Misura™ documentation project¶

Misura™ is the data acquisition and analysis software platform for non-contact high temperature measurement instruments.

Please always refer to the updated version of this document which can be found online here:

http://misura.readthedocs.io

Installation¶

This document describes the installation and quick start of Misura™4 software.

Prerequisites¶

2GB of free hard disk storage
At least 500MB of free RAM at runtime (see below)
2Ghz, dual core processor
Maximum screen resolution: 96dpi.

For windows: - Windows 10 64bit - 4GB RAM for ODP users - 8GB RAM for Flash users

For linux: - Ubuntu 16.04 - 2GB RAM for general users - 8GB for Flash users

Dependencies:

The latest Windows Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable package, x86 version (independently on your OS being 64 or 32 bits): vcredist.
You will need Xvid MPEG4 video compression filter in order to export compressed videos of recorded frames.

Known incompatibilities:

High DPI screens might not be supported and cause Misura to crash. Please

rescale to 96 DPI.

Microsoft Windows™ 10 64bit¶

Misura™4 for Microsoft Windows™ 1064bit can be obtained as a standard installer (.exe).

Installation initiates by double clicking on the installer package proceeding through the pages. Any previous installation will be deleted, but local Misura data and configuration will not be affected.

The installer will ask which components to install. Misura Flash users can skip the installation of Acquisition and Graphics components.

Upgrading¶

The Misura™ Browser menu action Help ‣ Check client updates will check if any newer client version is available, download the installer and start the installation procedure.

The Live Acquisition window also offers Help ‣ Check server updates when connected to an instrument. This action upgrades the instrument’s firmware, closes the client and restarts the server.

Canonical Ubuntu™ GNU/Linux¶

Misura™4 for Ubuntu™ 14.04 LTS GNU/Linux operative system should be installed along with the full development environment.

Follow instructions contained in the README.

Both client and server upgrades are available as explained above, Upgrading.

Bug reports and support¶

For assistance you can contact Daniele Paganelli, d paganelli at tainstruments .com.

The Help menu of Misura™ Browser and Live Acquisition contains a Bug report action which will create a zip archive containing useful information for debugging, Help ‣ Bug report. It is recommended to attach this archive to any support request.

If the issue involves running a test or controlling an instrument, the bug report should be created from Live Acquisition while connected to the machine. In this way also instrument logs will be included.
If the issue involves only data processing and visualization, the bug report can be created from the Misura™ Browser.
If doubts about measurements are implied, please send also relevant test files.

It is advisable to set the client bug level filter to 0, so all user interface messages will be logged (Logging level option in Preferences).

The Measurement Platform¶

This section describes software components that are shared across all or many Misura applications. They are presented in a general way which is applicable to any measurement task.

Live Acquisition¶

The Live Acquisition software allows to carry on any kind of measurement available on a Misura platform.

This section describes basic concepts, functionalities and procedures which are general enough to be applicable to any measurement.

More specific instructions can be found in Measurement Apps sections dedicated to each instrument.

Connecting¶

When you first launch Acquisition software, you have to select a server to connect to.

Select the Connect ‣ Server ‣ Open action. Alternatively, from the Recent Servers area, click the Add button:

An input dialog will let you specify the server protocol, IP, port and path. In a normal environment, the server address will be:

https://192.100.100.100:3880/RPC

A username and a password will be prompted, and saved for any future connection to that machine.

Saved connections will be displayed both as items in the Recent servers box on the welcome page of Live Acquisition, and as Connect ‣ Server menu items.

Client network configuration¶

You should connect to the instrument through a crossover cable or a private hub just between the client PC and the instrument network interface.

As the instrument provides no network auto-configuration, you will be required to manually set-up your network interface in order to be able to reach that IP.

Factory-installed clients usually have this configuration:

IP: 192.100.100.2
Netmask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway and DNS: None

Follow this official guide for Windows to disable DHCP and manually set a fixed address.

Time synchronization¶

The time between instrument and client computer is kept synchronized. The user may periodically see a warning message upon connection, asking to re-synchronize times. If replied positively, the instrument will restart for synchronization.

It’s up to the user keep the client’s computer time up-to-date, manually or by using exact time services.

When connecting from multiple clients, you should keep all client synchronized at the same time, to avoid multiple re-sync.

Initializing the Measurement App¶

After a successful connection you will be shown a list with available Measurement Apps, a button for each instrument. Click the corresponding button to select your desired instrument.

Once the instrument is selected, the machine will start its setup, also called measurement morphing. A “Pending Tasks” dialog will appear in the left panel, showing some details about what is happening. The internal positions of measuring components will change in order to reach the configuration required to perform the requested instrument, as displayed in this video.

This operation can take up to a couple of minutes, depending on the instrument. Any interaction with the application is discouraged until when the dialog disappears.

Once the initialization is complete, the application will display all relevant controls needed to configure, start and follow the execution of the test.

The menu bar contains:

Connect: to connect to a different machine or to change measurement app.
Measure: allows to re-initialize the instrument from zero, set a delayed start, hide/show user interface components (Test Configuration, Storyboard, Data Plot, Data Table, Log Window), Reload Data from the instrument, Quit client.
Settings: gives access to advanced configuration panels for the Instrument itself, its individual Devices, or the full Global configuration.
View: Hide/show user interface components, like plot window, storyboard, etc.
Help: client configuration, documentation link opening the documentation you are reading, the Pending Tasks dialog, the software information dialog.

On the right side of the window you find a tabbed Test Configuration area, showing:

Status tab: contains short summary of the current test condition. The first two options shows if a test is running (data recording) and if the thermal control is active. They are underlined in green when not active, in red when running. Then follows information on test name and test duration (if running); the furnace position if motorized; temperatures, setpoint and power output. More sample-dependent option can be shown based on the active measurement app.
Measure tab: generic test configurations can be made (starting and stopping conditions) and metadata can be viewed (eg: maximum temperature reached)
Thermal Cycle tab: allows to define the thermal cycle and preview it
Sample<N> tabs: one tab for each sample defined in the analysis.
Results tab: empty until the start of the test. Will be populated with tools for Interacting with a running test.

On the bottom, a bar showing:

Focus slider and spin-box, to adjust the focus distance.
Furnace: option to view and control furnace position (Opened/Closed). Only available if furance is motorized.

Configuring the test¶

The following paragraphs explain common procedures or concepts needed to carry out any test with Misura™.

Moving the furnace¶

The first step of test configuration is placing the sample in the right position. If the furnace is motorized, you should always open it by using the option Is the furnace closed? in the Status tab, or the Furnace: box in the bottom bar. That option should be changed to the desired position: Closed or Opened.

Once the sample is positioned and correctly framed, it is advisable to close the furnace using the same option, and proceed with test configuration.

Measure and Sample names¶

The test name can be directly set in the Status panel, or in the Measure tab.

This is the name of your measurement, but the sample (and each sample) can have a different name. Sample names can be set in their Sample<N> tab, in Name option (see Samples).

The test name should identify the kind of measurement, while the sample name should identify the material the measurement method is applied to. You will be able to recall the both test name and sample name from the Database Indexes.

For simplicity you can just set the test name to a string identifying both the kind of test and the sample name, and leave the sample name field to the default value (Sample N. 0).

The test name will also be used as the output file name. If a file with the same name already exists, it will be postfixed with _<N>, where <N> will be increased until an unique name exists (measure, measure_1, measure_2, etc).

Thermal cycle¶

The Thermal Cycle tab in the Test Configuration area allows to load a thermal cycle preset or to design a new one. Refer to Thermal Cycle Designer for a detailed explanation.

Additional test termination options can be configured in the Measure and Sample sections, depending on the Measurement Apps you are using.

Measure¶

This tab contains:

Configuration preset: a combo that allows you to load a previously saved configuration. Save and Del buttons respectively save and delete currently selected preset.

Name: the name to give to the test.

Maximum test duration: defines the amount of passed time that will cause the end of the test, even if the thermal cycle is not completed (-1 removes this timeout)

Stop after thermal cycle: when set, the acquisition will stop when the thermal cycle is over. If not set, the acquisition will go on until the operator won’t stop it manually.

Operator: the operator running the test

Type: the type of test. Only Standard is supported to date

Start at: date and time when the test was started

Number of samples: sets the number of samples to analyze (can be from 1 to 8)

Kiln position before acquisition: the position where the kiln will be placed right before the start of the acquisition

Kiln position after acquisition: the position where the kiln will be placed after the end of the acquisition

End status: displays the reason of the acquisition’s termination

Samples¶

Every sample has its own tab, named Sample0, Sample1, …

Each tab contains the details of its sample:

Configuration preset is the currentrly loaded preset. You can change it, save it if you make any change, and delete it.

Name is the name of the sample

Temperature is the current sample temperature

Initial sample dimension is the size of the specimen, before the start of the test

Record frames defines wether tha raw frame of the sample should be saved or not

Record profiles defines wether the sample profiles have to be saved or not

Border angle is the angle of currently detected border

Total displacement is the current displacement from initial position

Starting/stopping the test¶

Once the test is completely configured, the sample positioned and the furnace moved to its intended initial position, you can start it by clicking on Start button in the upper-left toolbar. A confirmation dialog will ask you to review the test name, the initial dimension if any, and the system status. By confirming, the test will start.

The button bar in the upper side of the main window has two more buttons, Stop and Cool, as explained in Ending the test.

Delayed start¶

To schedule a test to start at a specified date in the future, you can use the Delayed start feature, available from the Measure menu.

The Delayed Test Start dialog will appear with the options needed to control its behaviour.

Enable delayed start: click on the checkbox to engage the delayed start. When the configured time and temperature are reached, the test will automatically start.
Delayed start date: Set date and time when the test will start.
Delayed temperature: Set a required minimum temperature for the start of the test. If set to -1, no temperature will be required and only the time delay will be considered.

Then 3 fields allows to understand how and when the test will be started.

Target instrument: the current instrument app name. It will not be possible to change instrument a delayed start is already configured.
Remaining time: a countdown showing remaining time to test start
Operator: the user name of the operator who set the delayed start

Finally, 2 buttons:

Save and exit: close the client application. The delayed start will remain active and the test will be started at the configured time, even if no client is connected to the instrument.
Abort delayed start: cancel delayed start and dismiss the dialog.

