Cold Isostatic Presses (CIP)

CIP is used for the compaction powder samples (metallic, ceramics and composites, etc). It provides large range (60,000 psi) of compaction in the cold state or before sintering/synthesis.

Facilities

Ø  Controlled by an advanced digital microprocessor

Ø  Rapid fill and de-fill with automatic air purge

Ø  Electro-hydraulic pump for fast, high reliability pumping

Capabilities

Ø  Essential to compact the loose powder samples before sintering by conventional or nonconventional route of sintering

Ø  CIP compact powders in the cold state over the vast range of compaction pressures

Location

Center for Nanotechnology

Phone: 860-91523

Scientist In-charge

Name: Abdullateef

Phone: 860-4310

Hot Isostatic Presses (HIP)

The compaction and sintering/synthesis of powder samples can be perform simultaneously in the top range using hot isostatic press. The CENT laboratory boasts of a hot isostatic press model AIP6-30H located in room 120.

Facilities

Ø  Fully automated and comes complete and ready to run

Capabilities

Ø  Capable of compaction pressure up to 30,000 psi.

Ø  Compaction temperatures up to 2200 °C

Ø  Fully automated and comes complete and ready to run

Ø  Load capacity is 3" diameter x 5" long

Location

Center for Nanotechnology

Phone: 860-91523

Scientist In-charge

Name: Abdullateef

Phone: 860-4310

Field Assisted Sintering Technique (FAST/SPS)

FAST is used for sintering of sample with simultaneous compaction and heating while avoiding grain growth during the sintering at medium to high temperature(s).

Facilities

Ø  An additional increase of the sintering activity is achieved by the use of DC current pulses from the processes that occur on the points of contact of the powder particles. Therefore significantly lower temperatures as well as significantly lower mould pressure than at conventional hot pressing and sintering will be possible.

Capabilities

Ø  Offers state-of-the-art spark plasma sintering technology.

Ø  Shortens the sintering time by many folds compare to other techniques

Ø  It offers rapid consolidation of a wide range of powders

Ø  Enables significant improvement or even completely novel materials

Location

Center for Nanotechnology

Phone: 860-91523

Scientist In-charge

Name: Abdullateef

Phone: 860-4310

Extruder/Hydraulic Press

Convert sintered powder samples into the hollow cylindrical shape by extruder hydraulic press. As well as, carry out compaction of loose powders that can perform in the uniaxial hydraulic press and center equipped with high pressure hydraulic press to fulfill the demand. Any materials can be compacted in a uniaxial hydraulic press up to many tons of loads depending upon the size of the die

Facilities

Ø  Center equipped with high pressure Extruder hydraulic press for the extrusion and compaction of loose powders.

Capabilities

Ø  Extrusion of sintered materials

Ø  Compaction of loose powders.

Ø  Can go up to several tons of load

Location

Center for Nanotechnology

Phone: 860-91523

Scientist In-charge

Name: Abdullateef

Phone: 860-4310

Brabender Mixer

For polymeric materials and their composites higher degree of blending and mixing is required to achieve optimum properties by homogenous mixing. Our center is equipped with a mixer from Brabender, model 50 EHT.

Facilities

Ø  Computer-controlled mixer head with accessory for manual feed ram. The machine also comes with different mixer screws which can be interchanged in the mixer head depending the material to be processed.

Capabilities

Ø  Equipped with a pneumatic feed ram.

Ø  Operates with counter-rotating screw

Ø  50g mixer volume

Ø  Thermoplastic, thermoset and elastomeric materials and their composites

Location

Center for Nanotechnology

Phone: 860-91523

Scientist In-charge

Name: Abdullateef

Phone: 860-4310

Thermal Analyzer (TGA-DSC)

Thermal analyzer is for the determination of thermo-physical properties of materials. For this purpose, CENT holds a thermal analyzer model STA 449F3-Jupiter by Netzsch.

Facilities

Ø  The thermal analyzer STA 449F3-Jupiter can be fitted with addition accessory to reach up to a temperature of 2000°C. The high flexibility caused by the various sensors, the great variety of sample crucibles and the wide TGA-measuring range make the system applicable for analysis of all kinds of materials including inhomogeneous substances.

Capabilities

Ø  It can perform both TG-DSC analyses.

