The identiPol is a device based on a hybrid between two Scientific Instruments known respectively as a Dynamic Mechanical Analyser (DMA)* and a Differential Thermal Analyser (DTA)**. These devices produce thermal spectra of a material that reflect the thermal and mechanical properties of that material over a wide range of temperatures. Both these techniques, and variants, are used extensively for studying and characterising thermoplastic materials in the scientific world but considerable barriers have prevented widespread use for QA in factory situations.

These barriers can be summarised as the following;

• Price - Most of these instruments are very expensive to purchase
• Skill - All require a skilled operator with a good scientific knowledge
• Slow - Most tests can take at least one hour or more
• No statistical weighing of data – None have a statistical reduction capability
• Not rugged – Unlikely to be capable of coping with a factory environment

The identiPol counters all of the above issues

• Price - Sensibly positioned for a factory situation
• Skill - Virtually anyone can operate with minimal training
• Fast - Test complete in typically 10 minutes
• Inbuilt and automatic statistics - No interpretation of data required by operator
• Very rugged - Can be placed in any factory environment

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_mechanical_analysis
** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_Thermal_Analysis