Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (MTD) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this live webinar on thermal analysis in the food industry. My name is Thomas Oberholzer, and I'm product manager for Materials characterization and thermal analysis and organizer of this webinar. Today's expert is Dr. Markus Schubnell from the Market Support Group. Markus and I, we are both located at the headquarter of Mettler-Toledo in Greifensee Switzerland. Let me briefly introduce Markus to you. He has worked for many years as a scientist in the field of renewable energy before he moved to Mettler-Toledo to become a market support specialist. In this role, he has now collected more than 20 years of experience mainly in thermal analysis. Markus is also the principal author of several publications in international scientific journals. And one of his main interest, current interest lies in the field of thermal analysis of [indiscernible] molecules. And Markus is now composing a new ramp up for food applications and 2 of these new applications will be presented during this webinar. Markus, will be happy to answer your questions during or after the presentation, and we hope you take the opportunity to discuss your thermal analysis, food or studies of the questions regarding this webinar with our expert. The main part of the webinar will be a prerecorded presentation, and this will last for about 40 minutes without the explanations of our expert. And as we made the experience that our webinar content is quite compact, we will interrupt the presentation twice and our expert will then give you some additional information and explain some additional applications. And of course, this will give you the opportunity to ask questions. For asking questions because I muted your lines, please use the chat function. Thank you. So then we will now start the presentation enjoy.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Mettler-Toledo webinar on Thermal Analysis in the food industry. The role of food today is more important than just providing essential body nutrients and nourishment. It is a pathway to good health. This change has opened up new fields in food science and food technology as well as in the analytical testing of food and food stuffs. During this webinar, I would like to describe a number of interesting application examples that demonstrate the use of thermal analysis techniques in fields such as food processing, food storage conditions and food quality in various segments of the food industry. The slide lists the topics I would like to cover. First, I want to mention regulatory guidelines and standards used in the food industry and discuss the most important effects or properties that can be investigated by thermal analysis techniques. The techniques include differential scanning calorimetry or DSC Thermal Optical Analysis, or TOA, including Hot Stage microscopy and DSC microscopy. Thermogravimetric analysis or TGA; Thermal Mechanical analysis or TMA; Dynamic Mechanical analysis, or DMA and dropping point instruments. I will then present a number of application examples that illustrate how thermal analysis can be used to investigate the physical behavior of products in the food industry. Finally, I will summarize the different thermal analysis techniques and their application fields and list a number of useful references for further information and reading. In general, good quality food should have a pleasant appearance, taste, aroma and texture. Let's take chocolate as an example. Everybody likes to eat chocolate, but what if the chocolate loses its texture before you eat it. The chocolate manufacturer will be faced with questions such as what ingredients are needed to guarantee the desired quality? How can the desired texture of the chocolate be maintained? How can the quality of the end product be checked? The slide displays the DSC heating curves of samples of the same chocolate measured after the samples had been cooled under different cooling conditions. The top curve is the heating curve of the chocolate as received. The 3 curves below this were obtained from samples that have been cooled at different cooling grades. The curves show melting peaks at different temperatures due to polymorphism. However, only one of the polymorphs is the desired form. In this particular example, the key points are melting behavior and polymorphism. Later on in the webinar, I will describe other thermal analysis techniques such as thermal optical methods that help to answer such questions. Food products are directly linked to public health issues. As a consequence, various international and national regulations and laws exist, which provide methods for checking the quality of food products. In this slide, I would like to draw your attention to regulations, laws and standard norms applicable to the food industry. In general, the industry follows the Good Manufacturing Practices, GMP and regulations set by the United States Food and Drug Administration, FDA, and the international organization for standardization, ISO 22000. For