Ø  Can reach up to a temperature of 1650°C

Ø  Possess provision to carry out DTA

Location

Center for Nanotechnology

Phone: 860-91522

Scientist In-charge

Name: Muhammad Jamal Khan

Phone: 860-7430

Nano/Micro Particles Analyzer

It is important to know the actual particle size of freshly prepared materials. This is because Particle size has great influence on the bulk properties of the materials. To determine the size of particles, CENT labs is equipped with particles size analyzer model S3500/Turbotrac by Microtrac

Facilities

Ø  The particle size analyser is equipped with a microtract and turbotract capable of carrying out wet and dry analysis. The Zetatrac is fitted with addition module to measure the zeta potential of specimens.

Capabilities

Ø  Can perform wet and dry analysis

Ø  The micro tract can measure particles size in the range 0.2µm-2mm

Ø  The Zetatrac can determine particle sizes in the range 0.8nm-6µm

Location

Center for Nanotechnology

Phone: 860-91522

Scientist In-charge

Name: Muhammad Jamal Khan

Phone: 860-7430

Microwave Oven for sintering

Microwave sintering has applicability to sinter ceramics and hard metals and it has potential impact on sintering of metals. Sintering cycle in microwave is very short time compare to conventional way of sintering which may take many hours to sinter the same materials but few minutes in microwave

Facilities

Ø  The unit consists of: 2KW/245GHz Generator with Control Panel, Applicator with Vacuum Vessel in steel frame, Magnetron head and waveguide/auto-tuner components, Transformer by Püschner, Germany.

Capabilities

Ø  Short Sintering cycle

Ø  shorter sintering times and

Ø  Better properties at the same sintering temperatures as in conventional sintering

Location

Center for Nanotechnology

Phone: 860-91523

Scientist In-charge

Name: Abdullateef

Phone: 860-4310

Automatic Sputter Coater

Automatic Sputter Coater Model NSC-4000 is a sputtering tool for depositing high quality thin film. This sputtering system is PC controlled by software to provide the user with an easy to operate system that provides both flexibility and repeatability.

Facilities

Ø  Automatic Sputter Coater systems typically consist of a load-lock (made from aluminum load for automatic wafer transfer) with turbo pump (Edwards 75L/s), Planar Magnetron Source, Platen Assembly that heats up to 800 degrees Celcius, vacuum system (consisting of a turbo molecular pump and a mechanical pump) and power supply ( consisting of a RF 600 W and a DC 1kW, 1.0A, and 1kVDC) for sample processing. spectrometric techniques.

Capabilities

Ø  Able to get high deposition rates with lower voltages, thereby lowering substantially the amount of plasma substrate heating.

Ø  Incredible array of materials can be sputtered using the DC power supply.

Ø  Adjustable magnetron to platen distance to vary deposition rate versus uniformity.

Ø  Nearly any solid element or compound can be sputtered, although dense solids work better than others.

Ø  Able to perform a variety of coatings including metal and dielectric, optical, and hard coatings etc

Location

Center for Nanotechnology

Phone: 860-91521

Scientist In-charge

Name: Qasem Darmosh

Phone: 860-7520

Autoclave Minireactor

Autoclave Minireactor is used for the synthesis and testing activities of a wide variety of nanostructured materials. It can also be utilized for applications in the chemical, petrochemical and environmental fields.

Facilities

Ø  Autoclave Engineers’ Mini-Reactor, designed as a compact, low volume reactor to operate at a maximum pressure of 3,000 psi at 600 º F (207 Bar at 315º C) is glove box friendly and can be easily integrated into a multi-reactor system. It is equipped with a MagneDrive III agitator.

Capabilities

Ø  Working pressure of 2,900 psi at temperatures up to 600 ºF

Ø  Maximum volume 150 ml

Ø  Control of temperature, pressure, and speed

Ø  Reaction mixture can be stirred

Ø  Simple hand-tight O-ring closure for quick opening

Location

Center for Nanotechnology

Phone: 860-7775

Scientist In-charge

Name: Dr. Qamar

Phone: 860-97775

Tubular Furnace (GSL-1700X)

This furnace is widely used for materials or chemical lab to sinter all types of new materials samples under vacuum or other gases condition. Currently, it is being used for the sintering of nanocrystalline metal oxides and their nanocomposites, nanocrystalline zeolites, and metal carbides under air and gas atmosphere.

Facilities

Ø  MTI Corporation GSL-1700X is a CE certified bench-top 4” tube furnace equipped with 1800 grade MoSi2 heating elements. Processing tube is made of high purity Al2O3 (> 99.9%) ceramic. A double layer steel casing, air cooled with two fans, maintains the exterior of the furnace below 55 ºC.

