Thermal Analysis

The performance of polymeric materials is often strongly influenced by the thermal transitions in the material.  The presence and location of glass transitions and endotherms can be used as a diagnostic tool for determination of composition, or can be used to help understand performance and behavior in use, as well as in root-cause analysis.

Thermal Testing

CPG has a full range of thermal testing capabilities including:

• Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA)
• Rheometry
• Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)
• Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA)  
• TGA-FTIR, allowing simultaneous measurements of mass loss as a function of temperature along with identification of the evolved chemicals through FTIR.
• Thermomechanical Analysis (TMA)

Relevant ASTM Standards

We perform the following ASTM testing (not exhaustive):

• D1518 Thermal Resistance of Batting systems
• D2304 Thermal Endurance of Rigid Electrical Insulating Materials
• D3850 Rapid Thermal Degradation of Solid Electrical Insulating Materials by Thermogravimetric Method (TGA)
• D3895 Standard Test Method for Oxidative-Induction Time of Polyolefins by Differential Scanning Calorimetry
• D3417 DSC on polymers
• D3418 Transition temperatures of polymers through DSC
• E1640 Glass transition of polymer by DMA
• E1952 Thermal Conductivity and Thermal Diffusivity by Modulated Temperature Differential Scanning Calorimetry
• E2009 Standard Test Method for Oxidation Onset Temperature of Hydrocarbons by Differential Scanning Calorimetry
• F2625 DSC of UHMWPE