Material Metrology Division

Thermal Analysis and Particulate Materials Laboratory (Latep)

Thermal analysis involves a series of techniques that measure changes in physical or chemical properties of materials as a function of temperature. Its main impact is on the high technology industries such as aerospace, automotive, electronics and insulating materials. Thermal analysis has been used as a quality control tool in three principal areas: characterization, processing (optimization and monitoring) and development of materials. As for the particulate materials field, the Latep has as objective the synthesis, characterization and processing of particulate materials and fluids containing particulate materials (suspensions, nanofluids, pastes, etc.), giving support to the industrial development in the fields of mineral technology, raw materials for the civil construction, development of new catalysts, ceramic materials, medicines, cosmetics and other new materials.

Infrastructure

Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)

• Determination of thermal properties (glass transitions, phase changes, melting and crystallization), stability, kinetics and purity of some substances with high sensibility from -180 to 725 °C;
• Operation at high pressures or under vacuum for the determination of vaporization heat, vapor pressure, reaction velocity under controlled environment and pressure-sensitive reactions;
• Evaluation of photopolymerization and photocuring processes in the temperature range of -50 to 250 °C.

Thermogravimetry with Differential Scanning Calorimetry (TGA/DSC)

• Analysis of the kinetics of dehydration, thermal and oxidative decomposition processes and other reactions;
• Tracking of different reactions, oxidation, phase transitions and physical and chemical transformations in the temperature range of 25 to 1600 °C;
• Compositional analysis of the products of thermal processes with infrared spectroscopy.

Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA)

• Measurement of mechanical end viscoelastic properties of materials such as thermoplastics, composites, ceramics, metals and elastomers as a function of temperature, time and frequency of loading;
• Quantitative and qualitative information of materials, such as, Young modulus, shear stress, viscoelastic behavior, structure and morphology of polymers, flux and relaxation behavior;
• Applied force can be varied from 1 mN to 40 N, with a frequency range of 1 mHz to 1 kHz and with temperatures of -150 up to 500 °C.

Thermal diffusivity and conductivity using Flash technique

• Determination of thermal diffusivity, conductivity and specific heat of metals, coatings, composites, ceramics, polymers and liquids with error between 3 to 5 %, in then temperature range of room temperature to 200 °C, with diffusivity ranging from 0.01 to 1000 mm²/s and conductivity of 0.1 to 2000 W/mK;

Thermal conductivity with HFM (Heat Flow Meter)

• Determination of thermal conductivity of materials with low thermal conductivity (0.01 – 0.2 W/mK) like polymeric insulators, in the temperature range of -15 to 90 °C.

Thermal conductivity with GHP (Guarded Hot Plate)

• The GHP technique does not require calibration as it is considered a primary method. It is used to measure thermal properties of insulating materials and others with high thermal resistance, such as composites, concrete, insulating materials of low density and also non-homogeneous materials.

BET analyzer

• Surface area measurements, distribution of size and volume of pores in materials at the micro (2 to 20 Å), meso (20 to 500 Å)and macro (above 500 Å) scales, density of materials by physical absorption and characterization of catalysts by chemical adsorption;
• Chemical adsorption tests.

Zeta Potencial analyzer

• Measurement of zeta potential and particle size in dilute to concentrated suspensions (0.5 to 60 vol.%), from nanometer particle sizes up to granules and fibers (between 20 nm and 10 µm);
• Measurements as a function of pH, concentration of dispersants and ions which give the potential.

Research topics

• Determination of purity for the development of reference materials;
• Biofuels characterization: low temperature characterization (DSC), oxidation resistance (p-DSC), photooxidation resistance (PCA), thermal stability and products of decomposition (SDTA + MS-FTIR), characterization of glassy phases, polymorphism and purity  (DSC, MDSC);
• Study of polymorphism of drugs for the development of reference materials in medicines;
• Certification of reference materials HFM – GHP;
• Synthesis and characterization of nanofluids.