ABSTRACT
Thermal analysis is widely used for both scientific and industrial applications, including polymer materials, foods, pharmaceuticals, electric materials, metals, and ceramics. This chapter discusses differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) because they are routinely employed for polymer analysis. DSC determines temperature and heat. A heater in the DSC system heats the crucible which temperature is less than that of the other crucible to ensure that both crucibles are at the same temperature. Instrument From the principle of DSC, the DSC instrument comprises a furnace, temperature controller, and data collector. As polymer materials exhibit poor thermal conductivity, sample powders or films are preferred to ensure homogeneous heating. TGA measures the change of sample mass with temperature under programmed temperature. A TGA instrument comprises a thermal balance, temperature controller, and data collector. A sample is placed in a crucible and heated via a temperature program, and a thermal balance is used to measure the change of mass with temperature.
