Advanced Materials Characterisation Facility (AMCF)

Western Sydney University's Advanced Materials Characterisation Facility (AMCF) 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.

The AMCF is located at the Parramatta South Campus.

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)
  • Identifying elements & compounds
  • Characterising 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)