Centres & Institutes
McMaster Manufacturing Research Institute
JHE 109, 112
The McMaster Manufacturing Research Institute (MMRI) facility is designed to meet the sophisticated research and development needs of leading manufacturers in the automotive, aerospace, biomedical and consumer goods industries, along with the manufacturing tooling, coatings-surface engineering, dye and mould support industries. Special focus is placed on tool selection and development as well as process optimization for light weight material casting, machining, metal forming, polymer processing, heat treatment processes, robotics, automation and metrology/inspection.
Director(s)
Centre for Emerging Device Technologies (CEDT)
JHE A306, A307 & 318
The Centre for Emerging Device Technologies (CEDT) is an organization that facilitates study of the optical, electrical, mechanical, and biological properties of semiconductors and related materials and promotes the development of technology based on these materials. In 1987, faculty members of McMaster University founded the CEDT under its original name, the Centre for Electrophotonic Materials and Devices (CEMD), in order to pool resources, enhance facilities, promote industrial collaboration, and advance research. In 2005 the name of the Centre was changed to CEDT to better reflect the diversified range of research topics in which group members have become increasingly involved. Today the Centre is made up of member faculty and graduate students from the Departments of Engineering Physics, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Physics, Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Chemical Engineering. Equipment is available for materials growth, analysis, and processing, located in four laboratory facilities. We develop lasers, MEMS, detectors, waveguide devices, silicon photonics, optoelectronics, and much more. Industrial collaborations take place frequently and new initiatives are always welcome.
Director(s)
McMaster Nuclear Reactor (MNR)
Nuclear Reactor Building
The McMaster Nuclear Reactor (MNR) first became operational in 1959 and was the first university-based research reactor in the British Commonwealth. Originally designed to operate at a maximum power of 1 MW, MNR was upgraded during the 1970s to its current rating of 5 MW with a maximum thermal neutron flux of 1 x 1014 neutrons/cm2s. MNR is classified as a medium flux reactor and it is by far the most powerful research reactor at a Canadian university – the handful of so-called “Slowpoke” reactors at other institutions typically operate at a power of 0.02 MW.
The McMaster Nuclear Reactor is an open-pool type Materials Test Reactor (MTR) with a core of low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel that is moderated and cooled by light water. Primary and secondary cooling systems act to remove the heat that is generated in the core of the reactor, with external cooling towers acting as the ultimate thermal sink. The reactor is housed within a concrete containment building and generally operates weekdays from 8 a.m. until 12 midnight at a thermal power of 3 MW.
The nuclear reactor was designed with its end use as a multi-purpose research facility in mind. Its open-pool design provides ready access to the reactor core and allows for easy insertion and removal of samples for neutron irradiation, imparting a degree of flexibility that many other classes of reactors lack. As well, several beam-tubes were built into the reactor structure: today, the neutron beams extracted by these tubes are used for applications including neutron radiography and neutron diffraction experiments. MNR also has an industrial hot cell inside the reactor containment building for handling highly radioactive samples.
Staff at the McMaster Nuclear Reactor conduct hundreds of thousands of neutron irradiations every year, many in support of industry (mining exploration, environmental samples). MNR is a world leader in the production of iodine-125, a radioactive isotope that is used in the treatment of prostate cancer, with hundreds of doses produced each week. Neutrons from MNR are also used by Nray Services Inc. to conduct quality assurance testing on turbine blades for jet engines using the neutron radiography facility at one of the beam-ports. Research activities at MNR continue to expand, with a new neutron diffractometer installed in 2009 and a state of the art positron beam facility currently being designed.
McMaster Nuclear Reactor is also involved in public outreach activities such as Doors Open Hamilton, providing opportunities for McMaster students and members of the public to participate in guided tours of the reactor facility. More than 1,500 visitors each year visit MNR to lean about nuclear sciences and observe “the blue glow” of the reactor core first-hand.
The BIMR plans for and operates sophisticated infrastructure for the production and advanced characterization of materials. It also both disseminates and celebrates research achievement covering a wide range of scientific and engineering interests, related to materials.
