MRI: Acquisition of a Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope for Nano-Texture and Nano-Structure Characterization

佛罗里达农工大学(FAMU)-佛罗里达州立大学(FSU)工程学院的材料科学研究活动和教育项目水平迅速增长，增加了几名新的教员和科学家，并开发了新的课程和研究项目。我们在纳米科学和工程中发展了一个新的焦点，研究纳米材料系统的合成、表征和模拟。目前，我们正在利用与佛罗里达大学和卡内基梅隆大学(CMU)的研究伙伴关系，利用他们的设施开展纳米结构材料的主要研究工作。虽然这有很大的帮助，但我们目前的研究活动需要内部的低千伏、纳米级分辨率的场发射扫描电子显微镜(FE-SEM)能力。FE-SEM提供的功能目前在我们的设施中不可用。这包括纳米级的成像、纹理和成分表征。例如，可以在15KV获得超高分辨率(1.0 nm)，在1KV获得高分辨率(1.5 nm)，以纳米级精度绘制表面和近表面成分图，并利用该设备对各种材料进行纳米织构分析。将直接受益于FE-SEM收购的一些研究项目包括：1)用于基础研究和计算机CPU散热器应用的高强度碳纳米管复合材料的合成、开发和表征，2)合金变形的基础研究，这将使我们能够发展晶体塑性的物理理论，3)超导体(例如Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8)的磁场取向，4)细胞和组织工程，以及5)层状复合材料中纳米结构和纳米结构的演变。这些复合材料在加工过程中经历了严重的塑性变形，所形成的亚微米结构不能用标准的扫描电子显微镜来研究。收购FE-SEM将加强FAMU和FSU的多样化材料工作，并为这些机构之间的众多跨学科研究活动提供一个紧密联系的基础。有机会使用这种最先进的设备将有助于我们对这一领域的更多学生感兴趣。PIs在指导女性和少数族裔学生方面有着良好的记录--目前有21名本科生和7名研究生参加了我们由NSF资助的PREM项目。纳米技术涉及在微观和亚微观水平上研究材料的组成和行为。有了这台电子显微镜，我们将有能力将样品的结构放大到其实际大小的100万倍。这项研究将使无数的应用受益，其中最有趣的可能是碳纳米管的开发。这些管子非常薄(比人的头发小一万倍)，而且很轻，但非常坚固，使它们有可能在许多工程领域取代现有材料，例如航空航天工程或其他需要非常高强度重量比的应用。纳米技术在生物医学工程等其他领域也有很大的可能性。通过购买设备而带来的扩展能力不仅有利于我们的研究，也将有利于我们的教育项目。我们招收了大约50%的少数族裔学生和25%的女性学生，我们致力于增加在工程劳动力中代表性不足的少数族裔的比例。有机会使用这种最先进的设备将帮助我们对材料领域的更多学生感兴趣，并将更好地为我们的学生进入劳动力市场做好准备。

The level of research activities and education program in Materials Science has grown rapidly at the Florida A & M (FAMU) - Florida State University (FSU) College of Engineering has grown rapidly with the addition of several new faculty and scientists, and the development of new curriculum and research programs. We have developed a new focus in nanoscale science and engineering, studying the synthesis, characterization, and simulations of nanoscale materials systems. Currently, we are capitalizing on the research partnerships with University of Florida and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in order use their facilities to carry out major research work on nano-structured materials. While this has been of tremendous assistance, the current volume of our research activities necessitates an in-house low kV, nanoscale resolution Field Emission - Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM) capability. The functionality provided by the FE-SEM is currently not available in our facility. This includes imaging, texture and composition characterizations at nanoscales. For example, it is possible to obtain ultra high resolution (1.0 nm) at 15kV, high resolution (1.5nm) at 1 kV, map surface and near surface composition with a nanoscale precision, and perform nano-texture analysis on various materials with the equipment. Some of the research projects that will benefit directly from the FE-SEM acquisition include: 1) Synthesis, development and characterization of high strength carbon nanotube based composites for basic research and heat sink applications in computer CPUs, 2) Fundamental studies of alloy deformation, which will enable us develop physical theory of crystal plasticity, 3) Magnetic field alignment of superconductors (e.g. Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8), 4) Cellular and tissue engineering, and 5) Evolution of nanostructure and nanotexture in laminate composites. These composites are subjected to severe plastic deformation during processing, and the sub-micron structure developed can not be studied using standard SEM. The acquisition of a FE-SEM will enhance the diverse materials efforts at FAMU and FSU, and provide a cohesive base for the multitude of interdisciplinary research activities among these institutions. The opportunity to work with such state of the art equipment will help us interest more students in this field. The PIs have a proven record of mentoring women and minority students - there are currently twenty one undergraduate and seven graduate students on our NSF funded PREM program. Nanotechnology involves the study of the composition and behavior of materials at the microscopic and submicroscopic level. With this electron microscope, we will have the capacity to magnify the structure of samples to up to one million times their actual size. There are countless applications that will benefit from this research, with perhaps the most interesting being the development of carbon nanotubes. These tubes are very thin (as much as 10,000 times smaller than a human hair) and light, yet are exceedingly strong, giving them the potential to replace current materials in many engineering areas, such as aerospace engineering or other applications where a very high strength to weight ratio is required. Nanotechnology also has great possibilities in other fields such as biomedical engineering. The expanded capabilities that will come through the acquisition of the equipment will not only benefit our research, but will also benefit our educational programs as well. With an enrollment of approximately 50% minority students and 25% female students, we are dedicated to increasing the percentage of underrepresented minorities in the engineering workforce. The opportunity to work with such state of the art equipment will help us interest more students in the materials field and will better prepare our students to enter the workforce.