example, in the sugar industry, the International Commission for Uniform Methods and Sugar Analysis, known as ICUMSA has defined standard methods for the determination of the moisture content in sugar in the production process. Thermal analysis today is an important technique for characterizing different materials in many fields of the food industry. The ICTAC definition of thermal analysis is a group of techniques in which a physical property of a substance is measured as a function of temperature, whilst the substance is subjected to a controlled temperature program. The schematic diagram on the right shows a symbol linear temperature program. The lower half of the slide illustrates typical events that occur when the sample is heated. For example, initial melting in which the sample changes from the solid to the liquid state. If the sample is exposed to air or oxygen, it will start to oxidize and finally decompose. We use thermal analysis techniques to investigate these effects. The slide presents the 6 most important thermal analysis techniques used to characterize foods and food stuffs, namely Differential Scanning Calorimetry, or DSC. This is the most widely used thermal analysis technique. The picture shows a DSC sensor with a crucible containing a sample, colored red, and a reference crucible. Thermogravimetric analysis, or TGA. Here, we see part of the TGA ultra micro balance with its automatic internal ring weights. Thermomechanical analysis, or TMA. The image shows the sample area with a sample colored red and the Quartz probe and sensor. Dynamic mechanical analysis, or DMA. Here, we see one of the several different sample clamping assemblies. Thermo optical analysis, or TOA, monitors optical properties as a function of temperature using a microscope or a video camera. And finally, the dropping point instrument, which determines the dropping or softening properties of a given material. I will explain these techniques in more detail in the following slides and describe some application examples. This slide lists application examples that demonstrate the analytical power and versatility of thermal analysis techniques used for checking quality and for developing new products in various segments of the food industry. For example, in the milk and dairy industry, where dry milk powder is the main ingredient of many products, TGA and DSC techniques can be used to determine thermal stability, moisture content, protein denaturation melting and crystallization. In the bakery industry, bread and related products can be investigated by DSC, TGA and TMA techniques to determine the gelatinization of starch, thermal stability, and expansion and swelling properties. The confectionery and oil industry is mainly concerned with edible fats and oils. Here, DSC, TGA and the thermal values techniques provide important information on thermal and oxidative stability, moisture content and the dropping point. Let us now begin with DSC. This technique allows us to determine the energy absorbed or released by a sample as it is heated or cooled. The standard Mettler-Toledo DSC1 instrument measures from minus 150 degrees Celsius to plus 700 degrees at heating rates of up to 300 kelvin per minute. Samples are normally measured in small crucibles made of aluminum, alumina or other materials using sample amounts of 1 to 10 milligrams. The schematic curve on the left shows a typical DSC measurement curve with a number of typical effects that can be observed depending on the samples studied. Exothermic effects point upward and endothermic effects downward. The curve is plotted as heat flow in milliwatts versus temperature. The different effects are numbered next to the curve and explained in the table below, namely: One, the initial deflection or start-up transient of the DSC; two, the baseline where no thermal effects occur; three, a glass transition with enthalpy relaxation; four, cold crystallization; five, melting of the crystalline fraction; and finally, six, oxidative exothermic decomposition. DSC is used to study thermal behavior, such as melting and chemical reactions. Most of these processes are related to enthalpy changes initiated by increasing or decreasing temperature. Another useful more specialized DSC technique is high-pressure DSC or HPDSC for short. The Mettler-Toledo HPDSC 1 can analyze samples under inert or reactive gases at pressures of up to 10 megapascals. This suppresses undesired vaporization of samples or enables the stability of samples to be studied under increased oxygen pressures. The table summarizes the effects, which can be used to characterize food stuff. The main applications have to do with melting behavior and polymorphism. DSC measurements also provide information about the enthalpy of protein denaturation and changes in heat capacity. The picture on the right of the slide shows a view of an open DSC furnace with sample and reference crucibles. The standard crucibles are made of aluminum. The first example is taken from the field of food processing and deals with the denaturation of proteins in hen egg white. DSC detects