Equipment & Resources
MPI has Centers in metal casting; powder metallurgy; thermal processing; imaging and sensing; and aerospace materials. The Institute is supported by over 110 corporate partners, as well as funding from private foundations and the federal government. During the last decade MPI has developed into one of the nation's premiere research centers dedicated to near-net-shape manufacturing.
MPI is staffed with a highly qualified group of research scientists and post doctoral fellows. It is fully equipped with melting furnaces, including gas, electrical and induction furnaces, heat-treating furnaces, rotary degassers, an Alscan unit, a reduced pressure testing unit, a spectrograph, and optical and scanning electron microscopes equipped with energy dispersive x-ray analysis capabilities and image analysis capabilities. In addition, MPI has all the necessary mechanical testing equipment including Universal testing machines with temperature chambers, fatigue testing machines, as well as toughness, hardness and micro hardness measuring equipment.
Casting and Heat Treating Lab
| Equipment Type | Applications | Quantity |
|---|---|---|
Induction furnace | Melting | 1 |
Electrical resistance furnace | Melting and heat treating |
2 bench-top (1000°C max.) |
Forced air circulation air resistance furnace | Preheating mold | 1 (500°C max.) |
Continuous rheoconversion process unit | Semi-solid processing | 1 Prototype |
Rotating impeller degasser | Degass melt | 2 |
Fluidized bed furnace | Rapid heat treating | 1 |
Alscan | Measure hydrogen content in the melt | 1 |
AluDelta | Thermal analysis | 1 |
Mold vibration unit | Casting metal in vibrating melt | 1 |
Ultrasonic vibration unit | Vibrate liquid metal | 1 |
Temperature data acquisition unit | Record temperature |
One unit with 16 channels |
Dendrite coherency unit | Determine dendrite coherency temperature | 1 |
Hot tear test unit | Determine relative hot tearing tendency of alloys | 1 |
Spectrograph/Spectromax | Determine chemical composition of alloy | 1 |
Jominy quench set up | Jominy end quench test to determine quench sensitivity of the alloy | 1 |
Sample Preparation Lab
| Equipment Type | Applications | Quantity |
|---|---|---|
Saw | Cutting of samples, ingots |
1 horizontal saw |
Grinding and polishing wheel | Prepare sample for optical and scanning electron microscopic analysis |
13 grinding wheels |
Mounting unit | Mount samples for microscopic analysis |
1 semi-automatic |
Electropolisher/Buehler | Polishing and deep etching | 1 |
Ultrasonic cleaner | Clean polished surface | 1 |
Gatan dual ion mill | Prepare TEM foil | 1 |
Twin jet electropolisher | Prepare TEM foil | 1 |
Vacuum evaporator/Varian-Eastern Scientific | Coat samples for microscopic analysis | 1 |
Sputter Coater/Ernest Fullam | Coat samples for microscopic analysis | 1 |
Thermal Analysis Lab
| Equipment Type | Applications | Quantity |
|---|---|---|
Differential scanning calorimeter/ DSC7-Perkin Elmer | Qualitative thermal analysis | 1 |
Differential thermal analyzer/DTA7-Perkin Elmer | Thermal analysis | 1 |
Thermogravimetry (TGA)/TG131-Cahn | Determination of endotherms/exotherms and weight loss on heating or cooling | 1 |
Microscopic Analysis Lab
| Equipment Type | Applications | Quantity |
|---|---|---|
Optical microscopes with image analyzer (Nikon, Leitz) | Microscopic analysis | 8 |
Stereomicroscopes | 3-dimensional microscopic analysis | 1 |
Scanning electron microscope (JSM-840-JEOL) | Microscopic analysis | 1 |
Transmission electron microscope (JEM-100CX11-JEOL) | Microscopic analysis | 1 |
Mechanical Testing Lab
| Equipment Type | Applications | Quantity |
|---|---|---|
Universal Instron testing machine (8502, 5500R, 8511, 4201) | Tensile, compression, flexural, fatigue test | 4 |
Hardness tester | Measure hardness (Rockwell and Brinell) | 3 |
Microhardness tester (Shimadzu and Buehler) | Microhardness tester | 3 |
Software Simulation Lab
| Software Package | Applications | Licenses |
|---|---|---|
ProCast | Solidification simulation | 1 license |
MagmaSoft | Solidification simulation | 1 license |
EKK | Metal casting process simulation | 1 license |
Themocalc | Phase diagram and thermodynamic simulation | 1 license |
Pandat | Phase diagram and thermodynamic simulation | 1 license |
JMatPro | Phase diagram, thermodynamic simulation, and thermo-physical properties simulation | 1 license |
COMSOL | Computational fluid dynamics simulation | Multiple licenses |
Gambit | CAD design | Multiple licenses |
Miscellaneous Lab
| Equipment Type | Applications | Quantity |
|---|---|---|
X-ray diffraction | Phase analysis, measure residual stress and lattice parameters | 1 |
High temperature rheometer | To measure viscosity of the melt in liquid and semi-solid metals/alloys | 1 |
Electron Microscopy Lab (HL 047)
| Equipment Type | Applications | Quantity |
|---|---|---|
Scanning electron microscope (JSM-7000F) | Microscopic analysis | 1 |
Last modified: April 23, 2008 10:22:34