This work is about the identification of polymers by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetry (TG) and simultaneous thermal analysis (STA) involving computer-assisted database search. One general limitation depicted is the possibility of multiple interpretations of a single measurement signal which sometimes makes definite identification difficult. It is shown that a consecutive but also simultaneous incorporation of two types of measurements can significantly reduce multiple interpretations and thus increase the odds of correct identification. The latter is furthermore enhanced by using the recently introduced KIMW database which contains DSC curves of 600 different commercially available polymers (about 130 polymer types) including information about trade names, colors and filler contents.

This article focuses on the experimental determination of the transformation temperature of Si-30B alloy in the temperature range of 25-1820 °C in a flowing gas atmosphere (He, 99.9992%) carried out by simultaneous differential thermal analysis and thermogravimetric analysis (DTA–TG) using a graphite container. The DTA curve during heating showed the presence of two critical temperatures, i.e., T = 1380.7 °C and T = 1532.0 °C. The first one corresponds to the melting point of a eutectic system (Si + SiB6). The high-temperature interaction and reactivity between the alloy and the container during DTA–TG test were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive x-ray analysis. The results have demonstrated that the graphite container reacts with both liquid silicon and boron dissolved in liquid constituent of the alloy to form SiC and B4C, respectively.