denaturation as an endothermic effect, usually in the range of 40 to 100 degrees Celsius. The diagram displays the DSC heating curve of a sample of egg white. Dried egg white contains about 93% protein and 6% carbohydrate. Overall, egg white consists of more than 40 different proteins. The egg white was separated and starred for 2 minutes. About 33 milligrams of sample was weighed into a hermetically sealed 40-microliter standard aluminum crucible and heated from 30 to 110 degrees Celsius at a heating rate of 10 kelvin per minute. The reference crucible contained about the same amount of water. The DSC curve shows two main endothermic peaks at 70 and 87 degrees: The first peak relates to the denaturation of the conalbumin fraction, which makes up about 13.8% of the total protein. The second peak corresponds to the denaturation of the ovalbumin fraction, which makes up 65% of the total protein. The typical denaturation peaks and their enthalpies allow us to identify and quantify protein fractions. Palm oil is semi solid at room temperature and contains several saturated oils as well as mono and polyunsaturated oils. It can be fractioned into two phases, namely, Palm stearin and Palm olein. Samples of the palm oil and the two fractions each weighing about 20 milligrams were first cooled to minus 40 degrees Celsius and then heated from minus 40 to plus 80 degrees at 10 kelvin per minute using hermetically sealed standard aluminum crucibles. The DSC heating curves of the three samples are displayed on the left side of the diagram. Their melting behavior is clearly different. For example, Palm Stearin exhibits peaks at much higher temperatures than Palm Olein. The data from the melting curves can be used to calculate the liquid fraction as a function of temperature. This is done by evaluating partial integrals of the melting peaks using the conversion software program. For correct results, the specific enthalpy of fusion of all fractions in joules per gram should be the same. This is the reason why we have used the highest enthalpy value of 85 joules per gram of Palm Stearin as the so-called literature value to calculate the conversion curves for the 3 samples. This yielded values of 95% for Palm Olein, 80% for palm oil and 52% for Palm stearin for the liquid fraction at room temperature. The evaluation allows us to easily differentiate the samples. We see that DSC is an excellent method for characterizing and distinguishing between edible fats like palm oils and gives us valuable information about the liquid fraction at room temperature. DSC is widely used in food processing to investigate the crystallization behavior of fats and oils. The diagram displays DSC cooling curves of 4 different oil samples, namely olive oil, palm oil, soybean oil and rapeseed oil. For the analysis, about 25 milligrams of each sample was weighed into hermetically sealed standard aluminum crucibles. The samples were then cooled from 50 degrees Celsius to minus 100 degrees at a cooling rate of 10 kelvin per minute. The cooling curve of olive oil shows the crystallization of saturated fatty acids between minus 10 and minus 35 degrees. After this, the main fraction of the olive oil consisting of the triglyceride with 3 oleic acid units crystallizes at minus 45 degrees Celsius. Palm oil crystallizes at higher temperatures than olive oil due to the high percentage of saturated fatty acids. Soybean oil also contains a significant fraction of both saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. These three triglyceride fractions can be seen as broad peaks in the DSC curve at different crystallization temperatures. Finally, rapeseed oil crystallizes in much lower temperature range because it consists mainly of unsaturated fatty acids with just 5% saturated acids.

So this is our expert speaking. So the idea of this kind of interruption would be that I would answer questions, but I realize that there are no questions. So let me maybe show you another kind of small application, which is dealing with Aspartame. Now Aspartame is known as a sweetener, which is 200x more sweet than sucrose. And then aspartame usually is available as anhydride. And the idea of this kind of application is to show you the impact of ceiling of the crucible. So what you see here are three curves of aspartame anhydride as we bought it from [indiscernible]. So it is pure anhydride and the top curve, or the red curve that is the aspartame measured in an open crucible. And if you look at this curve, then you see that you have a peak A denoted A that is happening or occurring at around 40 degrees, something like that. That is a typical thing which you observe when you have some moisture in your sample. So we would attribute this to release of water. Then if you look very carefully, you see a very small peak, the number has [indiscernible] with a very low area, 2.82 per gram. And then you see two other quite large peaks, which we will discuss maybe at the end of this kind of application. Now if you use a different kind of ceiling, which in this case would be that your pierce the lid, but your