12: Thermal Analysis of Glasses

Thermal analysis of glasses using a differential scanning calorimeter has become a major technique for determination of the effect of temperature on glasses. The speed of measurement, combined with the small sample size and ease of sample preparation, leads to the use of a DSC for many measurements. Determination of the glass transformation and fictive temperatures, crystallization temperatures and kinetics, and estimation of nucleation and viscosity curves have become routine using this instrument.