The dialog will remain active until the test starts. If you close the client application or click Save and exit, the delayed start will remain effective. If you later reconnect to the instrument, the delayed start dialog will pop up again, until test starts or delayed start is aborted.

Dismissing the dialog equals aborting the delayed start.

Interacting with a running test¶

While the test is running it is possible to perform most of the data visualization and processing operations which are available when accessing to a finished test output file.

The Status panel tab will update showing relevant options and output values
By clicking on menu Measure ‣ Data Plot, you can view a realtime graph of output values which will open in a Data Plot subwindow. You can interact with the plot under the Results tab (adding a curve, changing visualization options, etc).
By clicking on menu Measure ‣Data Table, you can inspect all active datasets in a tabular view, which will open in a Data Table subwindow.
If the instruments records images or sample profiles, the Storyboard will be visible.

Status panel¶

The Status panel will update showing relevant status, configuration options and real-time output values.

It always contains information about:

Acquisition status: is there a running test? This coloured checkbox will be False over green background when there is no running test; True over red background while a test is running.

Thermal control status: is there any running thermal cycle? This coloured checkbox will be False over green background when there is no active thermal control (no thermal cycle); True over red background if the temperature is currently under control by a thermal cycle.

Test name. This text box is synchronized with the one contained in the Measure tab.

Elapsed time: Seconds passed since the start of the test.

Thermal control status cannot be True if the acquistion status is False. In other words, temperature cannot be controlled by a thermal cycle outside of a running test.

On the opposite it is possible that the thermal control is turned off during a running test. This happens if the test was set to do not end with the thermal cycle and its target duration was longer than the duration of the thermal cycle. The operator can also manually interrupt the thermal control anytime by pressing the Cool button - without stopping the acquistion (see below Ending the test).

The Status panel also contains real-time thermal control parameters, as:

Sample temperature: Temperature measured as near as possible the sample, on the sample holder.

Furnace temperature: Also measured quite near the sample, but attached to the furnace chamber. Thus, if the furnace opens, this thermocouple signal will record the inside of the empty furnace, while the Sample temperature above will record the environment temperature outside of the furnace, nearby to the sample.

Setpoint: The target temperature of the thermal cycle.

Power: The percentage of power emitted in order for the control temperature to reach the setpoint temperature.

Control temperature: The reference temperature used for power emission in order to reach the setpoint. This is usually equal to the Sample temperature while the furnace is closed; to the furnace temperature while it is open; or to a custom combination of both.

Additionally, the Status panel contains realtime values depending on the current Measurement App:

Initial sample dimension

Displacement (expansion/contraction/flexion)

Volume

Height

…

Data Plot¶

The Data Plot is accessible by clicking on menu Measure ‣ Data Plot. It is initialized at the start of the test with a default plot showing the most relevant measured property against time.

The plot can be edited and customized exactly as you would offline using the Misura™ Browser or the Plotting. See Data Plot for more help.

Warning

It is advisable not to build complex plots during live acquisition, as you will loose all your careful work when the test ends. Moreover, complex data operations might slow down the user interface and lead it to a complete freeze, as they are entirely re-computed each time a new data point is received. If this happens, close the Live Acquisition window and reconnect to the running machine. Plotting data has no effect on test execution, measurement, and data collection.

Hint

The data you see during live acquistion is not exactly the same you will find on the output file. This is because the data plot will display raw values as they arrive each couple of seconds. Instead, when you open the output file after the test ended, you will plot slightly smoothed data considering tens of points per second.

Results¶

The Results tab contains another series of tabs, which are:

Data Tab: a tree that contains all plottable data to allow you to perform operations over it.

Properties and Formatting: are the equivalent of Properties and Formatting on the right click menu of the Data Plot. Operations are applied on the object selected in the Objects tab or on the plot.

Objects is a 1 to 1 representation of the plot; it allows to select objects to perform operations in other contexts.

Console is the Veusz output console.

Data Table¶

The Data table is accessible by clicking on menu Measure ‣ Data Table. It displays one column for each Loaded Dataset.

New data points are dynamically added at the end of the table. The table can be exported to *.csv file format anytime by right-clicking on the header.

Storyboard¶

The storyboard displays a list of recorded frames or profiles of a sample. The target sample can be changed with the upper-left combo box.

The storyboard is available only when images or profiles are saved in the output file. Frame and profile recording can be configured, before test start, in the Sample <N> tabs in Test Configuration panel.

It is always visible in the Microscope app. If not, it can be accessed by clicking on menu Measure ‣ Storyboard.

A label below each image reports the temperature value at which the image was recorded (eg: T: 321). More measured values can be displayed by dragging and dropping nodes from the Results tab.

The number of images is fixed (usually five on an horizontal row).

The user can navigate forward and backward by using the upper slide bar, which will cause the images to update to the recorded data in the position indicated by the slider, relative to total test duration.

Navigating through the images will cause a vertical red line to move back and forth in the Data Plot, if visible. The operator can thus view measured values associated with displayed images.

It is possible to navigate through the images also by dragging and dropping the red bar on the Data Plot to different X-axis values.

Ending the test¶

The test will naturally end when a termination option is triggered (end of thermal cycle, test duration elapsed, etc). At the end of the test, the output file will be downloaded to the client PC - if the client is connected - or scheduled for download with the Storage synchronization mechanism.

To forcefully stop the test, click Stop button in upper-left toolbar. You will be asked to confirm your decision, and if you want to save the partial output file or immediately delete it.

In certain conditions it is useful to stop the thermal control without stopping the test. Click the Cool button in the upper-left toolbar and confirm your decision. The confirmation dialog will warn you that, in order to stop the thermal cycle without stopping the test, the option Stop after thermal cycle was implicitly disabled. If you did not provide a maximum duration for your test, or other special termination option, it is possible that your test will never end.

Never ending tests are possible by disabling the Stop after thermal cycle option and setting a zero or negative Maximum test duration. It’s up to you to manually stop these tests.

Changing termination options has immediate effect on the running test. For example, if the thermal control ended and enable the Stop after thermal cycle option, the test will instantly stop. Or, if you set a maximum test duration greater than zero but smaller than current elapsed time.

Components and options¶

The configuration of a test involves many different components of the system: the measurement definition, one or more samples, the thermal cycle.

Under the hood, many other components are configured automatically or based on the user’s input: real physical devices (cameras, motors, power controllers, etc) and virtual components like sub-samples (Left/Right/Center, Base/Heigt), feedback regulators, the instrument itself, etc.

All these configurations are defined and saved in a consistent hierarchy of components both in the live instrument and in the output file.

Each component defines several options: all summed up, they represent the component’s configuration. Component configurations can be saved as Configuration presets, and recalled by their name to quickly get the component back in the desired configuration.

The user interface displays a component configuration as a Configuration panel: a structured list containing all available options (according to the user’s Access Management).

Components are organized in a hierarchical way, in order to make easier to search for them and to automate some actions on group of related components.

Configuration panel¶

A configuration panel lists all options related to a single component. For example, left-side panel in Configuring the test, is a configuration panel.

It can contain tabs, one for each major configuration section. For example, shape identification standards, listed as tabs in microscope Standards for Characteristic shapes identification, are configuration sections.

The options listing can be divided up to 3 boxes, one for each option role:

Configuration: options which can be edited by the user.
Status: options which are generally changed server-side to reflect internal status. The user can interact with some of them.
Results: options which represent the output of a server process - usually read-only.

Box visibility can be toggled by clicking on the checkbox near the header.

Configuration options¶

Misura™4 offers a unified experience to visualize and edit any variable, generically called Option.

Options can represent proper Configuration variables, which the user can change to obtain an effect, but also the Status of some server-side variable, or a read-only Result from an analysis.

This distinction is well visible in any configuration panel, where options are grouped in 3 boxes - one for each role.

Options have types (String, Integer, Float, etc) which determine their appearance in the user interface.

All options share a common representation pattern: a label, containing the option’s name, and the option value. The option value can be represented as an input box (for text), a spinbox (for numbers), a slider and a spinbox (for number with boundaries), a combo-box (for selections), a checkbox (for booleans), etc.

Read-only options usually appear as simple text labels, without any control associated with editing. Some read-only option types, like tables, have no visual distinction: editing interactions are simply disabled.

If a numerical option has an associated measurement unit, it will be displayed between the label and the value.

Sub-options and groups¶

An option can have sub-options, which are hidden by default. Sub-options usually represent fine-tuning aspects of the parent option.

The presence of sub-options is indicated by a + symbol on the right of the option itself. When clicked, subordered options will become visible below the main option, and the symbol will turn to - and produce the opposite effect (hiding sub-options).

Options might be grouped together in a titled box.

Option’s context menu¶

The options’s context menu can be visualized by right-clicking on the option’s label. Actions marked with (*) are available only when connected to a live instrument.

enabled: some options might support an enabled/disabled state.
Units: Change measurement unit. Only for numerical options defining a number.
Set default value: resets to factory default.
Check for modifications: (*) force to read the current value on the instrument’s side and refresh. It as the same effect as passing the mouse over the option.
Option info: opens a dialog where all option’s attributes are listed.
Detatch: opens a separate window containing the option label and value alone. This can be useful to view more clearly complex options, like tables.
Aggregation: only visible if the option is an aggregate, se Aggregates.
Presets: (*) lists all values in any saved configuration preset for this component. By clicking on a submenu action, the related value will be applied.

Compare menu¶

Compare lists all values for options with the same name in any other component on the server or in the test. By clicking on a submenu action, the related value will be applied.

When an option have some sub-options, a Compare menu is also accessible from the +/- symbols used for exploding or collapsing the option group. This menu contains an intermediate level, listing all components containing all the options grouped together. For there, another submenu lists the option values one by one. By clicking on an option:value couple you can apply that value to the option in the current group. By clicking on Apply all, all the values from the referred group will be imported and applied to the current group’s options.

