Formerly called the Chemistry Facility
seshadri [at] mrl [dot] ucsb [dot] edu (Professor Ram Seshadri)
amanda [at] mrl [dot] ucsb [dot] edu (Amanda Strom)
The MRL TEMPO Laboratory has advanced instrumentation for the characterization of materials and chemical samples. We offer an extremely wide range of instrumentation for Thermal, Electronic/Elemental, Magnetic, Porosity, and Optical measurements.
This instrumentation is available to users from UCSB, other Universities, and Industry.
Training is available. We are now offering a testing service.
We have instrumentation for measuring the:
All instruments are available for responsible users to test their own samples. Training is offered quarterly for the more complex instruments and users may self train on the other instruments any time. There are specific insurance and liability requirements for off-campus facility users. They are described at this link: Non-UCSB Use of MRL Facilities
All people working in the TEMPO lab are required to follow good practice and to have already attended the UCSB EH&S Laboratory Safety Training.
Contact amanda [at] mrl [dot] ucsb [dot] edu (Amanda Strom) or 805-893-7925 for more information.
The Netzsch Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) is designed to quantitatively measure the energy absorbed or released by samples as they are heated and to measure the temperature at which any changes occur.
The DSC can measure many thermodynamic properties of samples including the:
The Bruker D8 Advance is a very easy to use x-ray diffractometer set up to measure powders, thin films, and foils in the theta theta configuration. The X-Ray source uses a copper target. The D8 can conveniently measure down to 5 degrees 2 theta.
This Bruker D8 is a theta-theta XRD with an Anton Parr HTK 16 High Temperature stage and an M Braun PSD
The Horiba FluoroMax® 4 spectrometer is a powerful tool for measuring fluorescence of solids, liquids, powders and thin films. The instrument is easy to use and is controlled by FluorEssenceTM software with Origin® embedded for sophisticated data analysis. Users may self-train on this instrument.
The MRL has a wonderful Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) Atomic Emission Spectrometer that is available for use on a recharge basis. Our Instrument is a Thermo iCAP 6300 model that can simultaneously view emissions from as many elements and lines as desired. It is easy to use and offers high sensitivity measurements of aqueous solutions from 10 PPB to over 250 PPM. The optimum working range for element concentrations is from 50 PPB to 100 PPM by weight.
The TGA/DTA/MS at the MRL is a great tool for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of a sample as it is heated. The TGA measures the change in mass of a sample as the sample is heated. Physical changes in the sample that do not involve a change in mass but do involve a change in energy, such as a phase change, are captured in the DTA curve. The evolved gas can be routed to the MS for identification.
Micromeritics AccuPyc 1340 Pycnometer
For very precise density measurements of small powder or solid samples.
The MicroMeritics AccuPyc 1340 Pycnometer is a fast, non destructive, fully automatic density analyzer that provides high-speed, high-precision volume and density measurements on a wide variety of materials.
Porosimeters - Surface Area, Pore Volume, & Pore Size Distribution Measurement
We have a Micromeritics Porosimiter that provides fast and accurate measurements of the surface area, pore volume, and the pore size distribution of small powder samples.
The TriStar provides fast and accurate measurements for up to three powder samples at a time. It is easy to use and reasonably easy to learn to use. The use of the instrument is straight forward, the test setups are ready for use, and the interpretation of the data is mostly automatic.
The MRL Chemistry Facility has a new analytical instrument called a Physical Properties Measurement System (PPMS). It measures DC Resistivity, AC Transport (AC Resistivity, Hall Coefficient, I-V Curve, & Critical Current for superconductors), and Heat Capacity for small samples under user controlled magnetic field, pressure, gas composition, and temperature. The magnetic field may be programmed anywhere from 0 to +/- 70,000 Oersted and the sample's temperature can be programmed from 1.9 to 400 K. Users select and may program the excitation voltage, frequency, and current.
The Quantum Design MPMS 5XL SQUID uses a Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) Magnetometer to monitor very small changes in magnetic flux and so discover the magnetic properties of samples. It is extremely sensitive for all kinds of AC and DC magnetic measurements.
The SQUID detects and measures the Magnetic Moment of the sample. From this the magnetization and magnetic susceptibility can be determined.
The Shimadzu UV3600 UV-Nir-NIR Spectrometer is a high sensitivity, high resolution, low stray light instrument for Diffuse Reflectance, Specular Reflectance, Transmission and Absorption measurements of powder, thin film, solid, and liquid samples. It will normally be fitted with an Integrating Sphere with a working range of 220 to 2600 nm.
See: http://www.ssi.shimadzu.com/products/product.cfm?product=uv3600.
This microscope illuminates samples from above as well as from below as in a conventional microscope. Most users will be interested in using light from above the sample to illuminate and energize the sample. Excitation in the ultraviolet (330-385nm), blue (460-490 nm), green (510-550 nm) and full spectrum light are available. The microscope has magnifications of 20, 40, 100 and 200 power. Both the reflected light and sample fluorescence may be viewed through and recorded at the microscope.
MRFN.org is supported by the MRSEC Program of the National Science Foundation. Image in the header is courtesy of CRISP MRSEC.
