Colleges put research tools within reach

WIDE SCOPE: Christine Cook, engineer and analytical chemistry lab lead in research development at the Yardney division of EaglePicher Technologies, works with Everett E. Crisman, retired URI chemical engineering professor, on the Zeiss Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope. / PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO
WIDE SCOPE: Christine Cook, engineer and analytical chemistry lab lead in research development at the Yardney division of EaglePicher Technologies, works with Everett E. Crisman, retired URI chemical engineering professor, on the Zeiss Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope. / PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

Sometimes, a million-dollar microscope is a business’ tool of choice, though it may not be available in-house.

Recently, battery engineer Christine Cook of the Yardney division of EaglePicher Technologies LLC in East Greenwich decided to take a closer look at the coatings her company makes for battery electrodes. The coatings passed tests, conducting electricity properly, but she detected subtle changes in performance that warranted further scrutiny.

At the University of Rhode Island’s Crawford Hall one morning in late June, Cook used a Zeiss field emission scanning electron microscope to explore the molecular structure of the coatings. Her goal, she said, was “to understand what’s going on” and possibly prevent the anomalies from recurring.

URI has long provided the business community with access to expensive, sophisticated equipment for nominal fees, as do other universities such as Brown University and the University of Connecticut. But since its founding, the 1½-year-old Business Engagement Center at URI has been serving as the conduit to URI services and coordinating them.

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The use of these pieces of equipment is helpful for new-product development and improving chemical or manufacturing processes, business representatives say.

In fact, the equipment is a resource EaglePicher values highly, added Vince Yevoli, general manager of the firm’s Yardney division.

“We’ve been working with URI for many years and it’s excellent to have this type of service in our backyard,” said Yevoli. “It [provides] easy access, good people to work with and we don’t have to invest in expensive equipment that we don’t use on a daily basis.”

Geoff Bothun, associate professor of chemical engineering in URI’s College of Engineering, is also director of the R.I. Consortium for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, which provides the Zeiss, a second electron microscope called the JEOL 2100, an X-ray diffractometer and a laser light scattering apparatus to businesses that may need them.

The consortium is operated in conjunction with Brown University, which also has its own equipment, said Brown spokesman Kevin Stacey.

Bothun also runs bio-nanotechnology laboratories with half a million dollars’ worth of equipment used not only by businesses but by students. In addition, URI offers access to ocean-engineering equipment and sensors and instrumentation microscopes and analyzers, Flynn said.

The nanoscience equipment gets the most use, Flynn and Bothun said.

There has been an increase in use of the equipment since 2011, with five different companies repeatedly using it, including Toray Plastics (America), Teknor Apex, Proctor & Gamble and Pfizer, Bothun said.

“The majority of our users are faculty members and students so it does require some commitment from the university to help maintain these facilities,” he said. “We charge internally and externally [to] defray the cost of operating the equipment.”

By 2013, URI and Brown had jointly spent $1.25 million on the nanoscience equipment after getting federal funding in 2009 from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Institute for Standards and Technology, Bothun said.

Businesses pay anywhere from $100 to $150 an hour to use the electron microscopes, for example, he said.

The Yardney division of EaglePicher has a need for use of this type of equipment about 20 times a year, said Frank Puglia, director of research and development at the company.

“The chief benefit I see is we’re in a high-end field doing batteries for the military and they require special tests, [which can be expensive],” he said. “It’s more affordable than if we had to buy our own. When we need it, we need it.”

While BEC doesn’t actively market the resource, Flynn wants to increase business usage of the equipment and frequently promotes it.

Yundong Wang, a senior research fellow at the Pawtucket-based Teknor Apex Company, said he recently used the Zeiss to better understand the molecular structure of plastic compounds the company makes, and correlate that to performance.

Vinyl, nylon, bioplastics and garden hoses are just some of Teknor Apex’s products, according to its website.

“We use X-ray diffraction apparatus to study crystalline structures of the plastic compounds we produce,” Wang said. “We also use the electron microscopy lab at URI to study the morphology of our plastic compounds. These studies provide us with deeper understanding of the microscopic features of our products. This is proven to be very critical for new-product development and process optimization.” •

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