instruments: Overview

Organizations working on new thermosets or new thermoset formulations need an intimate understanding of how these materials cure before they can proceed to the next step in the research, quality control, or production process. What happens when the material is heated? When is the best time to apply pressure to squeeze out voids? How fast does the material react at 120C? 150C? 180C? Most organizations today address this need by curing a sample for an arbitrary amount of time before using inexact, error-prone manual methods, or complex thermal analytical instruments to test cure state. Maybe the sample has reached the end of cure, but maybe not. With traditional methods, it’s difficult to tell for sure. How can organizations determine whether they’re processing materials longer than necessary? Dielectric cure monitoring lets them know for sure. 

LT-440 Dielectric Channel

The LT-440 Dielectric Channel is a cost effective, compact instrument designed for cure monitoring in large-scale research and development, quality control/quality assurance, and manufacture of thermoset materials such as resins, composites, paints and coatings. The LT-440 will accept all Lambient Technologies dielectric/conductivity sensors, and most other dielectric or conductivity sensors.

Measurements from the LT-440 may be interfaced to any control network. Each LT-440 supports one dielectric sensor and one thermocouple, but up to 127 individual dielectric channels may be connected on a single RS-485 line. This low-cost flexibility eliminates complex cabling and allows simultaneous, multi-channel cure monitoring of material state at any point in a large part. This provides an especially practical option for users involved in the manufacture of very large items, such as aerospace or wind turbine components.  

LT-451 Dielectric Cure Monitor

The LT-451 Dielectric Cure Monitor is a versatile instrument designed for research and development, quality assurance/quality control, and manufacturing applications involving thermoset materials such as resins, composites, and paints and coatings.

With the LT-451, used with Lambient Technologies’ CureView data acquisition software and either disposable or reusable sensors, teams working with thermosets can glean precise, critical data on materials, such as resistivity and ion viscosity, at every stage of cure. Armed with this information, organizations can proceed in research, quality control/quality assurance, and manufacturing operations with a high degree of certainty about how materials will perform in the end product.

LTF-631 High Speed Dielectric Cure Monitor

The LTF-631 High Speed Dielectric Cure Monitor is designed for the study of rapidly reacting materials in research and development, quality assurance/quality control, and manufacturing applications involving thermoset materials such as resins, composites, paints, and coatings. 

With the LTF-631, users working with very rapidly-curing materials such as dental adhesives, UV cured films and sheet molding compound (SMC) can obtain detailed data about these materials, providing knowledge of the reaction that no other method can offer.