Conduction and radiation parameters for analytical models of differential scanning calorimetry instruments

Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) measurements are routinely used to determine enthalpies of phase change, phase transition temperatures, glass transition temperatures, and heat capacities. DSC data has also been used to estimate the fractional latent heat release during phase changes. To date, DSC measurements are plagued by temperature lags due to the fact that the temperatures are measured using thermocouples that are placed at a different location than that of the sample and reference materials. In this study, the temperature lags, which are inherent to the measurement process, are estimated through a computational analysis of the raw DSC data. An analytical model is presented that accounts for different heat transfer mechanisms among instrument components. Through a direct analysis, it is shown that the proposed analytical model can accurately describe the experimental data. The direct analysis presented is to be complemented by inverse process analysis in order to determine more accurate values for the model parameters.