Changing the temperature of a substance can stimulate dramatic changes of its state. These changes can be intermolecular (physical) and intramolecular (chemical) in nature. Physical changes occur without breaking intramolecular bonds, and lead to transitions between the four major phases: gas, liquid, crystal, and glass. Chemical changes are associated with chemical reactions that originate from breaking intramolecular bonds. Phase transitions as well as chemical reactions occur at finite rates. Measuring the rates of processes is the realm of kinetics. The kinetics of thermally stimulated processes is routinely measured using thermal analysis techniques such as differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Knowing the process rates and their dependence on temperature is of vital importance for understanding the behavior of materials exposed to variations in temperature. In recent years, thermal analysis kinetics has made significant progress by developing computational tools for reliable kinetic analysis. It has also expanded its traditional application area to newly developed nano- and biomaterials. This Special Issue is a series of papers that reflect recent developments in the field and highlight the essential role of thermal analysis kinetics in understanding the processes responsible for the thermal behavior of various materials.

Changing the temperature of a substance can stimulate dramatic changes of its state. These changes can be intermolecular (physical) and intramolecular (chemical) in nature. Physical changes occur without breaking intramolecular bonds, and lead to transitions between the four major phases: gas, liquid, crystal, and glass. Chemical changes are associated with chemical reactions that originate from breaking intramolecular bonds. Phase transitions as well as chemical reactions occur at finite rates. Measuring the rates of processes is the realm of kinetics. The kinetics of thermally stimulated processes is routinely measured using thermal analysis techniques such as differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Knowing the process rates and their dependence on temperature is of vital importance for understanding the behavior of materials exposed to variations in temperature. In recent years, thermal analysis kinetics has made significant progress by developing computational tools for reliable kinetic analysis. It has also expanded its traditional application area to newly developed nano- and biomaterials. This Special Issue is a series of papers that reflect recent developments in the field and highlight the essential role of thermal analysis kinetics in understanding the processes responsible for the thermal behavior of various materials.

An all-in-one reference work covering the essential principles and techniques on thermal behavior and response of polymeric materials This book delivers a detailed understanding of the thermal behavior of polymeric materials evaluated by thermal analysis methods. It covers the most widely applied principles which are used in method development to substantiate what happens upon heating of polymers. It also reviews the key application areas of polymers in materials science. Edited by two experts in the field, the book covers a wide range of specific topics within the aforementioned categories of discussion, such as: Crucial thermal phenomena - glass transition, crystallization behavior and curing kinetics Polymeric materials that have gained considerable interest over the last decade The latest advancements in techniques related to the field, such as modulated temperature DSC and fast scanning calorimetry The recent advances in hyphenated techniques and their applications Polymer chemists, chemical engineers, materials scientists, and process engineers can use this comprehensive reference work to gain clarity on the topics discussed within and learn how to harness them in practical applications across a wide range of disciplines.

Thermal Analysis of Micro-, Nano- and Non-Crystalline Materials: Transformation, Crystallization, Kinetics, and Thermodynamics complements and adds to volume 8 Glassy, Amorphous and Nano-Crystalline Materials by providing a coherent and authoritative overview of cutting-edge themes in this field. In particular, the book focuses on reaction thermodynamics and kinetics applied to solid-state chemistry and thermal physics of various states of materials. Written by an international array of distinguished academics, the book deals with fundamental and historical aspects of phenomenological kinetics, equilibrium background of processes, crystal defects, non-stoichiometry and nano-crystallinity, reduced glass-transition temperatures and glass-forming coefficients, determination of the glass transition by DSC, the role of heat transfer and phase transition in DTA experiments, explanation of DTA/DSC methods used for the estimation of crystal nucleation, structural relaxation and viscosity behaviour in glass and associated relaxation kinetics, influence of preliminary nucleation and coupled phenomenological kinetics, nucleation on both the strongly curved surfaces and nano-particles, crystallization of glassy and amorphous materials including oxides, chalcogenides and metals, non-parametric and fractal description of kinetics, disorder and dimensionality in nano-crystalline diamond, thermal analysis of waste glass batches, amorphous inorganic polysialates and bioactivity of hydroxyl groups as well as reaction kinetics and unconventional glass formability of oxide superconductors. Thermal Analysis of Micro-, Nano- and Non-Crystalline Materials: Transformation, Crystallization, Kinetics, and Thermodynamics is a valuable resource to advanced undergraduates, postgraduates, and researches working in the application fields of material thermodynamics, thermal analysis, thermophysical measurements, and calorimetry.

Features twenty-five chapter contributions from an international array of distinguished academics based in Asia, Eastern and Western Europe, Russia, and the USA. This multi-author contributed volume provides an up-to-date and authoritative overview of cutting-edge themes involving the thermal analysis, applied solid-state physics, micro- and nano-crystallinity of selected solids and their macro- and microscopic thermal properties. Distinctive chapters featured in the book include, among others, calorimetry time scales from days to microseconds, glass transition phenomena, kinetics of non-isothermal processes, thermal inertia and temperature gradients, thermodynamics of nanomaterials, self-organization, significance of temperature and entropy. Advanced undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers working in the field of thermal analysis, thermophysical measurements and calorimetry will find this contributed volume invaluable. This is the third volume of the triptych volumes on thermal behaviour of materials; the previous two receiving thousand of downloads guaranteeing their worldwide impact.

Strong bonds form stronger materials. For this reason, the investigation on thermal degradation of materials is a significantly important area in research and development activities. The analysis of thermal stability can be used to assess the behavior of materials in the aggressive environmental conditions, which in turn provides valuable information about the service life span of the materiel. Unlike other books published so far that have focused on either the fundamentals of thermal analysis or the degradation pattern of the materials, this book is specifically on the mechanism of degradation of materials. The mechanism of rapturing of chemical bonds as a result of exposure to high-temperature environment is difficult to study and resulting mechanistic pathway hard to establish. Limited information is available on this subject in the published literatures and difficult to excavate. Chapters in this book are contributed by the experts working on thermal degradation and analysis of the wide variety of advanced and traditional materials. Each chapter discusses the material, its possible application, behavior of chemical entities when exposed to high-temperature environment and mode and the mechanistic route of its decomposition. Such information is crucial while selecting the chemical ingredients during the synthesis or development of new materials technology.

As a new and exciting field of interdisciplinary macromolecular science and engineering, polymeric materials will have a profound presence in 21st century chemical, pharmaceutical, biomedical, manufacturing, infrastructure, electronic, optical and information technologies. The origin of this field derived from an area of polymer science and engineering encompassing plastic technologies. The field is rapidly expanding to incorporate new interdisciplinary research areas such as biomaterials, macromolecular biology, novel macromolecular structures, environmental macromolecular science and engineering, innovative and nano-fabrications of products, and is translating discoveries into technologies. · Unique in combining scientific concepts with technological aspects · Provides a comprehensive and broad coverage of thermodynamic and thermal behaviours of various polymeric materials as well as methodologies of thermal analysis and calorimetry · Contributions are from both pioneering scientists and the new generation of researchers