Our next feature in our material characterization test series is the PvT Test. Lab manager Jacob Trott tells us more about the test:

"PvT testing is done via the Zoller Gnomix method, also known as the confining fluid method. This device is critical for understanding the Pressure-volume-Temperature relationship which is examined from room temperature all the way up to the processing temperature region, examined through pressure sweeps up to 200MPa. The sample is encapsulated by mercury in a sealed cell filled under vacuum. This ensures that the inside volume of the cell is completely filled with the material sample and mercury only. The base of the cell includes a pre-loaded bellow spring. This is attached to a LVDT sensing element that reads linear displacement. As we exhibit different pressure and temperatures conditions on the cell, the LVDT will read the response of the bellow as the inside volume changes due to expansion or contraction. Since the mercury thermal changes have been calibrated out, we know that the volume change occurring is purely the sample we are testing. This allows us to calculate the specific volume at any given pressure and temperature condition, in which the inverse is in fact density. This is now the roadmap for simulation to understand volumetric shrinkage."