University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Center for Materials and Structures

Laboratory Facilities

Material Testing Equipment

  • Experienced with standard material characterization and component testing
    • Tension, compression, flexure, fatigue, shear, buckling, and impact testing
    • Test temperatures up to 1500°C
    • Axial forces ranging from 25 – 50,000 lb
    • Materials tested include steel alloys, titanium, ceramics, foams, polymer composites, additive manufactured materials, plastics, reinforced polymer concrete, dental materials, biological tissue, animal bones, pottery, springs, etc.
  • MTS Hydraulic Axial/Torsion Fatigue Test System
    • 250 kN (55,000 lb) capacity, 1000°C inert gas furnace, 2-zone heating capability
  • Instron Dynatup Instrumented Drop Weight Impact System
  • Charpy Pendulum Impact Tester (equipped with furnace)
  • 2-Stage Gas Gun for Ballistic Impact (.20-caliber and .375-caliber projectiles up to 7.5 km/s)
  • United Test Systems Electromechanical Test System, 25 kN (5,000 lb) capacity
  • Low Force Tensile Testing Machine for Biological Tissue and High Elongation Polymers
  • Biaxial Testing System for Tubular Biological Tissue
  • Vibration Research Electrodynamic Shaker

Manufacturing and Fabrication

  • Machine Shop Facilities
    • Center for Materials and Structures Dedicated Machining Equipment
      • Omio CNC Router/Mill/Engraver
      • Composite Tile Saw
    • TBE Engineering Machine Shop
      • HAAS 5-Axis CNC Mill; HAAS CNC Lathe; HAAS 3-axis Mill; HAAS Mini Mill; 3D Rapid Prototype Machine (2); Handheld 3D Scanner; Laser Etching; Welding Facilities; Hand Operated Mill & Lathe; Shear; Band Saw; Drill Press; Bead Blaster, etc.
    • SEB Research Machine Shop
      • CNC machining (Haas TL-2, Haas TM-2, Haas VF-3), MIG welder, Plasma cutter, TIG welder, Manual Machining (Bridgeport mill, Clausing-Colchester lathe, drill presses, Lagun lathe, Surface grinder, Cylinder grinder, Vertical and horizontal bandsaw, Other Machines (Water jet and Stratasys 3D Printer)
    • AEB Maker Space
      • Laser Cutters, FDM and SLA printers, High Precision Machining (Detailed List Coming Soon)
  • Additive Manufacturing (Equipment Located in TBE, SEB, and AEB)
    • Fused Deposition (FDM)
      • Stratasys Models: F170, F190CR, J5 Medical
        • Materials – ABS, FDM Nylon 12, PC-ISO, PPSF, ULTEM, Composite
        • Print area: up to 10 x 10 x 14 in.
        • Layer Thickness: 0.005 – 0.013 in.
      • Lulzbot: Taz Pro S, Taz 5, Taz 4 and Taz Mini (Dual filament extruder)
        • Materials – ABS, PLA, HIPS, PVA, Nylon, Ninjaflex
        • Print Area – 11.4 x 10.8 x 9.8 in.
        • Layer Thickness: 0.003 – 0.014 in.
      • Bambu Labs X1C Combo (2)
    • Binder Jet (Metal Printing)
      • Markforged Metal X (Dual filament extruder)
        • Materials: 17-4PH and 316L stainless steel, Copper, Inconel 625, H13 tool steel
        • Print Area – 11.8 x 8.7 x 7.1 in.
        • Layer Thickness: 0.002 in.
    • Formlabs Stereolithography (SLA)
      • Form 4, Form 3, and Form 2 printers
  • Polymer Composites Lab
    • Vacuum Wet Layup
    • Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding
    • Lab Scale Autoclave
      • 100 psi
      • 400 oF (200 C)
      • Part size roughly 18″ x 36″ (45 cm x 90 cm)

Robotics Prototyping

    • Mechanical Components Available for Assembly of Prototypes
      • Aluminum channel sections, flat plates, and bars (hole patterns for adaptable structures)
      • Gear sets (spur, worm, bevel, rack/pinion)
      • Linear slide and actuator mechanisms
      • Belt drives, variety of wheels and tires, pulleys, tank treads
    • Electrical Components Available for Assembly of Prototypes
      • DC motors and encoders
      • Servo motors
      • Variety of on-board motor controllers
      • Portable DC and servo motor controller for testing
      • Arduino and Lego NXT controllers
      • Sensors (IR, ultrasound, gyro, force, magnetic field, accelerometer, temperature, touch)
    • Computational Hardware and Software Experience
      • Recently upgraded Linux Server for parallel processing
      • 3D Modeling: SolidWorks; Creo, OnShape
      • Finite Element Analysis: LS-DYNA; ANSYS; Altair (HyperMesh, Inspire); AVL
      • • Metrology and Reverse Engineering: Verisurf
      • • Other: MATLAB; LabView
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