What is the difference between an instron machine and a texture analyzer when it comes to measuring the mechanical properties of foods?
Instron is a company that makes materials testing instruments in sizes/ capacities from very small to quite large (The largest ones are capable of ripping apart/ compressing iron bars, concrete slabs, etc). Many institutions/ companies use one of their smaller models to test the material properties of foods. A texture analyzer is an instrument designed specifically to test the textural properties of foods. From a practical standpoint, as long as the probes/fittings are comparable, the load cells have the same (or similar) sensitivities and capacities, and one uses the same procedure (specifically setting the probe/ crossarm speeds, deflection or maximum force, and pauses (if any) to the same values) you should see no difference in material properties measured by either.
Instron is a brandname just like Stable Mirosystems is. So if you have an Instron Texture Analyzer, or a SMS Texture Analyzer, the only differerence is the brand. They might be slightly different in their possibilities but in general as far as I've seen from both of these, they are comparable. Just like buying a desktop computer from 2 different brands. On the other hand, there are other texture analyzers out there with more limited possibilities, for instance there are ones that in fact only measure fruit firmness.
Instron is a company that makes materials testing instruments in sizes/ capacities from very small to quite large (The largest ones are capable of ripping apart/ compressing iron bars, concrete slabs, etc). Many institutions/ companies use one of their smaller models to test the material properties of foods. A texture analyzer is an instrument designed specifically to test the textural properties of foods. From a practical standpoint, as long as the probes/fittings are comparable, the load cells have the same (or similar) sensitivities and capacities, and one uses the same procedure (specifically setting the probe/ crossarm speeds, deflection or maximum force, and pauses (if any) to the same values) you should see no difference in material properties measured by either.
I agree with George. I believe that in Stable Microsystems' TA-XT you may find a wider range of probes specific for food materials.
I do agree with all those comments and I feel TAXT2 is very specifically designed for a range of food materials. Instron universal testing machine is mostly used for metalargy , mechanical engineering and it is true it has lower version for food testing also.
I think that TAXT is more "user frendly", compared to Instron, so that even non expert users can run basic tests just after a day of on the job training. Moreover, Stable Microsystems makes a point of distinction of their customer support (editing of macros specifically designed for single users, unique probes for specific purposes, online update of working software, the wider range of probes and accessories avaiable).
I also agree with all those coments, TA.HDPlus is a very good equipment to measure changes in texture due to process with a variety of fundamental and imitative test, Stable Microsystems made a excelent support to stablish new methods and macros. Instron Texture analyzers are also very good equipments, I know only old models (1140, 4501), and at their moment were very useful to measure the texture of a big variety of foods.
Instron is the name of a company which was made the food texture analyzer machine in England at the first time, and Food Texture Analyzer Machine is a general name for equipments measures the softness, Hardness, brittleness and.... of food materials
I've used both instruments, a much larger version of the Instron, so the cost was much greater. Both accomplished the work but I agree that the TAXT texture analyzer has is more versatile with more applications for food materials.
I would prefer Texture Analyzer (Stable Microsystem) for research purposes mainly due to its excellent software and a number of built-in macros that virtually covers most of the food/non-food materials. Lloyd's Instron, on the other hand, is good for teaching purposes.
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