Answer TWO of the following:

1. Describe the problems of and the techniques used for temperature calibration of thermal analysis instruments.

2. Discuss the problems of obtaining kinetic parameters from a single thermal analysis experiment.

3. Estimates of the purity of a material which melts may be made from analysis of a DSC melting endotherm. Describe the procedure.

Answer TWO of the following:

1. All thermal analysis instruments have features in common. Discuss these common features and the way in which the individual techniques differ from the generalized instrument.

2. Describe, with examples, the various types of curves obtained from thermogravimetric (TG) experiments, and discuss their interpretation.

3. Make a detailed comparison of the techniques of differential thermal analysis (DTA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of the techniques.

Write a report to the Managing Director of your company, which produces organic polymers, advising him of the advantages (and disadvantages) of introducing thermal analysis techniques into the research and quality-control laboratories.

Discuss the use of thermomechanical analysis (TMA) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) in studying the physical properties of polymers.

1. Explain what is meant by a transducer and describe the transducers used in the main thermal analysis techniques.

2. Discuss the information obtainable by applying thermal analysis techniques to the study of solid polymers.

1. Discuss the possibilities of obtaining kinetic information from two thermal analysis experiments.

2. Describe the uses of hot-stage microscopy (HSM) and evolved gas analysis (EGA) in extending the information obtainable from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) or differential thermal...