Engineering Research Equipment Grant: Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope for In-Situ Manufacturing Processes, Materials Engineering and Tribological Studies

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The equipment grant will provide an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM) for conducting in-situ dynamic studies on a range of manufacturing processes, materials engineering and tribological problems. This revolutionary equipment allows samples to be examined, or in-situ phenomenon recorded, under dynamic conditions in different environments (gaseous or liquid at chamber pressures from 0.1 to 50 torr and at different temperatures up to 1000C. The large specimen chamber (12" x 12" x 12") can accommodate a wide range of samples allowing the simulation of manufacturing processes (eg., cutting metal forming, plastics injection molding, etc.), tribological phenomena, and materials testing (tension, compression torsion, fatigue, stress corrosion cracking, combined loading). Some of the in situ studies include hot corrosion; failure of glass fibers in an epoxy-glass composite or silicon carbide fibers in an aluminum matrix under a range of loading conditions; effect of various cutting fluids in machining of different materials; machining of glass, ceramics, polymers, and composites; metal forming; effect of lubricants in friction and wear; solidification of metals; and the mechanism of nucleation and growth of polycrystalline diamond films made by low pressure chemical vapor deposition techniques.