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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2003  > July  >
In the Laboratory
Study of Polymer Glasses by Modulated Differential Scanning Calorimetry in the Undergraduate Physical Chemistry Laboratory
J. C. W. Folmer and Stefan Franzen
Department of Chemistry, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8204
Cover
July 2003
Vol. 80 No. 7
p. 813
Abstract
Recent technological advances in thermal analysis present educational opportunities. In particular, modulated differential scanning calorimetry (MDSC) can be used to contrast reversing and nonreversing processes in practical laboratory experiments. The introduction of these concepts elucidates the relationship between experimental timescales and reversibility. The latter is a key concept of undergraduate thermodynamics theory that deserves reinforcement. In this paper, the theory and application of MDSC to problems of current interest is outlined with special emphasis on the contrast between crystallization and vitrification. Glass formation deserves greater emphasis in the undergraduate curriculum. Glass transitions are increasingly recognized as an important aspect of materials properties and dynamics in fields ranging from polymer science to protein folding. The example chosen for study is a comparison of polyethylene glycol and atactic polypropylene glycol. The experiment is easily performed in a typical three-hour lab session.
Supplement
Student instructions in a slide-presentation format are available.
*  Contents
*  Download
JCE2003p0813W.pdf
More Information
*  Citation
 Folmer, J. C. W.; Franzen, Stefan. J. Chem. Educ. 2003 80 813.
*  Keywords
 Instrumental Methods; Laboratory Instruction; Phase Transitions / Diagrams; Physical Chemistry; Polymer Chemistry; Thermal Analysis; Thermodynamics
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 June 4, 2003
February 28, 2005
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