Experimental and Computing Facilities

Experimental Facilities

P/M Processing Facility
  1. Horizontal rotary blenders and a drum for mechanical alloying.
  2. Gas atomizing tower (1.4m D x 5.5m H) for air atomizaiton in a clsosed system. 30 kW air melt induction furnace for inert melting, an electric resistance furnace (500g capacity) and 2-40 kW DC power supplies for melting. Tin, lead/tin, zinc alloys, steels, and cast iron have been successfully atomized. Atomizing chamber is also capable of being used for spray deposition. Pressurised powder feeder for injecting powders into the atomizing tower. Gas supply to interchangeable gas nozzle is measured using a turbine flowmeter. Gas supply lines are capable of delivering gas at up to 7x107 Pa (1000 psi).
  3. Impulse atomization tower (0.6m D x 4m H) for atomizing into controlled atmospheres. 0.5 kg steel melt capacity. High temperature spray deposition heater (1470oK) and gas atomization capabilities also available on this unit.
  4. Stainless steel sieves and riffles for sampling and size measurement of metal powders.
  5. Standard powder bulk density and flowability testing equipment.
  6. Tape casting of metal and ceramic powders.
  7. Glove Box for fine powder handling.
Process Sensors and Image Analysis
  1. Molten metal sensor for melt flowrate measurement into the gas atomizer.
  2. PCSV probe for on-line, real time measurement of particle size, velocity and concentration.
  3. DPV 2000 for in-flight measurement of droplet size, velocity and temeprature.
Other experimental facilities available to AMPL are housed in the Dept. of Chemical and Materials Engineering. These include:

Chemical - Electrochemical Equipment

  1. Princeton 371 Potentiostat/Galvanostat
  2. ECO (Amel) 551 Potentiostat with Function Generator and Log Interface
  3. General Radio 1608A Variable Frequency Impedance Bridge and 1658 RLC Digibridge
  4. Keithley 616 Digital Electrometers
  5. Parr & Pressure Products Agitated Reactors
  6. Matheson Gas Proportioners, Mass Flowmeters and Flow Controllers
  7. Phillips X-ray Fluorescence Unit
  8. Perkin Elmer 4000 Absorption Spectrometer
  9. UV & IR Spectrophotometers
  10. Spectrometrics Spectraspon IV DC Plasma Spectrometer
  11. Leco Carbon/Sulphur Analyzer
  12. Wet Chemical Laboratory
  13. Varian 3700 Gas Chromatograph
  14. Low Temperature Asher
  15. X-ray Diffraction Facility
Mechanical Testing
  1. MTS Electrohydraulic Closed Loop Fatigue Machine - 245 kN capacity
  2. Instron Tension/Compression Machine - 20,000 lb (89 kN) capacity
  3. Instron Tension Machine - 100 kg (980 N) capacity
  4. Hounsfield Tensometers
  5. Hounsfield Impact Tester
  6. Tinius Olsen Impact Testing Machine - 260 ft-lb (350 J) capacity
  7. Constant Stress Creep Machine - 1000 lb (4.45 kN) capacity
  8. Constant Load and Constant Extension Rate Stress Corrosion Testing Machines
  9. Vickers, Shimadzu, Brinell & Rockwell Hardness Testers - Macro & Micro Hardness
Metal Forming
  1. Stanat TA 215 Cold Rolling Mill
  2. Fenn No. 3F Rotary Swager
Metallographic & Photographic Facility
  1. Sample Preparation Equipment for Optical & Electron Metallography
  2. Assorted Bench Optical Microscopes
  3. Zeiss Tessovar Macro/Microscope
  4. Zeiss Ultraphot III Research Metallograph
  5. Reichert Research Metallographs
  6. Phillips EM 300 Transmission Electron Microscope
  7. Hitachi S-2700 Scanning Electron Microscope Link eXL EDS System with light element detection capabilities
  8. Hitachi Vacuum Evaporator
  9. ISI Sputter Coater
  10. Ion Tech Ion Milling Machine with Liquid Nitrogen Cold Stage
  11. Gatan Model 656 Dimple Grinder
  12. Gatan Ultrasonic Disc Cutter, Model 601
  13. Gatan Disc Grinder, Model 623
Mineral Processing Facility
  1. 75 mm diameter Flotation Column
  2. Conventional Cell Flotation (4 cells)
  3. Hydrocyclone Pilot Plant
  4. Slurry Pipeline Equipment
  5. Sieve Analysis (particle size)
  6. Cyclosizer
  7. Laser Particle Size Analyser
  8. High Pressure Autoclave (Batch and Continuous Experiments)
  9. Gas and Liquid Chromatographs
  10. Non-Destructive Infra-red SO2 Analyser
Thermal Properties Equipment
  1. Harrop TG 716 Thermogravimetric Balance
  2. Setaram Differential Scanning Caloremeter and TG

Computing Facilities

Hardware

AMPL has a wide range of computing equipment. In addition, local area networking utilizes a high speed Ethernet cable networking for several Workstations and computers within AMPL and to the University of Alberta University Computing Systems. The University of Alberta has also direct connection to the Super Computer Center located at the University of Calgary Campus.

Software

As part of the extensive computational effort on-going in process research, several commercial packages have been or are being used by the research staff. The group has on-hand experience with codes such as SIMULIA, ANSYS, FIDAP, FLUENT, Topas, I-DEAS, MATLAB, Thermo-Calc and Avizo. Numerous software packages have been developed in house for continuous casting, furnace reheating, materials testing and droplet solidification.



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