In March of 2002, DMSE opened a new NanoMechanical Technology Laboratory, equipped with state-of-the-art machines for the study of the mechanical properties of surfaces and devices at the atomic and molecular scale. This lab is the most prominent and visible laboratory along MIT’s Infinite Corridor and its glass walls and plasma screen displays of educational and research information inform passersby of its activities.
The laboratory has “unique capabilities for studying the properties of the tiny world,” said Subra Suresh, head of the Department. For example, it is home to the Institute’s first nanoindenters, machines that probe and measure the properties of surfaces of engineering and biological materials. At least a dozen faculty from more than five departments will be actively involved in the “NanoLab.”
The NanoLab is expected to play an important role in the activities of the newly announced Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, directed by Prof. Ned Thomas. In addition to research, the lab also will be key to a number of educational activities; lab components will be added to a variety of DMSE subjects and preliminary plans are under way to link the NanoLab to the WebLab, the online microelectronics lab developed by Prof. Jesus del Alamo.
The NanoMechanical Technology Laboratory was made possible by a combined donation of $500,000 from Harold Hindman (S.B. 1939 in chemistry; S.M. in mechanical engineering) and George Burr (S.B. 1941 in physics), co-founders of Instron Corporation; a pledge of $500,000 in cash and equipment from Instron Corporation itself; and an equipment grant of $500,000 from the Department of Defense to purchase the nanoindenter. Additional funding came from the Institute and the Lord Foundation of Massachusetts Inc.
The space on the southern side of the first floor of the Building 8 Infinite Corridor was the original Pyrometallurgy Lab, open from the basement to the second floor. It was later lab space used by Professor Hobbs.