Thermogravimetric Analysis

Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) quantitatively measures change in mass from dehydration, decomposition and oxidation of the material while the material is heated at a uniform rate in an appropriate environment. The loss in weight over specific temperature ranges provides the information related to the quality, such as the composition, thermal stability, thermal decomposition. TGA can be used to study physical phenomena such as melting, evaporation, sublimation and adsorption as well as chemical phenomena such as dehydration, dissociation, oxidation and reduction of substances.

STEMart can provide TGA for materials such as polymers, plastics, composites, laminates, adhesives, coatings, organic materials, rubber, petroleum, chemicals, explosives and biological samples.

Test Capabilities

• Thermal decomposition of inorganic, organic and polymer
• The corrosion process of metals by various gases at high temperatures
• Calcination and smelting of minerals
• Distillation and vaporization of liquids
• Pyrolysis process of coal, oil and wood
• Determination of moisture content, volatile matter and ash content
• Sublimation process
• Dehydration and moisture absorption
• Study on explosive materials
• Study on reaction kinetics
• Discovery of new compounds
• Adsorption and desorption
• Determination of catalytic activity
• Determination of surface area
• Study on oxidation stability and reduction stability
• Study on the reaction mechanism

Test Procedure

Set the inert (usually N₂) and oxidative (O₂) gas flow rates to provide the appropriate environments for the test. Place the test material in the specimen holder and raise the furnace. Set the initial weight reading to 100%, then initiate the heating program.

The gas environment is preselected for either a thermal decomposition (inert - nitrogen gas), an oxidative decomposition (air or oxygen), or a thermal-oxidative combination.

For more information about our thermogravimetric analysis, please contact us.