1: TMG History

In 2015, the Thermal Methods Group (TMG), an interest group of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), entered its 50th year. It seems appropriate therefore to not only look back to its origins but also to review briefly its activities since its formation and its current role in the field of thermal analysis and calorimetry. For readers interested in a more detailed account of the formation of the Group, there is an excellent paper covering the first twenty one years of the TMG's history.¹ 

The 1960s were an exciting time for thermal analysis. The field was growing rapidly and the range of commercially available equipment was expanding, including the introduction of both power-compensated and heat flux differential scanning calorimeters. In addition, a significant number of thermal analysts were engaged in building their own equipment, particularly in the field of simultaneous thermogravimetry–differential thermal analysis.

At that time, there was no forum in the UK where thermal analysts could meet so, in 1964, John Redfern and Cyril Keattch decided to investigate the possibility of forming a group by holding a thermal analysis symposium at the Battersea College of Technology (now the University of Surrey). The response exceeded the organisers’ expectations and some 100 delegates attended the meeting. The discussions that took place during the technical sessions, and at the buffet supper afterwards, enthusiastically endorsed the idea of formally establishing a thermal analysis group.

This aim was realised on the 24th February 1965 when the UK Thermal Analysis Group was formed as part of the Society for Analytical Chemistry. The inaugural meeting took place on the evening of May 28th 1965 at the Chemical Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, where the new Committee was confirmed. The Group's first Chairman was Robert Mackenzie with John Redfern as Vice-Chairman, Cyril Keattch as Secretary and Alan Hodgson as Treasurer. The 1st AGM was held in December 1965 and the Group was well and truly launched with its first two-day meeting in April 1966. This consisted of a visit to the laboratories of Pilkington Bros. Ltd on the first day and a meeting at the Royal College of Advanced Technology, Salford (now the University of Salford), on the second day on the “Characterisation of Residues after Thermal Treatment”.

In 1972, the name of the Group was changed to the Thermal Methods Group to reflect the wide range of techniques falling within its scope. Following the merger of the Society of Analytical Chemistry and the Chemical Society in 1975, the Group became part of the Analytical Division of the Chemical Society. In 1980, following the merger of the Chemical Society, the Royal Institute of Chemistry and the Faraday Society, the Group became part of the Analytical Division of the newly formed Royal Society of Chemistry. The objective of the TMG is to promote awareness of all thermoanalytical, calorimetric and related techniques by a range of activities, including a regular programme of scientific meetings, training workshops and publications.

The management of the operation of the Group is the responsibility of the TMG Committee, which is elected at the Annual General Meeting, normally held during the April scientific conference. The Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Immediate Past Chairman of the TMG serve for a period of two years and Committee members for the three years, with the possibility of a further three-year extension. The posts of Secretary and Treasurer are renewable. The Committee hold “face to face” meetings at least twice a year and these are supplemented by telephone conferences where necessary. In addition, sub-committees are formed to deal with specific activities such as training courses and the planning of meetings. The TMG Committee actively welcomes new members, particularly those that can widen its range of thermal analysis and calorimetric expertise.

A complete list of the TMG Chairmen, Secretaries and Treasurers is given in Tables 1.1–1.3, respectively. The Group has been exceptionally fortunate in having long-serving Secretaries and Treasurers who have provided valuable continuity during the 50 years of the Group's history and who have worked tirelessly on the Group's behalf. In particular, mention should be made of the Group's first Secretary, Cyril Keattch, who held the post from 1965 until his untimely death in 1999.

The TMG initially held two or three meetings a year, frequently in conjunction with other groups of the Society of Analytical Chemistry or Royal Institute of Chemistry. The meetings covered a wide range of topics ranging from “Protection of the Environment” to “Controlling Explosives” and were sometimes held in the afternoon or evening. A particular effort was made to meet in different parts of the UK in order to reach as many of the membership as possible. By the 1980's, the Group had developed a pattern of holding a two-day meeting in April and a one-day meeting in November.

In general, the meetings were on specific subject areas and, as a result, TMG members might not attend a meeting for several years if their own field was not featured. In 1995, it was decided that a National Thermal Analysis Conference (TAC) would be held in place of the normal two-day April meeting. This would be open to all areas of thermal analysis and calorimetry and would help promote a regular attendance by Group members. The first TAC was held in Leeds in 1996 and proved a considerable success with over 100 delegates.²  The pattern was thus established for regular TAC meetings and a list of those organised to date are given in Table 1.4. In addition to the TAC conferences, the Group still holds a one-day meeting in November devoted to a specific topic.

The TMG has also ventured outside the UK on two occasions, holding a joint meeting with the Association Française de Calorimétrie (AFCAT) and the Groupe de Thermodynamique Expérimentale in Rennes in 1974 and with the Nordic Society for Thermal Analysis in Bergen in 1986. Both meetings were memorable for the warmth of the welcome that the TMG delegates received and the TMG were delighted to be able to reciprocate by hosting a joint meeting with AFCAT in 1977 at Plymouth Polytechnic. The meeting in Rennes was also notable for a very lively discussion on kinetics, which was in no way hampered by the two main protagonists being unable to speak each other's language.

