After the facility in Graz, Austria, this is the second in Europe latest generation analytical electron microscope (third in the world operates in the U.S.). Titan Cubed G-2 60-300 magnifies the test material by up to three million times and is equipped with a unique X-ray detector.
The microscope, worth more than PLN 15 million, is 3.7 in height and with all accessories weighs 3.5 tons. It is located in a specially adapted room, whose foundations isolate vibrations, and the body protects from impurities. The laboratory is also shielded from magnetic field, and cooling panels allow to maintain constant temperature and humidity parameters. The university spent about PLN 5 million on laboratories and room equipment. Purchase of the microscope itself was funded by EU structural funds.
"If we examine macrocosm with Hubble telescope, we use this microscope to study the microcosm. We study nanostructures on atomic scale. Since the structure affects properties, knowing it we can control the properties of materials" - explained Prof. Aleksandra Czyrska - Filemonowicz, from the Department of Metallurgy and Powder Metallurgy AGH, and head of the International Centre of Electron Microscopy for Materials Engineering at AGH.
"This is another step we take to become one of the best universities in Europe. We wish to conduct research at the highest level and for that we have excellent staff " - said AGH Rector Prof. Antoni Tajduś. "Today, without equipment nothing can be done in technical fields. Only high quality equipment allows testing at the appropriate level, and only with it we can function in the world" - said Dean of the Faculty of Metals Engineering and Industrial Computer Science, Prof. Mirosław Karbowniczek.
The new microscope can be used to study all solids including ceramic materials, metal alloys, composites, semiconductors, fibres, tissue, graphene. Material samples are prepared in the laboratory and previously viewed under a different microscope - scanning electron microscope with an ionic liquid.
"Titan Cubed G-2 60-300 is so unique, because it allows us to see not only single atoms, but also tell, where each atom is. This is important because modern materials engineering deals with development of microstructures and properties of materials at the atomic level" - said Dr. Beata Dubiel form the International Centre of Electron Microscopy.
The results from the microscope will be used in various fields of research, , mainly in studies of micro- and nanostructures, elements necessary to build computer processors, medical implants and jet engines.
The modern microscope also will benefit scientists from other Polish centres, which sign a contract with AGH.
PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland
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2012-05-01