News

SingleCrystal for Mac and Windows is now released!

The client for SingleCrystal is now out of Beta and available for GT users! If you would like the license, please send an email to David.Tavakoli@mse.gatech.edu from your GT mailing address!

As a reminder, all of the Crystalmaker software suite is available for Georgia Tech and we hope that you are well, safe, and healthy!

From the classroom to the laboratory to the synchrotron: SingleCrystal is the easiest way to visualize and understand diffraction properties of crystals. SingleCrystal 4 lets you simulate multi-phase X-ray, neutron and electron diffraction patterns, display reciprocal lattice sections and construct stereographic projections of planes or vectors. By combining a simulated pattern with an observed diffraction image, you can auto-index the pattern and determine the orientation of your crystal.

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.

In situ heating holder has been installed in Hitachi HD2700

We recently purchased an in situ heating holder from Hitachi and installed it in the aberration corrected STEM Hitachi HD2700. The heating temperature can increase up to 1200C. The in situ heating experiments performed in the aberration corrected STEM can allow you to directly observe the phase transformation, nanoparticle crystallization and growth, atomic cluster or single atom rippening, phase segregation, elemental homogenization, and many others at atomic scale. Currently we hold two types of heating chips w/ or w/o hole in thin SiNx membrane. But the hitachi company offer many selections of heating chips available to buy in small quantity i.e. 5/pk.

If you need to know anything more about the heating experiment or training in the STEM, please contact Mengkun Tian.

 

Webinar – XRD Masterclass 1 – Characterization Of Amorphous API

Webinar from Malvern PANalytical – XRD Masterclass 1 – Characterization Of Amorphous API 

Small molecule drug products often face multiple development challenges, common amongst which are those relating to solubility, stability and manufacturability.

The Developability Classification System (DCS) provides useful guidelines for selecting a formulation technology, based on assessment of the drug’s fundamental properties and dose expectations. APIs which fall under Class 1 (good solubility, good permeability) were discovered and delivered to the market early on.

Nowadays, the majority of small molecule drug candidates are poorly soluble and belong to Class 2 (a & b). For these molecules, solid-form screening and new formulation types are required to create competitive pharmaceutical products.

In the search for more soluble or bioavailable forms, different types of drug formulations are being  considered, including nanoparticles, amorphous solid dispersions, co-crystals and drug carrier systems. In this webinar, we’ll focus on amorphous formulations and address the following questions:

• Are amorphous compounds which are obtained in different experimental conditions the same?
• Are they free of nano-crystalline material and are they truly amorphous?
• What are the best ways of quantifying low and high amorphous content?
• How we can we use X-ray diffraction to answer these, and more, questions?

The MCF will be playing this webinar in the MCF Lobby but if you would like to register for this and watch it on your own computer, you can register here.

Date: February 20 2020

Time: 10:30 – 11:30

Crystalmaker Software Suite for 2020

The MCF has renewed the site license for the Crystalmaker Software Suite (Crystal Maker, Single Crystal, Crystal Diffract)

For more information about what the software is capable of, please visit the company website here.

OIT has updated their website with the new codes for 2020 but you can also email David.Tavakoli at mse.gatech.edu from a gatech email address for them as well.

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.

December Image Contest is now live!

The December Image Contest is live and you can submit your images here!

https://gatech.infoready4.com/#competitionDetail/1802759

We will be announcing our last months winners as well as our best images of the year next week!

Previous entries can be seen here!

If you are uncertain as to the rules of the submission process, those can be reviewed here.

 

New XANES/XAFS System Coming to the MCF!

The MCF is getting a new instrument capable of X-Ray Absorption Fine Structure (XAFS) and X-Ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES).

This laboratory system for XAFS features a 1-2 kW conventional x-ray tube coupled to modern x-ray optics and detectors. It provides very rapid transmission-mode measurements suitable for research and development in electrical energy storage or catalysis while also giving extremely high throughput for general sample characterization or product testing. More details about the instrument can be found here from the instrument manufacturer.

 

Georgia Tech is hosting a workshop on XANES/XAFS techniques with an overview on Wednesday, December 11th and you can RSVP for that event 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!