As will be discussed later, the TMG has also organised four international conferences, two in conjunction with the International Confederation for Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry (ICTAC) and two with the European Symposium for Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry (ESTAC). In 2005, the TMG became the first national group to hold a meeting with a specialist committee of ICTAC. The topic was sample controlled thermal analysis (SCTA) and the meeting was held at the University of Huddersfield with presentations by the SCTA Committee of ICTAC.

The 50th anniversary of the TMG was marked by a special three-day TAC meeting at Churchill College, Cambridge. This was attended by a large number of Past-Chairmen of the Group, including John Redfern, one of the Group's founders. The occasion was celebrated by a dinner held in the splendid surroundings of Corpus Christi College Dining Hall, where all the Past-Chairmen were presented with Certificates of Appreciation.

This was the fourth anniversary meeting held by the Group. In 1975, the 10th anniversary took place in the Grosvenor Hotel, Chester. This was followed by the 21st anniversary meeting in 1986 at the Bonnington Hotel in London where, at the conference dinner, Stu Bark, the President of the Analytical Division, gave a unique and highly amusing review of all the TMG Chairmen. The 30th anniversary meeting was held at York University, with a memorable dinner in the historic King's Manor. The menu records that the Committee had the foresight to obtain a bar extension until 12.30 am in the halls of residence where the delegates were staying.

Soon after its formation, the TMG Committee considered the possibility of organizing a residential thermal analysis school. An ideal venue emerged in the form of the newly built Cement and Concrete Research Association in Stoke Poges, Bucks. The first school was held in 1968 and featured lectures, practical sessions and tutorials, which were supplemented by lively evening discussions in the bar. The practical sessions allowed participants to bring their own samples for evaluation. This caused a number of problems, including a smoking furnace having to be removed hastily from the premises by a less than pleased manufacturer and another practical group watching a sample that revealed no transitions at all over a 1000 °C range. It was therefore decided that future TMG schools would provide a structured practical programme and the samples. The practical class to distinguish Stork margarine from butter by both taste and DSC proved to be particularly popular.

The success of the first school resulted in the organization of eight further one-week residential schools over the period 1970 to 1988, many of which were oversubscribed. However, the changing economic climate resulted in the 10th school, due to be held at UMIST in 1991, having to be cancelled. Companies had become unwilling to release their staff for extended periods and it was decided that residential schools would be replaced by one- or two-day workshops, which would include practical sessions.

The last of the workshops was held in 1996, but under the chairmanship of Mike Reading, discussions were held on the possibility of holding one-day lecture courses. The first of these was organised at the University of Glasgow in 2007, immediately before the TAC 2007 Conference and this established the pattern for future short courses, which are now held regularly in association with TAC meetings.

As a means to keep members in touch with the Group's activities, the TMG News was first published in 1981 with Peter Laye as Editor. It was distributed in the form of hard copies until 2002 when, under the editorship of Mogon Patel, it was made available in electronic format. Copies of all the past TMG newsletters are available on the TMG website, http://www.thermalmethodsgroup.org.uk, which is now the main source of information on all the Group's activities.

The TMG Committee began discussions in 1978 on how to help young scientists develop their careers by enabling them to present their work at an international thermal analysis or calorimetry conference. The following year, the TMG Award was established as an essay competition open to scientists under the age of 35 years, working in the UK. The first award was associated with the 2nd European Symposium on Thermal Analysis (ESTA2), which was held in Aberdeen in September 1981, and the winner was Eddie Paterson from the Macaulay Institute for Soil Research, Aberdeen.

The award, which was renamed the Cyril Keattch Award in 2002 in memory of the Group's long serving first Secretary, has been regularly associated with both ESTAC and ICTAC meetings and to date has supported a total of 17 scientists at conferences as far afield as Japan and Brazil. The list of winners is shown in Table 1.5 and the wide range of topics presented provides a good illustration of the wide scope of thermal analysis and calorimetric techniques. It is gratifying to note that two of the winners have gone on to become TMG Chairmen.

The Cyril Keattch Award competition is currently held biennially. It consists of an award certificate and a specified sum of money towards the conference registration fee, travel and living expenses at the conference. The current regulations state that candidates for the award must be resident in the UK and should have normally worked for 10 years or less at the post-graduate level. The winner is chosen by inviting the authors of the best three written submissions to give their presentations at the TAC Conference before the nominated international meeting. The next award will be associated with the 16th ICTAC Congress to be held in Orlando, Florida, USA, in August 2016.

From the very earliest days, the TMG has been very fortunate to have been enthusiastically supported by the instrument manufacturers. It would not have been possible to hold the thermal analysis schools without their equipment and skilled technical support and the instrument exhibition remains an integral part of the TAC conferences.

In addition, instrument company staff make a valuable scientific contribution to both the TMG meetings and to the work of the Committee with an instrument manufacturers’ representative serving on the Committee. Their importance to the Group may be judged from the fact that five TMG Chairmen have been from instrument companies. Workers in the field also benefit from the exceptionally large range of technical information and application sheets that are provided by the instrument companies.

