Facilities At Michigan Tech University

Within various departments across the MTU campus, there exists a wide-range of materials preparation and characterization equipment available for research projects conducted in the Carbon Technology Center.  

Polymer Composite Preparation and Characterization -   Located in the Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, and Mechanical Engineering Departments

• American Leistritz ZSE27 27-mm Co-Rotating Twin Screw Extruder Equiped with 4 Schenck AccuRate Gravimetric feeders, two side stuffers, a 10 ft water bath, and a pelletizer

• American Leistriz ZSE27 Co-Rotating Twin Screw Extruder Elements

• Niigata 40-mm Single Screw Injection Molding

• Four Probe Volumetric In-Plane Electrical Resistivity Test Fixture using Keithley 224 Programmable Current Source and Keithley 182 Digital Sensitive Voltmeter

• Keithley 6517A Electrometer/High Resistance Meter and an 8009 Resistivity Test Fixture with Keithley 6524 High Resistance Measurement Software to measure Surface and Volume Through-Plane Electrical Resistivity  (ASTM D257)

• US Fuel Cell Council: Through Plane Electrical Conductivity Testing for Composite Materials

• Electro-Metric, Inc. Shielding Effectiveness Test Fixture Model EM-2107A with HP 8752 Network Analyzer (ASTM D4935)

• Holometrix TCA300 Through-Plane Thermal Conductivity Tester (ASTM F433:Guarded Heat Flow Meter Method)

• In-Plane Thermal Conductivity Test Equipment

• Hot Disk Thermal Constants Analyzer for Through-Plane and In-Plane Thermal Conductivity

• Netzsch LFA 447 Nanoflash Instrument (ASTM E1461-01: Thermal Diffusivity by the Flash Method) Netzsch Instruments Link

• Kruss High Resolution Processor Tensiometer K12

• Goettfert Rheo Tester 1000 Capillary Rheometer

• Wabash Compression Molding Press

• Instru-Met Sintech Mechanical Tensile Testing Machine (ASTM D638)

• CEAST RESIL 25 Izod Impact Tester (ASTM D256)

• Shimadzu TGA50 Thermal Gravimetric Analyzer

Oriented Strand Board Processing Facilities - Located in the Institute of Wood Research and the Forestry Department

• 1000lb Capacity Electrically Heated Forced-Air Batch Dryer

• Janke & Kunkel RW20DZM Bench-Top Lab Mixer

• Black Clawson 580 Rotary Screen Flake Classifying System

• Rotating Batch Blending Drum

• De Vilbiss AGF-506-92E Pressure Feed, Air Atomized Auto Spray Gun

• De Vilbiss KB-555 Pressure Cup Assembly

• Francis Hydraulic Press with Carver 9KW Electrically Heated Platens

Materials Characterization and Electron Microscopy - Located in the Materials Science and Engineering, Civil Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Chemistry Departments

• Metallography, optical microscopy, and quantitative image analysis

• 3 Conventional Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM)

• 1 Philips XL-40 Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope 

• 3 Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopes

• Atomic Force Microscopes (AFM) 

• Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM)

• Four-Spectrometer Electron Microprobe Analyzer (EMPA)

• Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES)

For more details, please visit the Materials Science and Engineering Facilities Page.

Asphalt Preparation and Characterization Facilities - Located in the Civil Engineering Department

• 2 chemical hoods for extraction and recovery of binder from mixtures
• 3 rotational viscometers
• 2 rolling thin film ovens
• 2 pressure aging vessels
• 2 dynamic shear rheometers
• 2 bending beam rheometers
• 1 direct tension tester
• 1 joint sealant laboratory melting unit (in accordance with ASTM D 5167)
• multiple sets of binder extraction and recovery (abson via super-centrifuge and quantitative)
• multiple sets of equipment for specific gravity of asphalt binder
• penetrometer, softening point, ductility, kinematic viscometer and absolute viscometer equipment.
• 1 chemical hood for extraction and recovery of binder from mixtures
• 2 Ignition furnaces
• 3 Superpave gyratory compactors (acquisition of a fourth one is being negotiated)
• 3 bucket mixers
• 1 linear kneading compactor capable of compacting up to 24"x12"x4" specimens (in process of obtaining)
• 2 sets of Marshall Mix Design Equipment (Compaction and Flow/Stability equipment)
• Corelok vacuum density test device for measuring bulk specific gravity of compacted samples (on order)
• 8 water baths with temperature control for mixture specific gravity determinations
• 4 vacuum pumps for use in maximum specific gravity determination
• 15 digital scales of varying sizes
• 1 freezer for conditioning samples for Modified Lottman (AASHTO-T-283)
• Over 200 cubic feet of oven space
• Asphalt Pavement Analyzer
• Universal Testing Machine
• MTS Servo-Hydraulic Test Apparatus