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Material Measurement Laboratory

Applied Chemicals and Materials Division

Projects/Programs

Displaying 1 - 25 of 43
EBSD grain orientation map for additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V showing elongated prior-Beta grain morphology in the build direction (vertical in this image)"

Additive Manufacturing Fatigue and Fracture

Ongoing
Metal additive manufacturing (AM) is not used in fatigue and fracture critical applications despite industrial need. The goal of this project is to enable confident use of metal AM in critical applications through: Advancing metrological practice for AM-specific performance metrics encompassing the
diagram of lab information management system

Advanced Fluid Characterization - Laboratory Information Management System

Ongoing
Breath sampling of cannabis users. I n July 2019, the National Institute of Justice awarded our team funding for a three-year project to provide the chemical foundation for industry to develop a cannabis breathalyzer. We are developing new experimental methods to enhance the clinical, thermodynamic
Cross section of a SAC solder joint in a BGA, with sketches of potential micro specimens

Advanced Mechanical Characterization of Mesoscale Materials

Ongoing
Knowledge of a material’s mechanical properties is key to designing safe and reliable structural components for applications ranging in size from medical implants to large civil engineering structures. Traditionally, a material’s mechanical properties are measured by performing mechanical tests on
Gears with the word "manufacturing"

Artificial Intelligence for Chemical Manufacturing

Ongoing
The chemical manufacturing design process relies heavily on the recommended values that engineers and researchers usually obtain from handbooks and databases. Those sources often lack easy ways to judge the reliability of information, either in the sense of where the data come from or what the
medical devices Intro_fig

Cardiac Device Reliability

Ongoing
Impact and Customers This project will reduce the need for surgeries to replace failed implants, thereby improving safety and quality of life for implant recipients and reducing medical expense to society. It will provide assessment tools for the external electronic devices that support the

Charpy Machine Verification Program

Ongoing
Impact testing is required for many critical applications in the construction, machinery and equipment, defense, and energy markets. Charpy testing provides data needed to ensure the quality and reliability of structural steel products. Over 1,000 machines per year are evaluated for conformance with
Cannabis Buds

Chemical Foundations for a Cannabis Breathalyzer

Ongoing
NIST's initial work in cannabis science was a series of measurements of the vapor pressure of two important cannabinoids: delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Our current effort is funded in part by interagency agreements with the ational Institute of Justice and by the NIST
Cover of the ASME International Steam Tables for Industrial Use, Third Edition

Contributions to International Standards on the Properties of Water

Ongoing
Water is probably the most widely used industrial fluid and it is important to have internationally accepted standards for its properties. This information is crucial to the analysis and design of thermal power cycles, as well as for climate studies including the hydrosphere. (Here is a summary of
2D Material Electronic Test

Electronic Material Characterization

Ongoing
Manufacturing optimized devices that incorporate newly-emerging materials requires predictable performance throughout device lifetimes. Unexpected degradation in device performance, sometimes leading to failure, is often traceable to poor material reliability. Reliability is rooted in the stability
A time series of a MoS2 flake exposed to increasing time under electrical stress shows the growth of defects denoted with red and yellow areas over time. S= source and D = drain electrode.

Evaluation of 2D and WBG Material Quality Toward Device Reliability

Ongoing
Two-dimensional (2D) and wide band gap (WBG) materials are some of the latest materials classes having the potential to be transformative because of their high carrier mobilities, tunable bandgap, and atomic-scale film thicknesses. Unexpected degradation and failure in device performance is often
extreme atom probe tomography illustration

Extreme Atom Probe Tomography

Ongoing
Sub-nanometer-resolved 3-D chemical mapping of any atom in any solid continues to be an imperative goal of materials research. If reduced to practice, it would have profound scientific, engineering, and economic impacts on U.S. industries collectively worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Such
densimeter

Flow Metering and Properties for Semiconductor Process Gases

Ongoing
A type of flow meter called a mass flow controller (MFC) is used to regulate gas flow in order to produce the desired structures during chip fabrication. As semiconductor manufacturing advances, the requirements on MFC performance are increasingly strict: any process variation can reduce device
NMR-Tubes

Fluid Phase Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy

Ongoing
In-situ vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE). We are applying vapor-phase NMR to measure VLE in-situ. We are currently applying this methodology to industrially important systems such as refrigerants and natural gas. The most widely used refrigerants have high global warming potential. Drop-in
mgi

Integrated Data Management for Materials Discovery

Ongoing
Learn more about the Thermodynamics Research Center (TRC); it's history, capabilities, and expanding role in chemical processing, experimental planning, and process design. TRC overview TRC's growth in becoming the nation's leading repository of thermodynamics data, along with evolving programing

Low Temperature Regenerator and Pulse Tube Losses

Ongoing
All-digital radio communication between the various forces of the U.S. military is required to improve communications to the level needed in the near future. Such communication requires analog-to-digital converters of speeds only possible with low temperature superconducting electronics. The
Testing a multi-specimen chain in fatigue in pressurized hydrogen

Materials Testing in Hydrogen Gas

Ongoing
Hydrogen is known to have a deleterious effect on steels and other metals, but steels are the most cost-effective and commonly used materials for pipelines and pressure vessels. We are collaborating with the code bodies (ASME B31.12 and ISO 11114-4), DOT, and DOE, to enable the implementation of

Measuring Intermolecular Interactions with Electro-Acoustic Spectroscopy

Ongoing
We have a number of opportunities to collaborate with us. See below for details. What does this project aim to do for the chemical industry? Many industrial processes depend on the intermolecular environment- the solvents and ions that surround a molecule. These interactions impact separations

Microcryocooler for Terahertz Detectors

Ongoing
DARPA has been interested in the development of cooled detector systems (infrared and terahertz) that require less than 1 W of input power (battery operated) and have a total volume less than about 4 cm 3. Such systems could be used for detection of enemy missile launches (infrared), chemical
A stainless steel micro tensile specimen in a silicon frame.

Microsystems for Harsh Environment Testing

Completed
Classically, measurement of the mechanical properties and reliability of bulk-scale materials is performed with macroscopic specimens and methods. Specimen preparation limitations, miniaturized load-frame tooling problems, and inadequate understanding of the roles of specimen size and constraint on
Nanoparticle Metrology

Nanoparticle Metrology in Complex Cellular Environments

Completed
Nanoparticle interactions with individual cells. Existing techniques to evaluate nanoparticle incorporation include ICP-AES or ICP-MS, which atomize entire samples (thousands of cells) and detect nanoparticles by quantifying the elemental composition. Bulk techniques provide general trends averaged