At present we operate roughly $40M in research infrastructure, and aim to make this forefront investment available to a large materials research community at McMaster, and to both the national and international materials research community. We currently have more than $10M in additional new research infrastructure under either procurement or construction.
There are more than 130 independent principal investigators who are officially BIMR members – they are drawn from all the traditional materials science disciplines in academia, such as Physics, Chemistry, Materials Science and Engineering, and Chemical Engineering, but less traditional disciplines as well, such as Biochemistry and Anthropology. We also have many users and collaborators drawn from the industrial and government research sectors. The training and education of the next generation of materials scientists is central to our overall mission. In any one year, we estimate as many as 500 highly qualified personnel, both within and external to McMaster, are making use of BIMR infrastructure and technical expertise to further the interests of their dissertation research or scholarly interests.
Founded in 1969, the BIMR is one of the oldest and largest materials research institutes in North America. Most of our infrastructure is physically located in the Arthur Bournes Building at McMaster, with new infrastructure under construction within the McMaster Nuclear Reactor. A key to our success is our skilled and experienced technical staff who allow the sophisticated research infrastructure to be optimally exploited by a large and diverse user base.
The Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy provides world-class electron microscopy capabilities and expertise to Canadian researchers working on a broad range of materials research. Our vision is to be one of the leading electron microscopy facilities in the world for the quality of the scientific research and for promoting interactions amongst researchers in various fields nationally and internationally. Located at McMaster University and operated by the Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research, the CCEM features a collection of instrumentation and expertise. This website provides information on the instrumentation, personnel, research activities, contact information and international linkages.
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The Centre for Advanced Nuclear Systems (CANS) is a regional research centre unlike any
other at a university worldwide. The Centre provides a unique world-class capability to advance
research in three focus areas:
1) nuclear materials,
2) nuclear safety thermalhydraulic behavior, and
3) health physics.
Funding to establish the facility was obtained as grants awarded in 2009 by the Canada
Foundation for Innovation (CFI) – New Infrastructure Fund (NIF) and the Ontario Ministry of
Research and Innovation (MRI). The total budgeted cost is $24M. Prof. J. Luxat is the project
leader.
CANS is comprised of four primary facilities, namely:
1. POST IRRADIATION EXAMINATION OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS: an irradiated
materials examination facility consisting of a suite of custom designed, fabricated and
installed hot cells. There are 5 separate workstations for receiving, machining, sample
preparation, mechanical testing and optical microscopy examination of material samples.
Each work station has its own shielded window and pair of remote manipulators. At the
end of the hot cell suite is an instrument room containing a shielded dual beam
Scattering Electron Microscope/Focused Ion Beam (SEM/FIB) and a Transmission
Electron Microscope (TEM). Two fume hoods are located in this room for handling and
etching of small active samples. This facility is located at McMaster University in a room
within the McMaster Accelerator Laboratory building and will be operated by McMaster’s
Nuclear Operations and Facilities organization. (Construction complete and initial
commissioning will start in April 2015)
An equipment sharing agreement has been established between CANS and the
CANMET- Materials Technology Laboratory (MTL) in the McMaster Innovation Park.
