Material Sciences Lab
Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering Department, Emirate Nuclear Technology Center
Principal advisor: Dr. Akram Alfantazi (akram.alfantazi@ku.ac.ae)
Material Science Laboratory
The Material Science Laboratory is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and instruments to explore various aspects of nuclear materials devoted to evaluating corrosion-related material degradation, such as general corrosion and localized corrosion (pitting) of structural materials in nuclear power plants (NPPs). For this purpose, this laboratory is equipped with apparatuses for sample preparation (high-speed cutter, low-speed cutoff machine, grinding and polishing machine, etc.), electrochemical experimental setup (potentiostats and electrochemical cells), and an optical microscope (OM). Also, a high-precision source/measurement unit and a glovebox system are installed to develop electrodeposition coating technologies.
Gamry Reference 3000, Potentiostat/Galvanostat- DC corrosion tests: polarization resistance, potentiodynamic, cyclic polarization, and galvanic corrosion
Keysight B2901B Source/Measurement Unit – Programmable Direct/Pulsed current source can be applied to the electrodeposition cell. 210 V max. DC 3.03 A / Pulsed current 10.5 A max.
Struers Labotom-3: High–speed cutting wheel for sample preparation of materials up to 9 cm in diameter. SiC and Al2O3 cut-off wheels with a maximum rpm of 3820.
Stuers Minitom: low-speed precision cut-off machine for sectioning small and delicate material workpieces that can’t tolerate the heat generated by high-speed cutting. Diamond and Al2O3 cut-off wheels with a maximum rpm of 400.
Olympus GX-51, Inverted Metallurgical Microscope
- Stage stroke 50 mm X 50 mm
- Digital image analysis program
- Magnification: X5, X10 ,X20, X50, X100
Etelux Lab2000 glovebox system
- Closed Ar gas circulation
- H2O, O2 ≤1ppm,
- Leakage rate: ≤0.001 vol% / h
Actual H2O and O2 readings
MetaServ grinding and polishing system
- Maximum speed of 500 rpm
- Sample Holder
- Running H2O