How does differential scanning in calorimetry work?
1 Answer
Differential scanning calorimetry works by comparing the amount of energy it takes to heat an empty metal pan with a metal pan with a sample in it.
Explanation:
You place one empty pan on one of the heaters to be used as a reference pan.
The other heater you place an identical pan with a sample you would like to get the thermal properties of.
The machine heats up each pan with separate heaters and keeps the pans at the same temperature and records how much energy is required to heat up the reference pan vs the sample pan.
Also, it records the heat release and heat absorption of the sample pan versus that of the reference pan and shows you things such as the glass transition temperature of the material, the crystallization temperature, and melt temperature.
This is useful especially with polymers.
