As part of the leading edge instrumentation in its laboratories, SEL’s Scanning Electron Microscope is a key investigative and analysis tool. Its relatively large specimen chamber (up to 6 inches in diameter) means that substantial samples can be viewed at magnifications up to 168,000x. The instrument features an energy dispersive X-ray analysis spectrometer, which allows elemental identification of materials.

SEL’s Fourier Infrared Spectrophotometer (FTIR) is used for precise structural identification of organic solid, liquid and gas samples. The FTIR, with libraries containing over 5000 spectra, can be used to quickly determine the composition of virtually any organic sample. Some of the samples, which can easily be examined with the FTIR, include: plastics, films, oils, solvents, pastes, waxes, gases, and combustion products. The FTIR at SEL has a long path length gas cell and time-resolved software, which allows for the collection of spectra of a gaseous sample over time with the collection interval variable. This permits dynamic analysis and offers the ability create a time-resolved profile of the combustion process.

For testing and analysis of customer products, SEL has an extremely versatile, high performance ThermaCam™ system – a thermal imaging radiometer. The ThermaCam shoots both video and still digital images and provides accurate temperature measurement of any pixel in the scene.