Instruments
Analytical and Microscopy Instruments
Learn more about the instruments used by the Center for Materials and Manufacturing
students and staff
Instron mechanical testing system
Description: Measures mechanical properties of any materials (films, fibers, foams, ceramics, etc.).
The properties such as tensile, flexural, compression, tear, creep of any materials
can be measured.
Model: Instron 5966 mechanical testing system
Faculty: Dr. Arun Ghosh
Pendulum impact tester
Description: A mechanical tester typically used on plastics. It determines the amount of energy
absorbed during fracture. This indicates the toughness of the test material.
Model: Zwick/Roell Pendulum Impact Tester HIT25P with various fixtures (Charpy, Izod, Tensile,
and Dynstat)
Faculty: Dr. Arun Ghosh
Melt flow indexer
Description: Measuring the melt flow rate of thermoplastics ranging from 25 to 450 °C.
Model: TMI Melt Flow System (Model 46-02-01-0002)
Faculty: Dr. Aboulfazl Barati
Sonic dismembrator
Description: Laboratory-scale ultrasonic homogenizer for cell disruption and nanoparticle dispersion.
Model: Fisher Scientific FB505 Sonic Dismembrator
Faculty: Dr. Aboulfazl Barati
High temperature tube furnace
Description: A high temperature furnace used to heat small samples up to 1100°C. The furnace can
be used to generate different substrates (such as ceramics) for use in the development
of films.
Model: MTI Corporation High Temperature GSL-1100X-LD
Faculty: Dr. Brooke Otten
Muffle furnace
Description: A high temperature furnace (1150 °C, 3.75 L) used for high-temperature processes like
thermolysis of plastics to isolate the mineral fillers, creating enamel coatings,
ceramic processing, soldering and brazing metals, and generally heating materials
to very high temperatures while isolating them from direct combustion byproducts.
Model: Yamato Muffle Furnace FO200CR
Faculty: Dr. Mojtaba Enayati
Automated goniometer/tensiometer
Description: Measures static and dynamic water contact angle, advancing and receding contact angle,
contact angle hysteresis, roll-off angle, surface and interfacial tension.
Model: Rame-hart model 590 Tensiometer/Goniometer
Faculty: Dr. Mojtaba Enayati
Goniometer
Description: Measures static and dynamic water contact angle, advancing and receding contact angle,
contact angle hysteresis, roll-off angle, surface and interfacial tension.
Model: Kruss Scientific DSA100 drop shape analyzer
Faculty: Dr. Zhiyong Wang
X-ray powder diffractometer (XRD)
Description: Performs X-ray powder diffraction on crystalline samples.
Model: Bruker D8 Advance
Faculty: Dr. Zhiyong Wang
Limiting oxygen index analyzer (LOI)
Description: Analyze the flammability of a material in a controlled atmosphere of oxygen and nitrogen.
Model: Netzsch LOI Oxygen Analyzer
Faculty: Dr. Arun Ghosh
Automated polymer viscometer
Description: Measures the intrinsic viscosity (molecular weight) of polymer samples at 30 °C.
Model: PSL Rheotek Viscometer RPV-2
Faculty: Dr. Mojtaba Enayati
Refrigerated centrifuge
Description: High speed (up to 14,500 rpm) centrifuge with rotors for 1.5, 15, and 50 mL sample
sizes at 4-40 °C temperature range.
Model: Thermo Fisher Refrigerated Centrifuge Sorvall X1R Pro-MD
Faculty: Dr. Mojtaba Enayati
Gel permeation chromatograph
Description: Size-exclusion chromatograph that separates analytes based on size, typically in organic
solvents.
Model: Polymer Char high temperature Gel Permeation Chromatograph GPC-IR with WYATT light
scattering detector
Faculty: Dr. Shaoyang Liu
Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC)
Description: Size-exclusion chromatograph that separates analytes based on size, typically in organic
solvents.
Model: Polymer Char high temperature Gel Permeation Chromatograph GPC-IR with WYATT light
scattering detector
Faculty: Dr. Shaoyang Liu
Nano differential scanning calorimeter
Description: Characterizes the thermal stability of dilute in-solution biomolecules.
Model: TA Nano Differential Scanning Calorimeter with degassing and cleaning station
Faculty: Dr. Suzanne Lukjan
Thermal gravimetric analyzer (TGA)
Description: Determines a material's thermal stability and its fraction of volatile components
by monitoring the weight change that occurs as a sample is heated.
Model: TA Thermogravimetric analyzer TGA-550
Faculty: Dr. Shaoyang Liu
Dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA)
Description: Measures viscoelastic properties (in terms of glass transitions, storage modulus and
tan delta or damping, etc.) of materials by applying sinusoidal stress at wide temperature
range.
