Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA)

General description:

The DMA850 from TA Instruments is a dynamic mechanical analyzer that provides a wide range of information on the mechanical properties of a material or object in the solid state. This instrument allows for conventional analyses, during which it is possible to control the force, strain, or stress applied to the material during a ramp. The instrument also enables dynamic analyses where the measurement frequency is varied to extract complex properties such as mechanical moduli and the loss factor of a material. The DMA850 is combined with an RCS120 chiller, allowing the temperature to be varied between -80 and 200 °C. A wide variety of grips are available for performing tensile, compression, lateral strain, or flexural tests.

Applications:

Using the DMA850 provides information on a material’s mechanical properties, such as Young’s modulus, deformation at ultimate stress, and the regions of elastic and plastic deformation. This information is obtained through conventional measurements. It is also possible to determine the complex properties of a material through oscillation measurements where the frequency or temperature is varied. In this way, it is possible to identify thermal transitions in polymeric materials in addition to obtaining information on mechanical properties. It is also possible to perform predictive analyses using time-temperature superposition.

Characteristics :

• Force control range: 0.0001 to 18 N
• Frequency control range: 0.001 to 200 Hz
• Dynamic strain range: 0.005 to 10 kµm
• Strain resolution: 0.1 nm
• Temperature range: –80 to 200 °C
• Maximum heating rate of 20 °C/min and cooling rate of 10 °C/min