Detection of Ultra-Small Residual Masses: Weigh The Little Bird!
By NETZSCH GroupThermogravimetry (TGA) is frequently applied for the compositional analyses of such materials as, for example, fibre-reinforced polymer composites. The residual mass at the end of a TGA experiment reflects the filler or glass fibre content, as well as the presence of impurities.
By using a relatively large sample volume in a top-performing thermobalance along with the intelligent Proteus® software by NETZSCH, it is possible to detect ultra-small residual masses with concentrations down to the ppm (= 10-6) range! Such small concentrations can be illustrated by a little bird with a mass of a few grams sitting on the back of an elephant weighing a few tons.