News

Enter the EnvisioNano Image Contest! Deadline Dec 31, 2018!

EnvisioNano is a contest for undergraduate and graduate students conducting nanotechnology research in the United States and U.S. territories. Students should submit striking nanoscale images that demonstrate how beautiful the nanoscale can be alongside thoughtful, concise descriptions of the research behind the picture and how it may lead to nanotechnologies that benefit society. The goal is to envision where your research is headed and explain how “seeing” at the nanoscale is important to reaching that vision.  See the most recent winning image here!

For details and submission guidelines, please go here: https://www.nano.gov/EnvisioNano

December 2018 Image Contest is Live!

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

If you have questions about the submission guidelines for the contest, those can be found on our website here.

And if you would like to see our previous winners (and congratulations to our winners in September and October), those images can be found here. The winner of the November contest will be posted by the end of this week.

If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact MCF Staff.

November 2018 Image Contest

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

If you have questions about the submission guidelines for the contest, those can be found on our website here.

And if you would like to see our previous winners, those images can be found here.

If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact MCF Staff.

Webinar – How is Particle Size Measured

Masterclass
October 23
10:30 ET
The MCF will be showing this webinar on the monitor in Marcus at 10:30AM on October 23rd.
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There is a gamut of particle size distribution measurement techniques each with established history and advantages.

The killer word in particle size distribution is the last one (distribution) and measurement of broad distributions is the bane of all sizing techniques.

After a very short introduction to ‘how much sample should we measure to describe the distribution’, we’ll be running through the background of some of the more popular techniques (sieves, sedimentation, electrical-sensing zone) and will emphasize the popular light scattering techniques of laser diffraction and dynamic light scattering.

As an aside, we’ll be mentioning Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS).

MCF Image Contest for October

The image contest for the October is now live and you can submit your images here!

If you have questions about the submission guidelines for the contest, those can be found on our website here.

And if you would like to see our previous winners, those images can be found here.

If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact MCF Staff.

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

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-

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.