The Critical Materials Institute as of December 2019 had these unique facilities available for additional research and collaboration.
- High-Throughput Capabilities at Ames Laboratory
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The High-Throughput Capabilities available at Ames Laboratory include: Combinatorial synthesis: Optomec LENS system with 1 kW laser and 4 powder feeders; 2 multi-gun magnetron sputtering systems Chemical and structural characterization: Bruker D8 XRD with energy sensitive strip detector and 30 sample auto-changer; Bruker micro-XRF with 30 micron spot size Magnetic and thermal properties: Versa Labs VSM with six sample auto-changer; Netzsch DSC/DTGA with 19 sample auto-changer. For more information on using these high-throughput tools, contact Ryan Ott at the Ames Laboratory, at rtott@ameslab.gov or 515-294-3616.
- Pilot-Scale Separations Test Bed Facility
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The Pilot-Scale Separations Test Bed Facility is one of more than a dozen unique facilities developed by the Critical Materials Institute, an Energy Innovation Hub of the U.S. Department of Energy. Noting that the CMI Grand Challenges include separating rare earth elements from each other, the Critical Materials Institute established a pilot-scale chemical separations facility at Idaho National Laboratory. This enables the rapid development testing and scale-up of new extractant systems that are developed in our research programs. It allows testing of processes that have up to 30 stages of mixer-settler units, and has a total throughput of up to two hundred milliliters per minute (200 mL/min). It is fully compatible with feedstocks dissolved in any of the acids commonly used in industrial processes. This facility supports the efforts of diversifying supply and reuse and recycling. To explore additional use of the pilot-scale separations test bed facility, contact Kevin Lyon at Idaho National Laboratory or 208-526-4455.
- Filtration Test Facility
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The Filtration Test Facility is one of more than a dozen unique facilities developed by the Critical Materials Institute, an Energy Innovation Hub of the U.S. Department of Energy. The chemical separation of materials is often water-intensive. It is important to establish filtration methods that are both efficient and environmentally sound. Mineral processing streams are particularly challenging because of their highly abrasive solids contents and delicate filtration media are often protected by stainless steel screens. CMI has established a facility at Idaho National Laboratory that is customizable for testing both flat sheet and tubular stainless steel (SS) membranes and is able to handle abrasive high-solids streams. The system is capable of using small samples sizes (3 – 10 liters) and temperatures up to 80°C, consistent with typical industrial processes. It allows researchers to test different filtration media and cell designs, assessing the effectiveness of different pore sizes and surface coatings. This facility primarily supports the efforts of diversifying supply and reuse and recycling, and it addresses the grand challenge of developing technologies for separating the rare earth elements. For more information, and to explore using the filtration test facility, please contact John Klaehn at Idaho National Laboratory, 208-526-5238.
- Bulk Combinatoric Materials Synthesis Facility
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The Bulk Combinatoric Materials Synthesis Facility is one of more than a dozen unique facilities developed by the Critical Materials Institute, an Energy Innovation Hub of the U.S. Department of Energy. Combinatoric studies of materials involve the creation of samples with varying composition, allowing the researcher to find the optimum combination of elements to produce a desired set of properties. The method has been pursued extensively using thin-film techniques, but some properties – magnetism being a prominent example – are profoundly altered if the material is in the form of a thin film. CMI researchers at the Ames Laboratory have adapted an additive manufacturing tool (sometimes known as a “3-D printer”) to produce arrays of bulk specimens of controlled composition, under computer control. Combined with rapid analysis tools, this will enable high-throughput searches for alternatives to critical materials. This facility primarily supports the efforts of developing substitutes and has potential uses in crosscutting research, and it addresses the grand challenge of accelerating the development of new materials. For more information on using the bulk combinatoric materials synthesis facility, contact Ryan Ott at the Ames Laboratory, at rtott@ameslab.gov or 515-294-3616.
- Rapid Analysis of Combinatoric Sample Arrays
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The Rapid Analysis of Combinatoric Sample Arrays is one of more than a dozen unique facilities developed by the Critical Materials Institute, an Energy Innovation Hub of the U.S. Department of Energy. Combinatorial ‘libraries’ of newly synthesized experimental compounds are assessed in a facility at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL). Serving three Energy Innovation Hubs – Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), and CMI – this facility provides simultaneous high-speed x-ray diffraction (for structure determination) and x-ray fluorescence (for chemical composition). science equipment Using a furnace built by the Ames Laboratory, sample arrays can be heated up to 1100°C in a controlled environment to simulate manufacturing processes, while collecting concurrent structural and chemical data for as many as 2,500 distinct compositions, in less than 5 seconds per sample. This can be compared with data acquisition times ranging up to several hours per composition, using conventional methods. This facility primarily supports the efforts of developing substitutes and has potential uses in crosscutting research, and it addresses the grand challenge of accelerating the development of new materials. For more information, and to explore using the rapid analysis of combinatoric sample arrays, contact Ryan Ott at the Ames Laboratory or 515-294-3616, or Matt Kramer at the Ames Laboratory 515-294-0276.
- Ferromagnetic Materials Characterization Facility
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The Ferromagnetic Materials Characterization Facility is one of more than a dozen unique facilities developed by the Critical Materials Institute, an Energy Innovation Hub of the U.S. Department of Energy. equipment in the ferromagnetic materials characterization facility at Ames LaboratoryIn the search for substitute materials to replace rare earths in permanent magnets, whenever promising materials are identified, either through theoretical predictions or combinatoric experiments, it is necessary to grow single-phase and single-crystal specimens for detailed testing. CMI has established new facilities at the Ames Laboratory that provide crystal growth furnaces and high temperature magnetic property testing. This facility supports the efforts to develop substitutes and crosscutting research, and also addresses the grand challenge of accelerating the discovery of new materials. For more information, and to explore using the ferromagnetic materials characterization facility, please contact Paul Canfield at the Ames Laboratory, canfield@ameslab.gov or 515-294-6270.
- Thermal Analysis in High Magnetic Fields
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The ability to measure Thermal Analysis in High Magnetic Fields is one of more than a dozen unique facilities developed by the Critical Materials Institute, an Energy Innovation Hub of the U.S. Department of Energy. CMI researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are able to measure materials over a wider range of conditions because they adapted commercial thermal analysis components to be compatible with high magnetic fields and radio frequency induction heating. Thermal analysis of materials at high temperatures and high magnetic fields will provide valuable information and will guide efforts to create strong permanent magnets that use less of the critical rare earth elements. This facility supports the CMI efforts of developing substitutes, and addresses the grand challenge of accelerating the discovery of new materials. For more information, and to explore using thermal analysis in high magnetic fields facility, please contact Michael McGuire at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, mcguirema@ornl.gov or 865-574-5496.
Additional CMI facilities noted without further description
- Improved criticality assessment capacity
- Thin-film combinatoric library production facility
- Electrophoretic deposition capability
- Toxicology test capability
- Rapid magnetic property assessment
- Rapid thermodynamic property assessment
- Micro-x-ray fluorescence analysis capability
- Metal reduction capabilities
- Robotic high-throughput catalyst development system
Also, CMI supports research at other facilities that is used in a unique way. This includes a research project that was featured on the cover of Nanotechnology: A high-throughput investigation of Fe–Cr–Al as a novel high-temperature coating for nuclear cladding materials 