Advanced Materials Research Facility

What the facility does

Accelerated development of advanced engineered materials and processing technologies and their commercialization into disruptive new products

Areas of expertise

The focus of the Advanced Materials Research Facility is accelerated discovery, maturation, and transition to industry of disruptive new engineered materials for a range of industry sectors. Our team of research professionals in chemistry, materials science, engineering, AI (artificial intelligence), robotics and technology transfer addresses common challenges in materials development and commercialization through research and technology development (R&TD), spanning 3 core platform technologies:

Accelerated materials discovery and process development, including computational materials discovery, design and process simulation, high-throughput materials characterization and shared materials databases
Production scale-up, demonstration and standardization, including materials and process standards development, materials synthesis, and design and demonstration of multifunctional materials and devices
Materials and process sustainability and safety, including materials and product life cycle assessment, health and environmental impacts and mitigation and accelerated aging of materials and devices

We currently apply these platforms to clean energy materials, novel materials for additive manufacturing, and smart and multi-functional materials and structures.

Research services

Materials characterization, including advanced spectroscopy (XANES, EXAFS, diffraction) nanoindentation, static and fatigue performance
Development of automated synthesis and characterization tools
Development of artificial-intelligence-based materials discovery tools and platforms
Development, synthesis, and characterization of metallic, ceramic and composite powders
Development and optimization of electrochemical processes, including cell and catalyst design and engineering
Architected lattice material design, topology optimization, and production of multifunctional metamaterials

Sectors of application

Aerospace and satellites

Automotive

Chemical industries

Clean technology

Defence and security industries

Energy (renewable and fossil)

Information and communication technologies and media

Manufacturing and processing

Mining, minerals and metals

Transportation

Utilities

Specialized labs and equipment

Specialized Lab	Equipment	Function
Characterization Laboratory	Anton Paar ChemStar TPx Chemisorption Analyzer	Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) Chromatography; gas adsorption isotherm/surface area measurement
Characterization Laboratory	Agilent Cary 630 FTIR-ATR Spectrometer	Fourier Transform Infrared/Attenuated Total Reflectance (FTIR-ATR) Spectroscopy; infrared adsorption/emission for chemical/functional group identification
Characterization Laboratory	Sigray QuantumLeap XAS X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy System	Fluorescence/transmission mode XANES/EXAFS lab-scale instrumentation
Characterization Laboratory	Surface Measurement Systems iGC-SEA	Inverse Gas Chromatograph (iGC)-Surface Energy Analyzer (SEA); surface analysis
Characterization Laboratory	Anton Paar UNHT³Nanoindenter	High resolution nano-mechanical testing platform/mapping of mechanical properties at sub-micron scale
Characterization Laboratory	Malvern Panalytical Mastersizer 3000 laser diffraction particle size distribution analyzer	Laser diffraction particle size analysis
Characterization Laboratory	NETZSCH STA 449 F5 Jupiter TGA-DSC-MS Simultaneous Thermal Analysis System	Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)/Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)/Mass Spectrometry (MS); thermochemical and spectroscopic analysis
Characterization Laboratory	Rigaku MiniFlex 6G X-ray diffractometer	X-ray diffraction spectroscopy; benchtop X-ray diffraction analyser for powders and films
Characterization Laboratory	cyberTECHNOLOGIES CT 300 Optical Profilometer	Nanoscale resolution characterization of surface features and roughness
High Bay	Tekna Tek-15 Lab scale induction plasma system, 15kW	Micro- and nano-metre scale powder synthesis
High Bay	ELBOW JET EJ-L3 Lab scale gas classifier powder classifier	Fine powder classification
High Bay	Elcan Hi-Sifter 15-inch/400mm diameter powder screening system	Powder classification
High Bay	Granutools suite (GranuCharge, GranuDrum and GranuPack)	Characterization of powder electrostatic, density and rheology
High Bay	MaxSphere 20 Litre Max Mixer	Powder mixer
Wet / Dry Chemistry Laboratory	BioLogic 20A model MG#5 Potentiostat/Galvanostat	High Current Electrochemical testing
Wet / Dry Chemistry Laboratory	BioLogic Multichannel 20A VMP3 Potentiostat/Galvanostat	Research-grade multi-channel potentiostat
Wet / Dry Chemistry Laboratory	BioLogic 6-Channel Standard VSP-300 Potentiostat/Galvanostat	Research-grade multi-channel potentiostat
Wet / Dry Chemistry Laboratory	BioLogic 2x 1-Channel Standard SP-150 Potentiostat/Galvanostat	Research grade single-channel potentiostate
Wet / Dry Chemistry Laboratory	Espec BTL-433 Benchtop Temperature and Humidity Chamber	Benchtop environmental test chamber with temperature (-20C to 180C) and humidity (10 to 95% RH) cycling
Wet / Dry Chemistry Laboratory	SRI 8610C-0571 MultiGas Analyzer	Gas chromatography; gas analysis, including CO2, H2, CO and hydrocarbons up to C6.
Wet / Dry Chemistry Laboratory	Intamsys Funmat HT Enhanced High temperature FFF 3D printer	Fused filament fabrication (FFF); extrusion 3D printer for manufacturing with high performance engineering thermoplastics (PEEK, PPSU, PEI, etc.)
Wet / Dry Chemistry Laboratory	Hyrel 3D System 30M Multimaterial Extrusion 3D printer	Direct-ink-writing (DIW), filament extrusion and tool-changing 3D printer for manufacturing with pastes, emulsions, polymers, and laser processing
Wet / Dry Chemistry Laboratory	Metrohm 874 Oven Sample Processor	Quantitative moisture analysis
Wet / Dry Chemistry Laboratory	Instron 5969 Load Frame, 50kN	Universal mechanical testing system for tension, compression, flexure, shear, fracture toughness tests
Wet / Dry Chemistry Laboratory	North Robotics Materials Acceleration Platform Solution Chemistry / Electrochemistry System (Custom built)	Modular automated liquid handling, electrochemical analysis, and elemental identification platform
Wet / Dry Chemistry Laboratory	Formlabs Form 3L SLA 3D Printer	Stereolithography (SLA) Resin 3D printer; Vat polymerization 3D printers for manufacturing parts with high resolution features, and experimental thermosetting resin chemistries
Wet / Dry Chemistry Laboratory	Asiga PRO 4K80 DLP Resin 3D Printer	Digital Light Processing (DLP) Resin 3D printer (open materials system)
Wet / Dry Chemistry Laboratory	Original Prusa SL1 DLP 3D Printer	Masked Stereolithography (MSLA) Resin 3D printer (open materials system)
Wet / Dry Chemistry Laboratory	Peopoly Moai SLA Resin 3D Printer	Stereolithography (SLA) Resin 3D printer (open materials system)
Wet / Dry Chemistry Laboratory	Syft technologies Voice200 ultra SIFT-MS Mass Spectrometer	Selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS); Chemical ionization mass spectrometer with automated gas/liquid multi-sampling capabilities
Wet / Dry Chemistry Laboratory	TA instruments DHR-2 Liquid Rheometer	Viscosity of liquid, including accessories such as Peltier element and UV curing

Private and public sector research partners

Xerox Research Centre Canada
Natural Resources Canada
University of Toronto
University of Waterloo