The Purdue campus contains one of the best arrays of advanced instrumentation in the world. Several centers house nearly every type of physical methods. Some of these facilities include:

Department of Chemistry Materials Characterization Facility

Center research and cohesion will be aided by a new shared instrument facility in the H.C. Brown Laboratory of Chemistry, room 2151. This large space houses several new instruments that are specific to characterization of polymeric materials. Facilities include thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), rheology, gas adsorption isotherm, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), among several others. This facility is new enough that instruments are still arriving and being unboxed. Almost more important than the instruments are spaces for student desks, sample preparation, and a lounge area. The area was designed to encourage discussions and catalyze the formation of new projects. This new facility provides an excellent nucleus from which campus polymer research efforts can grow.

Jonathan Amy Facility for Chemical Instrumentation in the Department of Chemistry

The Amy Instrumentation Facility (JAFCI) is dedicated to the fusion of engineering expertise with the quest for scientific knowledge to further research and instructional efforts in the Department of Chemistry and School of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University. Our team of scientists and engineers provide assistance in the design / construction of specialized instrumentation not commercially available along with repair / modification of commercial systems.

Birck Nanotechnology Center

Purdue has one of the premier nanotechnology centers, studying all aspects of nanomaterials, from the fundamental up to advanced manufacturing.

Purdue Electron Microscopy Center

The Purdue Electron Microscopy Center (PEMC) provides Purdue researchers access to state-of-the-art electron microscopy instrumentation and provides service, consultation, and training to assist scientists in achieving their research objectives.

Robert Santini NMR Facility

The Robert Santini NMR Facility at Purdue University, aka Purdue Interdepartmental NMR Facility (PINMRF), provides access to state-of-the-art NMR techniques for Purdue University as well as for area businesses and technology parks.

School of Materials Engineering Soft Materials Characterization Laboratory

This lab is dedicated to the characterization and analysis of polymeric and other soft materials. It currently contains a dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA), thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), dynamic scanning calorimeter (DSC).

Microstructure and Composition:

• Electron Microscopy (SEM and TEM)
• Optical Microscopy
• Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)
• X-ray Diffraction (XRD)
• Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS)
• Glow Discharge Spectroscopy (GDS)
• Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)
• Raman Spectroscopy

Mechanical and Thermal Properties:

• Soft Materials Center
• Mechanical Testing
• Impact Testing
• Indentation
• Thermodynamic Databases
• Physical Properties
• Surface Area and Porosity (BET)
• Particle Sizing (Coulter Counter)
• Density (Gas Pycnometry)

Specimen Preparation Facilities

Prior to characterization, it is necessary to properly prepare specimens to allow for proper analysis of features of interest. A variety of tools and techniques for specimen preparation are available in the School of Materials Engineering lab facilities.

• Sectioning
• Mounting
• Grinding and Polishing
• Etching
• Conductive Coating (SEM)
• Ion Polishing (SEM)
• Processing Facilities

A variety of tools for heat treatment and to simulate industrial processing are available in the School of Materials Engineering lab facilities.

• Casting Center
• Heat Treatment
• Cold Rolling
• Polymer Processing
• Computational Facilities
• Purdue Computational Facilities