Fibre optic dilato-spectroscopic sensor: simultaneous thermal, spectral, and physicalanalyses of materials

Abstract

This paper describes a novel technique to obtain simultaneous spectral, thermal anddilatometric data on polymers as they are heated through their glass transitiontemperatures and melting points. The technique links an infrared spectrometer andan optical spectrum analyser, through a combination of fibre optic probes, to acustom-modified differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The latter is used to obtainthermal-based information such as the enthalpy of fusion and the glass transition whilst theinfrared spectrometer is used to obtain chemical information of the polymer sample. Theoptical spectrum analyser was used in tandem with the fibre optic probe to obtainsimultaneous dilatometric data from the processed sample using an interferometrictechnique. This combined and simultaneous analytical technique negates the need for threeindependent experiments to obtain thermal, spectral and chemical information. Anotheradvantage of this simultaneous technique is that the polymer sample is subject to a singleand controlled thermal environment.