Xiaofeng Liu, PhD

TEMPR Lab & Me


Writing

Materials Thru Life

A Brief Intro of Each Instrument I manage

By Xiaofeng Liu published on May 24, 2025

DSC2500:         This thermal instrument measures materials phase transitions (e.g., ice melting) under controlled heating between -90 C and 400 C.

TG Libra:           This is one of the two TG instruments, part of the thermal instrument family. It measures how materials weight changes upon controlled heating from room temperature until 1100 C.

Q500 TGA:       Same function as TG Libra but is built by TA Instruments.

STA:                   This is the most capable thermal instrument in TEMPR Lab. It can measure phase transitions and weight changes at the same time while in-line mass spectrometry and FT-IR enable real-time analysis of gases generated during materials decomposition.

FlashSmart:      Elemental analysis of C, H, N, S, and O in organic compounds, commonly in quality control in pharmaceuticals.

ICP-MS:             Elemental analysis of almost all metal elements capable of measuring concentrations down to ppt. Essential tool for drinking water quality control and forensic toxicology.

easyXAFS:         Using X-ray to identify chemical environments of transition metal elements. Different elements under various chemical conditions absorb X-rays across different energies.

EDX07000:       Using X-ray induced fluorescence to identify and quantify metal elements within almost any materials in any form, from liquid water to a wedding ring.

Q800 DMA:      This unit measures delicate solid mechanical behaviors with deformation as small as a few micros unseeable with naked eyes.

Instron:             This mechanical measurement unit is capable of stretching or compress materials with up to 50,000 N of force. Current configurations are set for plastic materials with maximal force of 500 N.

3Flex:                This unit can measure surface areas and pore sizes of porous solid materials with pore sizes as small as a few angstroms.

AccuPyc:           This unit measures volumes of solid materials following the classic pressure-temperature-volume equation.

APC:                  This unit can measure particle sizes or polymer molecular weights including plastics, drug candidates, proteins, and other biomaterials.

Rheometer:     This instrument measures all kinds of flow behaviors of liquid materials. It is the essential tool for monitoring the quality of cosmetics, food items, paint, and almost any other liquid products you can think of.

I challenged myself to give a brief intro to each instrument in TEMPR Lab and here they are.

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