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Materials Research Laboratory I

Location

The Materials Research Laboratory is located on the first floor of the Northern side of Stéfani Bldg.(Room S-110).

Personnel

Four Engineering Science and Materials faculty members are in charge of this laboratory:

Dr. Basir Shafiq:

Dr. Shafiq has over fifteen years of experience in the areas of impact and fatigue induced damage detection and analysis in alloys, polymers, polymer composites and cementitious materials. He also has a keen interest in computational stress and vibration analysis of machines and structures.

Dr. O. Marcelo Suárez:

Dr. Suárez's areas of expertise include solidification processes, heterogeneous nucleation in aluminum alloys, melt treatment of cast metals, processing of cast aluminum matrix composites, thermal analysis and microstructure characterization of cast irons, and solid state transformations in cast alloys and metallic matrix composites.

Dr. Oswald Uwakweh:

Boris Renteria

From Columbia, Boris is in charge of the maintenance of the Materials Laboratory following the regulations of security and sanity. He is also responsible of the maintenance of the laboratory equipment as well as the handling of reagents according to the directives of OSHA and EPA.

Ongoing Research

Dr. Shafiq is currently involved in the following projects:

  • Reliability and lifetime assessment of sandwich composites under repeated slamming.
  • Impact and post impact survivability of sandwich composites used in ship hulls.
  • Progressive damage assessment in sandwich composites using finite element computational techniques.
  • Development of an innovative vibration based high cycle fatigue testing methodology.
  • Design, fabrication and analysis of a novel thermoplastic web mold concrete confinement for enhanced seismic tolerance.

Dr. Suárez's ongoing research involves the following projects:

  • Study of novel aluminum matrix composites reinforced with borides, their solidification, microstructures, and heat treatment by means of thermal analysis, image analysis, and corrosion tests.
  • Cast iron microstructures and thermal analysis. Effect of post-inoculation additions on ductile iron properties. Chilling tendency in cast irons. Prediction of properties based on computer and statistical modeling.
  • Materials recycling. Alternative applications to recycled materials. Technological and environmental issues.

Equipment located in Stéfani S-110

·    MTS 22 klbs capacity uniaxial universal testing machine retrofitted with Instron electronics

·    MTS 22 klbs capacity uniaxial universal testing machine (to be operational soon)

·    MTS 50 klbs capacity uniaxial universal testing machine with furnaces for creep tests (awaiting overhaul)

·    Physical Acoustics Acoustic Emission workstation

·    Gaertner traveling microscope with 20x Nikon lens and Pixelink digital camera

·    Buehler Ecomet 3 automatic polishing unit

·    1,200 cubic feet low vaccum glove box for powder processing

·    Allied High Tech TechCut 5 high speed metallographic cutting machine

·    Buehler Isomet low speed cutting machine

·    Two Romanoff 200g capacity electrical resistance furnaces

·    Thermolyne 47900 muffle furnace

·    Romanoff centrifugal casting machine

·    Sartorius T212 balance with two density determination kits

·    Fritsch Pulverisette 4 varioplanetary mill

·    Romanoff low vacuum casting and investment table unit

In addition the following units are under the responsibility of this lab managers:

·    Benchtop Dayton drill press (Stéfani S-107)

·    Qualitest 400 J motorized impact testing machine (Civil Engineering Materials Laboratory)

FoContact: r fuDr. Basir Shafiq or Dr. O. Marcelo Suárez.


Teléfono: (787) 832-4040, Extensión: 3336, 2398
Fax: (787) 265-3816
Correo-e: ciym@uprm.edu		 Department of Material Sciences and Materials,
Stefani Building, Office 601
PO Box 9044, Mayagüez PR 00681-9044