SEAM is proud to secure €1.2m funding to establish Sustainable Materials Characterisation Laboratory (SML) under Enterprise Ireland’s 2023 Capital Fund programme administered through Technology Gateway Network and Technology Centre Programme.
SEAM’s new SML lab will have a suite of equipment comprising (i) High Temperature TGA-with GC-Mass Spectrometry (ii) Focal plan FTIR Microscopy with full mapping capabilities (iii) CHNSO analyser (iv) Dynamic Mechanical Analyser (v) BET surface area analyser (vi) Contact angle measurement kit for wettability determination. In addition, SEAM will also be procuring state of the art Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy.
As more and more companies are facing challenges of increasing costs of energy supplies, CO2 emission reduction requirements and difficulty in acquiring proper supply of raw materials, SEAM is endeavouring to support these companies in achieving their green transition by determining the best approach to use and reuse of materials more efficiently as well as minimising power consumption and CO2 emission. By examining how materials are utilised throughout their life cycle, the proposed Sustainable Materials Characterisation Laboratory will help companies reduce emissions.
Dr. Ramesh Raghavendra, SEAM Centre Director quoted, ‘our relentless effort to create materials characterisation infrastructure of excellence at SETU continues. Having established excellent infrastructure in the field of X-ray tomography (CT scanning), Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing), Materials Characterisation, Finite Element Analysis & Computational Fluid Dynamics (Modelling & Simulation) and Metrology Lab, we soon will be establishing Sustainability Materials Characterisation Laboratory. The excellent infrastructure we are creating here in Waterford are not only assisting industries in Ireland but also students of SETU & other academic institutions as they get exposure to these niche technologies and avail of opportunities to carry out research and training activities’.
