Poly-SM Center (NERC 2021)
The PolySM Lab is managed by Prof. Jason Bara (Poly-SM co-director, ChBE Professor) and Dr. Pravin Shinde (Lab Manager, Research Scientist). This lab’s equipment and characterization facilities are available to internal and external users, either directly or via the utilization of trained research staff. User fees apply, depending on equipment use (research staff time, expendables, etc.). Email Dr. Pravin Shinde (psshinde@ua.edu) to be added to the Outlook Calendar to view the availability and schedule the facilities. Booking can be made no more than a week in advance. Testing in the Poly-SM lab will generally be available during standard UA operating hours (8:00 am – 4:45 pm). The available facilities and the charges are listed below.
*A technician is required for GPC, DSC, TGA, and DMA testing. However, testing permission can potentially be granted for one student per instrument from a UA research group, if training is first completed ($100) and approved by the Poly-SM lab manager.
High-Pressure Thermogravimetry Analysis
HP-TGA 7500
- UA Internal Rate: $15/h (with user’s pan)
- UA Trained Rate: $10/h*
- Non-UA Academic Rate: $25/h
- Commercial Rate: $60/h
- Notes: General Purpose TGA
- Status: Will be up and running soon upon completion of the ventilation work.
Equipment Details
Model: HP-TGA 7500
Instrument Info
- TGA 5500 (Discovery series)
- Temp range: RT to 1000 °C
- Carrier gas(s): UHP N2, O2 or Air
- Cell cleaning: Distilled H2O steam by Auxiliary Solvent Manager (ASM)
- No auto-sampling capability
- Make: TA Instruments, New Castle, Delaware, USA
Sample Requirement
- Hanging pans/crucibles: Platinum with hook
- Material required: < 10 mg
What to expect: Onset temperature of decomposition and degradation maximum (thermal stability), Thermal decomposition behavior under inert and reactive conditions.
Thermogravimetry Analysis coupled with mass spectroscopy
TGA 5500-MS
- UA Internal Rate: $25/h (with user’s pan)
- UA Trained Rate: N/A*
- Non-UA Academic Rate: $35/h
- Commercial Rate: $80/h
- Notes: General Purpose Group must supply their crucibles based on POLY-SM requirements
- Status: Will be up and running soon! MS (from Pfeiffer) to be installed.
Equipment Details
Model: TGA 5500-MS
Instrument Info
- Discovery TGA 5500 (TA Instruments) with Mass Spectroscopy (Pfeiffer)
- Temp range: RT to 1000 °C
- Carrier gas: UHP Nitrogen
- Autosampler capability
- Make: TA Instruments, New Castle, Delaware, USA
Sample Requirement
- Hanging pans/crucibles: Platinum with hook
- Material required: < 10 mg
What to expect: Thermal stability, Thermal decomposition behavior with quantification of gaseous byproducts/ intermediates.
Differential Scanning Calorimetry
DSC 250
- UA Internal Rate: $7 (pan+lid) + $15/h
- UA Trained Rate: $7 (pan+lid) + $10/h
- Non-UA Academic Rate: $7 (pan+lid) +
$25/h - Commercial Rate: $7 (pan+lid) + $60/h
- Notes: Need to show sample stability based on prior TGA data unless it is a known material. Groups that supply their lids/pans are not subject to the $7 consumable cost.
- Status: Up and running! A new chiller (RCS120) is to be installed.
Equipment Details
Model: DSC 250
Instrument Info
- DSC250 system equipped with RCS120 (upgraded from RCS40)
- Temp range: -120 °C to 400 °C
- Carrier gas: UHP Nitrogen
- Autosampler capability
- Make: TA Instruments, New Castle, Delaware, USA
Sample Requirement
- Pans: Tzero Al
- Lids w/ or w/o pinholes: Tzero Al, Tzero Al Hermetic, and Tzero Al Alodined Hermetic
- Material required: < 10 mg
What to expect: Phase transition, Glass transition temperature (Tg), Melting point (Tm), Crystallization temperature (Tc), Specific Heat (Cp)
Dynamic Mechanical Analysis
DMA 850
- UA Internal Rate: $30/h
- UA Trained Rate: N/A*
- Non-UA Academic Rate: $45/h
- Commercial Rate: $120/h
- Notes: N/A
- Status: Will be up and running soon! To be installed.
