Contact Us
Diana Rhoads
Materials Science Center
Room 264, Materials Science and Engineering Building
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: 608/263-1795
Fax: 608/262-8353
Email: rhoads@engr.wisc.edu
Web: msc.engr.wisc.edu
Materials Science Center
The Materials Science Center (MSC) provides instrumentation and expertise for the characterization of materials and nanostructures. The MSC:
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Provides state-of-the-art instrumentation, support facilities, and expert technical assistance for research and education in materials.
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Serves the needs of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the state of Wisconsin, and the nation.
Faculty and staff with diverse expertise use the center and are available to help solve materials-related problems.
The MSC serves a diverse audience representing over 40 departments and 5 colleges at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the last two years, the MSC has created two specialized laboratories and a center within the MSC to serve an expanded need on campus an in the Madison Area for dedicated facilities.The central MSC facility has provided materials researchers and industrial clients with electron microscopy imaging and analytical analysis, surface analysis and x-ray diffraction serves for over 25 years. It houses four scanning electron microscopes and three transmission electron microscopes, multiple x-ray diffractometers, two surface analysis instruments, and an atomic force microscope. Recent acquisitions include a dual-beam focused ion beam instrument, a scanning confocal micro-Raman spectrometer, and a small-angle x-ray diffractometer.
A new center, the Wisconsin Microscopy and Characterization Center (WMCC) is housed in the Materials Science Center (MSC). The WMCC provides instrumentation and expertise for the characterization of nanostructures in biological samples and other soft materials such as polymers. Instrumentation consists of the LEO 912 energy filtered transmission electron microscope (EFTEM), recently refurbished and equipped for CryoTEM. Sample preparation equipment includes an FEI Vitrobot CEVS system and a new Leica cryoultramicrotome. The MSC and WMCC are committed to continue to expand services to biological users as part of its mission as the UW-Madison’s largest imaging and characterization facility. In addition to the biological specimen preparation and the biological applications of IICF instruments such as the confocal Micro-Raman, we plan to add a confocal microscope/AFM combination, and EM tomographic capabilities for imaging biological imaging specimens in the near future.
The Soft Materials Laboratory (SML) located in Engineering Hall is dedicated to polymer synthesis and characterization of physical and mechanical properties of polymers.
The Characterization Laboratory for Irradiated Materials (CLIM) located in the Engineering Research Building is dedicated to the preparation and analytical microscopy of irradiated materials. The laboratory contains a unique accelerator facility for surface analysis and irradiation.
Other Campus Resources for
Microscopy and Characterization
- Biological and Biomaterials Preparation, Imaging and Characterization Laboratory (BBPIC)
- Laboratory for Optical and Computational Instrumentation (LOCI)
- Microscopy facilities
- Chemistry department facilities
- Geology department facilities
- MRSEC facilities
- NSEC facilities
Microscopy Societies
TYPICAL APPLICATIONS
Leica EM UC7 Ultramicrotome
The Leica EM UC7 Ultramicrotome is used in the preparation of ultra-thin sections of soft material and biological samples for transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) characterization.