MRI: Acquisition of an Ultra Rapid Quenching Apparatus for Research and Education

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The Major Research Instrumentation program supports the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez with the acquisition of a cutting-edge multi-function Ultra Rapid Quenching Apparatus (URQA) for the synthesis of materials with amorphous, metastable phases and microcrystalline structures. URQA will be established as a facility for research and education and it will support and enhance the rapidly expanding research infrastructure in the field of energy conversion materials and on-going diverse and interdisciplinary research projects at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez and Rio Padias campus. In addition to the significant cost saving for material acquisition, the URQA also provides opportunity for new research directions and for education and training in a diverse field by six researchers in three departments, i.e. Materials Engineering Science, Physics and Chemistry from two campuses, Mayaguez and Rio Padias. The URQA will support a new graduate program in Materials Science & Engineering, and it will be used in existing courses, as well as in new courses in materials engineering. In addition, the URQA research will be beneficial for regional industry. Approximately 15% of the instrument operating time will be dedicated to education and training.The instrument consists of a crucible-free levitation melting, which makes it well suited for melting reactive materials bearing high melting points. The instrument is also capable of high cooling rates of more than one million degree Kelvin per second. The materials are relevant to most fields in materials science and engineering. The instrument is unique in Puerto Rico and essential to supporting a diverse and interdisciplinary ongoing research projects. Specific research activities supported by the proposed URQA system include: (1)synthesis of clathrate materials and the study of magnetic, thermoelectric and superconducting properties;(2) nanostructured metastable systems for the synthesis of high strength wires for aerospace welding applications; (3)synthesis and processing of nanocomposite permanent magnets; (4)magnetic nanostructured materials for biomedicine application; and synthesis and physical properties of rare-earth intermetallic compounds.