A standard thermogravimetric analysis instrument was modified by simple changes of the gas
flow lines and by provisions for continuous ultradrying, to afford higher working sensitivity
and eliminate undesired mass gains due to the presence of residual impurities, especially
moisture, in the sample chamber. The modified instrument is, in particular, useful in gravimetric
gas sorption studies of hygroscopic materials and in thermochemical decomposition of ultrasmall
(<100 μg) salt samples. To illustrate the advantage of this apparatus, two case studies are
presented. In the first, gas adsorption has been measured at room temperature over zeolite
molecular sieves after their high-temperature activation; in the absence of moisture readsorption
during cooling, “true” N2 and Ar uptake values have been obtained and the difference between
N2 and Ar adsorption at room temperature has been shown to probe the zeolitic charge density.
In the second study, accurate decomposition analysis of basic magnesium carbonate has been
performed on small samples and successfully accomplished even with a ∼80-μg sample;
comparison of the analyses of samples of different size indicates that the decomposition
mechanism of this salt may be mass-size-dependent.
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