Range menu¶

Numerical options also show a Range submenu, containing settings for:

Min: the minimum value the option can have
Max: the maximum value the option can have
Step: step used for user-interface interactions (spinbox, slider)
Zoom: The control slider will be zoomed into a region of valid values and be colored in red. This can be activated on options having a min/max and showing a slider. Zooming can be used in Motion Control.
Precision: how many digits to show. They will be shown only if needed (eg: 1.20001 will be just 1.2 if precision is set to 4 or less). A less than 0 value means digits are unmanaged.

Tables¶

Tabular options have more complex editing interactions and they offer 3 context menus accessible with right-clicks.

Cell context menu¶

Also callable from the empty space:

Add row after or before
Delete row - currently selected or first
Update values from remote
Copy selected contents to clipboard, in a text format which is suitable for pasting in third-party applications.
Export to csv file, which can be imported in third-party applications.
Rotate: exchange rows with columns. Will not affect underlining data structure nor csv export. Data copied to clipboard will be rotated.
Zoom: graphically zoom in/out of the table, enlarging or shrinking all fonts and graphical elements
Visible units: toggle visibility of column header units
More columns: view previously hidden columns.
More rows: view previously hidden rows.

Column and row header context menus¶

Visible checkbox: uncheck to hide the column.
More columns: view previously hidden columns again.
Units: contains sub-actions related to measurement units management.
- Visible unit in the header.
- Select the current measurement unit.
Use as header: will activate row header using this column.
Export and Rotate as above
Add row at the end of the table.

A Row header context menu is also available, containing the same options as the column header. Visibility refers to the clicked row, and More rows allows to recall hidden rows.

Aggregates¶

The value of an option might be dynamically calculated according to options contained in other components. In this case, the option is referred as an aggregate.

For example, an option might be defined as the mean, a sum, a product or a tabular representation of numerous other options. Involved options typically come from sub components. For example, if component A has 3 sub components A/B, A/C, A/D and each of them defines a Temperature option, component A might define an aggregated Temperature option which is defined by the mean of all its subcomponent’s temperatures:

A.Temperature = (A/B.Temperature + A/C.Temperature + A/D.Temperature) / 3

Aggregated options can be recognized because they offer an additional context-menu submenu: Aggregation (see Option’s context menu), containing these options:

Update: re-calculate the value of the aggregation.
List aggregated options: opens a new window showing the values of options involved in the aggregation.

After a separator, all components involved in the aggregation are listed. Each component opens a sub-menu, with a View action, which will open a Configuration panel for the aggregated component where the involved option is highlighted in red.

A Navigator action is also available, giving access to the same actions which could be performed on the component’s node if selected in the Misura™ Navigator.

A special tabular aggregation produces a table, where each cell value derives from an option pertaining to another component. An additional sub-menu is appended to the Cell context menu, with the same functionality as the View action above.

Tables can also be merged together, following the same criteria.

Pending Tasks¶

Misura™ is an heavily multi-threaded and multi-processing application, usually distributed between two computers (the client and the instrument itself).

It is important to have a clear visualization of what is happening and have a feedback about long-running tasks. When it is possible, the user should also have the choice to interrupt a task.

The Pending Tasks component is divided in three tasks tabs, each visualizing the ongoing operations on the Remote machine (the instrument), on the Local computer (the client) or data transfers involved in Storage synchornization.

A task is represented as a label containing the task name and a progress bar showing its current status.

Tasks can involve sub-tasks, which are displayed as rows below the main task.

The Pending Tasks component is usually hidden, and can be showed only from the Help menu. When a Remote, Local or Storage task is started, it pops up either in the form of a dialog or integrated into the Live Acquisition window. When no more tasks are running anymore, the Pending Tasks component usually hides itself.

Remote operations¶

Remote operations, or tasks, run on the instrument hardware and involve electronics configuration, motor positioning, multi-processing initialization or termination, output file creation or closure, calibration procedures and much more.

The unique feature of Head Morphing, which allows to change the observing system as a function of the kind of measurement you want to make, implies a reconfiguration step which can take few minutes and involve many moving parts. All concurrent remote operations involved in this transformation are showed each time you connect for the first time to a Measurement App or each time you select a different Measurement App.

Starting and stopping a test involve the coordination of multiple processes, the creation of complex data structures and the writing of big chunks of data on disk. These remote operations appear when a new test starts and even more when it finishes.

The Remote tasks tab is empty when no remote tasks are running. It populates with a list of ongoing tasks when as the server performs them.

Remote tasks cannot be interrupted. You should not interact with the software in any way while remote tasks are running. If remote operations are forcefully interrupted or the user unintentionally interacts with the system while performing remote tasks, it is advisable to Soft-Restart the server.

Hint

It is safe to interrupt the test initialization for security reasons by clicking the Stop button in the Live Acquisition window. After that, anyway, it is advisable to run a new instrument initialization by clicking Initialize new test under the Measure menu.

Local operations¶

Tasks ran by the client application are listed in the Local tab. For example:

Connecting to an instrument or opening an output file

Drawing the user interface for the various components (cameras, thermal cycle, graphs, etc)

Accessing to datasets

Local operations are generated both when connected to a remote server and when accessing to local output data files.

Storage synchronization¶

The default user’s Database Indexes is always kept synchronized with each instrument the client connects to. This allows to build an unified archive of all tests, independently from where they are carried out.

The position of the database on the client machine can be configured in the Preferences dialog, under Default database option. If you change this path without actually moving the database folder from the old location to the new one, the storage synch mechanism will re-download any available output file on the remote machine. You might loose old tests.

If the client is connected to the instrument when the a test finishes, the test is automatically downloaded to the local database. If the client was not connected, or other errors occurred, the next time you connect to the machine you will be warned about output files which were not downloaded.

The warning appears in the Pending Tasks dialog, under the Storage tab. The Storage widget allows manual management of storage synchronization. It is composed by four sub-tabs containing tables, each table listing metadata about tests which can either be downloaded or ignored.

The workflow of a test which was not automatically downloaded is the following:

It appears as row in Waiting approval table. You should right-click on the table and select Download from the context menu.

This will move the row to the Download Queue table. After a while the download will start.

Before the download starts you can still choose to Ignore the file by right-clicking on its row in the table and selecting Ignore. This will move the file to the Ignored table. Suppose you do not choose to Ignore it.

The file download will cause a progress bar to appear in the Local operations, until downloads finishes.

If an error occurs, the row will be moved from Download Queue to the Errors table.

From the Errors table you can right-click again on the row representing the remote file and ask for a Retry.

If you are unable to download a file, you can copy the full error log from the Errors table and send to the developers for debug.

Once the file is correctly downloaded, its associated metadata row will disappear from the tables. A new entry will be added to the local Database Indexes.

Waiting approval¶

This table lists tests which are available on the machine but not on the local database.

By right clicking on one or more rows you can either:

Download: Try to download the test by moving it to the Download Queue.

Ignore: Discard the test by moving it to the Ignored table.

Download Queue¶

This table lists tests which are waiting to be downloaded.

By right-clicking on one or more rows you can Ignore the file by removing it from the queue and adding to the Ignored table.

Ignored¶

This table lists tests for which a download will not be tried again and for which the user will never be warned about.

By right-clicking on one or more rows you can Download the file again by moving its entry to the Download Queue.

Errors¶

This table lists tests which were not possible to download due to errors, along with a log message about the error which occurred. By right-clicking on one or more rows you can either:

Retry the download it by sending back to the Download Queue.

Ignore it by moving to the Ignored table.

Thermal Cycle Designer¶

The Thermal Cycle Designer contains the controls to setup the desired thermal cycle.

It is divided in three parts:

The upper area contains a table where you can define the thermal cycle.
The middle area shows general control options and furnace positions before the start or after the end of the test (if the furnace is motorized).
The lower area is usually hidden and can be toggled via Plot button above the table. Displays a plot of temperature (red) and heating rate (blue) against forecasted time.

Editing the thermal cycle table¶

To set a thermal cycle, fill the upper table with rows. Each row of this table represents a target status to be reached by the furnace as the test execution proceeds, and how that status should be reached by the temperature controller.

Each row will be executed in sequence. When there are no more rows left, the thermal cycle ends, which can cause also the end of the tests depending on how control options are configured.

You can load a predefined thermal cycle from the upper-right combo box, showing all saved cycles.

The table has four columns:

Time: the expected end time of the row, relative to the start of the test (zero).
Temperature: the target setpoint of the row, which the furnace controller will try to reach by modulating power emission.
Heating Rate: the rate by which the temperature is changed from the previous row up (or down to) to the target setpoint.
Duration: the expected duration needed to finish the row.

To insert or delete rows you can use the Edit menu or the context menu appearing by right-clicking on the table. On insert, a new row will be added after the currently selected row. On Remove current line, the current row will be removed from the table. On insert/delete/edit of a row, all subsequent rows might get automatically updated to reflect the changes (eg: in Time column).

The File menu allows to import/export from CSV (comma separed values) text files and to completely clear the table.

The Templates menu lists some shortcuts to easily create predefined thermal cycle based on few parameters.

Each time a row is edited or a cycle is loaded, its value is validated against temperature and heating rate limits, and the whole table is updated with valid data.

Hint

The time-temperature curve obtained by filling this table is not the real temperature profile that you will get at the end of the test. This is due to thermal inertia of the furnace, power emission limits, automatic control adjustments and variable length events.

Security limits¶

Thermal cycle designer will forbid the creation of temperature ramps which are considered dangerous for the equipment. In particular, both heating rate and temperature columns are limited to maximum values determined in the factory.

Managing your thermal cycle definitions¶

Thermal cycle definitions can be saved on the instrument and easily recalled from a list. Before proceeding in describing how this works, we should understand that in any given moment 3 thermal cycle definitions exists.

The active thermal cycle definition will be actually executed by the instrument.
Multiple definitions can be saved with names. A definition can then be loaded from the selected name. Once loaded, it will also be the active definition.
That same definition is also displayed in the table. The user can then edit it. While he is editing, the displayed definition can diverge from the preset from which it was loaded. The user can then apply the displayed configuration - making it also active, and/or save it with a name.

These distinctions allows the maximum freedom of editing without compromising saved values or without undergoing automatic consistency and security checks from the instrument. Misura™4 will warn the user if there is any unsaved or non-applied change, by coloring related controls in red.

