Centre for Materials Characterization and Testing (CMCT)

The aim of the Centre is to characterize a material using tools that can broadly be classified as microstructural, structural, chemical (elemental), surface and mechanical.

For microstructural characterization, the Centre is equipped with a field emission gun-scanning electron microscope (SEM), a tungsten filament SEM, a dual beam focused ion beam milling unit and a transmission electron microscope.

Structural characterization is carried out using x-ray diffraction, while the determination of elements in the sample is carried out using energy dispersive spectroscopy.

Surface characterization is performed using a non-contact optical profiler with a vertical resolution of 0.1 nm while the mechanical properties at the micron- and sub-micron length scales are studied using nanoindentation.

In the near future, it is planned to enhance the facilities by procuring another FEG-SEM and a microdiffraction XRD unit. It is envisioned that CMCT will eventually become the premier resource in India to provide as holistic a picture as possible about any material.