Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
An Electrodynamic Thermogravimetric Analysis (EDTGA) Instrument has been developed for the study of kinetics of gas-solid reactions and phase transformations of levitated particles at high temperature. The levitated particles may be heated with a focused laser beam and their temperature and weight monitored during the process. The particles that can be studied are, approximately, 10 to 150 microns in diameter and it is aimed to produce temperature pulses comparable to those encountered in plasma torches and reactors. The instrumentation implemented in the system permits the measurement and or control of relative temperature, weight change, and energy flux to the particle with a time resolution of less than one millisecond. Selected results obtained from pulse heating aluminum oxide and silicon dioxide are presented.