Method automated torsion

The purpose of this paper is to describe an automated torsion pendulum controlled by a desktop computer, to discuss four separate methods of data analysis, and to compare the results of a torsion pendulum experiment and a TBA experiment using the same epoxy resin. 

Discussion. The four methods of data reduction were used to analyze the raw data of the same TBA specimen during a slow (0.25°C/min) temperature scan (Figure 8). A comparison of the spectra indicates that they all gave similar results over the range of period (0.3 to 1.8 sec) and logarithmic decrement (0.01 to 1.08) encountered in the experiment. (The automated torsion pendulum has been used to reduce data with a range of 0.1 to 15 sec. for the period, and 0.001 to 4.0 for the... 

A torsion pendulum interfaced with a desktop computer form an automated instrument for dynamic mechanical characterization of polymeric materials. The computer controls the initiation of the oscillations, collects the digitized data and calculates the shear modulus and loss modulus from the damped oscillations, utilizing one of four methods of analysis ... 

The automation of the torsion pendulum utilizing a desktop computer eliminates the tedious data analysis previously associated with that technique. Any one of four data reduction methods can be used the experimental conditions will determine which is the optimum one to employ. The torsion pendulum technique provides quantitative values of shear modulus and logarithmic decrement and in the torsion braid mode provides a qualitative analysis of materia i, especially in the liquid-to-solid transition region. 

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