Temperature modulated differential scanning calorimetry (TMDSC) in the region of phase transitions.: Part 2:: Some specific results from polymers

By means of four different examples (pressure crystallised, gel crystallised, nascent and highly stretched polyethylenes (PEs)) it is shown that temperature modulated DSC offers advantages against common DSC. It is possible to see dynamic processes inside the sample during melting. This way we found (i) that during melting of high pressure crystallised PE the so-called alpha(2)-process (known from DMA) takes place, (ii) the lamellae doubling in gel crystallised UHMWPE can be seen in TMDSC signals, though no balance heat flow rate is visible in the common DSC, (iii) the same is true for the recrystallisation in nascent and highly stretched PE many degrees before the melting peak appears. To separate these results from the measured curves the knowledge of the heat transport into and within the sample is needed. A simple low pass filter model has proved its worth for this purpose. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.