pierce the lid with a needle, so you make the hole manually. Then you see that what we have attributed as being due to moisture release of moisture is now shifted to higher temperature. Peak size is a little bit less. And there you also observed the second peak, which was denoted on the red curve. You see that also on the blue curve, and it looks to be a little bit more. And if you go to the last configuration in which we were using actually [indiscernible] lid. So we have a special lids, which we can -- which we sell, which are Pierced with a 50-micrometer hole in the lid. And if you see your cruise with such a lid that you observe that this peak A, which you have been seen before, is now much clearly much less, and it is even more shifted to higher temperature, whereas the other peak which you observe as Peak B is now much more and much more pronounced also as compared to the 2 peaks. Now what we can say is that this must be also water. So we have -- if you look for the sum of the 2 peaks or A plus B, that is almost the same for all of these configurations. So it must be [indiscernible] and the question remains, why do we have all of a sudden 2 peaks and why all of a sudden the second peak is much more than it is and it is more and it is at the temperature, which is above the boiling point. Because basically, 50-micrometer pierced lid would basically shift the operation processes to the boiling point, which is somewhere at around 100 degrees. But this release in case of this 50-micrometer pierced lid is at the higher temperature as is also true for the other ones, it is also a little bit more than 100 degrees. So what happens here? The explanation is that you have to know that aspartame is available in different hydrates. So there's a 2.5 hydrate , and there are actually 2 forms of hemihydrates. And these hemihydrates they can be formed if you are at a certain temperature and if the humidity is still above a certain level. In the case of an open [indiscernible] basically the humidity can go off quite easily. So basically, this situation occurs, but to a very low extent and that means that what we observe as a hydration of what is basically the unhydrate is now happening, but to a very low extent, that is this 2.8 [indiscernible] gram, which are then released when you dehydrate for hydrate. And of course, the easier it is for the water to be kept inside of the [indiscernible] the more you will form of this hemihydrate. And the more, of course, then you will see that the hydration of what has been formed during the experiment. That is the situation which is observed at the 50-micrometer pierced lid condition. So here, basically between A and between B, we basically form a hydrate and this hemihydrate excuse me, this hemihydrate will lose its water at around 120 degrees. So that shows you a little bit what is the impact of ceiling. So if -- especially if you have like samples, which contain some moisture and there are some effects, which we expect to be below maybe the boiling point of water for instance, also a glass transition then it is a good idea to try to shift actually the evaporation process to as high as possible to see what is going on at lower temperatures. Here, the situation is a little bit different. Here we actually see that we have an additional effect which shows up, which is hydration and then we observed the hydration of the formed hemihydrate. Now to the other 2 peaks, Here, we basically have, like from the point of view of the shape of the peak, you would say, it is probably some melting, but it is somehow strange why could you have 2 meltings of a pure material and does [indiscernible] pure material. It is crystal in this we know. It will melt probably, but it will not melt 2 times. So one of these peaks must be something which is not related to the melting and this is the first peak. The first peak in fact, if you are aware a little bit of what happens to aspartame when you heat it up, then if you are at a certain temperature, which is around 185, basically, you have a cyclization reaction with aspartame. And then the sample loses methanol. And if you have this loss of methanol that is an endothermic process and it makes that you get this kind of first peak at around 190 degrees. And the second peak, that is the melting of what is the result of this cyclization reaction. You can confirm that if you would apply a TGA experiment, then you would see at around 190 degrees. You will see a [indiscernible], quite a sharp [indiscernible] step, which coincides with what you get as a simultaneously measured DSC signal also in a TGA. So that is maybe a little bit another way of looking at things. So the message here is if you have humidity, it's always a good idea to play a little bit with a ceiling, hermetically sealed 50-micrometer pierced lid or even open crucibles. You will get different curves, and that will tell you something about what you have as a [indiscernible]. Okay. In the meantime, I hope that there would be some questions, but I realize that there are no questions. So I propose that we go on with webinar.

