Many plastic and rubber materials do not enjoy a static existence. Instead, they are subjected to oscillatory or vibratory forces. How will your plastic or rubber material respond to oscillatory forces?
Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) is the analytical tool of choice when you want critical information about the response of your materials to changes in frequency and temperature. DMA measures the mechanical properties of materials as a function of time, temperature, and frequency. Our DMA instrument operates over a wide temperature range (-150 to 600°C) and provides multiple modes of deformation including dual/single cantilever, tension, and torsion.
The usual outputs from the instrumentation are loss modulus, storage modulus, and the ratio of these two properties which is called the loss factor, the loss tangent, or tangent delta (Tan δ)
In addition to the direct evaluation of materials over a broad frequency range, modern software coupled with fundamental principles of polymer science allow properties at lower (creep) and higher (impact) frequencies to be modeled.
As a result, DMA is a powerful, multi-dimensional characterization tool for plastic and rubber materials.
To read more about the Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) method, click on the Web Site link above.