Thermal analysis is the measurement of substance properties of a substance as a function of temperature (or time) while the sample is subjected to a controlled temperature program.

ICTAC-definition (International Confederation of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry)

Applications of thermal analysis

1. Incoming inspection

Differentiation of plastic types, detection of batch differences, detection of fillers, detection of degradation behavior (especially very significant in combination with FT-IR spectroscopy and GC-MS)

2. Quality control in manufacturing

Statement about the part quality, detection of the influence of the processing conditions on the material quality (A thermal damage of the parts can be detected by a “before – after” comparison in combination with the example of the determination of the viscosity number)

Physical properties can be determined:

Secific heat capacity
Transformationps (melting, crystallization)
Phase transitions (glass transitions)
Mass or weight loss
Mechanical properties such as length changes, deformation, storage module and loss module
Optical properties such as light transmittance, luminescence and light intensity

This results in the following material properties:

Melting point / range
Crystallization behavior
Glass transition temperature
Coefficient of linear expansion
Thermal stability
Decomposition temperature and kinetics
Oxidation time (oxidation induction time OIT)
Networking behavior
Purity
Viscoelastic behavior