Overview

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Materials Characterization Division (MCD) offers comprehensive techniques and capabilities that are crucial to modern materials research and analysis to draw composition-structure-property correlations in ceramics, glass, metals, and composite materials important for both academic Institute and Industry. Facilities in MCD can provide information from the surface structure such as morphology / roughness, composition, the distribution and chemical state of elements, to the internal and local microstructure such as crystallographic structure, grain size and distribution, defects, precipitates, grain boundaries and interfaces down to atomic level in wide variety of materials. The Division houses various state-of-the-art instruments for characterizing various aspects of materials. These include Atomic and molecular spectroscopy based techniques like Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS), Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES), Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (FAAS), UV-Visible Spectrophotometry, x-ray based modern techniques like X-Ray Diffractometry (XRD), X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF), X-ray Photo-electron Spectroscopy (XPS), and modern analytical microscopy based techniques like High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM) and Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM).

There are various other instrumented characterization techniques like Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA), Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), dilatometry, rheometry, porosimetry, particle size analysis, etc. employed by the Division for characterization of the various thermo-physical properties of materials to contribute to the institute’s various R&D activities on wide variety of materials. The Division has a major activity through Analytical Chemistry Section for the development of analytical methods for chemical characterization of glass, ceramic and allied materials, metals and environmental samples related to all the projects of the institute as well as different glass, ceramic and other industries, universities, research organizations etc. Primary objective of Materials Characterization Division is to develop analysis tools and methodologies to promote multidisciplinary research for better understanding of composition-structure-properties correlation.

The Division also carries on a thin film deposition activity for developing and characterization of piezo-electric thin films for structural health monitoring application.

Material Characterization Division (MCD) is headed by Mr Ashim Kumar Chakraborty and has four sections:

1. Analytical Chemistry Section (ACS)
2. Electron Microscopy Section (EMS)
3. X-Ray Characterization Section (XRC)
4. Central Material Characterization Section (CMC)