In Figure 2 the glass transition is represented as the intersection
of two straight lines. Above Tg the dimensional change is that
of a liquid with all its molecular degrees of freedom. Below
Tg the dimensional changes with temperature are those of an
amorphous solid whose rotational and translational degrees of
freedom have been frozen out. When a liquid is cooled rapidly
(as often occurs in plastics processing) it results in a solid
structure with more and larger voids than if the material is
cooled slowly or allowed to sit for a long time in the low end
of its Tg region. This latter case is called “physical aging”,
(as indicated by the green arrow in Figure 2). Amorphous
material which is stored in its Tg temperature range will
change mechanical properties, such as modulus, which will
affect its processing characteristics. The glass transition as
measured by TMA using the intersection of the tangents above
and below Tg indicate the extent of physical aging. If carried out
in a dilatometer the extent of volume change can be measured
(although in practice this may be a difficult measurement).
FThermoset Characterization Part 10: Introduction to TMA
June 16, 2014 By Jeffrey Gotro Leave a Comment
Guest Post by Dr. R. Bruce Prime
TMA SchematicThermomechanical analysis or TMA is a simple yet very useful technique that can measure coefficient of thermal expansion, Tg and the dimensional change accompanying the relaxation of stress stored in a material. As shown in the illustration the dimensional change of a material with temperature (or time) is measured in a controlled atmosphere and under controlled load. Measurements may be made in compression (shown) or in tension, e.g. on a film or thin sample. A good reference for TMA as well as the other thermal analysis techniques is Thermal Analysis of Polymers: Fundamentals and Applications, (JD Menczel and RB Prime, eds), Wiley, 2009.
shows an example of the TMA curve for a thermoset material with Tg of +180°C. Two lines are drawn tangent to two slopes on the curve. One line is for the CTE at temperatures below Tg, the other for temperatures higher than Tg, with the intersection of the two lines occurring at Tg. That material is a Theta® laminate from Rogers Corp. used for high-speed digital applications. It is halogen free and capable of withstanding multiple lamination cycles and lead-free-solder processing. With a CTE of 56 ppm/°C, the material is considered thermally robust for PCB fabrication processes and multilayer assemblies. In general, materials with a CTE below 70 ppm/°C are considered suitable for applications requiring good thermal reliability.