Category: Education

SEM and EDS Short Course

The Materials Characterization Facility (MCF) at Georgia Tech will offer a short course on “Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry (EDS)” on October 8 & 9, 2018. This 2-day short course combines lectures and laboratory, and is designed for individuals interested in hands-on training in scanning electron microscopy techniques.

This short course will cover essential signal generation and detection techniques, including secondary and backscatter electrons, X-rays, low voltage imaging, and sample preparation techniques. Attendees will learn how to adjust operating conditions to gain valuable information about material samples. This course is suitable for both new and experienced researchers.

Target Audience

Attendance is open to researchers from academia, industry and government laboratories/organizations as well as to current Georgia Tech students, IEN and MCF users. Anyone who is interested in characterization of materials is invited and strongly encouraged to participate. The concepts and techniques presented are broadly applicable to materials.

Rates (Includes Lunch)

* Georgia Tech Rate: $150

* Academic and Government Rate: $250

* Industry Rate: $500

Registration and additional details may be found here

Webinar: Cold and Colder, Nanoindentation Down to -120°C

This webinar will be presented in the lobby of the MCF in the Marcus Building on Thursday, April 19th


8AM PDT | 11AM EDT | 15:00 GMT

Materials behavior is often dominated by highly localized phenomena, and the ability to probe these local properties for engineering devices is critical. Often these devices are operating in environments with large differences in temperature and pressure: from the high vacuum and cold of space to the high temperature and high pressure inside a deep-water oil well. This webinar will focus on testing from room temperature down to -100°C on a variety of materials classes;

Metals/Composites:
A fundamental study in a low carbon, 1018, steel is presented. This material is non-exotic, but plays a large role in the nuts and bolts of everyday life. 1018 steel is a two phase steel, containing both ferrite and pearlite phases that are easy to distinguish both via in contact SPM and high speed mapping of the steel, with the high C pearlite being much harder than the ferrite. This material also exhibits a ductile to brittle temperature transition at -5°C via Charpy impact testing. However, when the individual phases can be examined separately, the DBTT can be described to each phase. Besides a rapid increase in hardness, as the ability to cross-slip decreases, there is a change in the behavior of the load-displacement curve from smooth to heavily serrated flow dominated by pop-in behavior in the ferrite phase.

Polymer Films:
Determining the glass transition temperature of polymer films can be difficult due to specimen geometry that does not conform to typical macroscale test algorithms. Here, determination of polymer thin films is demonstrated by varying both temperature and frequency using a nanoscale equivalent test, nanoDMA III. Control of operating conditions below room temperature here is critical to understanding materials performance in a cold weather environment.

To find out more information or to sign up independently, you can click here.

Webinar: Nanoscale Tribology – Understanding Mechanical and Tribological Surface Modification in Lubricated Contacts

Webinar on Nanoscale Tribology: Understanding Mechanical and Tribological Surface Modification in Lubricated Contacts

This webinar will be on display in the lobby of the MCF in the Marcus Building at 11:00AM on March 15th.

Tribological properties play a critical role in the proper function, longevity, and energy efficiency of mechanical systems. The ability to quantitatively characterize surface interactions over the nanoscale and microscale provides a new understanding of how to better control friction and wear behavior in bulk material systems and thin tribological films.

In this webinar we will discuss the theory and applications of tribological and mechanical characterization over the nanometer to micrometer length scales. Practical applications will be presented relating to the field of lubricated sliding materials found in pistons, bearings, rubber gaskets, and other interacting components used in engines and power trains. We will demonstrate how nanoscale indentation and scratch testing provides powerful information for studying localized changes due to tribological processes and how these complimentary techniques provide greater insight to optimize tribological performance.

You can find more information and sign up for it to watch it at your desk here.

 

Webinar: Introduction to quantitative XRD methods using HighScore Plus

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Webinar: February 6, 2018!

If you are interested in learning the basics of quantitative analysis using HighScore Plus X-ray Diffraction software, then join us for a free webinar. This webinar will introduce standard XRD quantitative methods, as well as the newest quantitative methods implemented in HighScore Plus software, such as Partial Least Squares Refinement (PLSR), Autoscaler Method (FULLPAT), and Direct Derivation Method after Toraya.

At the conclusion of the presentation a live question and answer session will be held. So do not miss this opportunity to learn about the newest methods for quantification by XRD, and which may be best suited to your types of materials.

This webinar will be broadcast in the lobby of the MCF in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building.

Webinar details:

Date: February 6, 2018
Title: Introduction to quantitative XRD methods using HighScore Plus
Time: 10:00 AM EDT / 7:00 AM PDT
Duration: 45 minutes
Presenter: Dr. Anasuya Adibhatla Ph.D, XRD application specialist, Malvern Panalytical

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

MCF Lecture Series – Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy – Technology and Applications 

MCF Technical Lecture Series: 

  • Thursday, December 14th 12:00 – 1:30 (NOTE TIME CORRECTION!)
  • Paper Tricentennial Building Seminar Hall – Room 114
  • Pizza and Drinks will be served 

Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy – Technology and Applications 

C.T. (Tom) Schamp, Ph.D. 

Principal Consulting Scientist 

Materials Analytical Services, LLC 

Suwanee, GA 

 

The Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM) has evolved from a niche research-lab apparatus to arguably the leading electron microscopy analysis technique humanity has devised. In this presentation, I will discuss general principals of the STEM and aberration correction with an emphasis on making the concepts readily accessible. Then I will discuss examples of how the STEM is being or has been used to obtain data from nearly every conceivable signal available, including three-dimensional data.  

 

 

 

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 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.