Model: Discovery Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer DMA-850 (TA Instruments)
Faculty: Dr. Arun Ghosh
Discovery hybrid rheometer
Description: Measures melt-rheological or flow behavior of polymer melts and liquid under applied
stress. This instrument is also connected with an LCR meter that can measure dielectric
behavior of a polymer.
Model: TA Discovery Hybrid Rheometer HR-30 (TA Instruments) and Keysight LCR meter.
Faculty: Dr. Arun Ghosh
Atomic force microscope (AFM)
Description: High-resolution scanning microscope that uses a sharp probe to map the surface topography
of materials at the nanometer scale by detecting forces between the probe and the
sample.
Model: Bruker Dimension Icon Atomic Force Microscope with PeakForce QNM, nano DMA, and environmental
chamber.
Faculty: Dr. Shaoyang Liu
Nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer (NMR)
Description: Determines the structure of organic compounds in solution (typically deuterated solvents)
by measuring how atomic nuclei respond to a strong magnetic field at 9.4 Tesla (400
MHz 1H frequency).
Model: Bruker Ascend 400 NMR
Faculty: Dr. Zhiyong Wang
Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/Q-ToF)
Description: Combines gas chromatography for separating volatile chemical compounds with time-of-flight
high resolution mass spectrometry for precise identification and quantification of
chemicals based on their mass-to-charge ratios.
Model: Agilent 8890 GC coupled with 7250 GC/Q-ToF
Faculty: Dr. Shaoyang Liu
Fourier-transform infrared/near infrared spectrometer (FT-IR/NIR)
Description: Uses infrared and near-infrared light to measure the molecular absorption of materials,
providing detailed information about their chemical composition and molecular structure.
Model: PerkinElmer Spectrum 3 near infrared spectrometer
Faculty: Dr. Shaoyang Liu
Raman spectrometer
Description: Measures vibrational, rotational and other low-frequency modes of systems to aid molecular
structure identification.
Model: Horiba MacroRAM with remote probe
Faculty: Dr. Shaoyang Liu
Ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer (UV-vis)
Description: Measures the light absorbed, transmitted, or reflected by the sample in the UV-vis
region. Samples maybe be solutions or solids, including thin films and powders.
Model: Thermo Evolution 220 with an ISA 220 integrating sphere
Faculty: Dr. Brooke Otten
Light microscope
Description: Optical instrument that uses visible light and a system of lenses to magnify and resolve
fine details of small specimens, making it a fundamental tool for observing structures
at the micrometer scale.
Model: Leica DM2700 M
Faculty: Dr. Shaoyang Liu
Coming Soon: Gas permeability tester
Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) (soon)
Description: SEM analyzes phase morphological features (images) of any materials in micro- to nano-dimensional
levels. EDX can provide surface elemental compositions of the materials.
Model: JEOL JSM-IT710HRLA
Faculty: Dr. Arun Ghosh
Elemental analyzer
Description: Measures carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen composition of organic compounds
using helium and argon as carrier gases.
Model: Velp Scientific EMA 502 Elemental Analyzer CHNS-O
Faculty: Dr. Zhiyong Wang
Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AE)
Description: An analytical instrument that uses a high-temperature plasma source to excite atoms
and ions, measuring the emitted light at characteristic wavelengths to determine the
elemental composition of a sample with high sensitivity and precision.
Model: Spectro BLUE
Faculty: Dr. Shaoyang Liu
Surface area/porosity analyzer
Description: Measures surface area, pore size, and pore volume of porous materials.
Model: Micromeritics 3Flex Adsorption Analyzer
Faculty: Dr. Zhiyong Wang
Processing and Manufacturing Instruments
Learn more about the instruments used by the Center for Materials and Manufacturing
students and staff
Poseidon 3D Printer
Description: An industrial-grade large-format 3D printer (using pellet and filament).
Model: Filament Innovations Poseidon 3D Printer with pellet dryer
Faculty: Dr. Aboulfazl Barati
Shenzhen 3D printer (tabletop)
Description: User-friendly, tabletop 3D printer.
Model: Shenzhen Creality 3D Printer CR-10 Smart
Faculty: Dr. Aboulfazl Barati
Coming Soon: Alternating field electrospinner, direct current (AFES DC)
Microcompounder and accessories
Description: Microcompounder is specialized twin-screw extruder suitable for compounding and extrusion
of small volume of thermoplastic sample (15 mL). It is used for high-temperature and
high-shear blending of thermoplastics with additives such as pigments, fillers, plasticizers,
etc. The mixing time is adjustable as needed for optimization of materials properties.
