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Applications of the VESTA and Transition Temperature Microscopy (TTM) |
Transition Temperature
Microscopy (TTM)
A TTM Image is obtained by plotting the localized
tansition temperatures at diferent points on the
sample. You simply select the region on your
optical microscope image on which you’d like a
TTM image and the VESTA automatically
proceeds to create the image. This powerful
new form of microscopy enables you to identify
localized thermal inhomogeneities on the
sample surface that cannot be identifed by
conventional forms of microscopy and bulk
thermal analysis. |  |
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Applications: Transition Temperature Microscopy can be used in a wide variety of applications in Polymers; Pharmaceuticals; Thin Films/Coatings; Data Storage and Semiconductors. Here are a few examples:
- Identify thermal inhomogeneities invisible to other forms of microscopy and thermal analysis
- Thermal analysis for thin flms and coatings
- Detect crystalline and amorphous phases
- Characterize interface properties between two solid phases
- Identify defects with in-situ failure analysis
- Characterize and map polymer blend morphology
- Local material identifcation in complex blends and multilayers
- Map Tg changes to visualize degradation and/or cross-link inhomogeneities
- Detect local changes caused by fllers in composites
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Specific Examples: |
Polymer blends.
Transition Temperature Microscopy allows mapping of
components on the basis of their glass and/or transition temperatures. The image
above is a Tg map of a blend of polystyrene and PMMA. |
 | | Pharmaceuticals.
Transition Temperature Microscopy image of a mix
of paracetamol and HPMC. TTM reveals the drug particles (dark blue) by
its thermal transition. |  |
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Identifying Processing Artifacts in Fiber Reinforced Systems |
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| The optical microscopy image revealed a skin around microfibers which was an artifact that formed during the microfiber embedding process, but the optical image could not tell what the composition of the artifact was. The TTM image enabled the determination that it was the use of 'aged' epoxy resin monomer and catalyst that had hydrolyzed during storage which led to the formation of a micron-thick skin with a higher transition temperature than the matrix or microfiber. |
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Characterization of Multilayers in Flat Panel Displays |
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Understanding the effect of morphology and composition on the optical properties of the micron-sized layers present in LCD flat panel displays is critical to understanding their performance. Localized thermal analysis successfully identified the thermo-mechanical properties of individual cellulose triacetate layers, as well as the presence of gradients within individual layers. Shown above is an overlay of Transition temperature images (TTM) against the optical microscopy images. The TTM image shows transition temperature maps of the individual micron-sized layers and interfaces that were undetected in optical microscopy images.
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