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Research Laboratories

Atom Probe Field Ion Microscopy Laboratory

lab1The Atom Probe Field Ion Microscopy Laboratory is a unique, highly sophisticated research facility for investigating the structure and chemistry of solids on an atomic scale. The installation includes three units for field ion microscopy and atom probe analysis.

Bio Tissues and Complex Fluids Laboratory

The Bio Tissues and Complex Fluids Laboratory is devoted to the characterization and experimental study of complex materials. Much of our work is focused on understanding and quantifying the link between material behavior and structure. These results are used for the development of constitutive equations to model these materials in a predictive fashion. Of particular interest in this group is the behavior of cerebral vascular tissue with applications to the pathological condition of intracranial aneurysms (ICA). ICAs are abnormal dilations of arteries of arteries at the base of the brain. If untreated, an ICA can continue to expand until rupture, resulting in hemorrhage which is followed by death or severe disability in the majority of patients. A central goal of this research laboratory is to better understand the initiation, growth, and rupture of the ICA and to improve clinical treatments for this disease. The walls of the ICA differ morphologically from those of healthy vascular walls. Elastin, which is present in healthy arteries, is fragmented or missing in ICAs. A central question in this disease is why this breakdown occurs and what role it plays in the initiation and continued growth of the aneurysm. We conjecture this breakdown arises from a combination of mechanical damage and a breakdown in homeostatic mechanisms in the wall due to the particular hemodynamic loading in the region of ICA formation. Our group is the first to develop a constitutive equation to model this disruption using a structural model in which damage arises from both mechanical and hemodynamic factors. In our laboratory, we are studying this damage process. We have several custom built mechanical testing devices for this purpose and are working with the Center for Biological Imaging (CBI) of the University of Pittsburgh to quantify the structural changes to the elastin due to mechanical and enzymatic damage.

Ceramics Processing Laboratory

The Ceramics Processing Laboratory includes glove box facilities for chemical synthesis of powders and thin films. Powder preparation facilities allow for mixing and milling of powders, Horiba CAPA-300 particle size analyzer, Quantachrome BET surface area analysis, mini spray drier, Brookfield viscometer, uniaxial press and colloidal filtration pressurization unit, cold isostatic press. Firing facilities include a high-temperature sintering dilatometer and various tube and box furnaces for firing ceramics and melting glass at temperatures up to 1700°C in air.

Composite Materials Laboratory

The Composite Materials Laboratory is used mainly for research in penetration and fracture mechanics of composite materials, the characterization of associated dynamic failure modes, and understanding the physics of dynamic failures of new generation of composite materials.

The lab is equipped with a high-performance penetrating and fracturing Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) integrated to a high speed optical/CCD imaging system for high strain rate testing. The system is capable of capturing dynamic fracture, crack propagation, and fragmentation processes during composite materials failure at over 2 million frames per second.

The lab operates a laser Raman Spectroscopy for characterization of residual strengths and micro micromechanical properties of composite materials with 1 mm resolution. Heat, moisture absorption, dynamic impact, or a combination of these factors results in transformation of micro-mechanical properties of composite materials in the region of damage and beyond. Laser Raman spectroscopy is used to directly measure fiber stress at the microscopic level because Raman frequencies or unique atomic vibrational energy levels of the constituent fibers are stress-strain dependent. In many crystalline or paracrystalline materials, the Raman peak position shifts linearly to lower wave numbers under tensile strains and to higher wave number under compressive strains.

Composite materials of interest include woven composites, advanced composite materials, nano-composites, smart composite, and high-temperature materials such as ceramics.

Computational Transport Phenomena Laboratory

The primary objective of the Computational Transport Phenomena Laboratory is to conduct theoretical research in fluid mechanics, combustion, heat and mass transfer, applied mathematics, and numerical methods. The emphasis of current research in this laboratory is on “understanding physics” rather than “developing numerical algorithms.”

Several areas of current investigations are turbulent mixing, chemically reacting flows, high-speed combustion and propulsion, transition and turbulence, nano-scale heat transfer, magnetohydrodynamics, and plasma physics. The numerical methodologies in use consist of spectral methods (collocation, Galerkin), variety of finite difference, finite volume and finite element schemes, Lagrangian methods, and many hybrid methods such as spectral-finite element and spectral-finite difference schemes.

The laboratory is equipped with high-speed mini-supercomputers, graphic systems, and state-of-the-art hardware and software for "flow visualization." Most computations require the use of off-site supercomputers (mostly parallel platforms), for which high-speed links are available.

Electrical Properties and Dielectric Measurements

The Electrical Characterization Facility contains an LCR meter, impedence analyzers, and a ferroelectric testing system for measuring the dielectric properties of bulk materials and thin films. The facility also includes a microwave cavity and network analyzer used to measure dielectric constants and Q-factors at microwave frequencies.

Gas Turbine Heat Transfer Laboratory

The Gas Turbine Heat Transfer Laboratory is equipped with advanced flow and heat transfer measurement facilities directed toward obtaining fundamental understanding and design strategies of airfoil cooling in advanced gas turbine engines.

Major experimental systems available include a particle imaging velocimetry, a computer-automated liquid crystal thermographic system, a UV-induced phosphor fluorescent thermometric imaging system, and a sublimation-based heat-mass analogous system. Specific projects currently under way include optimal endwall cooling, shaped-hole film cooling, innovative turbulator heat transfer enhancement, advanced concepts in trailing edge cooling, and instrumentation developments for unsteady thermal and pressure sensing.

John A. Swanson Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory (JASMIN Lab)

The John A. Swanson Micro/Nanotechnology Laboratory (JASMiN Lab) is a newly established research and educational facility directed for design, fabrication, and performance characterization of various engineering systems in micro- and nano-scales. This laboratory is built upon the existing capabilities in precision manufacturing, smart materials and transducers, rapid prototyping, and semiconductor fabrication in the Swanson School of Engineering. For the full line of silicon-based MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical Systems) processing, the JASMiN Lab is equipped in clean room, located in the 6th floor of the Benedum Engineering Hall, with various facilities for photolithography, thin-film deposition (sputtering and ultrahigh vacuum e-beam evaporation), wet/dry etching, dicing, and device characterizations. The Lab is open in public and all the facilities can be easily accessed, running mainly on the basis of user usage fees. The Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science is currently expanding its research capabilities to both nano-scale devices and non-silicon-based micro-devices. New fabrication equipment, such as thick-film deposition/patterning facilities, deep reactive ion etching facilities, and special equipment to develop micro/nano devices for bio-medical and energy applications, is being established. Currently, interdisciplinary research and education are actively being carried out in the JASMiN Lab. The primary research areas include microfluidics, Bio-MEMS, binary semiconductor nanotube and nanowire research, electro-active polymer films and devices, compact/miniaturized fuel cell power generation devices, thin film piezoelectric and electrostrictive micro-devices, surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices, thin film bulk acoustic wave (BAW) devices, and so on.

Learn more about the John A. Swanson Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory.

Joint Replacement Biomechanics Laboratory

The Joint Replacement Biomechanics Laboratory focuses on the improvement of both the life span of joint replacements and the design of the components used in joint replacement. The laboratory is equipped for computational and experimental analyses.

 

Materials Micro-Characterization Laboratory (MMCL)

The MMCL is located mainly on the 8th floor of Benedum Hall and is administered within the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. Prof. Wiezorek is the MMCL’s faculty director and is assisted in its management and daily operations by two Research Specialist staff members. It 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 InstrumentsDimension 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.

Benedum Hall

Dedicated in 1971, Benedum Hall is home to exploration and discovery.