Spring 2008, Vol. 5, Issue 1

New Hope Center laboratories — focus on discovery

A thermal mechanical analyzer probe measures the coefficient of thermal expansion of a ceramic.

Some of Y‑12's liveliest research takes place in the New Hope Center (NHC) laboratories. All of the research is unclassified and nonradiological, and visitors have a new window of opportunity to see experiments in progress. Here's a glimpse at four of the labs.

Compatibility and Surveillance Forensic Analysis Lab

This 900-square-foot lab is genuinely “a world-class facility,” said Applied Technologies (AT) chemist Ashley Stowe. He and AT research colleagues Daniel Brasfield and Elena Garlea, along with AT Technical Manager Jonathan Morrell, are exuberant about the test-and-evaluation equipment, all modified to benefit Y‑12's mission.

The half-million-dollar lab provides a crisp, clean, fluid environment to accommodate changing demands, said Morrell. Furnishings include tables on casters for flexible lab rearrangements, adjustable shelving, multiple electrical outlets, heat and air-conditioning controls for temperature-sensitive experiments, great lighting, new gloveboxes with inert gas, and hood ventilation with deionized water, various gases and vacuum.

Equipment includes a Keyence 3-D digital microscope, a thermal mechanical analyzer, a dynamic vapor sorption instrument and an atomic force microscope. A $75,000 mobile vacuum unit that integrates a turbomolecular pumping station with a mass spectrometer is being designed so containers can be analyzed for leaks, noted Brasfield, an analytical chemist. Additional items are moving in, including a controlled moisture blending system and outgassing stations for compatibility and aging experiments.

With so much state-of-the-art equipment, “we all can learn a variety of characterization methods,” said Stowe. There's “an interdisciplinary approach to problem solving. We learn from one another.” Restrictions against classified and radiological work mean outside visitors have more ready access. As vendors tend to equipment, they can use their cell phones to call company headquarters, which facilitates troubleshooting. The lab's convenience is also ideal for training and workshops.

New hires can learn about the Y‑12 mission and do research work while awaiting their clearances, added Garlea. A former student intern at Y‑12, she became an employee 18 months later, after obtaining her doctorate. She found the new high-tech NHC labs a significant plus.

“We've done a lot of work” since the facility opened last August, said Morrell. Ongoing projects include one with Purdue University on tool insert testing (funded by Plant Directed Research, Development and Demonstration) and outgassing studies (funded by Enhanced Surveillance Campaigns). Complementary Work, Cooperative Research and Development Agreement projects and other forensic-analyses tasks, along with two summer interns, are expected.

Everyone agreed the new facilities could be a significant enticement to prospective employees, postdocs, interns and co-ops. Morrell said, “It's good to be able to show off our new capabilities.”

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