INL unveils a new electron microscope and 3D printer for collaborative research projects
IDAHO FALLS – The Idaho National Laboratory’s Center for Advanced Energy Studies in Idaho Falls held a ribbon-cutting and open house this week for two new pieces of equipment.
One piece of equipment includes a scanning transmission electron microscope, while the other is a metal 3D printer that can produce structural materials for extreme environments.
These devices will be used primarily to collaborate research projects between the CAES (Boise State University), Idaho State University and University of Idaho.
Marianne Walck, deputy laboratory director for science and technology at the INL, tells EastIdahoNews.com the microscope will be used for “atomistic level imaging of materials” at “unprecedented levels” of resolution.
“We can use it for (research) in nuclear energy or for more general purposes. The idea is to understand fundamental properties of materials — they could be natural or manufactured materials — so that you understand how it’s going to behave when you’re using it,” Walck says.
This type of research can impact multiple industries and may have an impact on how certain products are made.
The microscope can see things up to 50 micrometres in size. One picometre is equal to one trillionth of a meter, so it’s very tiny.
Some of the materials that will be analyzed with the microscope will be irradiated, which is why it’s housed in a microscopy suite.
The microscope, which costs $5 million, was funded internally by the INL and has been in production since 2019.
The 3D printer is used to produce electronics that can withstand extreme temperature. To test the melting points of different metals, researchers will use the 3D printer to create sensors.
“When you’re in some of these hostile environments, it’s really hard to put sensors in there because it gets destroyed. These are sensors that are actually meant to be destroyed, but you have to make them,” says Walck.
The CAES printer is different from other 3D printers in that it can make electronic devices out of metal, ceramic, and other powders.
CAES Associate Director Dave Estrada says silver is currently the only metallic particle that’s commercially available for this type of project, and the goal is to expand the variety of inks that can be used to make metal sensors.
“Silver is a good conductor, and for most applications, that works okay. However, if you put these electronics into a nuclear reactor, you will encounter limitations with radioactivity, melting point, and other things. This lab is equipped to make custom inks. We can make conductor, semiconductor, and insulatorinks. That way, you have all the elements to print electronics,” Estrada says.
But, like the microscope, the 3D printer isn’t just for nuclear projects. It’s used for a wide variety of research projects.
“We actually have a program at Boise State to develop these materials so you can print electronics on the space station. There are a lot of failures of electronics on the space station and there’s no way to repair them. So if we can give them their own library of inks they can do their own circuit board repairs,” says Estrada.
2024 is the date for a demonstration of the 3D printing system on the space station.
The U.S. Department of Energy has granted $1 million for the CAES 3D printer project. It’s been in the works for about seven years.
Walck is “extremely excited” to have these pieces of equipment in an open building on the INL campus in Idaho Falls, which will allow easy access for students and researchers to work together on collaborative projects.
“We strive to have the three universities working together. Universities don’t always work together. Sometimes, there is competition (between them),” Walck says. “That (kind of collaboration) is what CAES was envisioned to be back when it started more than 10 years ago. That’s what we’re continuing to (do).”