The TMG has been closely associated with the International Confederation for Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry (ICTAC) since its inception. After correspondence with thermal analysts in thirty countries, the unanimous support for an international thermal analysis meeting led Robert Mackenzie and John Redfern to decide to organise the First International Conference on Thermal Analysis in Aberdeen in 1965.³  With Robert as Chairman and John Redfern as Secretary, they were joined on the organising committee by Rudolf Bárta (Czechoslovakia), Leo Berg (USSR), Lázsló Erdey (Hungary), Connie Murphy (USA) and Toshio Sudo (Japan), with Bruce Mitchell providing invaluable local support.

The conference, which was held in the Natural Philosophy Building of the University of Aberdeen, was attended by nearly 300 scientists from 29 countries. The considerable success of the meeting resulted in a Second International Conference being held in Worcester, Mass, USA, in 1968 where the International Confederation for Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry (ICTA) formally came into being.

In 1992, ICTA returned to the UK, and the TMG hosted the 10th ICTA Congress at the University of Hertfordshire, with Derek Nowell as Organising Chairman. At this conference, which attracted over 250 delegates from 23 countries, ICTA formally changed its name to ICTAC to reflect the large calorimetric component of its membership.

The TMG is represented on the ICTAC Council by an Affiliate Councillor who can serve for up to two four-year terms. In addition, a number of official posts within ICTAC have been held by TMG members including President (Ted Charsley), Treasurer (Robert Mackenzie, Dick Still, John Crighton), Nomenclature Committee Chairman (Robert Mackenzie, John Sharp, Ed Gimzewski, Trevor Lever), Standardisation Committee Chairman (Ted Charsley, Mike Richardson), Awards Committee Chairman (David Morgan) and ICTAC Newsletter Editor (Robert Mackenzie, Cyril Keattch, Stuart Du Kamp). Robert Mackenzie and Ted Charsley were awarded Honorary Lifetime Membership of ICTAC. The unique contribution of Robert Mackenzie to both thermal analysis and ICTAC was recognised by the establishment of the Robert Mackenzie Memorial Lecture in 2000, which is given after the opening ceremony at each ICTAC Congress.

The European Symposium on Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry owes its origins to a decision by the TMG to organise an international meeting on thermal analysis in the UK and the first European Symposium on Thermal Analysis (ESTA 1) was held at Salford University in 1976.⁴  David Dollimore was the Organising Chairman and his connections with the Boddingtons Brewery ensured a memorable conference dinner. An open meeting held during the conference enthusiastically agreed that further symposia should be organised and the Thermal Analysis Society of the Soviet Union offered to host the next conference. However, by 1979, it became clear that they would not be able to undertake the task and after the TMG Chairman Dick Still had contacted all the European thermal analysis and calorimetry groups, the TMG decided to organise the 2nd ESTA. This was held at Aberdeen University in 1981 with Fred Glasser as the Organising Chairman.

The future of ESTA was, however, still in doubt but at ESTA 2, a meeting of representatives from all the European thermal analysis societies present was organised and the ESTA Committee was formed. There was a very positive response to continuing to organise future meetings and invitations to host 3rd and 4th ESTA's in Interlaken and Jena, respectively, were presented at the meeting by Switzerland and the German Democratic Republic. The future of ESTA was thus ensured and eleven symposia have been organised to date, with calorimetry incorporated into the title in 1982.

A small part of the UK is always present at an ESTAC conference in the form of the ESTAC Stones. These are pebbles gathered on the Aberdeen seashore during the ESTA 2 meeting by Hans Oswald and Erwin Marti from Switzerland who had the idea that they could become the symbol of the symposium. They are mounted in an acrylic container and are presented by the ESTAC Chairman to his or her successor at the closing dinner.

In 1974, many TMG members became involved in the largest thermal analysis test programme ever undertaken. This followed the collapse of the roofs of two school building constructed with high alumina cement (HAC) concrete beams. Harry Midgley at the Building Research Establishment, who also supervised the implementation of the test programme, developed a test method using DTA to measure the degree of conversion of samples of HAC, taken in situ from beams. The programme called for tens of thousands of samples to be tested as rapidly as possible and was later extended from DTA to include both DSC and DTG as test methods.

As an increasing number of laboratories enrolled in the programme, it became clear to the TMG that a detailed set of guidelines was required covering the test methods and interpretation and reporting of results. A working party was set up in November 1974 and in April 1975, with the approval of the Chemical Society, published “Recommendations for the Reporting of High Alumina Cement Concrete Samples by Thermoanalytical Techniques”.⁵ 

We hope that this brief review has shown that the TMG has fully realised its original idea of providing a UK forum for thermal analysts and calorimetrists. The Group has adapted successfully to the many changes that have taken place and now looks forward with optimism to the next 50 years and the challenges ahead. One of the aims of the TMG is to broaden further its membership and if you are not yet a member, we would warmly invite you to join the Group. We are sure that you will find that this will be both professionally and personally rewarding and you will be able to help shape the next phase of the TMG's history. Details of how to join and of all the Group's activities can be found on the TMG website at http://www.thermalmethodsgroup.org.uk

We would like to thank Professor Peter Laye of the University of Huddersfield for his helpful comments.