2. NUCLEAR MATERIALS CHARACTERIZATION FACILITY: a materials characterization
and analysis facility that will be used to investigate the mechanical behaviour of existing
and newly developed materials (including irradiated in-reactor core components, GEN IV
materials and technology). The facility includes a Three Dimensional Atom Probe
(3DAP) and Scattering Electron Microscope/Focused Ion Beam (SEM/FIB) and is
collocated in the Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research (BIMR) adjacent to the
Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy at McMaster University. (Facility operational)
3. THERMAL TESTING FACILITY to obtain experimental data to develop and test nuclear
safety thermalhydraulic models. This facility include a heated Flow Loop, upgraded
power supply with 265 kW capacity, cooling heat exchangers, a new heat transfer test
section and 3-D Tomography and High Speed Video instrumentation for state-of-the-art
visualization. This facility is located in the Nuclear Research Building (NRB) at McMaster
University. (Facility operational)
4. HEALTH PHYSICS DOSE RESPONSE FACILITY containing a Neutron Generator and
Gamma Imaging devices to conduct research in mixed radiation fields (neutron +
gamma). This is located at University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT). (Facility
operational)
Director(s)
The Centre for Emerging Device Technologies (CEDT) is an organization that facilitates study of the optical, electrical, mechanical, and biological properties of semiconductors and related materials and promotes the development of technology based on these materials. In 1987, faculty members of McMaster University founded the CEDT under its original name, the Centre for Electrophotonic Materials and Devices (CEMD), in order to pool resources, enhance facilities, promote industrial collaboration, and advance research. In 2005 the name of the Centre was changed to CEDT to better reflect the diversified range of research topics in which group members have become increasingly involved. Today the Centre is made up of member faculty and graduate students from the Departments of Engineering Physics, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Physics, Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Chemical Engineering. Equipment is available for materials growth, analysis, and processing, located in four laboratory facilities. We develop lasers, MEMS, detectors, waveguide devices, silicon photonics, optoelectronics, and much more. Industrial collaborations take place frequently and new initiatives are always welcome.
Director(s)
The McMaster Manufacturing Research Institute (MMRI) facility is designed to meet the sophisticated research and development needs of leading manufacturers in the automotive, aerospace, biomedical and consumer goods industries, along with the manufacturing tooling, coatings-surface engineering, dye and mould support industries. Special focus is placed on tool selection and development as well as process optimization for light weight material casting, machining, metal forming, polymer processing, heat treatment processes, robotics, automation and metrology/inspection.
Director(s)
The McMaster Nuclear Reactor (MNR) first became operational in 1959 and was the first university-based research reactor in the British Commonwealth. Originally designed to operate at a maximum power of 1 MW, MNR was upgraded during the 1970s to its current rating of 5 MW with a maximum thermal neutron flux of 1 x 1014 neutrons/cm2s. MNR is classified as a medium flux reactor and it is by far the most powerful research reactor at a Canadian university – the handful of so-called “Slowpoke” reactors at other institutions typically operate at a power of 0.02 MW.
The McMaster Nuclear Reactor is an open-pool type Materials Test Reactor (MTR) with a core of low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel that is moderated and cooled by light water. Primary and secondary cooling systems act to remove the heat that is generated in the core of the reactor, with external cooling towers acting as the ultimate thermal sink. The reactor is housed within a concrete containment building and generally operates weekdays from 8 a.m. until 12 midnight at a thermal power of 3 MW.
The nuclear reactor was designed with its end use as a multi-purpose research facility in mind. Its open-pool design provides ready access to the reactor core and allows for easy insertion and removal of samples for neutron irradiation, imparting a degree of flexibility that many other classes of reactors lack. As well, several beam-tubes were built into the reactor structure: today, the neutron beams extracted by these tubes are used for applications including neutron radiography and neutron diffraction experiments. MNR also has an industrial hot cell inside the reactor containment building for handling highly radioactive samples.
Staff at the McMaster Nuclear Reactor conduct hundreds of thousands of neutron irradiations every year, many in support of industry (mining exploration, environmental samples). MNR is a world leader in the production of iodine-125, a radioactive isotope that is used in the treatment of prostate cancer, with hundreds of doses produced each week. Neutrons from MNR are also used by Nray Services Inc. to conduct quality assurance testing on turbine blades for jet engines using the neutron radiography facility at one of the beam-ports. Research activities at MNR continue to expand, with a new neutron diffractometer installed in 2009 and a state of the art positron beam facility currently being designed.
McMaster Nuclear Reactor is also involved in public outreach activities such as Doors Open Hamilton, providing opportunities for McMaster students and members of the public to participate in guided tours of the reactor facility. More than 1,500 visitors each year visit MNR to lean about nuclear sciences and observe “the blue glow” of the reactor core first-hand.