diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index a7a97ed..c3cde87 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,5 +1,14 @@
 #### H5PART 1.6.1 ############################################################
 
+Chunking in the H5Part API
+--------------------------
+
+There is now an H5Part equivalent H5PartSetChunkSize to the existing
+H5BlockDefine3DChunkDims call. Both of these calls enable the chunking
+mechanism in the underlying HDF5 layer. Chunking is used in combination
+with the aligned open calls to pad datasets to alignment multiples
+on disk.
+
 All Steps Available on Write
 ----------------------------
 
@@ -17,7 +26,7 @@ Previously, a throttle factor of N meant that for P processors, the total
 number of P writes were divided into N batchs of P/N writes.
 
 To better accomodate round-robin lustre striping, the new policy is to
-execute P/N batch of N writes. Thus, matching N to the number of stripes
+execute P/N batches of N writes. Thus, matching N to the number of stripes
 results in the desirable 1-1 matching of writers to stripes.
 
 #### H5PART 1.6 ##############################################################
diff --git a/src/H5Block.c b/src/H5Block.c
index 5b32d9c..f19a57f 100644
--- a/src/H5Block.c
+++ b/src/H5Block.c
@@ -1201,7 +1201,7 @@ _H5Block_read_data (
 		type,
 		f->block->memshape,
 		f->block->diskshape,
-		f->xfer_prop,
+		f->dxfer_prop,
 		data );
 	if ( herr < 0 ) return HANDLE_H5D_READ_ERR ( name, f->timestep );
 
@@ -1468,7 +1468,7 @@ _H5Block_write_data (
 		type,
 		b->memshape,
 		b->diskshape,
-		f->xfer_prop,
+		f->dxfer_prop,
 		data );
 	if ( herr < 0 ) return HANDLE_H5D_WRITE_ERR ( name, f->timestep );
 
diff --git a/src/H5MultiBlock.c b/src/H5MultiBlock.c
index 938fe13..7e7262c 100644
--- a/src/H5MultiBlock.c
+++ b/src/H5MultiBlock.c
@@ -916,7 +916,7 @@ _H5MultiBlock_read_data (
 		type,
 		f->block->memshape,
 		f->block->diskshape,
-		f->xfer_prop,
+		f->dxfer_prop,
 		*data );
 	if ( herr < 0 ) return HANDLE_H5D_READ_ERR ( field_name, f->timestep );
 
@@ -1026,7 +1026,7 @@ _H5MultiBlock_write_data (
 		type,
 		b->memshape,
 		b->diskshape,
-		f->xfer_prop,
+		f->dxfer_prop,
 		data );
 	if ( herr < 0 ) return HANDLE_H5D_WRITE_ERR ( name, f->timestep );
 
diff --git a/src/H5Part.c b/src/H5Part.c
index 55c94ee..349f835 100644
--- a/src/H5Part.c
+++ b/src/H5Part.c
@@ -154,10 +154,10 @@ _H5Part_open_file (
 	strncpy ( f->groupname_step, H5PART_GROUPNAME_STEP, H5PART_STEPNAME_LEN );
 	f->stepno_width = 0;
 
-	f->xfer_prop = f->create_prop = H5P_DEFAULT;
+	f->dxfer_prop = f->dcreate_prop = f->fcreate_prop = H5P_DEFAULT;
 
