Our facilities include complimentary techniques for measuring and characterising surface properties of materials such as; topography, tribological measurements and wettability.
Atomic force microscopy
Topographic quantification of nao and micro surface structures
Atomic force microscopy is ideal for analysing micro and nano-scale surface features, from surface roughness to micro friction and electrical properties.
Contact Angle / Surface Energy
Measure wettability and liquid properties
Our contact angle apparatus uses a high definition camera to allow for accurate measurements of hydrophobicity of a surface and surface energy and interfacial tension of fluids using a sessile drop method.
- Measure surface energy of liquids
- Interfacial Tension
- Wettability of surfaces against various liquids
Our sample preparation suite has been developed to cater for a wide range of samples, be it metallic, polymer, ceramic, biological and geological. Our sample preparation suite includes:
Mounting, sectioning and polishing
Cold and hot mounting, diamond cutters and a range of grinders and polishers allow for preparation of many materials
Sample coating
We can produce gold, platinum and carbon coatings using our sputter and metal evaporation coaters for high resolution analysis of non-conductive samples
Sample cleaning
Our plasma cleaners and plasma asher helps remove volatile hydrocarbons for improved analysis
Microtome and PIPS
Our plasma ion polisher and microtome allow us to prepare many materials for TEM analysis