Thermomechanical Analysis (TMA)

Strengths of TMA

1. TMA is quick and easy to carry out.
2. It provides valuable information about the behavior of the material as a function of change in temperature. 

Limitations of TMA

1. The sample is destroyed during the test. 
2. It is difficult to get accurate results for irregularly shaped objects. 

Uses of TMA

Thermochemical analysis is a fundamental procedure used across industries. It is heavily used in material science for the development of new materials. It is used in industries for designing products and for quality control. And it is also used to assess the stability of a material to heat. 

Schematic diagram of TMA apparatus

A schematic diagram of a typical TMA apparatus is shown in Figure 1. Figure 2 shows a typical thermocouple used in the instrument. 

Applications

Figure 3 is a TMA graph for a mixture of three different waxes melting at different temperatures. The onset of vertical displacement gives a simple and reproducible measure of the melting point of each component of the test mixture.