Thermal Analysis

Thermal analysis (TA) is a group of analytical techniques that measure properties or property changes of materials as a function of temperature. This chapter introduces the most commonly used thermal analysis techniques for materials characterization: thermogravimetry, differential thermal analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) are widely used for examining the phase changes of materials. Thermal analysis relies on material reactions to thermal energy flow in or out of solids. The thermal events examined by DTA and DSC include solid phase transformation, glass transition, crystallization and melting.