Characterization of Five Natural Resins and Waxes by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)

Thermal properties of 5 natural resin and wax samples (shellac, rosin, shellac wax, beeswax, Chinese insect wax) were examined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The DSC melting and crystallization curves of the samples were presented in this paper. Three DSC parameters, T o , T f and ΔT (difference between To and Tf), were selected from each curve. Evaluation results of the parameters showed that they were statistically significant with individual excellent reproducibility. Information was provided by evaluation of changes among thermal absorption or release peaks of the curves in differentiating the five resins and waxes. It was demonstrated in this paper that DSC is rapid, convenient, reliable and accurate to qualitatively identify the resins and waxes mentioned above.