Department Instrumentation
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, at (701) 231-8017 or Chunju.Gu@ndsu.edu. 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
Contact Angle/Surface Tension Analyzer: First Ten Angstroms: FTÅ 125; Drop Shape Analyzer (DSA100, KRÜSS)Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) and Scanning Probe Microscope (SPM): Asylum Jupiter XR;Veeco DI-3100 AFM; tapping, contact, nanoindentation, conductive, magnetic;
Photo-induced force microscopy (PiFM)
Mechanical
Tensile Analysis: Instron 5545 Tensile Tester: 100N load cell, environmental chamber
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 (info above) or Greg Strommen at (701) 231-5339 greg.strommen@ndsu.edu, or Scott Payne at (701) 231- 8435 ndsu.em.center@ndsu.edu for more information regarding their specific capabilities.
