Both Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and FTIR have been well established as analytical tools for material characterization. TGA measures the weight loss/gain during temperature change. It is widely used to study the adsorption/desorption kinetics, evaporation and decomposition of pharmaceutical, polymeric material. But it does not give any information about the chemical composition of evolved gas. FTIR is used to identify chemical structure of solid, liquid and gas. So by coupling TGA to FTIR, a comprehensive analysis of the evolved gas becomes possible. The evolved gas from TGA instrument is transferred to FTIR through a transfer line, the TGA and FTIR data can be analyzed together with the powerful Timebase software. They are two complementary technologies. It has been used in the research and QAQC of pharmaceutical, polymer and environmental field.
In this presentation, one case study of contaminant in oil is used as an example to illustrate the application of TG/IR system. The contaminant will change the viscosity and other physical properties of oil and is detrimental to oil performance. TGA experiment alone found out that the contaminant evaporates before the oil due to a low boiling point, but it did not tell you what the contaminant is. The evolved gas is then transferred to a FTIR instrument and the FTIR spectrum is able to identify it as a fuel. So by doing these two measurements together both the identity and weight percentage of contaminant are determined. It is faster and efficient than previous methods.
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