Pricing

We are fortunate to look after and support users in advanced analytical X-ray analysis and scanning electron microscopy. Current charges for access are detailed here.

You will be required to provide a cost center or billing information prior to gaining access to the facility. Billing typically is made quarterly for access.

Academic/non-profit rates (per hour):

Instrument Access

All instruments can be operated by trained users independently or by our technical team. Before gaining in-hours access, users must complete training at our facility or demonstrate competency. Out-of-hours access is available to suitably skilled users and for automated/overnight analyses, depending on the instrument.

Hours & Rates

• In-hours: Monday–Friday, 8 am–6 pm (subject to space availability)
• Out-of-hours: Evenings, weekends, and statutory holidays
• Commercial rates are 2× academic/non-profit rates
• Operator time is required for training, and fee-for-service work (academic = $66/hr, commercial $135/hr)

Out-of-Hours Rules

For instruments in Frank Forward 419, out-of-hours access is generally limited to automated analyses scheduled before the facility closes. You must be trained and signed off before booking or using instruments outside regular hours. If leaving an experiment running overnight, notify the next user or a technical team member.

Additional Services

Custom access arrangements are available (e.g., batch sample runs, on-site user training).

In our fee-for-service access model, full-service support — including project planning, design, and execution — is also offered upon request. This is often used by our industrial/commercial clients.

Estimated Training Time Requirements:

• Quanta -this depends on the user(s) – discuss with the technician.
• Phenom – typically 2 hours – discuss with the technician.
• Apreo – this depends on the user(s) – typically 2 hours for basic training (imaging); 2 hours for advanced training (e.g. high magnification, mapping + more); 2 hrs for EDX; 2 hrs for EBSD.
• MIRA – training is 6 hrs of instrument time, and 4 hrs of offline study.
• AMBER-X pFIB-SEM – training is structured depending on user needs.
• Training for the Bruker D6 Phaser XRD depends on use, which may include theta-theta powder analysis, texture analysis, thin film analysis and residual stress analysis , varies depending on the use case. Please discuss this with the technician.

For users of the facility, we have a dedicated training portal in CANVAS that provides a wealth of training to enable people to make the most of the equipment, and optimize their characterization approaches. Once you have obtained facility access, you will be provided an enroll link to the site.

Sample preparation facilities:

Full details of the available sample preparation facilities can be found on this page.

PECS II

Users can be trained to operate the PECS II, or one of our technical team can operate the instrument.

• Academic – $20 / hour
• Commercial – $60 / hour
• Training – typically 1 hr with a technical member of our team.

For cross sectioning, there will be an additional charge for consumables.

Materials Engineering Researchers

For items marked with a * graduate and post doctoral trainees trainees in Materials Engineering may be provided access to this instrument free at point of access to conduct their academic research, subject to reasonable usage and such that they abide by the facility rules. Academics costing grants that rely on electron microscopy are asked to include a reasonable request for facility access in their grants, and suggested amounts can be discussed with the facility team. This money is used to support upkeep of the instruments, the provision of consumables, and repairs and minor upgrades of the equipment.

 

Costs are reviewed annually – these were last reviewed 2026/03/20 by Dr Ben Britton and Heli Eunike