The applicability of TMDSC to polymeric systems - General theoretical description based on the full heat capacity formulation

Temperature-modulated differential scanning calorimetry (TMDSC) has recentl y been introduced as a promising calorimetric technique. However, the added value of TMDSC in practice is still not very obvious, in particular with r espect to crystallization and melting. An important reason is that the eval uation is less transparent than in case of other dynamic techniques since i n TMDSC the response is also based on temperature. Moreover, the temperatur e program applied is very critical. In this paper an overview is given of the different aspects of TMDSC using a general theoretical description based on the full heat capacity formulati on. It is demonstrated that processes studied with the aid of TMDSC can sim ply be classified into three distinct regimes, depending on the time scale and the susceptibility of the process to the temperature modulation.