The project is supported in terms of available resources by 8 laboratories at DICAr (ProtoLab, 3DMetal@UniPV, 3D4MED, β-lab, Mate-Lab, Nume-Lab, Active-Lab, AML-Lab), lab Arvedi, Pharma-Lab, Photo Lab and LAMSC and the financial knowledge of the spin-off Fast4ward, for a total value of instrumentation of about € 1.000.000. Here below a brief synthesis of lab facilities: more details can be found on each lab webpage.
Other Labs
Fast4ward is an academic spin-off of the University of Pavia, which supports start-ups focused on so-called “leading change” technologies, like 3D printing. The spin-off has a close collaboration with “Selltek” (Valenza), the exclusive Italian distributor of 3DSystems technologies (one of worldwide leaders in 3D printing technologies).
More information here.
A lab of CISRIC, dedicated to the study of historical and present materials, is endowed with high-level instrumentation, like HR-SEM Tescan Mira equipped with WDS, EDS and EBSD microanalyses, optical microscopes with transmitted, reflected light, UV and stereoscopic vision, microFTIR, pycnometer, colorimeter.
The lab research lines are addressed to the design, formulation, physical-chemical and biologic characterization of polymeric scaffolds for tissue regeneration and drug delivery systems. The lab, beyond common instrumentation, is provided with HPLCs Helwett Packard 1100 series with UV detector system, a GPC Varian equipment with RI detector, a Beckman DU -7500 UV-Vis spectrophotometer, a lab size freeze dryer Lio5T (5 Pascal), an autoclave for steam sterilization, a laminar flow hood, two turboemulsifiers (Silverson® and Utraturrax®), a liposofast jacketed extruder (Aventis), a ultrasonic probe processor GM2070 (Bandelin, Sonopuls, G), an in vitro dissolution apparatus (6th Eur.Ph), a Monsanto compression resistance tester, a Malvern Multisizer 2000 apparatus for > 1μ particle size analysis and a NICOMP 380 ZLS apparatus for zeta potential determination are available a light microscope Laborlux K, Leitz.
The total value of the lab equipment is around € 700.000.
The Laboratory for Advanced Materials Synthesis and Characterization (LAMSC) is located at the Department of Chemistry and has been active for many years in the synthesis and characterization of innovative materials for structural and functional applications. The lab is actively working in fields such as the synthesis of bulk nanostructured metals and ionic ceramics, the solution synthesis of hierarchical nanostructures for gas sensing and energy scavenging applications and the interaction between nanoparticles and biological systems. The lab has several facilities for the synthesis, sintering and characterization of solid materials, including one of the few Spark Plasma Sintering present in Italy, together with systems for the characterization of the electrical properties of functional oxides.
The lab is designed to synthesize new materials, in particular monomers and photoinitiators to be used for stereolithography but also polymer composites having functional properties. Furthermore, experimental 3D printers were built, such as a printer for paste deposition and stereolithography, all based on open-source technology and low cost materials. The lab equipment total value is around € 500.000.
Equipments:
- FT-IR equipped with ATR (for the measurement of surfaces)
- UV-VIS diode array spectrophotometer
- HPLC/Gel permeation with UV and refractive index detectors
- Thermogravimetric balance (TGA)
- Dual extruders FDM 3D printer 3D vertex
- Filabot filament maker with spooler
- Bruker EMX-100 EPR spectrometer for the measurement of radical reactions mechanisms
