1

BYARII J IT CHAKRABORTY

M-PHARM (PHARMACOLOGY)

1 1 / 1 0 / 2 0 1 2

Thermo Mechanical Analysis

2

Introduction

Thermo mechanical Analysis (TMA) is the study of the relationships between a sample’s length (volume) and its temperature.

Volume is a fundamental thermodynamic quantity.

Thermal expansively () is a useful engineering quantity:

= (dL/dt)/Lo

3

Instrumentation

A thermo mechanical analyzer will need to accurately measure both the temperature of the sample, and very small movements of a probe in contact with the surface of the sample.

A typical analyzer as illustrated uses a quartz probe containing a thermocouple for temperature measurement and couple to the core of a liner variable differential transformer (LVDT).

4

Instrumentation

5

Instrumentation

6

TMA probes types

7

Application of TMA

Thermo mechanical analysis has mainly been used in the study of polymers. The properties study may be used to characterize a polymer as well as to assess its mechanical utility.

Application of TMA is following bellow:

8

TMA temperature calibration

9

Thermal expansion of aluminum

10

Effect of cross linking on TMA penetration

11

Effect of plasticizers

12

Relationship between hardness and indentation

13

Measurement of lipids

14

Effect of chemical structure

15

Effect of thermal history

16

Reference

1. Chatwal and Anand, Instrumental Methods of Chemical Analysis, Himalaya, Page no. 2.753 -2.755.

2. Duncan Price, IPTME, Loughborough University, Thermo mechanical analysis presentation.

17