Read: Read the thermal cycle currently active on the instrument. If the thermal cycle on the instrument is different than what contained in the table, this button’s text would be red.
Apply: Transmit the thermal cycle defined in the table to the instrument. If the remote cycle is different than the displayed one, this button will be red.
Preset chooser: This combobox lists the definitions which were previously saved on the instrument. Select any entry to load the associated cycle on the instrument and in the table. It is colored red if the displayed/applied cycle differs from the visible preset name.
Preset menu: This dropdown menu contains actions for managing saved definitions.
Plot: Hide/show the thermal cycle plot.

At the end of the preset chooser listing there is a special entry, +Add, which allows to save the currently edited cycle with a different name. An input dialog will appear where you can set your cycle name.

The preset menu contains the following options:

Save: Save the definition displayed on the table onto the remote instrument, with the name displayed in the preset chooser. If no name is displayed, a dialog will ask for a new name.
Save as: Save the table’s definition onto a remote definition with a new name.
Rename: Rename currently viewed definition name with a new definition.
Delete: Delete currently viewed definition.

Inserting a Temperature Ramp (Point)¶

A temperature ramp is defined by a setpoint temperature and a time by which that temperature must be reached by the furnace (a time, temperature point). Before you input the target temperature, you should input either the end time of the ramp (Time column), or the desired Heating Rate, or the Duration of the ramp.

After having defined one of the three columns, you can input the Temperature target for that row. The remaining columns will be filled accordingly.

The default way of defining the ramp is by setting the Heating Rate column (°C per minute). The row Time and Duration will be auto-filled.

Filling the Duration column is mostly useful to express dwell ramps, where the heating rate is zero and the temperature must be kept fixed for a certain duration.

To add a temperature ramp to the table:

Right click on the row before the position where you want the new row to appear and select Insert point.
Once the row appears, double-click either on the Heating Rate, Duration or Time cell and set the correct value.
Double-click on the Temperature cell and insert the target setpoint.
Other cells will be automatically calculated.
Subsequent rows in the table will be re-calculated as needed.

Hint

Use negative values to express controlled cooling.

Inserting a Checkpoint¶

When a checkpoint row is reached, the setpoint will be kept constant until the real furnace temperature reaches it within a tolerance, or a timeout expires.

As the real temperature reached by the furnace is never exactly equal to the setpoint temperature, the checkpoint event allows to wait until the setpoint is actually reached before proceeding with the next row.

This is useful, for example, to start the controlled cooling always from the same temperature.

The setpoint will be the last available in the thermal cycle - usually the previous row in the table.

The typical temperature profile will be the same as a dwell row.

To add a checkpoint, right click and select Insert checkpoint. A dialog will show up, where you’ll be able insert the desired temperature and timeout.

The plot displayes checkpoints as dwell segments with few minutes duration, but their real duration cannot be forecasted because it depends from tolerance, timeout and furnace inertia.

Tip

A checkpoint with tolerance 3°C and timeout 60min is added after a row with setpoint temperature at 1000°C.

When the execution reaches the checkpoint event, suppose the real temperature is 980°C. The checkpoint will cause the controller to keep the setpoint fixed at 1000°C, until the temperature raises above 997°C (1000°C - 3°C tolerance). If this condition is not satisfied in 60min timeout, the control will anyway pass to the next row.

Inserting a Furnace Movement¶

Furnace movement events are available only if your instrument has a motorized furnace.

Movement events will cause the furnace to reach the configured position when executed. After movement execution, the control will pass to the next row.

During Open movements the thermal control will suspend and power emission will be zero until the movement ends.

During Close event, if the furnace thermocouple is controlling the temperature, the controller will try to keep any previously configured setpoint until the movement ends.

Furnace movement can be used to obtain flash heating / flash cooling temperature profiles.

To add a movement, right click on the previous row and select Insert movement. A dialog will show up, and you’ll be able to select a Open or Close furnace movement.

Hint

If the furnace is already in the position configured in the event, nothing will happen.

Inserting a Natural Cooling¶

During natural cooling events the thermal control is suspended and power emission is set to zero. The event will end, and pass control to the next row, when a target temperature is reached or a timeout occurs.

The resulting temperature profile is a double exponential decay.

To add a natural cooling, right click on the previous row and select Insert natural cooling. A dialog will show up, where you can set target temperature and timeout.

Hint

Set timeout to a negative value to avoid a timeout to occur. This might lead to unlimited acquisition whenever the room temperature is above the target temperature of the event. The suggested minimum target temperature is 40°C.

Inserting a Thermocouple Control Transition¶

Thermocouple transition events can switch the control temperature between two thermocouples.

The control temperature is usually equal to the sample temperature for the whole duration of the test. This means that the controller will try to obtain equality between sample temperature and setpoint temperature.

Under some circumstances it is preferable to control the furnace temperature instead, meaning that the controller will emit power to obtain equality between furnace temperature and setpoint.

A typical usage is to pre-heat a motorized furnace while it is opened, in order to obtain a flash heating temperature profile.

To add a control transition, right click and select Insert control transition. A dialog will show up, and you’ll be able to select to which of the thermocouples move the control and how fast.

Tip

We want to pre-heat the furnace to 1000°C while it is opened, then close it over the sample to flash-heat it. Then, we need to continue the thermal cycle up to 1400°C.

We should:

Set the “Kiln position before start” in execution options to “Opened”.
Insert a thermocouple control transition as the first line of the cycle. We need to pass the control to the furnace in order to pre-heat it.
Insert the pre-heating ramp to 1000°C as usual.
Insert a furnace movement event to close it.
Insert a thermocouple control transition to transfer the control back to the sample thermocouple. This transition should not be instantaneous, because after the movement there will still be turbolence due to thermal inertia. Give the transition a 5°C/min speed.
Insert the last ramp up to 1400°C as usual. This ramp will be executed while the sample thermocouple is controlling.

Hint

This event is meaningful only when your instrument supports more than one thermocouple (samples and/or furnace).

Parametric Templates¶

The Templates menu in the thermal cycle gives access to thermal cycle templates. A template is a shortcut to create a complex thermal cycle based on few parameters: for that reason they are also called parametric templates.

Single ramp¶

Create single-point ramp from current temperature up to end temperature, with specified heating rate.

Parameters:

Ramp end temperature
Heating rate

Example: up to 1000°C, at 10°C/min

Steps¶

Reach a start temperature with requested heating rate. Then, create a variable number of heat-wait segments.

Parameters:

Heating Rate: used to reach the first step temperature and for subsequent increases.
First step temperature: temperature at which stepping starts.
Stasis duration: wait this time between heating steps.
Number of steps
Steps delta T: temperature increase for each heating step.

Example: up to 500°C, at 10°C/min. Than increase 20°C at 5°C/min and wait 8 minutes, for 7 times.

Maximize speed¶

Heat at the maximum supported heating rate up to the target temperature.

Parameters:

Target temperature

Example: target temperature = 1600°C produces:

Additional Control Options¶

Additional control options are displayed under the thermal cycle table. These can influence how the heating cycle and the test are stopped, plus initial and final furnace positions.

Stop after thermal cycle¶

The Stop after thermal cycle flag defines wether the acquisition should stop or not, when the thermal cycle reaches its end. If not, the acquisition will have to be stopped manually.

By clicking on the + button, two more sub-options are available. These are active only if the Stop after thermal cycle flag is checked, and are used to protract the acquisition further after thermal cycle end.

Wait T smaller than: After the cycle is stopped, the test will be stopped as well only when the temperature is smaller than the configured value. Leave zero to disable this behaviour.
Wait minutes: After the cycle is stopped, the test will be stopped as well after a certain amount of additional minutes. Leave zero to disable this behaviour.

Maximum test duration¶

This option will interrupt the test when the total duration reaches the configured valued. The thermal cycle will be implicitly interrupted.

This option will not force the test to have this duration: the test can end before this target duration if any other termination condition is met (end of thermal cycle, error condition, analytical condition).

Leave zero to disable.

Kiln position before start/after end¶

These two options allow to set a position of the furnace before and after the test. These options can be set either on Closed, Opened or Unchanged.

The movement needed to comply with this position will not be recorded in the test result.

The position before start is usually Closed, to avoid forgetting the furnace open. It can be set to Opened in case we need to pre-heat the furnace and then close on the sample. It should be avoided to set on Unchanged.

The position after end is usually Unchanged or Closed, to reduce thermal shock on the heating elements. It can be Opened to minimize the risk of sample flowing on the furnace or to quickly cool it for the next test.

Hint

Available only for instruments with motorized furnaces.

Data Plot¶

The data plot is a simplifyied plotting sub-window displayed in Live Acquisition and Misura™ Browser.

To access the visualization’s tweaks, you can right click on an element of the plot to get its options menu:

Axis allows you to change what axis measures are plotted towards. You can join axes together in order to synchronize their scales.

Curves allows you to select which curves to plot.

View allows you to select if you want data to be plotted by temperature or by time.

Reset rebuilds the data plot

Update forces a reload of data.

Properties allows you to set behavioural features of the clicked element

Formatting allows you to set appearance features of the clicked element

Zoom changes the zoom level

Preious / Next Page changes the currently visualized page.

Full Screen toggles fullscreen mode.

Updates allows you to change the update frequency of th page.

Antialias toggles antialias

Export allows you to export the current page to a pdf

Other visualization, plotting and elaboration options are accesible via the Misura™ Navigator.

Camera controller¶

The camera controller is showed by any Live Acquisition App for controlling an instrument which is using cameras. When initially started, it appears as a live acquisition sub-window containing a dark gray rectangle over a light gray area, the former representing the camera resolution or CCD.

The principal mode of interaction with the camera is by right-clicking anywhere. The camera menu appears showing all possible controls.

If X or Y motors are defined for the camera, motion control sliders are shown near the sides of the window.

Hint

Heating Microscope HSM has 1 or 2 cameras
Vertical Optical Dilatometer and Horizontal Optical Dilatometer have 2 cameras
Relative Fleximeter has 1 camera
Absolute Fleximeter has 3 cameras
Furnace test instrument has no camera

Streaming¶

Streaming can be started/stopped from the camera menu by setting the Streaming flag (first menu entry). Streaming means the user interface is continuously receiving and showing images. After a few seconds from when it is started, frames will be displayed in the gray area. If the streaming is subsequently stopped, the last frame will remain visible.

