Thermal Analysis

The thermal analysis laboratory, housed within the CAF lab, contains a suite of high-performance instrumentation that can investigate thermal events within a wide range of materials, from archaeological, through to food and pharmaceutical samples. The facility houses the following equipment.

Mettler Toledo Hot Stage Microscope

The Mettler-Toledo hot/cold stage enables video and still imaging of thermal events of a variety of samples. With liquid nitrogen cooling it can look at a wide range of temperatures and sensitively control heating and cooling rates. In addition to thermal events, the microscope can also capture images, allows sizing of micro-objects and can record videos to observe kinetics of a variety of physical processes; for example, to investigate swelling kinetics of polymeric samples.

TA-Nano DSC (Solution Differential Scanning Microcalorimetry)

This DSC can be used to investigate dilute biological and polymeric aqueous solutions. It operates in a temperature range of -10 to 130 ºC with scan rates of 0.0001 up to 2 ºC/min. It is suitable for macromolecule concentrations in the range 0.03 to 1 mg/ml and requires 800 µl of sample per run (i.e. nanomoles). It determines stability as a function of temperature and allows determination of transition temperatures and enthalpies for 2-state unfolding events. It is ideal for investigating the unfolding characteristics of macromolecules and is also suitable for probing binding events.

TA-Q2000 DSC

A research grade instrument ideal for analysis of pharmaceuticals and polymeric materials. Fast and easy to use with autosampler. Modulation capability ideal for polymeric samples. Capable of scanning at rates up to 200 ºC/min to enable kinetic mediated transitions to be investigated.

TA-Q600SDT TGA (Thermal Gravimetric Analysis with DSC)

This instrument heats from room temperature to high temperatures and is ideal for analysis of inorganic samples. It provides TGA and DSC thermograms simultaneously.

TA-TGA Q50(Thermogravimetric Analyser)

Thermogravimetric Analyser (TGA) is an essential laboratory tool used for material characterization. TGA is used as a technique to characterize materials used in various environmental, food, pharmaceutical, and petrochemical applications. Thermogravimetric Analysis is a technique in which the mass of a substance is monitored as a function of temperature or time as the sample specimen is subjected to a controlled temperature program in a controlled atmosphere.