The Department of Coatings and Polymeric Materials at North Dakota State University is equipped with state-of-the-art spectrometric, microscopic, testing, and application equipment utilized in coatings and polymeric materials science.  This equipment is included in our service center and is available for use on a fee basis.  A majority of the instrumentation has attachments or modules for advanced measuring techniques.  For further information regarding our specific capabilities and/or a price list, please contact

Chunju Gu, Laboratory Manager
(701) 231-8017

A printable list of instrumentation can be found here.

Categories of Materials Characterization

Spectroscopy

• Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR): Thermo Scientific Nicolet 8700;  many tech. avail. please inquire
• Ultraviolet-Visible-Near Infrared Spectrometer (UV-VIS-NIR): Varian Cary 5000; specular and diffuse reflectance accessories
• Fluorescence Spectrometer:  Jobin Yvon Horiba Fluoromax-3
• Color Spectrometer: MacBeth Color Eye 7000; BYK Spectro2guide; BYK MAC; and BYK Spectro2profiler

Electrochemical

• Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) and  Electrochemical Noise Monitoring (ENM): Gamry Femtostats and PC4 Potentiostats
• Scanning Vibrating Electrode Technique (SVET): Applicable Electronics, Inc.
• Scanning Electrochemical Microscope (SECM): CH Instruments

Accelerated Weathering

• Xenon Arc: Q-Lab Corporation Q-Sun 1000 chamber (2); Atlas MTS Ci4000 Weather-Ometer
• Ultraviolet: Q-Lab Corporation Q-UV SE chamber (2):  one UV-A, one UV-B
• Salt Spray: Q-Lab Corporation Q-Fog CCT chamber (2):  one ASTM B117, one Prohesion®

Surface Characterization

• First Ten Angstroms FTÅ 125 Contact Angle/Surface Tension Analyzer
• Drop Shape Analyzer (DSA100, KRÜSS)
• Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) and Scanning Probe Microscope (SPM):
  • Jupiter XR Atomic Force Microscope
  • Veeco Dimension 3100 Atomic Force Microscopy: tapping, contact, nanoindentation, conductive, magnetic
• Photo-induced force microscopy (PiFM)

Mechanical

• Tensile Analysis: Instron 5545 Tensile Tester:  100N load cell, environmental chamber
•  ARES G2 Reheometer: TA

Chromatographic/Separation Analysis Methods

• Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC): Tosoh Bioscience EcoSEC HLC-8320: Modular system with Refractive Index and UV detectors 
• Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography (GC)-Mass Spectroscopy (MS): Frontier Pyrolyzer; Agilent 8890 GC System; Agilent 5977B GC/MSD
• Particle Characterization
  • Dynamic Light Scattering - submicron sizing: Particle Sizing Systems Nicomp 380:  3 nm to 5 µm
  • Single Particle Optical sizing: Particle Sizing Systems SPOS 780:  0.5 µm to 400 µm
  • Zeta Potential: Agilent Technologies, Colloidal Dynamics AcoustoSizer IIs

Other Property Techniques
Minimum Film Formation Temperature: Gardco Rhopoint MFFT-90
Hardness: BYK König Pendulum Hardness Tester                                                                                                                                    Gloss: Gardco Statistical Novogloss Glossmeter                                                                                                                                      Abrasion Resistance: Taber Rotary Abrazer 5155

Thermal Analysis methods (differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical analysis, thermogravimetric analysis), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Scanning Electron Microscopes, Transmission Electron Microscopes, and many other techniques are available from the Research Operations Recharge Center and Electron Microscopy Center at NDSU. A list of instrumentation can be viewed at the here.

Please contact Chunju Gu at (701) 231-8017 or Greg Strommen at (701) 231-5339, or Scott Payne at (701) 231- 8435 for more information regarding their specific capabilities.