TGA/FTIR and DSC/FTIR: combined approaches to solving problems

Thermal analysis of complex samples has been greatly assisted by the coupling of FT-IR analysis to the TA experiment, and evolved gas analysis by infrared spectroscopy has been very successful in combined TGA/FT-IR experiments. During a combined DSC/FT-IR experiment the FT-IR analysis is performed on the sample itself, by using an infrared transmitting microscope. A curing reaction and thermal changes in a polymer are used to demonstrate the use of a combined DSC/FT-IR system. By combining a simultaneous TGA/DSC instrument with FT-IR evolved gas analysis, we are now able to obtain three sets of complementary information, on the same sample, in one experiment. A study of the thermal behavior of zinc stearate is reported by using TGA/DSC/FT-IR.