Streaming images will not interfere with a running test. It can be started, stopped and resumed without any effect on actual image analysis and acquired data.

The image viewed in the controller can be quickly zoomed in/out by using the mouse wheel. The Fit view action, accessible from the context menu, will resize back the image so it fits the window.

Saving the current frame¶

The current frame can be saved with Save frame camera menu entry. The first frame you save you will be asked a destination directory where to save current and all future frames.

That directory will be remembered for each time you click on Save frame and frames will be saved there with increasing sequence numbers.

All samples contained in the frame will be saved in separate images having the same sequence numbers.

File names will have the format <name>_smp<N>_<seq>.jpg where <seq> is the sequence number increased each time you save, <N> is the sample number, <name> is the camera name. For example: Left_smp0_12.

Simulation¶

The Analysis flag activates image analysis on the received frames. This flag can be changed only when no test is running.

Simulation can be used before starting a real test, in order to validate the image quality. For example, to check that sample borders and limits are correctly detected, or that motors react in the right way to sample movements.

Imaging¶

Most important digital imaging options are displayed in the camera menu, submenu Imaging, as a slider with an associated spinbox. You can either control the slider position or write the desired number in the spinbox and press Enter.

Available imaging options:

Exposure (should be in range 1-1000)
Contrast
Brightness
Gamma (should be minimum possible)
Saturation (should be minimum)
Hue (should be minimum)

Hint

On most models it is advisable to use the spin-box to control the exposure. High values (>1000) might freeze the camera.

Motion Control¶

Camera position can be controlled by up to four motors roles, depending on your instrument’s hardware:

X, lateral
Y, vertical
Angle, angular
Focus, focus distance, usually shared by (and affecting) all cameras

If those motors are available, their movement can be set from the camera menu, submenu Motion.

Each motor role shows an additional submenu called after its name, with those entries:

A slider, to control the position.
A Zoom checkbox, allowing to zoom in or out from the motion range for fine movements.
An Is moving? flag: can be unset to block the motor (but cannot be set).
A Set zero position action: define any current motor position as the new zero.
A Configure motor action: opens the extended configuration panel for the motor.
A Configure encoder action: opens the motion-to-image optical encoder configuration panel.

Moreover, X and Y motors are represented directly in the camera controller as a bottom slider (X) and a lateral slider on the left (Y). A right click on these sliders opens a context menu showing the current position and offering a Configure action to open motor configuration panel.

The motion sliders allow to focus-in by double-clicking anywhere on them.

There is a third way to interact with camera positioning: the motion handle. It is displayed as a red square in the top-left corner of the image. Dragging and dropping it around the image will cause a motion such that the new position of the top-left corner of the image will correspond to the position where you dropped the square.

Finding the sample on camera¶

Upon instrument initialization cameras should automatically be positioned very near to the sample. As Misura instrument allow Free Sample Positioning, motion control must then be used to exactly find the sample or the part of it which should be analyzed (eg: the border).

This positioning can usually be carried out with provided X, Y motion controls (were present) or with manual micrometrical axis tables.

Adjusting the focus¶

All Misura ODP instruments allow Free Sample Positioning. Before starting a test, the user must manually adjust the focus distance with the provided focus motion controller.

As the focus motor is only one and affects all cameras in the instrument, its motion control is usually showed in a priviledged position as a slider on the bottom of the acquisition window.

In case multiple cameras are used (horizontal dilatometer or fleximeter), care must be taken at positioning the sample perpendicularly to the alumina holding rods, in order to have the same focus distance for all of the cameras.

Focusing the sample is an iterative procedure, where the focus slider is moved back and forth until the optimal focus distance is found.

Morphometrics¶

The Morphometrics submenu allows to visualize some of the results obtained from image analysis. The results will be displayed as lines overlaid on the original frames.

The most useful analysis overlay is the Region of Interest, which can be activated by the View Regions action. Each sample defined for the camera will be surrounded by a colored rectangle, representing the area of analysis. This rectangle can be resized by dragging and dropping two hook points on the top-left and bottom-right corners.

Restricting the region of interest allows to individually select samples when more than one is viewed by the same camera. It is also useful to filter out imperfections, like dirt on holding plate or camera CCD.

The Reset Regions action will restore the default region sizes.

Then we have ovalyays, which are realtime visualization of some aspects of the analysis being performed.

Generic overlays:

Grids: this overlay will draw a grid over each sample.
Profile: the border detected as the sample will be overlaid by a blue line, and the area of the sample with a faded blue.
Values Label: a movable label is added. The label will contain lines in the form name: value, where name stays for any sample option and value shows the current value for that option (e.g.: height).
Pixel Calibration: the Pixel calibration tool discussed below.

Heating Microscope HSM overlays:

Points: relevant profile point are highlighted with circles.
Base and Height: (only for Heating Microscope HSM) two perpendicular segments starting from the bottom-left starting point of the sample, representing base and height.
Circle Fitting: (only for Heating Microscope HSM) a circle representing the best circular fitting to the profile.

Horizontal Optical Dilatometer, Vertical Optical Dilatometer, Absolute Optical Fleximeter overlays:

Reference line: position of the sample border at the beginning of the test.
Regression line: actual detected position of the sample border.
Filtered profile: profile fragments which were actually included in the calcuation of the regression line, after noise filtering.

Samples¶

The concept of sample is fundamental to understand the camera controller, the management of ROI and the image analysis. From the point of view of the camera, a sample is a portion of image, delimited by a ROI, which can be analyzed in some way to extract results. This not always correspond to the concept of physical sample known to the instrument’s operator.

For example, a sample is a cylinder of pressed powder used for Heating Microscope HSM analysis. In this case, the sample known to the camera is the same physical sample intended by the operator.

The situation is less intuitive in the case of dilatometers or fleximeters. In this case, the operator places one physical sample, but two (or more) cameras view just one side of it. Each side is viewed as a separate sub-sample, one assigned to each camera.

The samples are defined in the active instrument. The camera just points to them, and use them to analyze images and associate output results.

A camera can view one or more samples at the same time. The number of defined samples is available under the Number of samples option in the camera configuration panel. The camera defines an equivalent number of sub-options, accessible by clicking on the right + button, each pointing to the sample which should be used for the corresponding sample number.

Each sample defines its own image analyzer configuration. The advanced user can thus fine-tune image analysis parameters for each sample in the image, separately, making simultaneous multi-standard analysis straight-forward.

Active samples are shown in the camera menu, as Sample <N> menu items where <N> is the sample index from 0 (first sample) to the number of samples minus one.

Each sub-menu contains these items:

Configure: opens the sample configuration panel, where image analysis results are stored. From the object tree on the left, it is possible to access to the image analysis option. Some true/false flags are repeated as menu items.
Balck/white levelling: convert the grayscale image to black/white. Color levels are accessible from the image analysis configuration panel.
Adaptive threshold: convert grayscale image to black/white. Color levels are adaptively calculated point-by-point as a function of neighborhood intensities.
Dynamic regions: activate ROI auto-follow.

Advanced configurations¶

The complete camera configuration panel is reserved for service purposes.

Pixel calibration¶

A visual tool to calibrate the translation between CCD pixels and real sample’s microns. Reserved for service purposes.

Troubleshooting¶

To forcefully restart a camera which is no longer working correctly follow these steps:

Open a camera controller, either from an instrument using it or from the global configuration panel.
Right click on the camera frame. Select Configure action.
Locate the Running acquisition option and set its value to Stopped.
Back to the controller. Ensure the camera is Streaming by activating the corresponding context menu option.
The camera will try to restart itself. On repeated failures, Soft-Restart the server. On continued failure, Rebooting the embedded controller.

Misura™ Navigator¶

Misura™ Navigator is a tree view, located on the right of the application by default.

It contains all the currently loaded datasets, and it’s an entry point for data manipulation. When you right click on a curve or group of curves, you get a menu that lists all the possible operations you can perform on that curve.

Metadata and Scripts¶

Misura™ identifies and records charactersitic points during the analysis into Metadata options, containing the values of time and temperature at which the point was recognized.

Example of metadata are:

Microscope Samples characteristic shapes, like Sintering, Softening, Sphere, HalfSphere, Melting.

General Measurement points of interest, like where the maximum temperature is reached, the maximum heating or cooling rate, when did the cooling phase started, etc

The identification logic is expressed by means of Script options, containing small portion of source code. The editing of Scripts is currently reserved for service purposes.

Preferences¶

From preferences dialog you can tweak Misura™ user interface (or client-side) configuration. They are related to the computer running a Misura™ client and will not be saved on any instrument.

The first entry, ConfigurationFile, is the location where Misura™ stores its configutaion’s details.

Everytime you change something, you should press Save to ensure that all changes have been saved.

The Reload button allows you to reload the configuration if, for example, something went wrong after a change.

Open button shows a dialog to locate and load another existing configuration.

Main Tab¶

The Main tab contains general configuration options.

Client Language allows to select the interface language
Remote Server Refresh Rate (ms) lets you change the frequency, in milliseconds, of data update from server, if you are connected to a server (in an offline environment, you can ignore this option)
Default Database is the location of the default tests database (see Database Indexes)
Auto-download finished tests: when connected to a server, this option defines if a test should be downloaded locally or not when it finishes.
Recent Servers is the number of recent servers to be remembered
Save User/Password bu Default defines if, when connecting to a server, the password should be saved or not
Recent Database Files: the number of databases to remember in the list of last used databases
Recent Test Files: the number of tests to remember in the list of last opened tests
Recent Misura3 Databases: the number of Misura™ 3 databases to remember in the list of last opened Misura™ 3 databases
Log files directory: the location to place log files
Logging level: from 0 to 50, defines the amount of logging (0 -> notheng, 50 -> everything)
Size of each log file: the size of a log file, after which, the log file is archived
Max number og logfiles to be kept: when the number of log files exeeds this number, the oldest log file is deleted
Measurement units: a table that defines, for every Misura™ dataset, its unit

Misura 3 Tab¶

This tab contains only the Enable Misura 3 database interface flag, that enables/disables Misura™ capabilities to import Misura™ 3 databases.

