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)
FlashDSC 2+ from Mettler Toledo for flash differential scanning calorimetry up to 1,000C

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