Equipment Details
Model: DMA 850
Instrument Info
- Force range: 0.0001 to 18 N
- Frequency range: 0.01 to 200 Hz
- Standard furnace: -160 to 600°C (standard furnace)
- Humidity accessory: 5 to 120°C Humidity range: 5 to 95%
- Make: TA Instruments, New Castle, Delaware, USA
Sample Requirement
- Sample requirement depending on clamp size (typically between 10-50 mm in length, 5-20 mm in width, and with a thickness ranging from 1-5 mm)
What to expect: Physical properties (i.e. testing of creep or cold flow, stress relaxation, cure behavior). Composition (i.e. degree of cross-linking, crystallinity levels, effect of filler)
Isothermal Titration Calorimetry
ITC LV HAST
- UA Internal Rate: N/A
- UA Trained Rate: N/A*
- Non-UA Academic Rate: N/A
- Commercial Rate: N/A
- Notes: N/A
- Status: Installed. To be moved to SEC 3458!
Equipment Details
Model: ITC LV HAST
Instrument Info
- Fully automated, user-selectable system cleaning routines eliminate run-to-run contamination
- FlexSpin™ provides innovative slow-speed stirring, efficient mixing, and the highest sensitivity
- Make: TA Instruments, New Castle, Delaware, USA
Sample Requirement
- Samples (standard volume of 1.0 mL with as little as 190 µL cell volume)
What to expect: Measure very strong binding interactions between molecules, utilizing a “Low Volume” sample cell and advanced features like “HAST”
Mechanical Testing (Tensile/Compression/Flexural)
- UA Internal Rate: $20/h
- UA Trained Rate: $15/h
- Non-UA Academic Rate: $30/h
- Commercial Rate: $60/h
- Notes: N/A
- Status: Up and running!
Equipment Details
Instrument Info
- Universal Testing Machine from Test Resources Inc.
- Single-column load-frame UTM with a 1.1 kN load cell capacity and a speed range of 0.01 to 30 in/min
- Stroke length of 12 in and a load measurement accuracy of ± 1.0% of reading down to 1/100th of load cell capacity.
- Make: Shakopee, MN, USA
Sample Requirement
- Bollard-type grip (Model G1103) for tensile test
- Three-point flexural bending tool
- Compression discs
- Sample sizes/shapes in standard ASTM format or custom-made as required
What to expect: Elongation/tensile and compression stress-strain curves, Tensile strength, Elastic Young’s modulus, Flexural stress
Gel Permeation Chromatography Malvern GPC-RI (w/ RI Detector)
VE2001
- UA Internal Rate: $50/h
- UA Trained Rate: N/A*
- Non-UA Academic Rate: $75/h
- Commercial Rate: $200/h
- Notes: N/A
- Status: Up and running!
Equipment Details
Solvent: HPLC-grade DMF
Model: VE2001
Instrument Info
- GPCmax VE 2001 Autosampler system equipped with Viscotek VE 3580 refractive index (RI) detector
- Make: Malvern Panalytical Ltd., Malvern, UK
Sample Requirement
- 2 mL-capacity GPC vials with septum caps
- 0.45 and 0.20 um PTFE syringe filters
- 2-5 mL-capacity sterile syringes and needles
- HPLC-grade DMF (dimethylformamide)
- Sample amount in DMF: 1 mg/mL
What to expect: Number average molecular weight (Mn in kDa), Weight average molecular weight (Mw in in kDa), and Polydispersity index (PDI)
Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) Tosoh GPC-RI (w/ RI Detector)
- UA Internal Rate: $40/h
- UA Trained Rate: N/A*
- Non-UA Academic Rate: $60/h
- Commercial Rate: $160/h
- Notes: N/A
- Status: Will be upgraded and running soon!
