The Central Research Facility is an integrated facility for all students at IIT Kharagpur as well as outsiders which includes both industrial as well as academic users to carry out their research activities centrally under one umbrella. This facility has two broad Divisions namely:

Materials Science Division and Life Science Division.

The instruments in CRF are divided in 6 (six) Clusters namely:

>> Microscopy & Microanalysis.
>> Spectroscopy & Spectrometry.
>> Mechanical Thermal Testing.
>> Diffraction based Characterization.
>> Magnetic/Electrical Characterization.
>> Biological Characterization.

There are around 36 laboratories in the CRF (Central Research Facility) complex and each laboratory is under the supervision of a designated faculty member called facilitator from within the Institute.

The equipment's housed in these laboratories are used for various types of characterization including study of morphology and chemical composition of surfaces and bulk materials at different length scales (sub-nanometer to millimeter), phase transitions, as well as evaluation of mechanical, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties. The available facilities for such studies on materials include state-of-the art Field Emission Scanning And Transmission Electron Microscopes, Dual beam FIB-FEG microscopes, X-ray diffractometers, X-Ray Micro-CT, Scanning Auger Nanoprobe, Atomic Force Microscope, Nano-triboindenter, Raman Spectrometer, Thermal Analyzers, SQUID-VSM, Hall-effect Measurement, etc. Various cells and biomolecules (DNA and proteins) are also studied for their structural analysis and interactions using high end equipment like MALDI, X-ray, ITC, FACS etc. Students from the different branches of science and engineering come here for research and experimentation, creating a vibrant cross-disciplinary atmosphere.