Facilities

The Walker Research Group has laboratories that are located on the first and second floors of the Chemical and Biological Engineering / Chemistry Building (CBEC) in rooms 132 and 201 on the campus of South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in Rapid City, South Dakota. The laboratory spaces include four fume hoods, multiple optical tables, and several pieces of specialized equipment. Information about the various pieces of equipment available in our laboratories is listed below.

Materials Characterization

Molecular Characterization

• HPLC (Agilent 1100 Series)
• Multi-Angle static Light Scattering (MALS) (Wyatt DAWN HELEOS II with COMET)
• Intrinsic Viscosity (Wyatt Viscostar III)
• Diffractive Index Detector (Wyatt Optilab TrEX)

Rheological Characterization

• Rotational Rheometer (TA Instruments DHR-3)
• Rotational Rheometer (TA Instruments AR-G2) [on loan to W.E. Rochefort at OSU]
• TA Instruments Accessories
• Peltier Plate Temperature Systems
• Advanced Peltier Plate
• Peltier Concentric Cylinders
• Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA)
• Interfacial Rheology
• Capillary Viscometer (RheoSense microVISC)
• A05 Chip (0-100 cP, 50 μm flow channel)
• B10 Chip (60-5,000 cP, 100 μm flow channel)
• Viscoelasticity Analyzer (Vilastic V-E System)

Surface Characterization

• Langmuir Deposition Trough with Surface Pressure Sensor (Biolin KSVNIMA)
• Langmuir-Blodgett Deposition Trough with Surface Pressure Sensor (Biolin KSVNIMA)

Thermal Characterization

• Differential Scanning Calorimeter (TA Instruments DSC 2920)
• Differential Scanning Calorimeter (TA Instruments DSC 2920)
• Refrigerated Cooling System (RCS)
• Liquid Nitrogen Cooling Accessory (LNCA)

Polymer Processing

• 3D Printing
• DLP 3D Printer (B9Creations B9Creator v1.2)
• FFF 3D Printer (3ntr A4v4)
• FFF 3D Printer (Prusa I3 MK3S)
• Multi Material Upgrade (MMU2S)
• High Temperature Reactor (Parr High Temperature 4570 Vessel)
• Conical Twin-Screw Compounder (Thermo Haake Mini-Lab Micro-Rheology Compounder)
• Single-Screw Torque Rheometer, Extruder, Mixer (Thermo Haake PolyLab System: Rheocord, Rheomix, Rheomex)
• Low-Pressure Injection Molding Machine (Mold-Man 8000)

Optics

Microscopy

• Inverted Microscope (Nikon Eclipse Ti-S)
• 4X Objective (Nikon CFI Plan Fluor 4X)
• 10X Objective (Nikon CFI Plan Fluor 10X)
• 40X Objective (Nikon CFI S Plan Fluor ELWD 40XC)
• Differential Interference Contrast (DIC)
• 100X Objective (Nikon CFI Plan Apo Lambda 100X Oil)
• X-Cite 120LEDBoost Epi-Fluorescence Illuminator
• Filter Cube: FITC (Nikon AT EGFP/FITC/CY2/Alexa Fluor 488)
• Filter Cube: Texas Red (Nikon ET/mCH/TR)
• Upright Microscope with Epifluorescence (Technical Instrument Company KMS310 with K2IND)
• CCD Camera (Allied Guppy PRO F-125B)
• CCD Camera (Allied Manta G-223B)

Spectrophotometry

• Spectrophotometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific Genesys 10S Vis)

Mechatronics

Electronics

• Kepco Bipolar Operational Power Supply/Amplifier (BOP 20-10M)
• Kepco Bipolar Operational Power Supply/Amplifier (BOP 20-10M)
• Heath Zenith Regulated H.V. Power Supply (SP-2717A)
• Rigol Function/Arbitrary Waveform Generator (DG1022) [on loan from P. Dhagat at OSU]

Motion Control

• Motion Controller/Driver (Newport ESP301 Series 3 Axis Motion Controller/Driver)
• Linear Stage (Newport MFA-PPD)
• Micromanipulator (Burleigh MIS-5000)

Microbiology

Centrifugation

• Eppendorf Centrifuge 5804

Incubation

• Incubator (VWR Model 2300 CO2)

General Equipment

• Lindberg/Blue M Oven