Measurement Apps¶

Misura™ software can run different measurement functions, depending on its version and on your hardware capabilities. Each measurement is controlled by a specific App which allows the user to access relevant configuration options, frame the samples on cameras, start/stop the test and follow the analysis real-time.

Measurement Apps are accessible through the Live Acquisition executable.

Use this index to navigate to the desired measurement function.

Hint

Availability of measurement functions depends on your hardware and software version.

Heating Microscope HSM¶

The Misura Heating Microscope allows to study the change in shape of a small sample of material as a function of the furnace temperature. Through Misura Morphometrics analysis, it is possible to fully characterize the behavior of the material, automatically detecting characteristic shapes according to improved mathematical models and traditional international standards as well.

The following sections contain instruction about how to start a test, prepare a sample and analyze test results.

Quick Start: Running an Heating Microscope Test¶

While the general Live Acquisition instructions apply also for the Heating Microscope, this section describes specific topics which should be considered to carry out microscopy tests.

Microscope Acquisition Window¶

The Microscope Live Acquisition window additionally comprises:

One/two high-resolution Camera controller windows with height motion controller.

Global Focus motion controller.

Samples height information displayed on the Status panel panel, updated realtime during the analysis.

One to eight Samples tabs in the left Test Configuration area.

The Storyboard bottom area.

The workflow for a microscope test follows the general rules described in section Live Acquisition.

Adjusting the camera position¶

ODP cameras are mounted on two motorized axes: the height and the focus. Older/simpler models might still have manual positioning with micrometric translation stages.

The initial position of the camera should be automatically reached during instrument initialization, as described in Motion Control.

Use the height motion control to ensure the holding plate is always visible.

Once the position of the camera has been established you have to put the sample in focus. This should be carried out before every test. Note that the typical cylindrical shape of the sample means that when the centre of the sample is in focus the sides are not. This is absolutely normal and does not affect the reliability of the analysis which will get the best results anyway.

The Region Of Interest should then be reduced so that the height of the sample occupies just 3/4 of the active region, and the width is 1/2. If multi-sampling, each region should manually be placed around each sample. The excess of the region dimensions with respect to the sample depend on the limiting sample behaviours. If the melting should be observed, enough region width should be provided for the molten sample to be still framed. If the sample undergoes a huge expansion, the region height should exceed the initial sample width by appropriate amount.

Recording Frames and Profiles¶

Misura™ records can record raw frames, as they are received from the camera, and/or analyzed (x,y) profiles produced by the morphometric analysis.

The default behaviour is to record profiles and discard frames, to save space.

This option can be set in Samples sections independently for each sample.

Standards for Characteristic shapes identification¶

Characteristic shapes are displayed in the Samples tab in Test Configuration side area, as a Time/Temperature Metadata and Scripts label.

Basic shape recognition parameters can be affected by expanding sub-options ([+] button on the right) and adjusting the sliders to the desired values.

Misura™ always calculate shapes according to its advanced morphometric logic, making use of 3D extrapolations and

Stopping the test when a shape is recognized¶

A Microscope test can be automatically interrupted when a characteristic shape is recognized. To activate this termination option:

Select the Measure tab in Test Configuration side area and scroll to the bottom of the page.

Locate the After recognized shape option and click on the checkbox on the right to enable it.

The the test will end when the Melting shape is recognized.

To fine-tune the test termination, expand sub-options by clicking on the “+” sign on the right of the Edit button.

Stop after temperature changed by will cause the test to interrupt after the temperature changed by the configured number of degrees from the instant when the shape was recognized. The default value is 10°C. This means that if the melting is recognized at 600°C, the test will be interrupted at 610°C, or 590°C in the unlikely event the furnace was cooling down.

Stop after time passed will wait the configured amount of seconds before interrupting the test. The default value is zero, meaning as soon as the condition is met.

The test will end when both termination options are met (after temperature changed enough and after the minimum amount of time has passed).

Require all samples: in case of multi-sample tests, the default behaviour is to interrupt the test as soon as any sample meets the conditions (as soon as any sample melts). If this option is activated, all samples are required to meet the termination conditions for the test to be stopped (all samples must melt).

Sample preparation for the Heating Microscope¶

The shape of the sample and the change in outline are very important for recognizing the fundamental points. The sample should be made with the correct tools and be of the correct dimensions. You should also avoid carrying out tests on samples with particular imperfections, such as those described and illustrated below.

The preparation of a test consists of a series of manual procedures by which you make a test sample, put it in the kiln, focus the image and make the initial observation of the silhouette (to avoid acquiring unreliable data).

The rectangular base and the pressing tool are designed for preparing a sample of the correct dimensions, where the diameter of the base of the cylinder is 2/3 of the height. Keeping these proportions is very important as the analysis of the images works on the basis of this relationship. The best dimension is 2mm in diameter by 3mm in height. To make a sample you should put a small amount of body on the metal part of the base, beside the holes.

The powder should be dampened with water (distilled if possible), to form a composite which is cohesive enough to ensure compactness, without sticking. The material should be dampened just enough for it to hold its shape. If it is too dry it will break when it is being transferred to the plate. If it is too wet it could mist the quartz filter at the edge of the kiln at temperatures between 70 - 120°C.
Using this compound fill one of the holes up to the edge and press down using the pressing tool.
Add more compound little by little pressing it down between each addition so that you get a compact cylinder.
Put a small amount of dry powder on the surface of the sample so that it does not become stuck to the pressing tool when you transfer it to the plate.
When you have made the cylinder you need to “slide” the base open a little so that the sample is free to be pushed onto the plate, which you should place underneath the hole.
Gently push the sample with the pressing tool until it the sample comes out and stands upright on the plate. It may help to turn the pressing tool slightly while doing this.
Repeat the procedure on the same plate if you want to do a double test.

If the sample has been correctly prepared and placed, besides obtaining error free analyses, you can also better recognise the characteristic points of the test. Above all, to record the point of fusion, it is essential that the sample is made correctly.

How a good sample looks like¶

The correct preparation of the sample is essential to a good analysis. Based on our experience, we found that the best shape for ceramic materials the diameter of the base of the sample should be 2/3 of the height. This relationship is the standard for this type of study. Variations from this standard may cause erroneous results.

The base should appear as a single line. You should not be able to see the rear part of the base.
There should be no light between the base of the sample and the plate. This is essential for an accurate calculation of the angle of contact and the outline of the sample.
Both the sides and the top of the sample should have the natural roughness which results from making the sample without compressing it or dampening too much. If the sample is too damp you might get unreliable results because the consistency of the sample is not correct.
The sample should touch the plate all round without leaving any spaces or excess deposits around the edges. It should be at an angle of 90° to the plate.
Make sure the plate is perfectly clean and that there are no residues or build up of body on it.
In general it is best to place the samples in the centre of the plate, slightly towards the thermocouple.

Multi-samples should be separated sufficiently so that they will not stick together or melt over the edge of the plate damaging the thermocouple. For safety you can put another plate underneath. They should be positioned so that the do not melt together and confuse the analysis of the image but not so far apart that they could melt over the edge or not be picked up properly by the camera.

How a bad sample looks like¶

A gallery of bad sample positioning. The advanced image analysis and morphometrics algorithm of Misura will do their best at getting resonable numbers out of these images. But, it the user chooses to carry out the analysis under International Standard metrics, the results will be misleading or completely wrong.

Inclined sample¶

A sample of this kind may cause a wrong measurement of the height. In this case, the measurements are taken more on the diagonal of the sample than on the actual height even so the analysis indicates accurately little and predictable slopes on the top of the sample. In addition to this the sample has a beginning slope which increases during the heating, you could even have an apparent increase in height.

This image also show wrong base focus.

Irregular sample top¶

As described in the previous situation, a sample that shows an unusual bulge on the top, as in the figure, can modify the measurement of the height. Moreover it can influence all the development of the analysis, if it melts so as to modify the profile of the fundamental shapes.

Out of proportions¶

The sample prepared with the proper accessory is correctly proportioned to have the fundamental shapes during the firing cycle. If you do not pay attention to the proportion between height and width, already standard for these kind of instrumental measurements, the analysis will not be reliable. For a square sample, as it is shown in the upper figure, it will be difficult to recognize the right shapes at the right moment, in particular you can have problems with the sphere.

Dirty base¶

You need to carry out a test with the base well cleaned around the sample, and you have to check it either before putting the sample in the kiln or by observing with the camera. The little quantities of material or in general the dirt on the base do not allow the measurement of the contact angle, whose measurement is only possible on a smooth and well cleaned base.

This images also shows a base with wrong focus and inclination.

The “flying” sample¶

You should avoid carrying out tests with samples which, like that in the figure, do not lay uniformly on the base. The contact between sample and base should not have “light”; in this case you will have unreliable contact angles.

Quick Start: Browsing a Microscope file¶

This Demo will guide you through the data analysis of Heating Microscope (hsm) output files.

In order to follow the tutorial you should:

Download and Install Misura™ (see Installation).

Get the sample file Microscope Sample File 1.h5 and save it to a known location (eg: your Desktop)

Opening the output file¶

Run browser.exe application from the folder where you extracted Misura™, or run the link you created on your desktop.
In the Recent data sources window, under the first column Recent files, click on Add button.
Browse to the location where you downloaded Microscope Sample File 1.h5, select and open it.
The loading process will start. If the file is considerably big (several GB) or located on network or slow storage drive, it may take several seconds to open.
The file is displayed on a new tab, on the right of the Databases tab.

The test file tab is divided in three areas:

A menu bar in the upper part of the window
A right area called Test Configuration. It is divided in at least 4 vertical tabs: Measure, Thermal Cycle, Sample0 and Results.
A central area displaying movable and resizable sub-windows, where you see the Data Plot window.

Test Configuration and Data¶

The most relevant configuration options used for the test run and output results are displayed in the right Test Configuration area.

Measure overview¶

The first Measure tab contains the list of options regarding the test run.

Detect the following:

Name: Name of the test run, set by the operator anytime before the end of the test.
Operator: the login name used by the operator who started the test.
Elapsed time: the total duration of the test.

