ANSTO's research capabilities, led by the OPAL nuclear research reactor and associated instruments provide access to users investigating areas as diverse as materials, life sciences, climate change and mining/engineering.
Facilities support
Key Contact:
Ken Short Team Leader
ANSTO Institute of Materials Engineering
Phone: +61 9717 3459
Email: kts@ansto.gov.au
Purpose
The facilities group enable research synergies between the research programmes, ensure consistent application of safety and regulatory compliance and ensure efficiencies and effectiveness within IME.
From a governance perspective, the facilities support group ensures that there is separation between staff responsible for scientific outcomes and those responsible for the safe and secure operation of IME facilities.
The facilities support staff work closely with research staff to manage a wide range of materials processing, preparation, testing and characterisation facilities, for both inactive and radioactive materials.
IME works closely with and shares many materials processing facilities with synrocANSTO as well as providing support to other ANSTO Institutes and Divisions given our unique capabilities.
Materials Processing
IME has a variety of materials processing laboratories and equipment, primarily for the fabrication of powders and solids of oxide-ceramic and cer-met materials, both in thin-film and bulk forms.
- Powder handling, processing
- Heat treatment, sintering & annealing
- Wet chemistry, sol-gel, thin-film deposition
- Hot and Cold Iso-Static Pressing
- Radioactive doped materials, handling and processing
Materials Preparation
A dedicated group for the preparation of materials for testing and characterisation provide services for IME, synrocANSTO and across ANSTO.
- Sample mounting & polishing, metallography
- Electron Microscopy sample thinning & polishing
- Radioactive material inspection and handling
Materials Testing
IME has a wide range of macro and micro scale mechanical testing and radiation measurement capabilities for the evaluation of material properties, property changes and performance.
- Tensile testing
- Creep & creep fatigue testing
- Hardness, nano-indentation
- Radiation measurement and metrology laboratories
Materials Characterisation
An extensive array of microscopic, analytical tools are available for the characterisation and evaluation of materials within IME.
- Electron Microscopy SEM & TEM
- Optical Microscopy & Spectroscopy of powders and bulk materials
- X-ray diffraction
- Surface properties, AFM, profilometry & ellipsometry
- Thermo-physical analysis & particle size analysis
- Radiation forensic analysis