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The Department of Materials
Science and Engineering contains extensive instructional and research
facilities focusing on the analysis, characterization, manufacturing, and
control of the wide variety of conventional and advanced materials including ceramics;
glasses; composites; electrical, optical, and magnetic materials; and
nanomaterials required by modern technology. Students who utilize the
laboratory equipment and facilities learn to solve problems related to the
design, processing, and evaluation of conventional and specialty materials.
Special equipment exposes our students to the preparation and evaluation of the
newer types of ceramics, metals, polymers, and composites required in
aerospace, advanced engine, biotechnology, photonics, and electromagnetic
applications.
An attractive feature of the department is the
small class sizes, which makes instruction more interactive. The curriculum
includes a large number of laboratory courses, which provide hands-on
experience and learning to students. Generally, the laboratories are located
within the A-wing of the Engineering Building, the McLaren Center for Ceramic
Research Building, or the Fiber Optic Materials Research Building. Equipment is
housed in an instructional facility and several advanced technology centers,
including the Center for Ceramic Research, the Fiber Optic Materials Research
Center, the Center for Advanced Materials via Immiscible Polymer Processing
(AMIPP), and the Corning Glass Science and Engineering Laboratory. Major grants
from industry and the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology have
provided these instructional and research facilities.
Evaluation and Measurement. Microscopy equipment includes petrographic and
metallographic microscopes, a transmission electron microscope, and scanning
electron microscopes. Several X-ray diffraction units provide the capability of
identifying phases, with computer-automated, high-resolution systems available
for advanced study of particle size, strains, and quantitative phase analysis.
Chemistry can be evaluated with techniques such as energy dispersive
spectroscopy, atomic absorption, inductively coupled plasma, Fourier transform
IR, and laser Raman. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis systems used with the
scanning electron microscopes permit microchemical analysis. Virtually all
types of particle-size analysis are represented. A surface analysis system
provides scanning Auger microscopy coupled with secondary ion mass, X-ray
photoelectron, and ion scattering spectroscopies. Thermal analysis equipment
includes simultaneous differential thermal analysis, thermogravimetric
analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, thermomechanical analysis, and
high-temperature X-ray diffraction. Dielectric properties of ceramic materials
can be measured over a frequency range from 0.01 hertz to 10^10 hertz. There is
equipment for measuring heat capacity, thermal expansion, thermal conductivity,
and thermal diffusivity over a wide temperature range. Mechanical properties
that may be measured and that are currently being studied include elasticity,
viscosity, and plasticity. Mechanical testing instrumentation includes
microhardness, toughness, and modulus- and strength-testing equipment,
including advanced computer-controlled servo-hydraulic, electromechanical, and
high-temperature creep systems. Various room- and elevated-temperature
viscometers permit rheology to be determined. An advanced torque rheometer
permits optimization of such industrial processes as mixing, extrusion, and
injection molding. Tribology is studied with a specially designed, automated
machine that measures friction and wear.
Processing and Forming.
Microprocessor- and computer-controlled furnaces with carefully controlled
atmospheres and closely regulated temperatures are especially suitable for materials
studies. Hot pressing and hot extrusion may be done in a wide range of presses
and furnaces, including both cold and hot isostatic presses,
atmosphere-controlled hot presses, nitriding furnaces, and injection molders.
Advanced materials production technologies include special equipment for
composites; laser synthesis of ultrafine powders; R.F./D.C. film sputtering;
chemical vapor deposition; and evaporation-deposition. The properties of
electronic substrates, packages, and magnetic and superconducting materials and
devices can be studied in the Howatt Laboratory for Electronic Ceramics.
Laboratories
Computer Laboratory. This laboratory is equipped with many networked
computers with links to the Rutgers computer center for massively parallel
computing and to supercomputers at the national level. Computations are
performed in CAD/CAM related to design, manufacture, and properties of
materials; in molecular dynamic simulations of materials; and in theory of
materials.
Electron Microscopy Laboratory. This laboratory is equipped with a Zeiss field
emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), a transmission electron
microscope, JOEL 2010F, and a Nion UltraSTEM Electron Microscope with 10 meV energy-loss
spectroscopy resolution. The supporting equipment includes an evaporator, ion-milling,
and chemical and electropolishing units for thin foils.
Mechanics of Materials Laboratory.
The facilities of this laboratory are used for instruction in determining the
mechanical and physical properties of various materials. The available
facilities include a hydraulically controlled Instron testing machine with a
high- and low-temperature environmental chamber, an Instron universal testing
machine, a torsional pendulum apparatus, a sonic modulus tester, a differential
scanning calorimeter, an infrared apparatus, a density gradient column, and an
apparatus for the study of surface friction.
Nanomaterials and Devices Laboratory. This laboratory is equipped with state-of-the-art synthesis as
well as electrical measurement apparatuses for nanoscale devices. The
laboratory has RF sputtering, thermal evaporation, and filtered cathodic arc
apparatuses for catalyst and thin film deposition. In addition to nanomaterials
synthesis, we have also set up a fully automated probe station with a
semiconductor parametric analyzer for electrical characterization of our
nanoelectronic devices.
Scanning Probe Laboratory.
Scanning probe microscopes can be used to study a wide range of properties with
a resolution of one namometer or less. The laboratory is equipped with atomic
force microscopes including a Digital Instruments Nanoscope IV and a Park
Instruments AFM. These are used to study nanoscale surface morphology, surface
forces, frictional forces, structure of physisorbed films, and the conformation
of biomolecules. In addition, there is a near-field scanning optical microscope
that enables optical characterization to be performed with a resolution of
around 25 nm. Nanoscale mechanical characterization is performed using a
Hysitron Triboindenter which combines many features of an AFM with the
mechanical capabilities of a nanoindentation system.
X-Ray Laboratory. This
laboratory provides a variety of equipment used to determine chemistry and
crystal structure, map out defect structure, identify unknown crystalline
phases, measure lattice parameters, quantify phase mixtures, measure residual
stresses, study surface roughness at the atomic level, determine the
interfacial roughness in a thin film structure, prepare reciprocal space maps,
analyze rocking curves of near-perfect crystals, and measure misfit strains.
Three diffractometers are available for these studies. Two Siemens D500
instruments are available for routine powder analysis, while the Panalytical
X'Pert MRD is available for high-end research work that requires the highest
resolution. The Panalytical system is equipped with a variety of beam
conditioners, a Eulerian cradle for x-y-z-omega-phi-psi sample movements, and
detector stages to convert the instrument into a double-crystal or
triple-crystal diffractometer. Jade software is available for routine phase ID,
lattice parameter measurements, residual stress, and quantitative analysis on
all the instruments. Additional software is available for the Panalytical
instrument to obtain pole figures and perform a variety of tasks related to
single crystals and thin films.
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School of Engineering 
