Thermal Expansion

Thermal Expansion is a tech mod which adds machines that both produce materials and process raw materials into more usable products. It was first released on version 1.2.5 by KingLemming and Zeldo, and is developed by Team CoFH from versions 1.6.4 onwards.

The mod was first released with a dependency on Buildcraft and Forestry due to a lack of energy infrastructure. The 1.4 and 1.5.2 updates to the mod adds Energy Cells and Dynamos, and the 1.6.4 update shifted the energy standard used by the mod from Minecraft Joules to Redstone Flux. In the 1.7.10 update, the mod is split into three: Thermal Foundation, which contains data for the required materials and world generation; Thermal Expansion, which hosts the machines and other utility blocks; and Thermal Dynamics, which includes pipes for energy, items and fluids.

Energy Production and Storage
Most of the machines in the mod require energy to work. This can be generated by Dynamos, which consume certain materials and convert them into energy in Redstone Flux units. Although all dynamos can store the energy they produce, their internal storage is limited. To store large amounts of RF, Energy Cells are required. Energy Cells have four tiers: Leadstone, Hardened, Redstone and Resonant, each with increasing storage capacity and transfer rates. All four tiers, however, share the property of configurable sides, allowing certain sides to be set for either input, output or in-and-out.
 * Steam Dynamo - Generates RF by boiling water using furnace fuel. Steam can be used for certain mods that support steam power.
 * Magmatic Dynamo - Generates RF by consuming Lava or Blazing Pyrotheum.
 * Compression Dynamo - Generates RF solely from fluid-based fuels. Supports Buildcraft fuel. Requires a coolant (e.g. water).
 * Reactant Dynamo - Generates RF by combining certain fluids as fuel with a catalyst. Efficiency varies on fuel (RF produced) and catalyst used (fuel duration). Supports MineFactory Reloaded fluids.
 * Enervation Dynamo - Can draw out RF from chargeable items and tools and generates RF from Redstone Dust and Redstone Blocks.

Machines

 * Redstone Furnace - Smelts items like in a Furnace by using RF as energy.
 * Pulverizer - Grinds ores and other items; has a chance of having more than one pulverized ore product for each ore block processed.
 * Sawmill - Processes wood-based materials with higher efficiency.
 * Induction Smelter - Smelts up to two materials into one product. Primarily used to create certain alloys like Invar and Electrum.
 * Aqueous Accumulator - Creates Water as long as it is placed beside at least two water source blocks.
 * Glacial Precipitator - Creates Snow, Snow Blocks and Ice from Water.
 * Igneous Extruder - Creates Cobblestone, Stone and Obsidian from Water and Lava.
 * Magma Crucible - Melts materials into fluids. Can produce Lava from Cobblestone, Netherrack or Blaze Rods, as well as melt alloy materials into its fluid counterpart.
 * Fluid Transposer - Transfers the contents of fluid containers.
 * Energetic Infuser - Charges items with RF.
 * Cyclic Assembler - Automatically crafts items, provided the materials required.
 * Phytogenic Insolator - Simulates crop growth by processing seeds with an item called Phyto-Gro to generate crop yields.

Utility Items

 * Crescent Hammer - The basic tool for Thermal Expansion blocks. Shift-right clicking on machines or other blocks causes them to drop as an item.
 * Portable Tank - Stores liquids. Can only input or output from the top or bottom side. Configurable using the Crescent Hammer. Has four tiers.
 * Strongbox - Storage blocks similar to Chests. They can be configured so that they can only be interacted by the player who first placed the block. Has four tiers.
 * Cache - Mass storage block similar to Barrels. The lowest tier can store up to 10,000 of one item. Has four tiers overall.
 * Fluivac - Powered tool that can store liquids in its internal storage.
 * Florb - Stores 1 bucket's worth of a fluid. Can be thrown like a snowball, releasing the fluid upon impact.

Upgrades and Augments
Introduced in the 1.7.10 version of the mod (i.e., Thermal Expansion 4), machines and dynamos now have an upgrade system. This allows existing machines to be given certain additional properties or to simply increase existing ones like internal energy storage and efficiency. Machines are now crafted with four tiers of Machine Frames (Basic, Hardened, Reinforced, Resonant), and now have between three and six slots for upgrades called Augments. Dynamos, on the other hand, have four Augment slots.

Related Mods

 * Thermal Foundation
 * Thermal Dynamics