The team has full access to the laboratories in the Lehman Engineering & Technology Center and MicaPlex. The following labs and equipment are available for trained personnel.
Lehman Building
The Structures Laboratory has extra work benches and space to accommodate students during research work. The lab also has an MTS frame with a furnace that can operate up to 800C. This MTS frame can be used for preliminary tests and to define bulk properties of the materials to be investigated according to this proposal. The PI shares this room with other Structures professors.
The John Mica Engineering and Aerospace Research Complex
The John Mica Engineering and Aerospace Innovation Complex (MicaPlex) is the cornerstone building of the Research Park at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) in Daytona Beach. The MicaPlex was launched in March 2017 with fully functional research facilities in different areas of engineering including:
- Advanced Materials Lab
- Composite Lab
- Structures Lab
- Large Systems Development Lab
- Robotics Lab
- Advanced Dynamics Lab
- Thermal & Energy Lab
- Radar & Communications Lab
- Circuit, Sensors & Instrumentation Lab
- Space Technology Lab
Major Equipment
Mechanical Testing
These facilities include materials and structural testing systems, including tensile, flexure, impact and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) testing capabilities. The available Materials Testing Systems (MTS) have load cell capacities of 10-250 kN. A variety of mechanical testing fixtures include biaxial grip, in-situ friction grips, and various types of extensometers and strain gauges. These fixtures will assist in qualifying the mechanical performance of the 3D-printed parts. Perkin-Elmer DMA can provide several useful pieces of information for the 3D printed materials, including loss and storage moduli under bending, shear or tensile modes together with damping parameters.
Triboindenter
Hysteron TI-980 Triboindenter with indentation and scratch capabilities. Equipped with optical, atomic force microscopy AFM and scanning probe microscopy (SPM) microscopy. The indentation mode provides information such as strength, stiffness, hardness, and elastic and plastic energy storage. Other modes include wear, scratch and micro-DMA. The machine is also equipped to measure the electrical conductivity of the material at different indentation depths. Elevated temperature testing can be carried out up to 1000° C. This machine will also be useful for post-situ nondestructive testing of 3D-printed fine features as the load cell is less than 1 N with load resolution in micrometers.
X-Ray Scanner
Bruker SKYSCAN 1275 X-ray micro-computerized tomography scanner is a 3D X-ray microscopy power pack, designed for fast scanning of a wide range of samples including metals, ceramics and composites. With its compact geometry and fast flat-panel detector, the time to result can be as short as a few minutes. The system has powerful software that covers GPU-accelerated reconstruction, 2D/3D morphological analysis, as well as surface and volume rendering visualization. This system will be useful for identifying several of the 3D printing defects, such as voids, and provide additional means for correcting processing parameters.
Composite Printer
MarkTwo® commercial composite printer has a single print head with two nozzles for the polymer and fiber. This printer uses Markforged® carbon fiber filament and thermoplastic polymer, nylon 66 or Onyx® (nylon with chopped fibers). The fiber filament is itself a composite that comprises micro-scale continuous carbon fibers embedded in nylon.
Thermal Camera
FLIR A655 SC will be used to capture the temperature and cooling rate of parts in real-time. This IR camera can capture a temperature range from -40°C to 650°C with an accuracy of 2% and a resolution of 640x480 pixels.
Scanning Electron Microscope
FEI Quanta Scanning Electron Microscope, with a large chamber to allow for the visualization of structural materials, is available for students, faculty and staff of the university, as well as for external users who might require microscopy. Provided by a prior NSF MRI grant, the state-of-the-art Scanning Electron Microscope can magnify up to 1,000,000X at a resolution of 3 nm and also has a low-vacuum setting to image non-conductive samples. In addition to the microscope, an Energy Dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX) was also purchased to determine the elemental composition of the samples. This will be a useful tool for characterizing printed samples.
Desktop CNC Machine
The Shapeoko HDM CNC milling machine is a heavy-duty CNC cutter for non-ferrous metals. It uses HG-15 linear bearings and 16mm ball screws for motion and a 1.5kW water-cooling router for cutting.
Direct Ink Writing Robot
The Nordson EFD E Series automated fluid dispensing system is a desktop robot that features a simple-to-use controller for quick setup and easy programming. It facilitates precise fluid dispensing in an automated solution. Available in four sizes, from 200 x 200 mm to 500 x 500 mm, the E Series adapts to a wide range of working envelopes.
Vat Photopolymerization 3D Printer
Elegoo Saturn S is a large-volume 3D resin printer that has a building volume of 196x122x210mm. It can offer 48 microns at XY resolution.
Material Mixer
Thinky AR100 is designed for efficiently mixing, dispersing and centrifuging materials up to 140ml for general purposes. It uses a disposable container (100ml) as the standard container and saves the cleaning workload, making itself suitable for research and development where many cases of initial consideration are made.
Rheometer
The TA Instrument HR 20 is a high-performance multi-purpose rheometer that handles material rheological characterizations. With linear dynamic mechanical analysis and a wide range of accessories, the HR 20 can measure the liquid material by complementing shear rheology to test solids under tension, compression or bending.
Drying Over
MTI DHG-9245A is a reliable forced air-drying oven, which can heat up to 250°C. It can provide uniform heating conditions for a variety of laboratory applications.
Fused Deposition Modeling 3D Printer
Creativity Ender 5 is an extrusion-based 3D printer that has a building volume of 220x220x300mm.