Let us now look at Thermo optical analysis, or TOA. TOA techniques are used to study optical properties of assemble as it is heated or cooled. The properties can be monitored by DSC, HP DSC or hot stage systems in combination with a microscope or a video camera. The HP DSC instrument can also be connected to a chemiluminescence accessory. Some TOA systems allow calorimetric effects to be measured simultaneously while making visual observations. The table summarizes typical applications of optical techniques for the analysis of food stuffs. The main applications have to do with the identification of solid, solid transitions and the study of morphological changes. The three pictures on the right show the microscopy accessory added to a standard DSC, a camera attached to an HP DSC instrument for chemiluminescence measurements and hot stage microscopy with the ability to quickly capture and store digital images or videos. The slide shows how the microscopy accessory can provide visual information corresponding to each effect that occurs in a DSC heating or cooling run. In this experiment, a sample of a candy consisting of three distinct layers was analyzed by DSC and microscopy. The diagram shows results obtained from the middle layer. A sample taken from the middle layer was finally ground, inserted into a 40-microliter aluminum crucible and hermetically sealed. It was then heated from minus 50 degrees Celsius to 160 degrees at 10 kelvin per minute, cooled to minus 50 degrees at 5 kelvin per minute. And finally, heated a second time to 160 degrees at 10 kelvin per minute. The first heating run displays two melting peaks at about 60 and 95 degrees, proving that the structure of the sample is largely crystalline. The second heating run shows only a glass transition at about minus 20 degrees. This indicates that the candy is in the amorphous state with no crystallization after cooling. Images recorded using the hot stage microscopy system confirmed these results. The first image at 50 degrees shows some large crystals surrounded by a number of smaller crystals. Some of the smaller crystals recrystallized during the heating run. The extensive black regions in the third image at 85 degrees indicate that a large part of the sample has already melted. The remaining relatively large crystals melt up to about 95 degrees. This application example illustrates how the softening, melting and crystallization behavior of candies can be investigated by DSC combined with microscopy. I now want to discuss Thermogravimetric analysis, or TGA. In this technique, the mass of assemble is continuously recorded as it is heated or cooled in a defined atmosphere. We simply put a few milligrams of the sample into a crucible, wave assemble, heat it and continuously record the weight change. The schematic curve on the left shows a typical TGA measurement curve that illustrates the different effects that can occur, depending on the particular sample. Before the heating ramp begins, the TGA records the mass of the sample. At the end of the measurement, only inorganic residues and ash remain behind. The steps due to loss of mass provide valuable information about the composition of materials and the stability of substances. The steps are numbered next to the curve and explained in the table. They are: One, heating begins and volatile components vaporize; two, Pyrolysis or decomposition of organic substances; three, at some point, the atmosphere is switched from nitrogen to oxygen to obtain oxidative conditions; four, soot or any carbon black residues burn; five, inorganic material that was present in the starting material is left behind as a residue. Mettler-Toledo TGA instruments simultaneously record DSC or DTA curves and so provide information about effects involving heat exchange. The table summarizes the main analytical applications of thermogravimetric analysis for food products. TGA is used to investigate processes such as vaporization or decomposition. The combination of TGA with a mass spectrometer, a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer or a gas chromatography mass spectrometry system, allows us to analyze and characterize evolved gases. It also allows us to check thermal stability, the kinetics of reactions and reaction Stoichiometry. The picture on the right side shows a view of the open furnace, a sample holder with two positions for the sample and reference crucibles in a TGA DSC instrument. The standard crucibles are made of alumina. The simplest to get an overview of the water release behavior of a substance is to record a TGA curve. The first TGA application example shows the mass loss curve of corn starch performed to measure the moisture content, the decomposition of carbohydrate matter and the ash residue. About 5 milligrams of the corn starch sample was weighed into a 70-microliter alumina pen and heated from 30 to 600 degrees Celsius at 10 kelvin per minute under nitrogen. The upper TGA curve shows 3 mass loss steps. The lower first derivative or DTG curve was used to set limits for the evaluation of the overlapping steps. The mass loss step up to 200 degrees is due to release of moisture. The second step corresponds to the decomposition of carbohydrates and the third step to the combustion of carbon black formed in the second step. A small residue is mineral ash. The second TGA application example displays sorption curves of milk powder measured at relative humidities of 60% and 80% at a constant temperature of 30 degrees Celsius. One of the main constituents of milk powder is lactose. This is generally in the amorphous state due to processing conditions. Lactose is hydroscopic, and the uptake of moisture causes the powder to become lumpy. This can lead to changes in the flavor and taste of products containing the milk powder. In this experiment, milk powder was dried at a relative humidity of 