Facilities

Dr. Munro at Brigham Young University (BYU) leads the Thermal, Energy, and Material Properties (TEMP) lab at BYU, which is focused on thermal characterization. To study solid materials, the 1600 sq. ft. lab in the new Engineering Building is equipped with 2 SRS 830 Stanford Research lock-in amplifiers, a chemical hood, a Linkam TS1200 thermal microscope stage capable of up to 1200°C, UV-Vis spectrometers, fiber-coupled class 3b and 4 DPSS and diode lasers, and optical modulators. Additionally, within the optics lab are a lock-in IR camera microscope system from MoviTherm based on the FLIR A6750 cameras with accompanying optical train, including filters and microscope objectives. For liquid studies, the TEMP lab uses a custom thermal conductivity needle probe. For low temperature studies, measurements take place within an ESPEC SU-242 temperature enclosure that can operate from -40 C to 150 C with 0.1 C precision, as well as temperature sensors and controllers, control hardware and software. For high temperature studies, several anaerobic, anhydrous, argon-filled gloveboxes are available, including one that is dedicated specifically to beryllium containing molten salts. The needle probe equipment has been designed to be portable to transport it to the different. Thermal modeling to determine thermal conductivity will be performed with MATLAB models and COMSOL Multi-physics software available in the TEMP Lab.