FURNACE

The Q400 vertical furnace is designed for high performance, ease-of-use, reliability and long life in a wide variety of applications. Customized electronics provide the temperature control and response required for superior baselines, enhanced sensitivity and Modulated TMA™ operation. Software control of the furnace movement ensures operational convenience and simplified sample loading / unloading. The Inconel® 718 Dewar atop the furnace allows continuous operation in cyclic heating / cooling studies using the new optional mechanical cooling accessory (MCA 70).

SAMPLE CHAMBER

The easily accessible chamber provides complete temperature and atmosphere control required for generation of high quality TMA data. The design simplifies installation of the available probes (See Modes of Deformation), sample mounting and thermocouple placement. An integral digital mass flow controller meters the flow of purge gas to the sample area. Precise and responsive temperature control and the wellregulated purge gas result in optimized performance in the standard and MTMA modes of operation. The design benefits also include flexibility in operation and ease of use.

LINEAR VARIABLE DIFFERENTIAL TRANSDUCER

The heart of the Q400 TMA sample measurement system is the precision, moveable-core, linear variable differential transducer (LVDT), which generates an accurate output signal that is directly proportional to a sample dimension change. Its precise and reliable response over a wide temperature range (-150 to 1,000 °C) ensures reproducible TMA results. Its location below the furnace protects it from temperature effects and ensures stable baseline performance.

FORCE MOTOR

A non-contact motor provides a controlled, friction-free, calibrated force to the sample via a probe or fixture. The force is digitally programmed from 0.001 to 1N, and can be increased manually to 2 N by addition of weights. The motor precisely generates the static, ramped or oscillatory dynamic forces necessary for quality measurements in all deformation modes. Ten individual frequencies are available for optimizing data quality in dynamic TMA experiments in compression, 3-point bending or tension modes of deformation.