Capabilities

Ø  Samples can be sintered in vacuum or other gaseous environment

Ø  Temperature is controlled by a high precision controller with an accuracy of +/-1 ºC

Ø  Temperature is programmable and can be increased up to 1700 ºC in 30 segments

Location

Center for Nanotechnology

Phone: 860-7775

Scientist In-charge

Name: Dr. Qamar

Phone: 860-97775

Ultrasonic Liquid Processor (Sonicator 4000)

Sonicator (S-4000) is used to disperse and deagglomerate nanoparticles forming stable dispersions. Currently, it is used to disperse a variety of nanomaterials including metal oxides such as TiO2, WO3, ZnO and their nanocomposites, nanocrytalline zeolites, metal oxides/carbon nanotubes nanocomposites. It is also utilized for the sonochemical synthesis of nanomaterials such as ZnO, CdS etc.

Facilities

Ø  Misonix Sonicator 4000 is a digital ultrasonic processor with touch screen control allowing programmability of processing times, pulse on/off and amplitude. Output amplitude can be controlled from 0-100% giving a greater degree of resolution and the ability to pinpoint the amplitude to effectively process samples. Tracks frequency changes in the convertor / tip assembly caused by load and temperature changes and maintains electrical efficiency at all times. This results in more efficient operation and consistent, reproducible results. 

Capabilities

Ø  Maximum power input 600 Watts and operating frequency 20 kHz

Ø  Programmability: 10 memories plus sequencing

Ø  Programmable Timer: 1 second to 72 hours

Ø  Adjustable Pulse On/Off times can be programmed from 1 second to 24 hours

Location

Center for Nanotechnology

Phone: 860-7775

Scientist In-charge

Name: Dr. Qamar

Phone: 860-97775

Gas Chromatography System

Gas Chromatography system Model 7890-A is an analyzing tool used for separating and analyzing compounds that can be vaporized without decomposition. The instrument contains two types of detectors i.e Flame ionization detector (FID) and Sulfur chemiluminescence detector (SCD). System operates by Agilent GC software.

Facilities

Ø  Innovative Capillary Flow modules enable reliable, leak-free in-oven connections.

Ø  Unsurpassed Retention Time Reproducibility.

Ø  Advanced separation capabilities save time and enhance results.

Ø  Low Thermal Mass (LTM) technology provides direct rapid heating and cooling of capillary columns for extremely fast analytical cycle times and higher productivity

Ø  Powerful, chromatographer-friendly GC software

Capabilities

Ø  Able to analyze the contents of a chemical compound or product for qualitative analysis, determine the impurities in hydrocarbons, determination of pesticides, drug screening. Also can be used for quantitative analysis.

Ø  Capillary technology enables the equipment for the analysis of extremely complex compounds.

Ø  FID is a highly sensitive detector for general purpose analysis while the SCD has an specialty for sulfur detection upto a large range. 

Ø  Highly flexible EPC design enables even more sophisticated hydrocarbon analyses

Location

Center for Nanotechnology

Phone: 860-91522

Scientist In-charge

Name: Muhammad Jamal Khan

Phone: 860-7430

Microwave Synthesis Labstation

The microwave labstation is the advanced microwave system for reaction and synthesis.

Facilities

Ø    The MicroSYNTH offers unmatched flexibility of operation with uniform temperature, unique pressure responsive door, controlled microwave power, software controlled magnetic stirrer, quartz and Teflon (PTFE) reactor, work station, electronic board for temperature sensor, fiber optic sensor, pressure sensor. The kit is suitable to perform mild pressures up to around 45 bar

Capabilities

Ø  Enhanced microwave field homogeneity

Ø  Advanced reaction control

Ø  High safety

Ø  Application flexibility

Location

Center for Nanotechnology

Phone: 860-91521

Scientist In-charge

Name: Qasem Darmosh

Phone: 860-7520

Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD)

Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD, Neocera, USA) is versatile technique for the fabrication of high quality thin films. By using this system a pulsed laser (excimer laser) rapidly evaporates the target materials forming a thin film that retains the target composition.

Facilities

Ø  Excimer laser operating at different wavelengths (248 nm, 351 nm and 193 nm).

Ø  Turb and roughing pump.

Capabilities

Ø   Using this system, thin films of a variety of materials including oxides, metals, semiconductors and even polymers can be fabricated. Furthermore, by controlling certain variables such as pressure, laser energy, distance between substrate and target, and temperature, different kinds of nanostructured thin films can be grown with unique functionalities. Last but not the least, Since the energy source (laser) is kept outside, a large dynamic range of operating pressures (10^-8 torr to 100 torr) could be achieved during deposition process.

Location

Center for Nanotechnology

Phone: 860-91521

Scientist In-charge

Name: Qasem Darmosh

Phone: 860-7520