The CSIR powder characterisation facility offers unique and broad heat-treatment and metallographic capabilities to serve customers in diverse manufacturing operations, including the powder production, aerospace, defence, nuclear and medical industries.

The facility operates in accordance with internationally recognised standards, including the American Society for Testing and Materials and ISO specifications and is South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) accredited. It is a key resource for industrial additive manufacturing and primarily enhances powder metallurgy processes.

The facility hosts testing equipment that allows for chemical composition analysis, powder sieve analysis, particle size distribution, flow rate, apparent density, tap density and gas pycnometry, a method of measuring the volume of an irregularly shaped solid object.

Multidisciplinary experts from all over the country currently use the facility for its array of capabilities, from standard high-volume testing to complex materials analysis and in-depth granular dynamics investigations.

This facility supports universities and national initiatives such as the CSIR Photonics Prototyping Facility and the Centre for Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing housed by the Central University of Technology.

Powder characterisation capabilities

• Particle size and shape analysis, SANAS accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 standard inductively coupled plasma trace elements analysis.
• Oxygen and nitrogen analysis, SANAS accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 standard.
• Skeletal density, SANAS-accredited differential scanning calorimeter analysis.