In an effort to find the limit of crystallization of polypropylene, a series of quantitative and semiquantitative DSC experiments at rates up to 10,000 deg/min are described. Even at these fast rates polypropylene crystallized on cooling between 350 + 15 K and 280 :t: 6 K. No "fully amorphous" polypropylene was produced. No initial stage crystallization to the condis state could be proven by quenching after partial crystallization.The present status of scanning calorimetry permits measurements at heating rates between one and 100 K/rain without undue temperature gradient within the sample [1]. Analysis of metastable substances and the study of superheating need, however, faster thermal measurements [2]. It would also be extremely helpful if fast industrial processes such as injection molding, fiber spinning, film blowing and the various conditioning cycles could be duplicated in the scanning calorimeter. Up to the present there have been only the efforts of Hager to develop a fast foil calorimeter [3] and some experiments by us [4] to reach up to and beyond 1000 K/min. In this paper we want to discuss the problem of fast calorimetry, describe several methods for fast measurement and quenching, and apply these to the problem of polypropylene crystallization.
The problem of fast calorimetryCalorimetric data can be obtained by a simple temperature measurement only as long as the temperature gradient within the sample is experimentally negligible, i.e. is less than perhaps + 0.5 K. With larger temperature gradients, measurements will only yield thermal diffusivity information. The time-dependent heat flux dQ/dt into a disc of thickness L under steady-state conditions, from the underside is given, for example, by