Measurement Units¶

Elapsed time is expressed, by default, in seconds unit. This might be difficult to read. You can change the measurement unit of any value listed in Misura™ options panels by following this steps:

Right click on the Elapsed time text label. A menu will popup.
Select the Units sub-menu.
Change to your preferred unit. E.g.: minute.
You can roll-back to second by repeating the procedure.

Hint

If the Units sub-menu is not shown, it means the option does not have a specific measurement unit set, so it cannot be converted.

Metadata¶

The following values (after Elapsed time) are called Metadata or, more specifically, characteristic points. For example:

End of the test: it contains time and temperature values recorded when the test ended.
Maximum temperature: time and temperature of the point when maximum temperature was reached.
Maximum Heating Rate: time and temperature of the point when the maximum punctual heating rate was reached in the measured temperature profile.

By clicking on the last one, a new window will open displaying again time and temperature, plus a Value number. In the case of Maximum Heating Rate, this number is the actual heating rate (°C/s) measured in that point.

Hint

At the end of each Metadata row there is a + sign button. It means there are nested options under the visible one. By clicking on it, access to another option, viewed as a Edit button. By clicking on it, you open an editor where you can read the logic used to calculate the parent Metadata point.

General measurement Metadata are usually short and simple to understand.

Thermal cycle¶

This tab contains a table with points defining the thermal cycle and a graph with a cartesian representation.

The graph displays two curves: the red line is the setpoint temperature; the blue line is the heating rate.

If you cannot see the axes and their labels, enlarge the application window and the Test Configuration area.

Sample data¶

Most relevant data in the Sample0 tab are:

Name: if set, the name the operator gave to this specific sample. It is mainly useful for multi-sample measurement.
Initial sample dimension: the operator can optionally set this value if he measured the initial sample height with other instruments (eg: a digital micrometer).
Record frames/profiles: did the operator required full frames and (x,y) sample profiles to be recorded onto the output file? In the case of Microscope Sample File 1.h5, only profiles were required, in order to keep the file smaller.

You can ignore Height, Perimeter, Volume options an all their nested options, as they are only useful during live acquisition.

Of paramount importance are the five Characteristic Points, expressed as Metadata options. They are defined and identified according to the highly reliable Misura™ standard.

Sintering
Softening
Sphere
HalfSphere
Melting

Re-evaluating Standards¶

As the logic by which characteristic points are identified is accessible from the Misura™ Browser, you can also change it and see the effect on the identified points. This process is called Standard Re-Evaluation, as this logic is usually codified in an international standard depending on your material.

As an example, we will affect the Sintering point.

Take not of the current value of Temp:/Time: label (611.0, 1805.0).
Click on the [+] button right to the Temp:/Time: label.
Change the Height shrinking for Sintering from 95 to 90.
Locate the Measure menu on the upper-left menu bar. Click on the Re-evaluate standards action.
Move your mouse on the Sintering label. It will update to a different Temp:/Time: point (621.0, 1836.3).

You required a higher shrinking in order to detect the Sintering point, so the point is now identified 10°C above its original value.

Results¶

The Results tab displays the Misura™ Navigator tree component. It is the tree of recorded datasets (curves), organized by groups. Each group represents a parts of the instrument or of the measurement.

For example:

hsm represents the Microscope instruments itself. It generates no datasets, but contains one sample (sample0). If we have a multi-sample test, it will contain one sub group for each sample.
kiln represents the furnace, and contains datasets regarding temperature control (T, temperature; S, setpoint; P, power; etc).

We will see it in detail in next sections, as it is the most powerful and versatile component of the interface.

Visual shape assessment¶

To understand the behaviour of your material with time and temperature change, you will use three main tools:

The Story Board, where you can see the shape of your sample at the desired time in the test.
The Navigator tree in Results tab contained in the Test Configuration area, where you can see the exact value of each calculated output.
The Data Plot, where you can evaluate the behaviour and rate of change of each plotted datasets.

These tools are all synchronized at the same time in the test. When you move the horizontal slider in the Snapshot area, the images are updated to reflect the state of the sample at the selected point. At the same time, a vertical red bar updates its position on the Data Plot, and Navigator tree changes in order to display the current values at that point.

The point selection can happen either:

by moving the Snapshot horizontal slider
by clicking on the red bar in Data Plot and dragging in a new position
by dragging the label showing the characteristic point value (eg: Sintering) and dropping it on the Story Board. The Story Board and the plot will sync to the requested time.

The Story Board area also displays the temperature value associated to each image. You can add more values by dragging them from the Navigator tree and dropping them in the Story Board area. To remove unnecessary values, right click on them and de-select from the Labels popup sub-menu.

The legnth, number of rows and stepping of the storyboard can be changed from the context menu that can be called by right-clicking on the horizontal scroll bar or by clicking on the (…) button on the right of the current sample name.

Characteristic points on the Data Plot¶

Characteritics points are connected to the behaviour of dimensional shape measurements as a function of temperature and time. It is thus interesting to evaluate their position on the plot.

The command to add characteristic points is located in the Navigator tree context menu, accessible by right clicking on tree elements.

As Navigator tree elements represent different parts of the measurement instrument (datasets, samples, instruments, devices, etc), the menu which pops-up depends on the kind of element.

Click on a blank area inside x,y ranges of Data Plot graph. A blue dashed line will appear over the plot area, meaning you correctly selected the graph on which to draw.
Go to the Results tab and look at the Navigator tree.
Find the sample0 group, under hsm group (path is /hsm/sample0).
Select and right click on /hsm/sample0 group.
From the context menu, select Show characteristic points.
A new dialog will open. Click Apply.
If a new dialog opens with “You should run this tool on a graph”, check that you properly selected the graph area in point 1.

The five characteristic points labels will appear on the Volume curve (blue), near their intersection points. You can select the labels with a click and move them in order to increase readibility.

Changing a characteristic shape¶

To modify the value of the automatically calculated shape:

Evaluate the frames on the Story Board and locate the frame which you wish to assign to a specific point.
Click on the frame image and keep pressed to start a drag gesture.
Drag & drop the frame image onto the target point’s label.

In the following example, the Sphere point was changed from 908°C to 888°C:

Interacting with the Data Plot¶

As you have seen for Characteristic Points, the Navigator tree is the gate to the most important actions you can perform on the data plot.

In order to plot one more dataset (for example the height):

Right-click on the dataset you wish to plot on the Navigator tree (/hsm/sample0/h).
Select the Plot action from the context menu.

The same apply for removing a dataset and all its related objects from the plot. The Plot action will be checked if the curve is visible, unchecked if not visibile.

Mathematical manipulations: Smoothing¶

A frequently used feature is the Smoothing of a dataset. In order to smooth the volume, for example:

Locate the Vol (/hsm/sample0/Vol) element in the Navigator tree under Results tab.
Right-click and select Smoothing.
A dialog will appear. Click Apply.
A new temporary label in the dialog confirms the dataset was created. Click Close.
The Navigator tree is updated. The Vol element now has a child: Smooth(48,Vol). This is the smoothed Vol dataset.
Plot the smoothed dataset using its context menu.

The new dataset will be plotted over the old one, with the same color and just slight differences (mostly visible in the first 200s or 50°C). You can either un-plot the old one, or change the color of one of the two.

To change the color of the curve:

Click on the curve on the Data Plot.
Right-click again on the same spot. A context menu opens. Choose Formatting.
Select the second tab, with a Line symbol.
Change the color to something distinguishable (eg: red).

Creating a Report¶

Sample reports summarize the most meaningful data about a test run and a single sample behaviour in a printable page.

Identify the Navigator tree element for the sample you are about to create a report for. E.g.: /hsm/sample0.
Right-click on the element and select Report. A new dialog opens: click Apply.
A temporary label Done appears. Click Close.
Reports are rendered as new pages in the Data Plot. Right-click anywhere in the Data Plot and select Next page.

Wait some secons for the rendering of the report to complete.
The Data Plot displays the report.
Right-click anywhere in the Data Plot and select the Export action.
Select the location of the output PDF file.

The exported report is vector quality. Compare your result with Microscope Sample Report 1.pdf.

Creating a report listing all images¶

Listing all images, according to temperature and time steps, can be accomplished by the Export images action. It can be reached either:

By right-clicking on the sample0 vertical tab title in the Test Configuration panel on the right.
From the context-menu of sample0 node in the Navigator (right-click on the node).
From the Storyboard, by right-clicking the slider or clicking on the … button on the extreme right.

In this case, time/temperature stepping will be inherited from the current storyboard settings.

This action will output an HTML document listing all images, according to the selected starting/ending temperature and temperature/time stepping.

Compare your result with Microscope Sample Images 1.html.

Exporting to a Video¶

Identify the Navigator tree element for the sample you are about to create a report for. E.g.: /hsm/sample0.
Right-click on the element and select Render video.
On Microsoft Windows™, a native dialog will open asking the desired output video encoding. Choose according to your supported formats.
You can click Cancel anytime without loosing the partially rendered video.

Compare your result with Microscope Sample Video 1.avi.

Hint

Install Xvid MPEG4 video compression filter in order to get smaller video outputs.

Viscosity¶

The determination of the viscosity curve of glasses is performed using data supplied by the heating microscope and by a dilatometer. This method is based on the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann (VFT) equation.

\[log \eta = A + \frac{B}{ T - T_0 }\]

The determination of the parameters A, B and T0 is done using three pairs of known temperature-viscosity (η,T) values.

According to Scholze (1962) and Ferrari, Magrini and Brunetti (1980), in correspondence of some characteristic points of glasses, it has been established that the viscosity values are fairly constant:

Glass transition temperature: log η = 13 Poises
Softening point (calculated with a mechanical dilatometer): log η = 10,25 Poises
Sintering beginning: log η = 10 Poises
Softening point (calculated with an optical dilatometer): log η = 8,2 Poises
Sphere temperature: log η = 6,1 Poises
Half sphere temperature: log η = 4.5 Poises

(1 Poise= 0.1 Pa * s)

These data allow to solve the equations system to determine A, B and T0. Applying the VFT equation, the viscosity trend can be completely reconstructed, right across the temperature range. This operation is completely automatic, once inserted in the software three of the six temperatures mentioned above.

