Electronic solution to the problem of a kinetic standard for DSC measurements

A device and software have been developed to simulate differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) signals according to a given kinetic law, The heat flow is produced by an electric current passing through a resistor. The needed variation in the heat flow is produced by the software-controlled variation in the voltage applied to the resistor. Both peak area and heat flow calibrations have been applied to measure DSC signals, The effect of these calibrations on the activation energy evaluated by an isoconversional method has been examined. Peak area calibration is found to give rise to a systematic deviation in the activation energy that increases with the heating rate. This undesired effect is eliminated when using heat flow calibration. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.