This microcompounder is connected to several accessories such as fiber line unit (for
producing fiber, filament), cast film line (for making film/sheet), mini-injection
machine (for producing test specimens or prototype samples).
Model: Xplore Microcompounder 15 HT, Xplore Micro Cast Film Line (CFL65), Xplore Micro Fiber
Line (FL), and Mini-Injection Molding Machine (M12)
Faculty: Dr. Arun Ghosh
Process 11 twin screw extruder
Description: Co-rotating twin-screw extruder designed for compounding polymers, foods, and pharmaceutics.
Model: Thermo Fisher Scientific Process 11 with cooling/heating recirculating chiller
Faculty: Dr. Aboulfazl Barati
Airpath filabot extruder
Description: Single screw extruder for producing 3D printing filament.
Model: Filabot Airpath EX2 Extruder
Faculty: Dr. Aboulfazl Barati
Intelli-torque plasti-corder
Description: It is used for high shear blending of various polymeric materials (particularly, thermoplastics
and rubbers) with various additives such as fillers, pigments, fibers, and other polymers.
It can also give mixing profile in terms of rheological behavior.
Model: C.W. Brabender® Intelli-Torque Plasti-Corder ® Torque Rheometer
Faculty: Dr. Arun Ghosh
Manual lab press (12 tons)
Description: It is used for compression molding of polymers and composites, and for cutting test
specimens for mechanical testing.
Model: Carver MANUAL MODEL 12-12HC PRESS
Faculty: Dr. Arun Ghosh
Auto lab press (30 tons)
Description: Compression molding of polymers and composites under high pressure and temperature.
Model: Carver AUTOFOUR/30-12HC PL PRESS
Faculty: Dr. Arun Ghosh
Sieve Shaker
Description: Moves solid particles through a stack of sieves to achieve accurate particle separation
from 38 mm to 5.6 mm.
Model: DUAL Manufacturing Co., Inc. D-4330 Sieve Shaker
Faculty: Dr. Zhiyong Wang
PackMaster
Description: Compacts plastic containers, disposable gowns, aluminum cans, absorbents and other
items.
Model: Newstripe Inc. PackMaster
Faculty: Dr. Zhiyong Wang
Granulator
Description: Granulates plastics, wood, and other materials with industrial efficiency.
Model: Jordan Reduction Solutions G1012 Granulator
Faculty: Dr. Zhiyong Wang
GranuGrinder (shredder)
Description: Grinds and shreds polymer samples into smaller pieces to be used for experimentation downstream.
Model: Brabender CWB Granu-Grinder M120/150
Faculty: Dr. Arun Ghosh 
Dual Mixer-Mill
Description: Pulverizes rocks, minerals, ceramics, catalyst supports, and other brittle, often
hard samples in the 10-gram range.
Model: SPEX SamplePrep 8000D Dual Mixer/Mill
Faculty: Dr. Zhiyong Wang
Solvent purification system
Description: Solvent purification system designed to remove water and oxygen from organic solvents
for use in air and water free systems. This is done using a purification column under
an atmosphere of high-purity nitrogen gas or argon gas.
Model: MBraun Solvent Purification System 800
Faculty: Dr. Brooke Otten
High pressure autoclave
Description: A 100 mL high pressure autoclave equipped with a Teflon vessel, thermometer, pressure
gauge, and magnetic stirrer; suitable for hydrothermal synthesis and other reactions
up to 250 °C.
Model: Yanzheng Instrument High Pressure Reactor (autoclave) GMR4UWAE3
Faculty: Dr. Mojtaba Enayati
Buchi High pressure reactor
Description: High pressure/high temperature reactor (100-600 mL, 500 bar, 500 °C) with a mechanical
mixer, controlled by bls3 software, suitable for a variety of reactions such as pyrolysis,
catalyst synthesis, chemical recycling (depolymerization), and melt polymerization.
Model: Buchiglasuster Novoclave 3 High Pressure Reactor with Buchi Labortechnik AG V-300
Vacuum Pump and a HPLC Pump, LC-40D Solvent Delivery Module
Faculty: Dr. Mojtaba Enayati
Microwave reactor
Description: Laboratory microwave oven with a magnetron source for microwave generation (300 °C,
55 bar, maximum power: 1600 W) that can be used for various reactions such as inorganic
and nanomaterials synthesis, polymer recycling and degradation studies, and fast sample
preparation (acid digestion) for further analysis.
Model: CEM MARS 6 Synthesizer
Faculty: Dr. Mojtaba Enayati
