Product category:
R&D, Test and Evaluation Services
News Release from: Aston University
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 14 November 2007
Research and analysis on surfaces
The Surface Science Group at Aston University has recently purchased two new state-of-the art surface analytical instruments for probing the outer layers of the surfaces of solids
Part of the allocation from the Science Research Investment Fund (SRIF) to the Surface Science Group (under the guidance of Professor John Sullivan) in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Aston University provided around GBP700,000 funding for the instruments, which have given Aston the most modern surface analysis instruments available in the world today The instruments acquired by the Surface Science Group are a Thermo Fisher ESCALAB 250 imaging X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometer (XPS) and a Thermo Fisher MICROLAB 350 imaging Auger Electron Spectrometer (AES)
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 2 Oct 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Engineering scholarships offered for MSc courses
The School of Engineering and Applied Science at Aston University is offering a limited number of scholarships to support postgraduate engineering students who possess great potential and talent
Get 13 top automation facts from ABB
Automation World News looks at the big issues for process engineers, such as the challenges facing today's production companies, and is essential reading for automation professionals
New catalogue for ABB Instrumentation Alliance
ABB has released an updated version of its Assist Direct Instrumentation Catalogue to reflect the expanded product offering now available through the ABB Instrumentation Alliance network
Prof Sullivan explained: 'Surface analysis is concerned with the study and measurement of the physical, chemical and compositional properties of the first one to ten atomic layers.
It is the surface which forms the boundary between the environment and/or other materials in contact with that solid".
Thus the composition and structure of these outermost layers have a profound effect on the properties and performance of materials and systems in an increasingly wide range of technological and nano-technological applications.
"Instruments such as these have proved invaluable in the examination, characterisation and understanding of the surface properties of metals, glasses, ceramics, polymers and biological materials and in the study of processes such as adhesion, corrosion, oxidation, biological interactions and drug delivery systems".
The ESCALAB uses a monochromatic X-ray beam to probe the surfaces and gives information and images of the chemical state of atoms in that surface.
The MICROLAB uses a very finely focused electron beam to probe the surface.
The instruments will be used by the Surface Science Group in its present research on nano materials and systems, but should also have much wider use for research within the University.
'We hope that other research groups at Aston will take advantage of the opportunity to use the best surface analytical instrumentation in the UK today.
We would also like to help industry with current problems in the development of new products and processes, and also attract new industrially funded research programmes,' explained Prof Sullivan.
The new instruments will also be used in the work of a new company established by the University called Midland Surface Analysis, which will serve the needs of regional, national and international industry.
• Aston University: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Processingtalk email newsletter
• Processingtalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
