MRI: Acquisition of an electron probe microanalyzer for Earth Science and Materials research and education

该奖项将提供资金，以获得最先进的电子探针显微分析仪（EPMA），以支持许多资助和正在进行的研究项目。作为材料表征中心的基石仪器，EPMA对大学和地区的科学健康至关重要，它为主要，次要和微量元素的分析提供了一个多功能平台，以促进NSF资助的固体地球科学和材料科学与工程研究。EPMA将通过定向研究和课堂项目直接加强本科生和研究生的研究，教学和实践经验。添加该仪器将满足区域分析基础设施的迫切需求，促进跨学科研究，并大大提高西北内陆地球科学和材料研究和教育的质量和范围。EPMA的主要研究目标包括：1。变质矿物的主、次、微量元素组成及分带分析，推断成岩过程、压力温度条件及演化; 2.火成岩矿物的主要、次要和微量元素分析，以限制（a）洋中脊的熔体演化，（B）地幔岩石圈的形成，以及（c）长英质岩浆作用和大陆地壳的形成（结合U-Pb年代学）; 3.功能陶瓷的主要和次要元素分析，例如多钛酸钡和镧系钙钛矿，以评估产生空位的化学取代如何影响物理和电气性能; 4.牙釉质的组成图，以了解现代牙齿的矿化过程（这对解释化学和同位素数据有影响）和微量元素的吸收; 5。地质测温矿物微量元素分析，用于了解糜棱岩和锆石、钛铁矿等可定年矿物的形成条件;磁性形状记忆合金（例如Ni-Mn-Ga）的主元素和次元素分析，以确定微米级元素分布及其对机械和磁性的影响; 7.与核工业有关的材料的微量元素污染，特别是石墨-熔盐相互作用;以及8.电子材料研究与开发中过渡金属二硫属化物的主、次元素化学计量。

This award will provide funds to acquire a state-of-the-art electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA) to support numerous funded and ongoing research projects. As a cornerstone instrument within the Center for Materials Characterization, the EPMA is vital to the scientific health of the university and region by providing a versatile platform for the analysis of major, minor, and trace elements to promote NSF-funded research in the solid Earth Sciences and in Materials Science and Engineering. The EPMA will directly enhance undergraduate and graduate student research, teaching, and hands-on experiences through directed research and classroom projects. Adding this instrument will fill a critical need in the regional analytical infrastructure, promote cross-disciplinary research, and greatly enhance the quality and scope of Earth Science and Materials research and education in the Interior Northwest. Major research objectives for the EPMA include the following: 1. Analysis of major, minor, and trace element compositions and zoning in metamorphic minerals to infer petrogenetic processes and pressure-temperature conditions and evolution; 2. Major, minor, and trace element analysis of igneous minerals to constrain (a) melt evolution at mid-ocean ridges, (b) formation of the mantle lithosphere, and (c) felsic magmagenesis and formation of continental crust (in conjunction with U-Pb geochronology); 3. Major and minor element analysis of functional ceramics, e.g. barium polytitanates and lanthanide perovskites, to evaluate how vacancy-producing chemical substitutions affect physical and electrical properties; 4. Composition maps of tooth enamel to understand mineralization processes of modern teeth (which has implications for interpreting chemical and isotopic data) and trace element uptake; 5. Trace element analysis of minerals for geologic thermometry as applied to understanding the conditions of formation of mylonites and dateable minerals like zircon and titanite; 6. Major and minor element analysis of magnetic shape memory alloys, e.g. Ni-Mn-Ga, to determine micrometer-scale element distributions and their influence on mechanical and magnetic properties; 7. Minor element contamination of materials of interest to the nuclear industry, especially graphite- molten salt interactions; and 8. Major and minor element stoichiometry of transition-metal dichalcogenides for electronics materials research and development.