The Flash DSC 2+ offers exciting new application possibilities. These are illustrated with the aid of several interesting examples. Besides polymers and organic substances, the instrument can now measure metals and other inorganic materials such as silicate glasses.
Introduction
The Flash DSC 2+ is a further development of the Flash DSC 1, an instrument which can be used for measurements at heating and cooling rates of up to several thousand Kelvin per second. Such high scanning rates are achieved through the use of thin film sensors. The Flash DSC 2+ can be operated with two different sensors. Der UFS 1 sensor is already well known from the Flash DSC 1 and can be used up to a temperature of about 520 °C. The UFH 1 sensor can be used up to about 1000 °C and offers higher cooling rates [1]. This article discusses several different applications of the Flash DSC to materials such as metal alloys, silicate glasses and polymers.
Application Examples
In the scientific literature, many publications can be found in which the Flash DSC has been used to investigate different topics and problems.
Some examples are:
- Determination of the melting and crystallization behavior of polymers.
- Investigation of polymorphism with polymers.
- Characterization of technical processes in polymer processing.
- Determination of physical-chemical quantities of materials with poor thermal stability (in the melt) for example by suppressing decomposition.
- Investigation of the kinetics of the glass transition of polymers.
- Investigation of the glass transition, nucleation, crystallization and polymorphism in structural changes in metal alloys (especially BMG: bulk metallic glass and PCM: phase change materials).
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Figure 1. Melting peaks of various pure metals. The onset temperature is the measured melting point. |
Fast Scanning DSC: Selected Application Examples | Thermal Analysis Application No. UC 494 | Application published in METTLER TOLEDO Thermal Analysis UserCom 49
