I do not agree with Catherine on her answer. Time sweep test, as one of the melt rheology procedures, is a quite different concept than the TGA measurements. First, it is an isothermal and time-dependent. Second, TGA is a quiescent test but, the rheological measurements are performed under some mechanical effects like a particular strain, frequency etc. TGA is a universal method for studying of thermal or thermo-oxidative degradation or stability behavior of polymers. There are some methods in DSC such as OIT that is an isothermal procedure. You can also monitor thermal decomposition of polymers as exothermic peaks in DSC by running non-isothermally under air or oxygen atmosphere. Please be careful to decide the best method for a certain purpose.
I agree with Ali.Also if you want to determine thermal degradation mechanism,you can use a FTIR or MASS coupled Calorimetry.
You can go for melt rheology. For several polymers people go for Brabender plastograph or Haake rheocord. In case of PVC & even for other polymers, it is one of the way to judge its thermal stability at a given temperature & mechanical stress.
Dear Basheer..... Please stick to TG as one of the simplest techniques to provide full information about samples (Qualitative and Quantitative). To avoid any possible oxidation, the best practice is to run the TG measurement under nitrogen flow..... Good luck
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