-	f->access_prop = H5Pcreate (H5P_FILE_ACCESS);
-	if (f->access_prop < 0) {
+	f->faccess_prop = H5Pcreate (H5P_FILE_ACCESS);
+	if (f->faccess_prop < 0) {
 		HANDLE_H5P_CREATE_ERR;
 		goto error_cleanup;
 	}
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ _H5Part_open_file (
 			if (f->myproc == 0) {
 				_H5Part_print_info ( "Selecting MPI-POSIX VFD" );
 			}
-			if (H5Pset_fapl_mpiposix ( f->access_prop, comm, 0 ) < 0) {
+			if (H5Pset_fapl_mpiposix ( f->faccess_prop, comm, 0 ) < 0) {
 				HANDLE_H5P_SET_FAPL_ERR;
 				goto error_cleanup;
 			}
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ _H5Part_open_file (
 			if (f->myproc == 0) {
 				_H5Part_print_info ( "Selecting MPI-IO VFD" );
 			}
-			if (H5Pset_fapl_mpio ( f->access_prop, comm, info ) < 0) {
+			if (H5Pset_fapl_mpio ( f->faccess_prop, comm, info ) < 0) {
 				HANDLE_H5P_SET_FAPL_ERR;
 				goto error_cleanup;
 			}
@@ -208,12 +208,12 @@ _H5Part_open_file (
 				if (f->myproc == 0) {
 					_H5Part_print_info ( "Using collective mode" );
 				}
-				f->xfer_prop = H5Pcreate (H5P_DATASET_XFER);
-				if (f->xfer_prop < 0) {
+				f->dxfer_prop = H5Pcreate (H5P_DATASET_XFER);
+				if (f->dxfer_prop < 0) {
 					HANDLE_H5P_CREATE_ERR;
 					goto error_cleanup;
 				}
-				if (H5Pset_dxpl_mpio ( f->xfer_prop, H5FD_MPIO_COLLECTIVE ) < 0) {
+				if (H5Pset_dxpl_mpio ( f->dxfer_prop, H5FD_MPIO_COLLECTIVE ) < 0) {
 					HANDLE_H5P_SET_DXPL_MPIO_ERR;
 					goto error_cleanup;
 				}
@@ -241,21 +241,26 @@ _H5Part_open_file (
 					btree_bytes );
 			}
 
-			f->create_prop = H5Pcreate(H5P_FILE_CREATE);
-			H5Pset_istore_k (f->create_prop, btree_ik);
+			f->fcreate_prop = H5Pcreate(H5P_FILE_CREATE);
+			if ( f->fcreate_prop < 0 ) {
+				HANDLE_H5P_CREATE_ERR;
+				goto error_cleanup;
+			}
+
+			H5Pset_istore_k (f->fcreate_prop, btree_ik);
 
 #ifndef H5_USE_16_API
 			/* defer metadata cache flushing until file close */
 			H5AC_cache_config_t cache_config;
 			cache_config.version = H5AC__CURR_CACHE_CONFIG_VERSION;
-			H5Pget_mdc_config (f->access_prop, &cache_config);
+			H5Pget_mdc_config (f->faccess_prop, &cache_config);
 			cache_config.set_initial_size = 1;
 			cache_config.initial_size = 16 * 1024 * 1024;
 			cache_config.evictions_enabled = 0;
 			cache_config.incr_mode = H5C_incr__off;
 			cache_config.flash_incr_mode = H5C_flash_incr__off;
 			cache_config.decr_mode = H5C_decr__off;
-			H5Pset_mdc_config (f->access_prop, &cache_config);
+			H5Pset_mdc_config (f->faccess_prop, &cache_config);
 #else // H5_USE_16_API
 			_H5Part_print_info (
 					"Unable to defer metadata write: need HDF5 1.8");
@@ -274,16 +279,20 @@ _H5Part_open_file (
 
 	if ( align != 0 ) {
 		if (f->myproc == 0) {
-			_H5Part_print_info ( "Setting HDF5 alignment to %ld bytes", align );
+			_H5Part_print_info (
+				"Setting HDF5 alignment to %ld bytes",
+				align );
 		}
-		if (H5Pset_alignment ( f->access_prop, 0, align ) < 0) {
+		if (H5Pset_alignment ( f->faccess_prop, 0, align ) < 0) {
 			HANDLE_H5P_SET_FAPL_ERR;
 			goto error_cleanup;
 		}
 		if (f->myproc == 0) {
-			_H5Part_print_info ( "Setting HDF5 meta block to %ld bytes", align );
+			_H5Part_print_info (
+				"Setting HDF5 meta block to %ld bytes",
+				align );
 		}
-		if (H5Pset_meta_block_size ( f->access_prop, align ) < 0) {
+		if (H5Pset_meta_block_size ( f->faccess_prop, align ) < 0) {
 			HANDLE_H5P_SET_FAPL_ERR;
 			goto error_cleanup;
 		}
@@ -297,24 +306,24 @@ _H5Part_open_file (
 	}
 
