Equipment and instrumentation

Alloy synthesis and processing

Tabletop arc-melter for custom alloy synthesis
Formalloy direct energy deposition additive manufacturing system, 1kW Nd:YAG laser, 20 cm x 20 cm x 20 cm build envelope, 2 powder feeders for gradient alloys deposition, melt pool height monitoring, DEDsmart software package for time-resolved data collection and digital twin rendering
Vacuum Induction Melting furnace

Our laboratory also host 2 box furnaces with maximum operating temperature 1,200C and 1,500C, metallurgical preparation equipment (polishing wheels, etching), precision scale, optical microscope with camera and micro-indenter head.

Thermal and mechanical characterization

Screw-driven Instron frame with BlueHill3 software, 20kN load cell and custom-designed immersion cell for cryogenic testing (down to 77K)
Bruker-Hysitron PI85 pico-indenter for in-situ testing (nanoindentation, micropillar compression), and associated hardware (high speed acquisition system)
Arriving May 2024! FlashDSC 2+ from Mettler Toledo for flash differential scanning calorimetry up to 1,000C

For electron microscopy (SEB, TEM, FIB), nanoindentation, AFM, XRD, etc. we use the Materials Research Laboratory’s shared facilities.