Research ► Research Facilities
Additive Manufacturing
Arc-melting for metallic samples
Materials Characterization
The MEMS department at Pitt houses instrumentation for X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, scanning probe microscopy, light optical microscopy and nano-mechanical measurements, including facilities for sample preparation. The MMCL offers access to instrumentation and the expertise of its staff to support research and educational needs related to the structural, compositional, and chemical characterization and measurements of materials properties at the nano-scale. Major instrumentation includes:
- Two Philips X'pert X-ray diffractometers for powder diffraction and crystallographic texture studies and offering in-situ sample heating capabilities (T≤1600˚C).
- One Philips XL-30 field emission scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with detectors for SE and BSE imaging, elemental composition analyses by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and collection of electron beam backscatter patterns (EBSP) for orientation imaging microscopy.
- Two 200kV transmission electron microscopes (TEM), JEOL JEM 200CX and JEOL JEM 2000FX , imaging (line resolution 0.14nm), diffraction, and EDS and EELS for composition and chemical characterization from areas as small as ~15 nm in diameter, with all digital data acquisition. Standard TEM specimen holders, low-background double-tilt and tilt-rotation holders, specialized holders for in-situ heating (up ~1000°C), in-situ cooling (liquid nitrogen temperature) and in-situ tensile straining are available.
- A Digital Instruments Dimension 3100 scanning probe microscope permits atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), and magnetic force microscopy (MFM) investigations in a single platform.
- A Hysitron Tribo-Scope system permits nano-mechanical (indentation, scratch and wear testing) and surface topographical (AFM) measurements at the nano-scale.
- Three digital light-optical microscopes offer spatial lateral resolutions down to ~500nm and include a highly versatile Keyence VHX 600 system for quantitative surface topographical measurements into the realm of sub-micron dimensions.