 	if ( flags & H5PART_READ ) {
-		f->file = H5Fopen(filename, H5F_ACC_RDONLY, f->access_prop);
+		f->file = H5Fopen(filename, H5F_ACC_RDONLY, f->faccess_prop);
 	}
 	else if ( flags & H5PART_WRITE ){
-		f->file = H5Fcreate (filename, H5F_ACC_TRUNC, f->create_prop,
-				f->access_prop);
+		f->file = H5Fcreate (filename, H5F_ACC_TRUNC, f->fcreate_prop,
+				f->faccess_prop);
 		f->empty = 1;
 	}
 	else if ( flags & H5PART_APPEND ) {
 		int fd = open(filename, O_RDONLY, 0);
 		if ( (fd == -1) && (errno == ENOENT) ) {
 			f->file = H5Fcreate(filename, H5F_ACC_TRUNC,
-					f->create_prop, f->access_prop);
+					f->fcreate_prop, f->faccess_prop);
 			f->empty = 1;
 		}
 		else if (fd != -1) {
 			close (fd);
 			f->file = H5Fopen(
-				filename, H5F_ACC_RDWR, f->access_prop);
+				filename, H5F_ACC_RDWR, f->faccess_prop);
 			/*
 			  The following function call returns an error,
 			  if f->file < 0. But we can safely ignore this.
@@ -497,12 +506,23 @@ _H5Part_file_is_valid (
 		return H5PART_ERR_BADFD;
 }
 
+/*!
+  \ingroup h5part_open
+
+  Closes an open file.
+
+  \return	\c H5PART_SUCCESS or error code
+*/
 h5part_int64_t
-_H5Part_close_hdf_ids (
+H5PartCloseFile (
 	H5PartFile *f		/*!< [in] filehandle of the file to close */
 	) {
 
+	SET_FNAME ( "H5PartCloseFile" );
 	herr_t r = 0;
+	_h5part_errno = H5PART_SUCCESS;
+
+	CHECK_FILEHANDLE ( f );
 
 	if ( f->block && f->close_block ) {
 		(*f->close_block) ( f );
@@ -538,51 +558,33 @@ _H5Part_close_hdf_ids (
 		if ( r < 0 ) HANDLE_H5S_CLOSE_ERR;
 		f->memshape = 0;
 	}
-	if( f->xfer_prop != H5P_DEFAULT ) {
-		r = H5Pclose( f->xfer_prop );
-		if ( r < 0 ) HANDLE_H5P_CLOSE_ERR ( "f->xfer_prop" );
-		f->xfer_prop = H5P_DEFAULT;
+	if( f->dxfer_prop != H5P_DEFAULT ) {
+		r = H5Pclose( f->dxfer_prop );
+		if ( r < 0 ) HANDLE_H5P_CLOSE_ERR ( "f->dxfer_prop" );
+		f->dxfer_prop = H5P_DEFAULT;
 	}
-	if( f->access_prop != H5P_DEFAULT ) {
-		r = H5Pclose( f->access_prop );
-		if ( r < 0 ) HANDLE_H5P_CLOSE_ERR ( "f->access_prop" );
-		f->access_prop = H5P_DEFAULT;
-	}  
-	if( f->create_prop != H5P_DEFAULT ) {
-		r = H5Pclose( f->create_prop );
-		if ( r < 0 ) HANDLE_H5P_CLOSE_ERR ( "f->create_prop" );
-		f->create_prop = H5P_DEFAULT;
+	if( f->dcreate_prop != H5P_DEFAULT ) {
+		r = H5Pclose( f->dcreate_prop );
+		if ( r < 0 ) HANDLE_H5P_CLOSE_ERR ( "f->dcreate_prop" );
+		f->dcreate_prop = H5P_DEFAULT;
 	}
 
