Facilities

Scanning Acoustic Microscope (SAM)

The Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of South Carolina (USC) has allocated important resources for the development of i-MAPS. The laboratory has the state-of-the-art customized Scanning Acoustic Microscope (SAM) 300 manufactured by PVA TePla, Germany. The SAM can also be used for through scan immersion scanner. The frequency range for this equipment is 500 KHz - 400 MHz.Characterization of engineering materials (metals and composites), failure analysis of electronic chips (finding failure modes in electronic packaging), characterizing thin films, photovoltaic,MEMS devices, mechanical property determination of biological tissues and cluster of cells can be performed using SAM 300.

NI PXI System, DAQ and Function Generator

The i-MAPS laboratory is equipped with

  • NI PXI-5412, 100 MS/s Arbitrary Waveform Generator
  • 14-bit, 8 MB, NI PXI-5105, 8-ch, 60 MS/s Digitizer w/16 MB Onboard Memory
  • NI PXI-2570 40 Channel Form C Relay Module
  • Windows 7 32-Bit For NI PXI Embedded Controllers
  • NI PXI-8102 Celeron T3100 1.9 GHz Controller
  • Local OS housed in PXI-1036, 6-Slot 3U Chassis
  • LabWindows/CVI Full Dev.
  • Tektronix TDS 2004C 4 Ch. Oscilloscope
  • Tektronix AFG 3021C 2 Ch. Function Generator

Laboratory for Adaptive Materials and Smart Structures (LAMSS)

Prof. Sourav Banerjee is affiliated with the LAMSS.Complete information about this laboratory is available at the LAMSS website http://www.me.sc.edu/research/lamss/. This laboratory has been equipped with over $100,000 worth of state of the art specialized equipment for performing active materials and smart structures research. LAMSS laboratory resources consist of:

  • A complement of standard laboratory equipment including signal generators, amplifiers, digital oscilloscopes, multimeters, LVDT and optical displacement transducers, etc.
  • Laboratory PC's equipped with GPIB and DAQ cards and LabView and MATLAB software
  • HP 4194A Impedance Analyzer
  • Cypher Instruments C-60 impedance module, suitable for portable field operations
  • Piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) of various sizes. Adhesives, connectors, and environmental protection materials for structural installation
  • Piezoelectric and magnetostrictive actuators of various sizes, and high voltage amplifiers
  • Ultrasonic inspection equipment consisting of a GE Parametricspulser/receiver and several
  • Ultrasonic transducers in the range 0.5-50 MHz

Mechanical

Center for Mechanics and Materials and NDE in the Department of Mechanical Engineering has following facilities

  • Three MTS hydraulic tension testing systems with specialized software for fatigue testing
  • One Instron hydraulic testing system with Centorr vacuum furnace
  • Two single-axis MTS vibration table
  • Dynamic test equipment capable of impact loading of materials at speeds up to 180 mph
  • Thermotron environmental chamber capable of temperature, humidity, boil, freeze/thaw
  • Weatherometer chamber for intense ultraviolet and humidity aging exposure

MTS tensile test machines

  1. MTS 810 capable of static and cyclic loadings up to 500kN
  2. Instron 8501 capable of up to 10 Hz cyclic loading for fatigue testing
  3. MTS equipped with ATS3710 oven can perform tensile test at temperature between -300F and 800F

Environmental testing equipments in the University of South Carolina

  1. Thermotron SE-300
  2. Atlas Weather-ometer and
  3. Humboldt EC3400 rapid freeze-thaw cabinet

The Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of South Carolinahas a fabrication facility. Details are available at http://www.me.sc.edu/machine_shop.html.