Colorado School of Mines Shared Instrumentation Facility
Mines Shared Instrumentation Facility (SIF) welcomes Manufacturer’s Edge affiliated manufacturers to access to the world-class scientific equipment and technical experts on the Colorado School of Mines campus.
Manufacturer’s Edge is pleased to partner with the esteemed Colorado School of Mines to offer manufacturers unparalleled access to world-class instrumentation and expertise as only the School of Mines can provide.
The variety of options for things like research and development and nondestructive testing are nearly limitless. The collection of instrumentation and subject matter experts concentrated on one campus have made Mines a premier destination for manufacturing companies from around the world. And now they are offering that same level of access and opportunity to manufacturers located right here in Colorado.
Find out more:
Visit the Colorado School of Mines website to request instrument access, request a technical consult, or to request technical analysis.
Or contact Manufacturer’s Edge for more information.
Solutions
Manufacturer’s Edge is partnering with Colorado School of Mines Shared Instrumentation Facility so that affiliated manufacturers can tap into Mines’ comprehensive suite of expertise, analytical techniques, and state-of-the-art instrumentation to help solve manufacturing challenges.
Non-Destructive Imaging and Inspection
Using XCT to ensure the reliability of sealed components without compromising integrity.
Failure Analysis and Materials Performance Assessment
Leveraging TEM imaging and APT analysis to understand failure mechanisms and assess material performance in advanced devices like lithium-ion batteries and solar cells.
Materials Characterization Techniques
Employing FIB, APT, TEM, and SEM for defect identification, microstructure analysis, and material property assessment.
Mechanical Testing for Performance Evaluation
Conducting tests such as high-temperature compression and fatigue testing to evaluate material behavior, ensuring reliability under operational conditions.
Microstructure Analysis
Utilizing XRD, TEM, and FIB for microstructural characterization, aiding in quality validation and defect detection in materials.
Surface Analysis for Quality Control
Applying XPS and TOF-SIMS to detect surface composition and trace contaminants in critical components, contributing to advancements and ensuring quality in a vast array of materials.
Specialized Testing Methods Development
Crafting tailored testing methods, like specialized tensile testing, to analyze material behavior under varying conditions.
Case Studies
Aerospace
Company Type: Aerospace
Sample Type: Sealed Electrical Component
Problem: Reliability of internal welds for space applications. Cannot be unsealed for internal inspection.
Resolution: XCT of part and non-destructive 3D imaging of internal welds and joints. Part validated and OK’d for launch.
Company Type: Aerospace
Sample Type: Nonstandard subsize titanium alloy tensile specimens
Problem: Determine orientation dependence of tensile stress-strain behavior in an additively manufactured titanium alloy using specimen geometries not suitable for commercial testing labs.
Resolution: Develop a tensile testing method with special specimen gripping and extensometer considerations to enable tensile testing on an MTS hydraulic load frame
Company Type: Aerospace
Sample Type: Additively Manufactured Ti
Problem: Pore formation in part
Resolution: Used x-ray computed tomography (XCT) to identify a pore location, FIB to prepare specimens from that location, and APT for analysis. Observed high oxygen concentrations on pore wall and aluminum oxide in some locations.
Company Type: Aerospace
Sample Type: Communication Devices
Problem: Company was seeing premature failures and reliability issues in active devices out in the field,
Resolution: TOF-SIMS observed elevated levels of oxygen content in the films, along with trace contaminates that likely led to these issues.
3D Printing
Company Type: Aerospace – 3D Printing
Sample Type: Aluminum cube
Problem: Needed quality assurance for NASA contract
Resolution: XCT of the part to ensure minimum porosity achieved and ready for space flight.
Company Type: National Lab – 3D Printing
Sample Type: 3D Printed Alloy Device
Problem: Lab was having reliability issues with their 3D printed devices and suspected that it was related with high oxygen content but had no way to confirm their suspicions. They had a whole suite of sophisticated instruments at their disposal, but none of them could provide that data that they needed on the manufactured parts for various reasons.
Resolution: TOF-SIMS analysis confirmed elevated oxygen levels in failure areas of 3D printed samples versus the non-failing areas, validating suspicions.
Printing and Manufacturing
Company Type: Printing and Manufacturing
Sample Type: PET
Problem: Company needed to confirm that an optical coating would perform as modeled prior to implementation of large-scale production run
Resolution: Multiple test coating variations were fabricated via Ultra High Vacuum Sputter Deposition (UHVSD) and resulting films were evaluated with Ellipsometry and Ultraviolet-Visible light spectroscopy (UV-Vis) corelating modeled optical properties to physical performance.
Ceramics
Company Type: Ceramic Powder Supplier
Sample Type: Silicon Carbide
Problem: Known carbon particle contamination. Wanted to know the nature of the carbon
Resolution: backscattered scanning electron microscopy (SEM) along with correlated Raman spectroscopy identified the trace particle contaminants and the bonding nature of them. Found three types of contaminants – boron carbide, graphitic carbon, and diamond-like carbon.
Company Type: Ceramic Manufacturer
Sample Type: Body Armor Material
Problem: Company was seeing some defects in their materials but after trying to use various other techniques to find the problem with no clear results, they decided to submit their samples for TOF-SIMS analysis.
Resolution: TOF-SIMS observed traces levels of Nitrogen segregated within their material which they believe was the root cause of the issues they were observing.
Company Type: Ceramics Manufacturer
Sample Type: silicon nitride
Problem: A single lot of silicon nitride samples had 100% rejection for an unknown defect
Resolution: Focused ion beam (FIB) instrumentation was used to prepare site-specific specimens for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. Ti and Fe rich defects were identified. Allowed manufacturer to revisit their spray drying and pressing operations to look for sources of these elements.
Steel Manufacturing
Company Type: Steel Manufacturer
Sample Type: Electrical Steel
Problem: Wanted a comparison of the sizes and morphologies of nitrides and sulfides and the compositional distributions within products and processing conditions
Resolution: Focused ion beam (FIB) instrumentation was used to prepare site-specific specimens for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. These analyses were provided for six different specimens.
Company Type: Steel Manufacturer
Sample Type: Pipeline Steel
Problem: Compare microstructures for products with two different Si concentrations
Resolution: Focused ion beam (FIB) instrumentation was used to prepare site-specific specimens for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. These analyses looked at the differences in silicon distribution and resulting microstructure
Company Type: Steel manufacturer
Sample Type: Steel torsion specimens
Problem: Determine the source of defects that were occurring in a 6-pass rolling mill process.
Resolution: Simulate the thermomechanical processing conditions (temperature, heating and cooling rates, hold times, strains, and strain rates) of each stage of the rolling process using a Gleeble so the company could examine the resulting microstructure.