-	return H5PART_SUCCESS;
-}
-
-/*!
-  \ingroup h5part_open
-
-  Closes an open file.
-
-  \return	\c H5PART_SUCCESS or error code
-*/
-h5part_int64_t
-H5PartCloseFile (
-	H5PartFile *f		/*!< [in] filehandle of the file to close */
-	) {
-
-	SET_FNAME ( "H5PartCloseFile" );
-	herr_t r = 0;
-	_h5part_errno = H5PART_SUCCESS;
-
-	CHECK_FILEHANDLE ( f );
-
-	r = _H5Part_close_hdf_ids ( f );
-	if ( r < 0 ) return r;
 
 	if ( f->file ) {
 		r = H5Fclose( f->file );
 		if ( r < 0 ) HANDLE_H5F_CLOSE_ERR;
 		f->file = 0;
 	}
+	if( f->faccess_prop != H5P_DEFAULT ) {
+		r = H5Pclose( f->faccess_prop );
+		if ( r < 0 ) HANDLE_H5P_CLOSE_ERR ( "f->faccess_prop" );
+		f->faccess_prop = H5P_DEFAULT;
+	}  
+	if( f->fcreate_prop != H5P_DEFAULT ) {
+		r = H5Pclose( f->fcreate_prop );
+		if ( r < 0 ) HANDLE_H5P_CLOSE_ERR ( "f->fcreate_prop" );
+		f->fcreate_prop = H5P_DEFAULT;
+	}
 
 	/* free memory from H5PartFile struct */
 	if( f->pnparticles ) {
@@ -896,6 +898,48 @@ H5PartSetNumParticlesStrided (
 	return H5PART_SUCCESS;
 }
 
+/*!
+  \ingroup h5part_model
+
+  Define the chunk \c size and enables chunking in the underlying
+  HDF5 layer. When combined with the \c align value in the
+  \ref H5PartOpenFileAlign or \ref H5PartOpenFileParallelAlign
+  function, this causes each group of \c size particles to be
+  padded on disk out to the nearest multiple of \c align bytes.
+
+  Note that this policy wastes disk space, but can improve write
+  bandwidth on parallel filesystems that are sensitive to alignment
+  to stripe boundaries (e.g. lustre).
+
+  \return	\c H5PART_SUCCESS or error code
+*/
+h5part_int64_t
+H5PartSetChunkSize (
+	H5PartFile *f,
+	const h5part_int64_t size
+	) {
+
+	SET_FNAME ( "H5PartSetChunkSize" );
+	CHECK_FILEHANDLE( f );
+
+	if ( f->myproc == 0 )
+		_H5Part_print_info (
+			"Setting chunk size to %lld elements",
+			(long long)size );
+
+	if ( f->dcreate_prop == H5P_DEFAULT ) {
+		f->dcreate_prop = H5Pcreate (H5P_DATASET_CREATE);
+		if ( f->dcreate_prop < 0 ) return HANDLE_H5P_CREATE_ERR;
+	}
+
+	hsize_t hsize = (hsize_t)size;
+
+	herr_t herr = H5Pset_chunk ( f->dcreate_prop, 1, &hsize );
+	if ( herr < 0 ) return HANDLE_H5P_SET_CHUNK_ERR;
+
+	return H5PART_SUCCESS;
+}
+
 static void
 _normalize_dataset_name (
 	const char *name,
@@ -953,23 +997,19 @@ _write_data (
 			"Dataset[%s] at timestep %lld "
 			"already exists", name2, (long long)f->timestep );
 	} else {
-#ifndef H5_USE_16_API
-		dataset_id = H5Dcreate2 ( 
-			f->timegroup,
-			name2,
-			type,
-			f->shape,
-			H5P_DEFAULT,
-			H5P_DEFAULT,
-			H5P_DEFAULT );
-#else
 		dataset_id = H5Dcreate ( 
 			f->timegroup,
 			name2,
 			type,
 			f->shape,
-			H5P_DEFAULT );
+#ifndef H5_USE_16_API
+			H5P_DEFAULT,
+			f->dcreate_prop,
+			H5P_DEFAULT
+#else
+			f->dcreate_prop
 #endif
+                );
 		if ( dataset_id < 0 )
 			return HANDLE_H5D_CREATE_ERR ( name2, f->timestep );
 	}
@@ -984,7 +1024,7 @@ _write_data (
 		type,
 		f->memshape,
 		f->diskshape,
-		f->xfer_prop,
+		f->dxfer_prop,
 		array );
 
