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.

Handbook of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry: Recent Advances, Techniques and Applications, Volume Six, Second Edition, presents the latest in a series that has been well received by the thermal analysis and calorimetry community. This volume covers recent advances in techniques and applications that complement the earlier volumes. There has been tremendous progress in the field in recent years, and this book puts together the most high-impact topics selected for their popularity by new editors Sergey Vyazovkin, Nobuyoshi Koga and Christoph Schick—all editors of Thermochimica Acta. Among the important new techniques covered are biomass conversion; sustainable polymers; polymer nanocompsoties; nonmetallic glasses; phase change materials; propellants and explosives; applications to pharmaceuticals; processes in ceramics, metals, and alloys; ionic liquids; fast-scanning calorimetry, and more. - Features 19 all-new chapters to bring readers up to date on the current status of the field - Provides a broad overview of recent progress in the most popular techniques and applications - Includes chapters authored by a recognized leader in each field and compiled by a new team of editors, each with at least 20 years of experience in the field of thermal analysis and calorimetry - Enables applications across a wide range of modern materials, including polymers, metals, alloys, ceramics, energetics and pharmaceutics - Overviews the current status of the field and summarizes recent progress in the most popular techniques and applications

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.

This comprehensive book containing essential information on the applicability of thermal analysis techniques to evaluate inorganic and organic materials in construction technology should serve as a useful reference for the scientist, engineer, construction technologist, architect, manufacturer, and user of construction materials, standard-writing bodies, and analytical chemists. The material scientists at the National Research Council of Canada have established one of the best thermal analysis laboratories in the world. Various types of thermal analysis techniques have been applied successfully to the investigation of inorganic and organic construction materials. These studies have provided important information on the characterization of raw as well as finished materials, quality control, quantitative estimation, interrelationships between physical, chemical, mechanical, and durability characteristics. Information on the application of thermal analysis to construction materials is dispersed in literature and hence the IRC scientists embarked on producing a handbook, the first of its kind, incorporating the latest knowledge available in this field of activity. Almost all important construction materials have been included.

The use of isoconversional kinetic methods for analysis of thermogravimetric and calorimetric data on thermally stimulated processes is quickly growing in popularity. The purpose of this book is to create the first comprehensive resource on the theory and applications of isoconversional methodology. The book introduces the reader to the kinetics of physical and chemical condensed phase processes that occur as a result of changing temperature and discusses how isoconversional analysis can provide important kinetic insights into them. The book will help the readers to develop a better understanding of the methodology, and promote its efficient usage and successful development.

Discussing the design and optimum use of thermal analysis instrumentation for materials' property measurement, this work details how the instruments work, what they measure, potential pitfalls and the fitting of experimental results to theoretical models. It presents a tutorial on writing computer programs for data manipulation, advanced thermoanalytical methods and case studies.

to Thermal Analysis Techniques and Applications Edited by Michael E. Brown Chemistry Department, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS NEW YORK, BOSTON, DORDRECHT, LONDON, MOSCOW eBook ISBN: 0-306-48404-8 Print ISBN: 1-4020-0472-9 ©2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers New York, Boston, Dordrecht, London, Moscow Print ©2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers Dordrecht All rights reserved No part of this eBook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without written consent from the Publisher Created in the United States of America Visit Kluwer Online at: http://kluweronline. com and Kluwer's eBookstore at: http://ebooks. kluweronline. com CONTENTS Preface to the First Edition, Chapman & Hall, London, 1988 ix About the First Edition of this Book x Preface to the Second Edition xi 1. INTRODUCTION 1. 1 Definition and History 1 1. 2 Thermal Analysis Instruments 4 References 11 2. THERMAL EVENTS 2. 1 Introduction 13 2. 2 The Solid State 13 2. 3 Reactions of Solids 14 2. 4 Decomposition of Solids 15 2. 5 Reaction with the Surrounding Atmosphere 16 2. 6 Solid-Solid Interactions 16 References 17 3. THERMOGRAVIMETRY (TG) Introduction 3. 1 19 3. 2 The Balance 19 3. 3 Heating the Sample 21 3. 4 The Atmosphere 24 3. 5 The Sample 26 3. 6 Temperature Measurement 26 3. 7 Temperature Control 28 Sample Controlled Thermal Analysis (SCTA) 29 3. 8 3. 9 Calibration 36 3. 10 Presentation of TG Data 37 3.