Differential scanning calorimetry of polymers

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) has played a vital role in materials research, development, manufacturing and processing - especially of polymers - over the last 10 years. This book is the first to provide an in-depth assessment of the applications of DSC in polymer science, technology and analysis, examining the most significant studies that have taken place in this area.

The authors show how DSC can be applied to various fields of polymers science where other methods have been unsuccessful. They discuss the ways in which DSC facilitates quantitative studies of the thermodynamic parameters and kinetics of melting, crystallization, liquid-crystallization, and different phase and relaxation transitions.

They discuss the part DSC can play in investigating structural relaxation and the estimation of heat capacity, heat conductivity and degree of crystallinity, and how it can be used in examining the influence of deformation and irradiation on the structure and internal energy of polymers, enabling the kinetics of their synthesis, transformation and degradation to be studied.

The book also opens up new possibilities for the prediction of relaxation transition parameters and of the properties and processes in polymers controlled by segmental dynamics.