Advanced Materials Characterisation Facility (AMCF)

Western Sydney University has an Advanced Materials Characterisation Facility (AMCF) that is home to a suite of state-of-the-art instruments for materials characterisation. The AMCF specialises in assisting researchers, students and industry with material analysis and characterisation.

Instruments

The AMCF has a wide variety of instruments for material and biological characterisation, including:

  • SEM JEOL 7001F (FEGSEM and EDS microanalysis)
  • SEM JEOL 6510 LV (Low Vacuum with EDS microanalysis)
  • SEM JEOL 840 (SEM, EDS and X-Ray Mapping)
  • JEOL EM Probe 8600 (EDS, WDS and XRM)
  • Bruker D8 Advance Powder Diffractometer(XRD) with High Temperature stage and grazing incidence
  • Digital Nanoscope III AFM (Atomic Force Microscope)
  • Thermal Characterisation Instrumentation
    - TGA/DSC- Netzsch STA449C Jupiter
    - Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)-Netzsch 204 F1 Phoenix
    - Simultaneous evolving gas analysis by infrared spectroscopy and TGA/DSC (Netzsch 449C Jupiter & Bruker Vertex 70)
  • Surface Area and Porosity Analyser(Micromeritics ASAP 2020)
  • Vibrational Spectroscopy (FTIR and Raman)
    - Mid infrared microscope Hyperion 1000 attached to the Bruker Vertex 70 spectrometer.
    - Hybrid Fourier Transform/Dispersive Raman microscope Bruker Ramanscope III Senterra
    - Combined Fourier Transform Infrared/Raman spectrometer Bruker Vertex 70 & RamII Module
  • Sample preparation equipment (Grinding and Polishing)
  • Optical Imaging
  • Coating Systems (Carbon, Gold, Iridium and Chromium)

The AMCF instruments can been used for:

  • The characterisation of materials and biological structures at the micro and nano scales (Imaging and Analysis)
  • Identify elements & compounds
  • Characterise chemical composition (X-ray analysis and mapping)
  • Thermal analysis
  • Identification of organic and inorganic compounds

The AMCF offers:

  • Access to state-of-the-art expertise and instrumentation
  • Research support
  • Training in use of instrumentation
  • Range of short course and workshops. These include SEM, EDS, XRM, XRD, Raman, Thermal Characterisation and Instrumentation Maintenance
  • Contract research and development
  • Grant aided research
  • Testing services
  • Fee for service and direct access (priority access is available to industry on request)

The AMCF is located at the Parramatta South Campus.