0% for 10 hours and subsequently exposed to a relative humidity of 60% for 25 hours as shown by the curve in the upper part of the diagram. This cycle was repeated using the same sample. The experiment was also performed using a new sample at 80% relative humidity as shown by the lower curve. The initial parts of both curves indicate that the milk powder was not completely dry even after 10 hours at 0% relative humidity. The crystallization of the lactose in the milk powder is an irreversible process. For this reason, the peak and the absorption curve occurs only during the first exposure to moisture. The diagram also shows that the relative humidity influences crystallization behavior. At higher relative humidity, the release of water after crystallization is appreciably faster. More water was also absorbed namely 7% at 80% relative humidity and only 4% at 60% relative humidity. Furthermore, the dry mass after crystallization at 80% relative humidity increases from 7.030 milligrams to 7.086 milligrams or by about 0.8%. This indicates that under these conditions, the crystallized lactose and the milk powder is at least partially present as a hydrate. TGA-Sorption studies like this provide valuable information about the behavior of milk powder in human atmospheres. We now move on to thermomechanical analysis, or TMA. This technique measures the dimensional changes of a sample as it is heated or cooled. The schematic curve on the left shows the typical TMA curve of a polymer measured in the compression mode using a small sample load. The different effects are numbered next to the curve and explained in the table, namely: One, expansion below the glass transition; two, the glass transition point at which the rate of expansion changes; three, expansion above the glass transition. The steeper slope indicates a greater rate of expansion; four, softening with plastic deformation. The table summarizes some of the more important analytical applications of thermomechanical analysis. The main application is the determination of the coefficient of thermal expansion, or CTE, and in general, any changes in sample thickness due to heating or cooling. The technique is also excellent for determining the glass transition temperature and for studying softening behavior, especially for thin layers or coatings. Measurements of swelling and solvents are usually performed isothermally. The picture on the right shows the typical experimental setup with a ballpoint probe in contact with the sample specimen resting on a flat support. The following slide describes a specific application example. Packaging films often consists of several layers -- this enables the composite film to satisfy requirements regarding mechanical strength, impermeability to oxygen and water and UV light protection that a monolayer film alone cannot provide. The identification of the components and the determination of the thickness of the individual layers are two important issues and the quality control of these materials. The slide displays the TMA and first derivative TMA curves of a multilayer packaging film. The TMA curve was measured in the penetration mode at a heating rate of 5 kelvin per minute using a force of 0.1 newtons. The thickness of the film decreases in several steps due to the softening and melting of individual layers. Evaluation of the softening temperatures using the first derivative curve allowed us to identify the layers in the laminate as low-density polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene polyamide 12 and polyamide 11. The thickness of individual film layers was determined by integrating the area of the peaks in the first derivative curve. Alternatively, the thickness of each layer can be estimated by evaluating the steps in the TMA curve. The double peak obtained for PE LLD cannot be resolved. This suggests that the multilayer film contains 2 separate layers of PE LLD of similar thickness. The results demonstrate that TMA is an excellent technique for checking the quality and composition of multilayer packaging films used in the food industry. a layer with the thickness of less than 10 micrometers, was easily detected.

Okay. So this is Again, your expert speaking, still no questions. So let's move on to maybe another kind of application showing you the use of TMA. And actually, we did some studies on coffee. And one of the studies was to do a coffee analysis with TMAMS system. And for that purpose, we basically measured a complete coffee bean, and we were using what is called like a ballpoint probe measure just the expansion of this coffee bean. Now this diagram shows you a little bit quite a few curves actually. So the black curve that is what is measured as a TMA curve. Then we have its first derivative. This is the dotted blue line. And then we have also some MS curves, and I plotted here two species, which are [indiscernible] that corresponds to [indiscernible] and [indiscernible] that corresponds to CO2. Now if we start a little bit maybe with the TMA curve, then you see that there is a clear increase at something like 125 degrees C. And there's a very sharp increase with an onset at around 203 degrees C, something like that. How to understand these things. Basically, at the very beginning, the sample is losing water. This is also visible on the [indiscernible] for water. So we have a continuous increase. That means that here water is eliminated. And that leads to at very beginning to a little bit of shrinking then at around 120, 125 in this order of magnitude what starts [indiscernible] reactions. So these are the reactions which actually produce the variety of the flavors in the coffee and then that starts at around 125. And you see if you compare that with what we get as a CO2 evolution that somehow begins or is initiated, obviously, by some kind of release of CO2. And then if you go further on to 202 