Multicycle differential scanning calorimetry: Thermophysical procedures for research, development, and quality control of substances and materials

Multicycle Differential Scanning Calorimetry (MCDSC) is a procedure where repeated temperature cycles are executed and the measured data are superimposed for a selected number of cycles. Temperature cycles with a single sample are executed under selected experimental conditions in one of these procedures, namely, the MCDSC s . The second one, MCDSC m is a procedure in which every identical temperature cycle starts with a new sample of the same substance of a similar mass. The procedure MCDSC s using the same sample for a number of cycles is only applicable for substances and materials which are chemically and physically stable under the selected experimental conditions. The application of MCDSC enhances two extremely important qualities of a DSC measurement, namely, the sensitivity and the statistical base, both qualities with respect to the final data elucidated. Another possibility by MCDSC also related to the enhanced sensitivity can lead the discovery of a phenomenon which hitherto has not been observed. The most important result of any MCDSC application is the determination of the mean DSC curve within the temperature interval of interest by superimposing the single curves point by point and by the division of the calorimetric values obtained with the number of scans evaluated. The signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) for the mean curve can be compared with the value determined for one or even for all the single curves measured yielding the improvement factor achieved with a MCDSC measurement. This experimentally determined improvement of the SNR can be compared with the value given on a statistical consideration by Gauss as the square root of the number of cycles evaluated. The main aims of this article are to prove the practical application of the procedure and the efficiency in case of rather small sample masses. Substances were selected with known enthalpy transitions and, in addition, polystyrene was taken for a determination of the data for the glass transition by MCDSC. Rather small sample masses in the order of micrograms as well as the experimental conditions have been selected for the measurements with 4,4′-azoxyanisole and n -hexatriacontane with the expectation to get a value of SNR for the single curves of about unity or even below. Two aims should be achieved with these experiments. First, the multicycle procedures and the data evaluation developed should be capable of establishing, after performing of a certain number of cycles, a mean curve sho