 #ifdef PARALLEL_IO
@@ -3146,7 +3186,7 @@ _read_data (
 					   complement to disk hyperslab) */
 		space_id,		/* shape/size of data on disk 
 					   (get hyperslab if needed) */
-		f->xfer_prop,		/* ignore... its for parallel reads */
+		f->dxfer_prop,		/* ignore... its for parallel reads */
 		array );
 	if ( herr < 0 ) return HANDLE_H5D_READ_ERR ( name2, f->timestep );
 
diff --git a/src/H5Part.h b/src/H5Part.h
index 0baa461..756b87e 100644
--- a/src/H5Part.h
+++ b/src/H5Part.h
@@ -125,6 +125,12 @@ H5PartSetNumParticlesStrided (
 	const h5part_int64_t stride		/*!< [in] Stride (e.g. number of fields in the particle array) */
 	);
 
+h5part_int64_t
+H5PartSetChunkSize (
+	H5PartFile *f,
+	const h5part_int64_t size
+	);
+
 h5part_int64_t
 H5PartWriteDataFloat64 (
 	H5PartFile *f,
diff --git a/src/H5PartTypes.h b/src/H5PartTypes.h
index 14dfdfc..0511524 100644
--- a/src/H5PartTypes.h
+++ b/src/H5PartTypes.h
@@ -49,9 +49,10 @@ struct H5PartFile {
 
 	hid_t timegroup;
 	hid_t shape;
-	hid_t xfer_prop;
-	hid_t create_prop;
-	hid_t access_prop;
+	hid_t dxfer_prop;
+	hid_t dcreate_prop;
+	hid_t faccess_prop;
+	hid_t fcreate_prop;
 
 	/* the dataspace on disk for the current view */
 	hid_t diskshape;
diff --git a/test/write.c b/test/write.c
index c68eb28..70ad785 100644
--- a/test/write.c
+++ b/test/write.c
@@ -375,8 +375,6 @@ void test_write1(void)
 	test_write_data32(file1, NPARTICLES, 1);
 	test_write_file_attribs(file1, 0);
 
-	_H5Part_close_hdf_ids(file1);
-	test_open_objects(file1, 1);
 	status = H5PartCloseFile(file1);
 	RETURN(status, H5PART_SUCCESS, "H5PartCloseFile");
 }
@@ -410,10 +408,10 @@ void test_write3(void)
 	h5part_int64_t status;
 
 	TEST(	"Opening file once, write-truncate, lustre filesyste, "
-		"MPI-POSIX VFD, 64KB alignment");
+		"MPI-POSIX VFD, 1KB alignment");
 	file1 = OPENALIGN(FILENAME,
 		H5PART_WRITE | H5PART_VFD_MPIPOSIX | H5PART_FS_LUSTRE,
-		65536);
+		1024);
 	test_is_valid(file1);
 
 	TEST("Redefining step name");
@@ -435,14 +433,14 @@ void test_write4(void)
 	h5part_int64_t status;
 
 	TEST(	"Opening file twice, write-append + read-only, "
-		"lustre filesystem, MPI-IO Independent VFD, 64K alignment");
+		"lustre filesystem, MPI-IO Independent VFD, 1K alignment");
 	file1 = OPENALIGN(FILENAME,
 		H5PART_APPEND | H5PART_VFD_MPIIO_IND | H5PART_FS_LUSTRE,
-		65536);
+		1024);
 	test_is_valid(file1);
 	file2 = OPENALIGN(FILENAME,
 		H5PART_READ | H5PART_VFD_MPIIO_IND | H5PART_FS_LUSTRE,
-		65536);
+		1024);
 	test_is_valid(file2);
 
 	TEST("Redefining step name");
@@ -452,6 +450,9 @@ void test_write4(void)
 	status = H5PartDefineStepName(file2, LONGNAME, 16);
 	RETURN(status, H5PART_SUCCESS, "H5PartDefineStepName");
 
+	status = H5PartSetChunkSize(file1, NPARTICLES);
+	RETURN(status, H5PART_SUCCESS, "H5PartSetChunkSize");
+
 	test_write_data64(file1, NPARTICLES, NTIMESTEPS-2);
 	test_write_file_attribs(file1, 1);