degrees, there you have this massive increase in the expansion. And they have also a massive release, an abrupt release of CO2. And this is what is called the first crack, and that is an audible cracking of the coffee beans. So each coffee roaster will know about this phenomena, so that makes us a little bit of noise. And this first crack that is when the coffee bean pops up. And if you then need further up this coffee bean, then it starts to chart. So it gets darker and darker and darker and the coffee is supposed to get stronger and stronger and stronger and also to become a more and more bitter probably. So that is this first crack. That is a very important temperature. It is, of course, depending on what you are applying as a heating rate. That means it is depending on how the process of roasting is actually going on. But you see that you can easily see this first crack if you are looking at these coffee beans with the TMA. That means if you have a special temperature program to make the roasting of your coffee, you can actually easily mimic on a TMA instrumentally special roasting process. And still you will be able to determine when the actually track first crack will actually showing up. If there is a first crack, there should also be a second crack. The second crack is actually not easy to be detected. It cannot be easily detected because it is not the crack in the sense of huge popping up of the coffee bean. It is more related to some oil which is transmitted onto the surface of the coffee bean and that is not really related with a large increase in the bean as such. So this is a little bit what you can see. And what we also see is if you look now for the first derivative and you compare that a little bit with what you measure with the CO2 evolution, then you basically see a nice correlation between all this phenomena, which you see on the first derivative, which is, for instance, this rather complex behavior at where we said we start to have a buyer reactions. Also there, you see some peaks on the CO2 evolution. So you see there are some small peaks, if you look for the zoom curve. And if you then have the first crack, you also see this shape of the first crack very nicely on the evolution curve for CO2. And then you also see that above this crack first then begins the charging. That is a [indiscernible] again and again by some release of some additional CO2 and that makes that the whole TMA curve will actually be much more noise, and that is best seen if you're looking for the first derivative. So that's maybe a little bit a fancy application, but it shows you that if you have the TMA and if you have a [indiscernible], you can actually combine these 2 instruments. And then you can do perfectly well TMA MS experiments and that can tell you important information. Now of course, what would be interesting in terms of the aroma, which are produced and what else is emitted during this roasting process and MS is maybe not the best choice. In principle, you could also combine the TMA with GC/MS system as we offer it for TGA combination. And there's no reason why you should not be able to combine a TMA with a GC/MS system. And then you would get all this information on what is released during the roasting process of the coffee beans. Okay. So that was a little bit a glimpse into the world of coffee beans. Still no questions. So again, propose that we continue with the webinar.

Dynamic mechanical analysis is a technique that is used to measure the mechanical properties of viscoelastic material as a function of time, temperature and frequency when the material is deformed under a periodic oscillating stress. The schematic diagram on the left of the slide shows the results of a DMA measurement of a shock cooled semi-crystalline polymer. The curves display the storage modulus, G Prime the loss modulus, G Double Prime and the loss factor Tan Delta as a function of temperature. The different effects are numbered next to the curve and explained in the table. They are: one, secondary relaxation observed as a peak in the Tan delta and G Double Prime curves. G Prime decreases slightly Two, the glass transition seen as a peak in the tan delta and G double Prime curves and as a decrease in the storage modulus curve; three, cold crystallization of the polymer the stiffness and hence, the storage modulus G Prime increase; four, recrystallization accompanied by a peak and Tan delta and G double Prime; five, melting of the crystalline fraction with a decrease in the storage and the loss module. The table lists the main analytical applications of dynamic mechanical analysis. In general, DMA provides information about the glass transition of amorphous components about viscoelastic behavior and the Elastic Modulus. In addition, it also gives information on softening temperatures the effect of moisture on the Modulus and the dynamic mechanical behavior of polymer coatings and coating materials. The picture on the right shows a sample installed in the DMA ready for measurement in the bending mode. The texture of a food product is an important point for consumers. It includes properties such as crispness, softness and how the product feels in your mouth. Moisture content directly influences food texture, different thermal analysis techniques can be used to obtain information related to texture. In this example, the texture of pretzel sticks, a sort of bread pastry was investigated by DMA and TGA. To study the influence of moisture, the salty sticks were first stored at 100% humidity and ambient temperature for 1 day. A stick about 65 millimeters long with a diameter of 4 millimeters was then continuously measured by DMA for 3 hours in the 3-point bending mode at 27 degrees Celsius. The results are shown in the upper left diagram. The curve of Tan delta versus time shows that Tan delta gradually decreases. A sample prepared