Mid-scale RI-1 (MI:IP): Facility for Open Research in a Compressed Environment (FORCE) at Arizona State University

This mid-scale research infrastructure (Mid-scale RI-I) project will create a new facility (FORCE: Facility for Open Research in a Compressed Environment) at Arizona State University (ASU) to study matter at extremely high pressure and high temperature under conditions of compression and stress. New capabilities, not previously available in the US, will be open to the scientific community from universities, national labs, and industry.

The facility is designed to extend the existing pressure range to study larger samples of high pressure materials in the Earth’s lower mantle and the interiors of other planets both within and beyond our solar system. The knowledge gained will help answer fundamental questions of the past, present and future of our planet. FORCE will enable the determination of fundamental chemical and physical properties of materials under extreme conditions and the discovery of new materials of potential technological importance.

Higher pressure and larger sample size will extend exploratory capabilities and allow new and unexpected materials to be made and their physical properties, essential for technological applications to be explored.

This project will provide four major pieces of equipment, specialized space for their installation and operation, and staff support. The equipment consists of 1. a state of the art high pressure gas apparatus for treating samples at up to 1 GPa (gigapascal) pressure to be used for studies of Earth and planetary crustal and upper mantle environments, for preparing starting materials for the larger presses, and for materials science and discovery. 2.

A 6000 ton press that will allow very large samples to be produced for a wide array of measurements and observations that cannot be made on smaller samples. 3. A cubic press that will have two major functions: (a) In a single-stage mode: rapid synthesis of large samples from 1-7 GPa, and rapid pressure-temperature studies in the same region. (b) In a double-stage mode: detailed work in the 30-100 GPa range that current large-volume capabilities have not yet reached. 4.

A torsional device for studying material behavior and phase transitions caused by strain. There will be direct links to work at ASU and elsewhere in other parts of high pressure research such as diamond anvil and shock compression studies, as well as to characterization by electron microscopy, diffraction, spectroscopy, and calorimetry. FORCE will be an open facility with easy and clear access for researchers in universities, national labs, and industry, using the well-established facilities access infrastructure already established at ASU.

The facility will also have summer internships and workshops. It will provide short-term office space to encourage users to come to the facility for short, medium, or long-term visits. FORCE will provide training and hands-on experience for diverse students and other scientists coming from a variety of scientific and cultural backgrounds.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.