X-Ray Diffraction and Spectroscopy

Complete facilities for x-ray diffraction studies include a specimen preparation room fully equipped for preliminary examination and preparation of single-crystal, polycrystalline, fibrous, and amorphous specimens. The x-ray laboratories house:

Bruker D5005 & D8 Advance X-Ray Diffractometers

are computer controlled powder diffractometers with 2.2 kW Cu X-ray tubes. The instrument has a software suite for extensive data reduction and analysis. Among the capabilities provided by hardware and software are: phase identification and search matching with a powder diffraction standards database of over 70,00 patterns; residual stress measurements (normal and shear); particle size distribution analyses; lattice parameter determination; grazing angle thin film analysis; high temperature capability; and thin film thickness measurements.

Bruker Anton-Paar Small-Angle Scattering Diffractometer

is a SAXS system comprised of a goniometer control system (GADDS) and a high stability/throughput/resolution area detector (HiSTAR). The instrument is equipped with a 18kW rotating anode CuKa radiation source and a Mettler-Toledo DSC hot stage that can be used to control and program sample temperatures and provides the capability for characterizing the temperature dependence of morphology. The SAXS instrument includes a high speed computer with parallel area detector interface, and frame buffer software that provides the capability for real-time data collection and analysis. The instrument is ideal for studying polymer microstructures that are on the order of 1-50 nm, such as are found in semicrystalline polymers, ionomers, and block copolymers.

Bruker GADDS X-Ray Diffractometer

is ideally suited for the measurement of diffraction from anisotropic samples such as metal domain regions, oriented polymers. liquid crystalline and textured materials. This instrument uses a Hi-Star multiwire two-dimensional area detector with a resolution of 1024 x 1024 and is equipped with a 2 kW Cr X-ray tube which minimizes fluorescence from metal samples. The instrument has a complete software suite for extensive data reduction and analysis. The capabilities provided include: polymer and powder diffraction; normal and shear residual stress measurements; pole figure measurements for single crystals; texture measurements; and orientation parameters of polymers.

Rigaku R-AXIS IIC image plate detector

on a 12 kW rotating anode generator with a goniometer for high resolution protein crystal diffraction.

Bruker HiStar multi-wire area detector

(1024x1024) with double-mirror Franks optics on a Rigaku 12 kW rotating anode generator for single-crystal protein crystallography. An OxfordCryoSystems nitrogen stream cooler is available for crystal freezing to 75 K.