in the same way with a mass of about 18 milligrams was also measured by TGA for 3 hours at 27 degrees. The TGA curve in the lower diagram shows that the sample gradually loses moisture and dries. The diagram on the right shows the correlation of moisture loss and tan delta. We can conclude that when the sample is sufficiently dry, it has lost about 2.8% moisture. At the same time, the tan delta value of about 0.058 is at a minimum. This confirms that the crispness of the pretzel stick can be restored after drying. Dropping point systems allow you to determine the dropping and softening points of oils and fats and many other materials in fully automatic operation. standard-compliant cups and measurement methods guarantee that the results can be meaningfully compared. The dropping point measurement records the temperature at which the first drop of a substance falls from a cup under defined test conditions. The softening point is the temperature at which a sample has flowed a certain distance. The picture on the right shows the DP 90 dropping point system with the cooling accessory and the picture on the left, the DP 70, which operates from room temperature. The instrument can be used in two different modes, mainly to determine the dropping point or the softening point. visual camera observation and digital image analysis guarantee that the values obtained are reliable. Dropping point experiments are commonly used in quality control to identify and characterize edible fats and oils. The table at the top of the slide shows the results of four different edible fats and oil samples and demonstrates the excellent reproducibility of the measurements. The left side of the slide below the table shows the color screen of a DP 70 instrument. On the right side, there is a screen shot of the live video of a duplicate measurement of the canola oil sample. The table summarizes the most important thermal properties and events that can be used to characterize food materials as well as the techniques recommended for investigating the effects. A red box means that the technique is recommended as a first choice. A blue dot indicates that the technique can also be used. The most important effects that can be analyzed by DSC are the melting point, melting range and melting behavior. DSC is used to determine the heat of fusion purity, polymorphism, glass transition and oxidation stability. The main applications of TGA have to do with evaporation, desorption and vaporization behavior, thermal stability, kinetics of decomposition and compositional analysis. TOA is used to study the melting point, melting range and polymorphism using visual observation and recording images and videos. TMA is normally used to study the expansion or shrinkage of materials and the glass transition. DMA is the most sensitive method for characterizing glass transitions of materials. DP measurements are used for the automatic detection of dropping and softening points. Finally, I would like to draw your attention to information about thermal analysis applications in the food industry that you can download from the Internet. Mettler-Toledo publishes articles on thermal analysis and applications from different fields twice a year in user comm, the well-known Mettler-Toledo Customer Magazine. That issues can be downloaded as PDFs from www.mt.com/usercomms, as shown in the middle of the slide. a compilation of applications can be found in the food and thermal analysis and Practice handbooks. In addition, you can download details about webinars application handbooks or information of a more general nature from the Internet addresses given on this slide. This concludes my presentation on thermal analysis in the food industry. Thank you very much for your interest and attention.

So this was the Webinar. I guess there are no questions. So maybe we could summarize a little bit what we did talk about. So you have seen that we have a large portfolio of thermal analysis techniques. And with all these techniques, you can actually do quite a lot of things. Many things that you could additionally do have not been discussed in detail. So for instance, you could also study some starches. So the [indiscernible] behavior of starch that will be quite often used application in food, and there are quite a few other things like swelling, for instance, of whatever. This kind of experiment could also be performed with the technique which you have been presented to you. So I hope that you got at least some ideas on what these techniques are actually useful. Yes. So then maybe we could have a look into some future webinars that will come up in the next couple of months. So end of June, we will present something about CFR 21 Part 11. So that is more people who are interested in regulations from FDA. Then in July, the topic will be dedicated to thermal optical analysis. So we have seen some of that already now. So we presented you some ideas about DSC microscopy. There's another technique, which is also very nice for food applications that would be hot stage microscopy. There, you actually would look into transmit into the materials, you would measure on the transmission, and this will give you some insight on what is going on like polymorphic, for instance, is probably the let's say, the microscopy technique as such is not really suited to see polymer vision for this purpose, you would need this hot stage microscopy technique. Then in August, we will talk about thermal analysis of paints and coatings, so that is a completely different field, of course, as food is, but maybe you are interested also in this kind of applications, then that would be the way bio for you. Okay. So I think we have probably done still no questions. So we thank you for your attendance and hope to see you one more time with one of our other webinars. Enjoy the evening, and have a nice rest of the week.