Materials Science

CERCL researchers focus each of the four major classes materials including polymers, metals, ceramics and composites.  Our research involves both processing and structure/property relationships.   We are interested in polymer extrusion, hydrometallurgy, and the compounding of polymer composites.  We are interested in thermal, mechanical and electrical properties of materials.  Some individual projects are as follows:

  • Production and properties of wood fibre reinforced polymers
  • Image monitoring of polymer processing
  • Production of catalytic amorphous alloys
    We do contract research and testing and have access to the wide range of testing facilities available within the university.

 

Facilities

  • In-line monitoring of polymer processing using fibre-optic spectrometers and cameras which essentially act as an “eyeball on the equipment”. The large volume of images generated by this monitoring elicits a need for data-mining, that is, using automated methods of analyzing the images.
  • We have 2 polymer extruders with in-line polymer melt monitoring equipment.
  • We have access to a wide range of static and dynamic mechanical testers, viscoelastic characterization equipment, impact and fracture mechanics testing, polymer rheology equipment, etc.   
  • We also have a large number of microscopes of various types available.