I am fabricating a metallic composite in my project, so, I am using TGA to characterize my sample but I was also advised to run the DTA analysis at the same time.
Hello, if I get your question right, then your first stop should be here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_analysis. Then get a textbook.
The two methods are related but also different.
TGA measures change in mass - loss of weight like evaporation, decomposition when some products are gaseous or even oxidation when metallic samples are gaining weight.
DTA helps you to find at which temperatures reactions happen in your material and tells you if these changes are endothermic or exothermic.
Hello, if I get your question right, then your first stop should be here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_analysis. Then get a textbook.
The two methods are related but also different.
TGA measures change in mass - loss of weight like evaporation, decomposition when some products are gaseous or even oxidation when metallic samples are gaining weight.
DTA helps you to find at which temperatures reactions happen in your material and tells you if these changes are endothermic or exothermic.
I'd like to add a complement to the response of Vit Jan.
Using together TGA and DTA gives complementary information: In one hand the changes in mass detected by the TGA method can give you and idea of your composites thermal performance. On the other hand DTA can help you detect the nature of the different changes that happen whithin your composite (like a phase transition for example).
DTA is similar to DSC, the main function is to measure thermal transitions as you heat/cool the sample. TGA measures the weight change as you heat the sample.
In TGA you see loss/gain in weight with change in Temp. The rate of change is DTA and then specific interest area can be further probed by using TGA-GC /FTIR /MS coupled instruments.
TGA measures weight change of a sample over a temperature range, DSC measures heat flow of a sample over a temperature range, and DTA measures heat differences between a reference sample and a sample of interest over a temperature range. From these individual techniques, we can determine heat capacity, glass transition points, crystallinity data, and thermal stability of a material.