Facilities

1. Leco make Macrohardness tester for measurement of Hardness at high loads

The tester is computer controlled and capable of automatic loading-releasing mechanism. The tester has a load range of 0.3 to 30 kg and can accommodate Vickers and Knoop indenters

2. UHL make Microhardness tester for microhardness measurements

The computer controlled tester has a load range of 0.001 to 2 kg and can accommodate both Vickers and Knoop indenter

3. Olympus make optical microscope

This Optical microscope equipped with image analysis software and can capture images both in bright filed and dark field. It also had a DIC (digital interference contrast) filter that is helpful in observing topographical variations on the sample surface.

4. Hitachi makes Scanning Electron Microscope with field emission gun

This instrument is used for observing sample surfaces at high magnifications. The microscope is equipped with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy and Electron Back Scatter Diffraction attachments for carrying out elemental and microstructural analyses respectively. The microscope is capable of achieving magnifications in excess if 1,00,000.

5. Xpert-Pro residual stress analyzer

The unit is used for estimating residual stresses in the coatings and other surfaces using X-ray diffraction.

6. MTS makes instrumented Nano indentation system

The system is used for measuring hardness and elastic modulus of thick films and coatings. The system is equipped with a continuous stiffness measurement (CSM) module and thus is capable of giving the mechanical properties as a function of depth.

7. Instron tensile testing machine

This unit is used to study the mechanical properties of materials under tension and compression. Loads up to 150 kg can be applied to the test piece.

8. Hitachi makes Scanning Electron Microscope with Tungsten gun

While the SEM with the field emission gun is used for high magnification imaging, this microscope is used for low magnification imaging. It also has an EDS unit for elemental analysis.

9. FEI makes Tecnai G20 Transmission Electron Microscope

This instrument is used for studying samples at very high magnifications (>500000X) in transmission. The 200kV system is equipped with a LAB6 filament and has EDS and Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy attachments.

10. Carl Zeiss make Dual Beam Microscope

This system is equipped with an electron beam and a focused ion beam (FIB). The Ga-ion beam is used to remove material from the sample surface in a controlled fashion and the electron beam is used to carry out the imaging. As the FIB unit is present in-situ in the FE-SEM, live imaging is possible. There are several ports available for additional equipment to be installed such as a nanomanipulator that can be used as a TEM sample preparation tool, a nanolithography system that can be used for preparation of samples for microtensile testing and so on. The unit is under installation and is expected to be ready soon.

11. Zygo make Non Contact Optical Profilometer

The system is used for estimating surface roughness and other surface parameters and has a vertical resolution of 0.1nm. It uses white light interferometry to map specimen surface.