Thermomechanical analysis

Thermomechanical analysis (TMA) is a technique used in thermal analysis, a branch of materials science which studies the properties of materials as they change with temperature. Thermomechanical analysis is a subdiscipline of the thermomechanometry (TM) technique. Thermomechanometry is the measurement of a change of a dimension or a mechanical property of the sample while it is subjected to a temperature regime. An associated thermoanalytical method is thermomechanical analysis. A special related technique is thermodilatometry (TD), the measurement of a change of a dimension of the sample with a negligible force acting on the sample while it is subjected to a temperature regime. The associated thermoanalytical method is thermodilatometric analysis (TDA). TDA is often referred to as zero force TMA. The temperature regime may be heating, cooling at a rate of temperature change that can include stepwise temperature changes, linear rate of change, temperature modulation with a set frequency and amplitude, free (uncontrolled) heating or cooling, or maintaining a constant increase in temperature. The sequence of temperatures with respect to time may be predetermined (temperature programmed) or sample controlled (controlled by a feedback signal from the sample response). Thermomechanometry includes several variations according to the force and the way the force is applied. Static force TM (sf-TM) is when the applied force is constant; previously called TMA with TD as the special case of zero force. Dynamic force TM (df-TM) is when the force is changed as for the case of a typical stress–strain analysis; previously called TMA with the term dynamic meaning any alteration of the variable with time, and not to be confused with dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Modulated force TM (mf-TM) is when the force is changed with a frequency and amplitude; previously called DMA. The term modulated is a special variant of dynamic, used to be consistent with modulated temperature differential scanning calorimetry (mt-DSC) and other situations when a variable is imposed in a cyclic manner.