Webinar: Characterizing liposome formation, structure and stability with complementary techniques

If you are interested in characterizing both biological and synthetic nanoparticles, then join us for a free webinar. We will look at optimal conditions for extruding liposomes and will analyze their stability under different conditions. Our aim is to further educate the public about the intricacies of liposome formation and characterization as measured by nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) from the NanoSight product range, dynamic and electrophoretic light scattering (DLS/ELS) from the Zetasizer product range, and small-angle and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS) from the X-ray analytical product range within Malvern Panalytical.

This webinar will be on display in the lobby of the MCF in the Marcus Building.

Webinar details:
Title: Characterizing liposome formation, structure and stability with complementary techniques
Time: 1:00 PM (GMT-05:00) Eastern [New York] Duration: 60 minutes
Presenters: Ragy Ragheb, technical specialist at Malvern Panalytical and
Joerg Bolze, product specialist XRD at Malvern Panalytical

Crystalmaker Software Suite

The MCF has acquired a site license for Georgia Tech for the Crystalmaker Software Suite (Crystalmaker, CrystalDiffract, and Single Crystal) for mac and windows. This is a powerful software package that allows you to create CIF patterns of materials as well as nice images of your crystals for presentations/publications.

If you aren’t familiar with it, more information can be found here:

http://www.crystalmaker.com/

We are going to be hosting it on the OIT website in the near future, but if you would like to get your new licenses for next year or get a copy of it before we host it there, please contact me.

-David-

Webinar on Powder Diffraction by Malvern PANalytical

Introduction to Practical X-ray Powder Diffractometry

This presentation teaches the basic principles of X-ray diffraction and what information can be learned from an X-ray diffraction pattern. This presentation does not delve deeply into the mathematics or physics of diffraction, but rather focuses on illustrating the power of this materials analysis technique. It is intended for a broad audience—technicians, managers, students, professor moving from single crystal diffractometry into powder diffractometry, and those who are considering if X-ray diffraction could be a beneficial addition to their lab.

X-Ray Powder Diffraction is most often used to answer the questions: what is in the sample and how much? With modern diffractometers, it is possible to load a sample, push a single button, and get an answer. But … where did that answer come from? How reliable is it? What other information might be available in the data? This talk will dissect the X-ray powder diffraction pattern and show the wealth of information contained within.

More information can be found here.

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.

Malvern PANalytical Aeris in the XRD Lab

Malvern PANalytical has graciously housed the Aeris, their new benchtop XRD in the lab across from the Alpha-1. The Aeris is a easy to use XRD designed to run powder/pellet samples. This tool is free to use, and if you would like to get trained on it see how it runs your samples, please contact David Tavakoli (david.tavakoli@mse.gatech.edu) Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. Unfortunately on Thursday it will be shipped out to another lab.

For more details on the Aeris, please go here.

 

2018 LUDO FREVEL Crystallography SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS

HISTORY
To encourage graduate students to pursue crystallographically-oriented research, the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD) has established a crystallography scholarship fund, known as the Ludo Frevel Crystallography Scholarship Fund. Its name was adopted to honor a pioneer in the science of X-ray diffraction and founder of the fund, Dr. Ludo Frevel. Convinced of the beneficial scientific impact of the proposed scholarships for crystallographically-oriented research, ICDD has solicited funds from private and industrial sectors to support this program. ICDD has awarded 191 scholarships since 1991, totaling over$454,750
APPLICANT QUALIFICATIONS
The applicant should be enrolled in a graduate degree program during the 2018 calendar year with major interest in crystallography — e.g., crystal structure analysis, crystal morphology, modulated structures, correlation of atomic structure with physical properties, systematic classification of crystal structures, phase identification and materials characterization. Students with a graduation date prior to 1 July 2018 are not eligible for the 2018 scholarship award. The term of the scholarship is one year. The recipient may submit an application for one renewal at the end of the first year. 

Applications must be submitted online by


18 OCTOBER 2017

To apply, and for more information, please go here.

 

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.

Webinar: Characterizing ceramic compounds using state-of-the-art X-ray diffraction (XRD)

Characterizing ceramic compounds using state-of-the-art X-ray diffraction (XRD)

This webinar will be shown on September 7th at 10:00AM in the Lobby of the Microscopy Suite in Marcus. You can register and get more information here.

Webinar abstract

Due to their wide range of composition/structures as well as the versatility of their applications ceramics are a widely studied subject within the materials sciences. Their characterization in order to determine physical and chemical properties is paramount to predict how a ceramic compound will behave in high-temperature environments. Various analytical techniques are used for the characterization of ceramics with XRD being one of them. This technique is, however, not yet exploited to its full potential. Currently it is mostly used for simple phase analysis during and after the production process and in some cases for in situ high-temperature studies.

However, modern multipurpose diffraction platforms allow more analytical approaches. They can be combined to fully characterize a ceramic compound in terms of phase composition, crystallinity (amorphous/glass content), crystallite size, 2D phase distribution, depth profiling, residual stress, texture, thermal behavior (in situ), as well as 3D microstructure.

During this webinar various case studies where XRD is used for the characterization of ceramics will be discussed, showing various analytical examples. You will learn how XRD can be applied to the different materials and analytical challenges. Case studies of the following applications will be given:
– Phase analysis using Rietveld full-pattern fitting
– Grazing incidence XRD
– Non-ambient diffraction
– Residual stress and texture
– Microdiffraction
– Computed tomography

 

Webinar – Is the X-ray diffraction theory we use correct? May 30, 2017

The theory of X-ray diffraction from crystals has been established for over 100 years; although it is still used, it cannot account for some of the experimental data. The theory combined with measured data can sometimes lead to the wrong structural model. In this webinar you will hear about a new theory that includes the diffraction from crystals in all directions, which explains the diffraction from polycrystalline materials and the data collected in serial crystallography without the need for complex structural requirements.

This webinar will be on display of the lobby of the MCF in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building at 11:00EST on May 30, 2017.

More information can be found here.

Webinar – May 23, 2017 – Beyond Cu: The many colors of X-rays – selecting the best X-ray tube for your analysis

Presented by: Scott Speakman Ph.D – XRD Principal Scientist

Modern laboratory diffractometers are designed to operate with X-ray tubes that may have many different types of anodes: Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Mo, Ag, and more. The X-ray tube anode determines the wavelength of radiation that is produced for measurements. Despite the wide selection of anodes available, contemporary literature is dominated by research that uses Cu wavelength X-rays for powder diffraction and scattering studies—so much so that some researchers mistakenly believe it is the only choice because “everybody else uses it”. While Cu anode X-ray tubes have always been widely used in laboratory diffractometers, literature provides many examples of measurements that benefited from the use of other wavelengths of radiation, including synchrotrons and neutron beamlines.

This webinar will be streamed in the lobby of the MCF in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building on May 23 at 11:00AM.