A dedicated electric oven for characterization of thermoresistive polymer nanocomposites

• An electric oven dedicated to characterization of materials has been constructed.
• The temperature distribution in the oven is experimentally investigated.
• A thermal model is proposed to predict the temperature inside the oven.
• Thermoresistive characterization of polymer nanocomposites has been conducted.

The construction, characterization and control of an electric oven dedicated to the study of thermoresistive polymer nanocomposites is presented. The oven is designed with a heating plate capable of reaching 300 °C with a resolution of 0.3 °C and an area of uniform temperature of 3.8 cm × 2.5 cm. The temperature is regulated by means of a discrete proportional–integral–derivative controller. A heat transfer model comprising three coupled non-linear differential equations is proposed to predict the thermal profiles of the oven during heating and cooling, which are experimentally verified. The oven is used for thermoresistive characterization of polymer nanocomposites manufactured from a polysulfone polymer and multiwall carbon nanotubes.