New Instrument Up and Running

This past week a brand new TGA/DSC (Thermogravimetric Analyzer/Differential Scanning Calorimeter) was installed and is already being used by student/faculty researchers.  The Q600 (TA Instruments) is essentially a very sensitive balance inside a very hot programmable oven.  The instrument is able to precisely monitor a sample's decrease in weight as temperature is increased to 1,000 degrees or more.  A materials decay pattern is fairly unique and can be used for identification and purity analysis.  One study plans to investigate the use of TGA/DSC to identify muscle fiber types.