Category: Uncategorized

Shared User Facilities Will be closed at 5:00PM, Thursday, March 19th, 2020

All Georgia Tech shared-user facilities will be ramping down research activities in response to the ongoing COVID-19 threat.

To comply with the directive from our administration, the MCF will close at 5:00PM this Thursday. All characterization work needs to be complete by 3:00 pm on Thursday without exception.

Equally importantly, please make sure to recover any data that you need to work remotely before that time.

There is no announced date about when the MCF will reopen, so please check Georgia Tech news regularly.

Further details and updates about the impact on research can be found here, and we will be sending SUMS/email announcements as updates occur.

Updates on the Georgia Tech community and the Covid-19 virus can be found here along with a FAQ.

Webinar – Malvern PANalytical demonstration of Empyrean Series 3

The MCF will be showing a webinar on the new Malvern PANalytical Empyrean in the lobby tomorrow, Wednesday, December 18, 2019 from 10:30-11:30AM,

DEMO AT YOUR DESK – FLOOR STANDING XRD – THE EMPYREAN 3RD GENERATION

Join us for a demonstration of the New Empyrean 3rd generation X-ray diffractometer. Like no other system available, the Empyrean is designed for now, and for years to come. A fully automated series of 6 samples will be demonstrated using several different measurements types, including reflection geometry, SAXS, 2D transmission, texture, residual stress, thin film reflectivity, and grazing incidence XRD. The Optics enable the analyst a large variety of measurements without manual intervention. The predefined batch function with data collector has the programming power to switch between measurement types seamlessly. The world of materials science is constantly changing and the life of a high performance diffractometer like the Empyrean 3rd generation will deliver results that save time and effort,as well as, ensure accuracy of the experimental set up.

 

  • Who should attend?

– Anyone interested in XRD and the innovation of the floor standing X-ray diffraction platform

 

If you wish to watch this demonstration at your own desk or elsewhere, you can register for it here.

September MCF Image Contest is live!

Every month the MCF hosts an image contest showing off the capabilities of our tools!

You can submit an image to be considered here!

https://gatech.infoready4.com/#competitionDetail/1795600

You can also see our previous winners here!

https://mcf.gatech.edu/monthly-image-contest-results/

Congratulations to Yung Suk “Jeremy” Yoo for his image “Jellyfish” captured on the FEI Tecnai F30 and to Alexander Terwindt for his image of a Fly Eye captured on the Hitachi 8010!

MCF Image Contest!

The MCF Image Contest is still going strong! Please consider sending your images/spectra so we can highlight what you are doing to the Georgia Tech Community and beyond!

More information as to how to submit your images and our guidelines can be found here: https://mcf.gatech.edu/news/image-contest-guidelines/

To see past images that have been submitted, they can be found here: https://mcf.gatech.edu/monthly-image-contest-results/

Thank you!

-MCF Staff-

Malvern PANalytical Aeris used by Georgia Tech students

The Aeris is a benchtop XRD capable of quick high resolution scans on powder samples or small solid samples. Conveniently it operates without the need of chiller water to operate and doesn’t have any exotic power requirements. Malvern PANalytical graciously allowed the Aeris to be housed in the Marcus Building and let students use it free of charge and several groups took advantage of it.

Workshop on Non-Ambient XRD at North Carolina State Nov 8-9

A complimentary symposium created by the collaborative efforts of NCSU & Malvern PANalytical

Organized by: Professor Jacob L. Jones (NCSU) & Dr. Scott A. Speakman (Malvern PANalytical)

Agenda:
November 8, 2017 1:00pm – 5:00pm – Symposium
November 8, 2017 5:30pm – 7:00pm – Poster Session
November 9, 2017 9:00am – 4:00pm – Symposium

Non-ambient X-ray diffraction is a useful tool for determining phase stability, studying phase transformations, and following reaction pathways and kinetics. Practical examples include in-situ battery analysis for developing new cathode materials, understanding pharmaceutical stability with temperature and humidity, quantifying growth kinetics of nanocrystalline systems, and many more. New non-ambient chambers, faster instruments, and automatic data processing make non-ambient diffraction an ever-increasingly powerful technique. However, there are issues that can trip up the unwary, such as thermal gradients, unwanted reactions, systematic errors, etc. This symposium will feature lectures by leading researchers developing and using non-ambient diffraction on laboratory instruments, synchrotrons, and neutron beamlines. Lectures will focus on the research potential of non-ambient diffraction and practical advice for collecting accurate and useful data.

Attendees are encouraged to present a poster on their work related to this symposium. Speakers will judge the posters and prizes will be awarded to the top 3.

This is a free workshop and you can sign up for it here.

For those that cannot attend, David Tavakoli will be attending and will distribute notes to anyone interested.

Omniprobe 200 installation in September for FEI Nova FIB/SEM for TEM sample preparation, nanoscale testing, etc

The IEN MCF is proud to announce the delivery and installation of an Oxford Instruments Omniprobe 200 nanomanipulator for the FEI Nova Nanolab 200 FIB/SEM.  This closed loop nanomanipulator has significant automation and will speed TEM lamella preparation and automate most of that process.  The system is very user-friendly and will also enable nanoscale testing of various kinds, with the option to get additional packages for different kinds of testing, particularly electrical characterization.  More information will be provided once the installation date is finalized, but tentative installation is set for the third week of September.  A link to the information on that system is below:

http://www.oxford-instruments.com/products/nanomanipulation/nanomanipulator/omniprobe-200

Webinar – Introducing the Empyrean Nano edition, a versatile X-ray scattering platform

SAXS/WAXS and more: Introducing the Empyrean Nano edition, a versatile X-ray scattering platform

The Webinar will be displayed on the main monitor in the lobby of the characterization suite in the Marcus Nanotechnology Center at 10:00AM on September 1st.

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In this webinar, PANalytical will introduce to you the main features of this instrument and demonstrate its unique capabilities by discussing several application examples.

The Empyrean Nano edition enables a variety of X-ray scattering techniques that can be applied for the structural characterization of nanomaterials on multiple length scales. The instrument is based on a high-resolution goniometer platform and the proven PreFIX concept, thus offering maximum flexibility. Main applications are SAXS/WAXS, bio-SAXS, USAXS and total scattering (PDF analysis).

More information can be found here.

Webinar – Solving the challenges of Na-ion battery electrodes using PXRD

The Webinar will be displayed on the main monitor in the lobby of the characterization suite in the Marcus Nanotechnology Center at 10:00AM on July 28th.

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Sodium layered oxides, NaxMO2 (M = Ti – Cu), show great promises as positive electrode material candidates for Na-ion batteries. However, detailed structural analysis of these materials presents many difficulties owing to their reactivity in ambient conditions, numerous structural transitions as a function of the sodium content and extended stacking fault occasionally resulting in partial amorphization of the sample.

This webinar will cover the study of P2-NaxFe1/2Mn1/2O2 positive electrode material focusing on the powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) data collection strategies used to address the challenges inherent to sodium layered oxide in general.

More information can be found here.