Sulfur Analyzer (Bruker G4-ICARUS) is used for simultaneous detection of Carbon and Sulfur in metals. It uses a combustion method with high-frequency furnace and IR detection with an automatic furnace cleaning feature.

Mechanical Testing System (Shimadzu AGS-X 20kN) is 20kN frame that is capable of performing tension, compression, and bending experiments. The testing system has an integrated video extensometer (TRVIEW) that allows for performing tests at constant strain rate, stress rate, and combination of these.

Fully Automatic Microhardness (Shimadzu HMV-G-FA) is capable of X-Y-Z automatic stage movement, pattern testing, and creation of a complete object picture, sample edge detection, and automated depth of hardening testing. It is also capable of both Knoob and Vickers indentations and is capable of automatic switching between 5x, 10x and 40x lenses for the appropriate detection of indentations with various sizes.

The MAML houses a Gilsonic ultrasonic sieving machine with meshes varying from 15 µm to 60 µm for powder size characterizations. A QUALTECH Hall flowmeter, a QUALTECH tap density meter, and ultrasonic bath are the other equipment dealing with powder physical characterizations.

Digital Microscope (Keyence VHX-6000) allows imaging an area of up to 40 mm by 40 mm, depth of field up to 34 μm and automatic 2D and 3D stitching of these images with high quality (20k by 20k pixels). Its camera has a maximum frame rate of 50 F/s, normal resolution of 600 (H) × 1200 (V) and dynamic range of 16-bit intensity range through RGB data from each pixel. The machine also has a motorized XY stage with 1 μm resolution, ±20 mm range, and ±90° θ manual rotation angle. The motorized z-stage has 400 mm range with 0.1 μm resolution. One 20x – 200x and one 500x-5000x high resolution lens for Brightfield, Darkfield, Partial, DIC capabilities as well as polarized capability are included with the digital microscope.