Equipment Details
Solvent: HPLC-grade THF
Instrument Info
- Waters Alliance e2695 separation module with 2414 RI Detector
- Temperature: 40 °C, Flow: 1mL/min
- Injection volume: 20-100 uL
- Column: Styragel HR 5E, mixed bed, 5 µm x 7.8 mm X 300 mm in THF
- Mw range: 2K – 4M Da
- Wyatt Multi-Angle Light Scattering (MALS) Dawn (W3) attachment
- Temperature: RT,
- MW range: 200 Da to 1 GDa, Molecular size range: 10-500 nm]
- Make: Waters Corporation, Milford, MA, USA
Sample Requirement
- 2 mL-capacity GPC vials with septum caps from Waters
- 0.45 and 0.20 um PTFE syringe filters
- 2-5 mL sterile syringes and needles
- HPLC grade THF
- Sample amount in THF: 1-5 mg/mL
- (Typically, 1 mg/ml))
What to expect: Number average molecular weight (Mn in kDa), Weight average molecular weight (Mw in in kDa), and Polydispersity index (PDI), Absolute molecular weight, size distribution, and hydrodynamic radius. Specific refractive index increment (dn/dc) of polymer
SLA 3D Printers
- UA Internal Rate: N/A
- UA Trained Rate: N/A*
- Non-UA Academic Rate: N/A
- Commercial Rate: N/A
- Notes: Users can buy their resins.
- Status: Up and running!
Equipment Details
Instrument Info
- ELEGOO Mars, ELEGOO Mars 2P, ELEGOO Saturn
- Make: Elegoo, Guangdong, China
Sample Requirement
- Resins: Abs-like, Acrylic-based, PVC-incorporated, etc.
What to expect: Design and 3D-print objects with smooth and precise detail
FDM 3D Printers
- UA Internal Rate: N/A
- UA Trained Rate: N/A*
- Non-UA Academic Rate: N/A
- Commercial Rate: N/A
- Notes: Users can buy their resins.
- Status: Up and running!
Equipment Details
Instrument Info
- QiDi 3D plus
- Make: QiDi Tech, Zhejiang, China
Sample Requirement
- Filaments: PLA, ABS, Nylon, etc.
What to expect: Design and 3D-print light-weight objects.
Extrusion-based 3D printer
Starter Series
- UA Internal Rate: N/A
- UA Trained Rate: N/A*
- Non-UA Academic Rate: N/A
- Commercial Rate: N/A
- Notes: N/A
- Status: Up and running!
Equipment Details
Model: Starter series
Instrument Info
- 3D Bioplotter Starter Series, Capable of extruding and 3D-printing several materials (liquids, melts, pastes, gels, or other materials, including cells) at low and high temperatures (250 °C max).
Sample Requirement
- Raw material (Polymers, Silicones, composites, ionic liquids, fillers, etc.)
What to expect: Extrusion of fibers and 3D-printing of objects.
Gas Permeability Analyzer
2100-X
- UA Internal Rate: N/A
- UA Trained Rate: N/A*
- Non-UA Academic Rate: N/A
- Commercial Rate: N/A
- Notes: N/A
- Status: Up and running!
Equipment Details
Model: 2100-X
Instrument Info
- Upper Bound Permeation Analyzer (Maxwell-1044 system)
- Make: Maxwell Robotics, USA
Sample Requirement
- Polymer membranes
What to expect: Pure gas permeability, Selectivity.
Polarized Optical Microscope (Leica)
- UA Internal Rate: N/A
- UA Trained Rate: N/A*
- Non-UA Academic Rate: N/A
- Commercial Rate: N/A
- Notes: N/A
- Status: Up and running!
Equipment Details
Instrument Info
- High-end polarization microscope with intelligent light and contrast management.
- Make: Deerfield, IL, USA
What to expect: Imaging.