Hot-Stage Optical Microscopy

Hot-stage microscopy (HSM), is the combination of microscopy and thermal analysis to enable the study of materials as a function of temperature and time. Besides obtaining information about particle size and particle morphology, the visual examination gives valuable information about the compound with regard to melting point and other transformations during heating. Hot Stage Microscopy gives an unique opportunity to visually follow thermal changes. The hot stage (Mettler Toledo FP82HT) is a user friendly and precise thermal measuring cell for visual sample inspection. The stage is equipped with a heating controller and a temperature range from room temperature to 375 °C is available. The accuracy of temperature control is between ± 0.4°C to ± 0.8°C depending on the target temperature. In ?combination with the temperature controlled hot stage and the polarised microscope, this equipment greatly extends our ability for high quality observation of fibre and polymer microstructure.