Gel Testing Analysis Equipment

Testing gels?

The Gelatin Manufacturers Institute of America and the International Pectin Producers Association officially recommend our products.

Stable Micro Systems’ Texture Analyzers are by far the most widely used instruments worldwide for testing the physical properties of gels and gel-like materials. The TA.XTPlus can quantify the physical parameters of virtually every type of gel. The TA.XTPlus can measure bloom, rupture distance and force, elasticity, relaxation, swelling, adhesion, disintegration, fatigue and many other attributes of gels, pectins, silicones, agars, colloids, surimi, stabilizers, gums, mucoadhesives, and aerogels with a sensitivity and reproducibility that other instruments cannot match. We have many unique methods and fixtures to quantify the extensibility and tensile characteristics of gels.


Virtually the entire membership of the Gelatin Manufacturers Institute of America has standardized their gel testing using our texture analyzers. The food, medical, industrial, adhesive and electronics industries use the TA.XTPlus Texture Analyzer family of instruments to precisely measure the firmness, tackiness, relaxation and swelling of their gels. The Plus is also widely used for testing mucoadhesive gels, medical gels, protein gels, and silicon gels.

"It was important to get twelve cents worth of gel right or we could incur thousands or millions of dollars in recall costs." That customer statement really brought everything into focus for us as we were starting out in the gel measurement business.

Every type of gel is tested with SMS' TA.XT family of texture analyzers. From car companies using precise gels to encase potted electronics for car brakes, to silicone gels used in prosthetics, to bio-adhesive gels used as drug delivery agents, to every type of food gel on the planet. Reliability. Precision. Trust. We are gold standard in texture analysis instruments which is what you want when your business is delivering precise performance to your customers.

Every gel attribute or behavior can be measured with our instruments. The easy stuff is quantifying firmness, stickiness, tackiness, cohesiveness, resilience, rupture, relaxation, and swelling. We've had fun tackling the custom behaviors also. How blood coagulates. How quickly gel coatings dry. How well one gel adheres to another. How well super-absorbent polymers perform under pressure. We've developed test methods for every nuanced and custom gel behavior. Just reach out and speak with us about your custom testing needs.

You would have thought that testing gels were simple. Far from it. While there are standard methods for measuring gel strength (GMIA) the vast range of gel applications require test methods that go well beyond firmness. Our speciality is helping our clients measure those properties in their unique gels.

"We started with two TA.XTPlus Texture Analyzers fitted with integrated temperature controls via Peltier testing plates. We were thrilled with the support, training, and testing support that the TTC team provided. Very quickly our two texture analyzers were in almost constant use so we added a third texture analyzer to expand our testing capacity even more."

R&D Specialist, Pharmaceutical company

Interested in learning more about your specific needs?