Calling the viscosity plugin¶

It is necessary to open the softening test of the material you are interested in the Misura™ Browser. Then:

On the Misura™ Navigator, locate the sample<N> node corresponding to your sample (sample0 in single tests).
Right-click on the node to access the context menu. Select viscosity entry.

The viscosity parameters window will open:

The Temperature dataset field refers to the temperature values which will be used to calculate the viscosity. It is pre-compiled and should not be modified.

Three temperature-known viscosity pairs are then listed. Each pair consists of a temperature, which should be manually added by the user, and a known viscosity point, which should be selected from the drop-down menu. Each known viscosity value should be unique in this window.

The user can also insert a viscosity number, if none of listed viscosities is considered satisfactory for the analyzed material.

The order of viscosity points does not matter.

The Output dataset name comes precompiled and shows the name of the dataset where the viscosity data will be stored. It is possible to run multiple viscosity calculations, with different known point combinations, by giving them different output names (like viscosity_1, _2, etc).

After clicking on Apply button, a new viscosity dataset will be created as a sub-node of sample temperature. It can then be plotted and managed the usual way.

The viscosity parameters and outputs will be saved with the current plot.

The viscosity data are expressed as viscosity logarithm (log η), in Poises.

An example of viscosity curve obtained for a glass is provided below:

Choosing the known temperature points¶

As mentioned above, Scholze proposed six values in correspondence of which the viscosity values can be considered fairly constant.

But if the three values chosen to calculate viscosity are too close each other, the viscosity curve cannot be calculated correctly. For this reason, it is necessary to follow the procedures described below, and not to choose three random values among the six.

The choice of the three temperatures is fundamental in order to perform the viscosity calculation in a correct way.

Now it is necessary to distinguish two cases:

your laboratory is equipped with Misura™4 Heating Microscope and Horizontal or Vertical Optical Dilatometer;

your laboratory is equipped with Misura™4 Heating Microscope and a traditional mechanical dilatometer.

Microscope and Optical Dilatometer¶

In this case, the viscosity calculation is performed using data provided by the horizontal optical dilatometer and by the heating microscope. The values employed correspond to the temperatures of glass transition (optical dilatometer), sintering beginning and half sphere (heating microscope).

A preliminary thermal expansion tests is performed with the optical non-contact dilatometer, in order to obtain the expansion curve of the sample analyzed, identifying its glass transition temperature (the heating rate can be 20°C/min).

The second step consists of a softening test with the Misura™4 Heating Microscope, in order to determine the two temperatures of “sintering beginning” and “half sphere”.

We identify manually the sintering beginning point in correspondence of the shrinkage onset, as shown in the following graph. The half sphere temperature is automatically identified by the software.

Then, you should insert the values of glass transition (“Glass transition DIL”) obtained from the dilatometric test performed with MISURA ODLT, sintering beginning (“Sintering beginning HSM”) and half sphere (“Half sphere HSM”), obtained with the heating microscope.

Microscope and Mechanical Dilatometer¶

You can measure viscosity using the data provided by a mechanical dilatometer. In fact, you can use the temperatures of glass transition and dilatometric softening (from a mechanical dilatometer) and half sphere (from heating microscope).

You should insert the two values of glass transition (“Glass transition DIL”) and dilatometric softening (“Softening point DIL MEC”), obtained from the dilatometric test performed with a mechanical dilatometer. The third value is the “half sphere” temperature, obtained with the heating microscope.

Surface Tension with the Sessile Drop method¶

Misura™4 MorphometriX can extrapolate the surface tension of the sample from its shape and some additional parameters about the material and the atmosphere.

The method relies on the numerical solution of the Young-Laplace equation for the surface tension of a sessile drop:

\[p_1 - p_2 = \gamma (\frac{1}{R_1} + \frac{1}{R_2})\]

Where: * \(p_1\) is the pressure on the internal wall of the drop (material against atmosphere) * \(p_2\) is the pressure on the external wall of the drop (atmosphere against material) * \(\gamma\) is the surface tension * \(R_1\) is the first curvature radius describing the upper-half of the drop * \(R_2\) is the second curvature radius describing the upper-half of the drop

The analysis is split in two phases:

During a normal Heating Microscope HSM test, adimensional shape parameters are calculated by solving the Young-Laplace equation for the sessile drop.
Once the test is finished, it can be loaded in the Misura™ Browser to calculate the surface tension from the adimensional parameters. In this phase the user should provide additional material’s and environmental properties like density, thermal expansion, atmosphere etc.

This design allows the user to change/correct any material property without the need to re-run the entire analysis.

Activating the Sessile Drop¶

Sessile drop analysis can be activated in each sample’s Analyzer configuration panel, by setting to True the Enable sessile drop analysis (default=`False`) option. Alternatively, from the Samples submenu in Camera controller windows, you can directly turn this option on or off.

This option can turned on/off also while the test is already running, and will take immediate effect, starting/stopping/resuming the analysis.

As the analysis is quite computationally expensive, the algorithm will be activated when the sample assumes a likely shape.

The activation is controlled by the sub-option Contact angle limit for sessile capillarity (0=no) (default=`100`). The Young-Laplace solution will not be attempted unless the contact angle between the base and the sample reaches this angle.

Another sub-option allows to tune the Runge-Kutta integration step used by the numerical solver.

During this phase, Misura will create two adimensional sample datasets which contain the solution to the Young-Laplace equation:

Capillary factor beta
Scaling factor r0

The Surface Tension plugin¶

If the sessile drop analysis was enabled during the test execution, the Surface Tension plugin can be called from the sample<N> node corresponding to the analyzed sample, in the Misura™ Navigator.

The surface tension plugin will ask to the user all remaining physical sample properties in order to calculate a proper surface tension from the adimensional parameters calculated by the image analysis.

Pre-compiled fields¶

Capillary factor dataset: this pre-compiled field contains the reference to the adimensional beta dataset obtained by the sessile drop analysis.
Scaling factor dataset: referring to the adimensional r0 dataset.
Sample temperature: referring to the sample’s temperature dataset.
Output dataset name: the name where to save the calculated surface tension. It is possible to save multiple datasets corresponding to different configurations.

Sample density¶

Reference sample density: density of the sample at the reference temperature.
Reference sample temperature: reference temperature at which the reference sample density is measured.

Sample thermal expansion, which Will be used to correct sample density by temperature:

Sample expansion: if left blank, assume no expansion (and no density change). Else, point to an expansion % dataset for the material (height, volume or the expansion curve coming from a dilatometer).
Sample expansion temperature: if the sample expansion datasets comes from a different test (a dilatometer) this field should point to the sample’s temperature of that test.
Extrapolate below temperature: do no trust expansion values below this temperature. Use linear extrapolation instead.
Extrapolate above temperature: do no trues expansion values above this temperature. Use linear extrapolation instead.
Sample expansion dimension: specify if the Sample expansion dataset is linear or volumetric.

Atmosphere density¶

Reference gas density: Gas density at the reference temperature.
Reference gas temperature: Reference density at which the reference gas density is measured.

Gas thermal expansion, which will be used to correct gas density by temperature:

Gas expansion: if left blank, assume reference air expansion.Else, point to an expansion % dataset for the gas.
Gas expansion temperature: temperature dataset used for the gas expansion values.
Gas expansion dimension: specify if the Gas expansion dataset is linear or volumetric.

Horizontal Optical Dilatometer¶

Misura™ Horizontal Optical Dilatometer measures the dimensional changes of materials through patented True Differential, double-beam technology.

The following sections contain instruction about how to start a test, prepare a sample and analyze test results.

Quick Start: Running an Horizontal Dilatometer Test¶

This section documents specific dilatometric functions. Read Live Acquisition for a general description of the acquisition window.

Horizontal Dilatometer Acquisition Window¶

The Horizontal Dilatometer Live Acquisition window additionally comprises:

Two Camera controller windows with X, Y motion controllers.

Global Focus motion controllers.

Sample Total displacement information displayed on the Status panel panel, updated realtime during the analysis.

One Samples tab in the left Test Configuration area.

The workflow for an horizontal dilatometer test follows the general rules described in section Live Acquisition.

Adjusting cameras position¶

The initial position of the camera should be automatically reached during instrument initialization, as described in Motion Control.

Use the X motion control under each camera to find the border of the sample, which should appear as a vertical division line between a white and a black area, where the black represents the sample.

In case of indented sample borders, use the Y motion control to frame the most planar section of the surface.

Once the position of the camera has been established you have to find the right focal distance, by moving the focus slider on the bottom of the Acquisition window.

It is advisable to close the furnace before starting a new tests. Vibrations produced during furnace movements can slightly change the sample position.

Setting initial sample dimension¶

The Horizontal Optical Dilatometer measures changes in length, but cannot measure the initial length of the sample.

The operator must measure it before starting a test, by using a high precision caliper.

Stopping the test on excess deformation¶

In thermal cycle tab, under Additional Control Options section, the Horizontal Optical Dilatometers offers a security option to stop the test whenever deformation exceeds a configurable threshold, Stop on deformation excess.

The security limits are +10 and -10 and are active by default.

This option helps preventing sample melting in the furnace. In many cases melting will raise image analysis errors which will stop the acquisition anyway. Nevertheless, under some circumstances there is no way to detect melting from the border image.

We advise to enable this option and set reasonable limits for the specific material analysed.

Sample preparation for the Horizontal Optical Dilatometer¶

The optical dilatometer frames two opposite sides of the sample with two independent optics.

In order to achive the best focus the sample should be:

machined to a trapezoidal shape, in such a way that the lengths of the faces parallel to the optical path are minimized

placed on an alumina holding plate, in order to avoid elastic friction with holding rods

aligned to the end of the holding rods, in such a way that the border distances from the optics are equal and the focus distance is the same

placed in the middle of the furnace, so that the maximum expansion excursion is available both towards the left optic and towards the right optic

Quick Start: Browsing an Horizontal Dilatometer file¶

This Demo will guide you through the data analysis of Horizontal Dilatometer (horizontal) output files.

In order to follow the tutorial you should:

Download and Install Misura™ (see Installation).

Get the sample file Horizontal Dilatometer Sample File 1.h5 and save it to a known location (eg: your Desktop)