University of Manchester Installs New Ultra-Powerful Microscope from FEI
The first of its kind in the UK, the Titan G2 80-200 S/TEM is capable of imaging the microstructure of materials at the atomic-scale.
Manchester, UK and Hillsboro, Ore.- The University of Manchester and FEI (NASDAQ: FEIC) are pleased to announce the installation of one of the world's most powerful high-resolution microscopes-the Titan(TM) G2 80-200 scanning transmission electron microscope (S/TEM)-at the University's School of Materials. The procurement of the new S/TEM from FEI was funded as part of an £8 million ($12.8 million USD) UK government investment for nuclear materials research at Manchester's Dalton Nuclear Institute.
The Titan G2 80-200 S/TEM will enable researchers to study the structure and elemental composition of materials at the atomic level, assisting them in building a greater understanding of their behavior and modification under certain conditions.
"The new Titan microscope will play a critical role in our work to ensure the optimum performance and reliability of materials used in nuclear power generation," stated Professor Grace Burke, director of the Materials Performance Centre (MPC), University of Manchester. "This research, primarily undertaken by the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (Nuclear AMRC) and the MPC at The University of Manchester, will have benefits throughout the civil nuclear power supply chain. For example, enhanced understanding of the effects of corrosion and irradiation embrittlement on reactor pressure vessel materials can be used to aid future manufacture and extend plant life. Similarly, the performance and longevity of cladding alloys for fuel rods may be optimized with increased knowledge of the effects of irradiation on the atomic structure and composition of materials."
The imaging capabilities of the Titan G2 80-200 S/TEM also bring new potential advantages for research on graphene, an area in which the School of Materials is highly active. Two University of Manchester scientists, Professor Andre Geim and Professor Kostya Novoselov, won the Nobel Prize in 2010 for their pioneering work with graphene-the world's thinnest material. The Titan microscope's high-angle, dark-field imaging capability can potentially enable the discovery of new information about the electrical properties of graphene.
According to Trisha Rice, FEI's Materials Science Business Unit vice president and general manager, "The installation of this ultra-high powered S/TEM system provides a significant new capability to support the diverse research activities both in energy and advanced materials development in the School of Materials at The University of Manchester. We look forward to the novel materials applications and developments that will be possible with this addition to the Electron Microscopy Centre."
For more information about the Titan G2 80-200 S/TEM, please visit: www.fei.com/products/transmission-electron-microscopes/titan/titan-g2-80-200.aspx.
About The University of Manchester
The University of Manchester, a member of the Russell Group, is one of the largest and most popular universities in the UK. It has 20 academic schools and hundreds of specialist research groups undertaking pioneering multi-disciplinary teaching and research of worldwide significance. According to the results of the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, The University of Manchester is one of the country's major research institutions, rated third in the UK in terms of 'research power'. The University had an annual income of £809 million in 2010/11.
About FEI
FEI (Nasdaq: FEIC) is a leading diversified scientific instruments company. It is a premier provider of electron- and ion-beam microscopes and solutions for nanoscale applications across many industries: industrial and academic materials research, life sciences, semiconductors, data storage, natural resources and more. With more than 60 years of technological innovation and leadership, FEI has set the performance standard in transmission electron microscopes (TEM), scanning electron microscopes (SEM) and DualBeams(TM), which combine a SEM with a focused ion beam (FIB). Headquartered in Hillsboro, Ore., USA, FEI has over 2,300 employees and sales and service operations in more than 50 countries around the world. More information can be found at: www.fei.com.
For more information contact:
The University of Manchester
Daniel Cochlin
Media Relations Officer
0161 275 8387
Daniel.cochlin@manchester.ac.uk
FEI Company
Sandy Fewkes (media contact)
MindWrite Communications, Inc
+1 408 224 4024
sandy@mind-write.com
