Correction of thermal inertia on scanning calorimetry

• Correction methods of the thermal inertia on the heat flow curve are reviewed. • The sample influence for thermal inertia on FDSC is discussed. • The use of the sample for measurement of the characteristic time is proposed. • The determination of thermal inertia by temperate modulated DSC is introduced. In differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), the thermal inertia (TI) of the calorimeter and the sample influences the shape of the measurement curve. This affects the evaluation of characteristic temperatures and kinetic quantities. Therefore, the significant influence of TI must be corrected. In conventional DSC, the TI is essentially given by the device and the crucible and the sample contribution can often be neglected. However, the situation is different with chip-based fast scanning differential calorimetry (FDSC), where the DSC furnace is the active zone of the sensor membrane. Due to the larger dynamic range in FDSC and the possible similarity between the heat capacity of the active zone of the sensor and the sample, the sample must be considered when determining and correcting TI. Various correction methods that can be used for DSC and FDSC are discussed here