Instrument Description
The differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) is located in the fresh fuels glovebox and is used to calculate the specific heat capacity from the heat flux, time, and the resulting change in the temperature of the sample. It is also used for determining phase transformation temperatures. This instrument will be operated for measurement of irradiated, radioactive and nonradioactive materials. The materials included in this scope are structural reactor, fuel, and moderator materials. Sample materials will typically be solid form, with occasional powders. Typical sample masses range from 10 to 150 mg.
Applications
The DSC is used to calculate specific heat capacity. It collects thermodynamic information on a sample. Property measurements include phase transition temperatures, melting temperatures, heats of formation/solution and specific heat capacity.
Specifications
Our system is a Netzsch DSC F series instrument that was designed specifically for high-temperature specific heat measurements. Accuracies in the range of ±2.5% can be obtained for most materials of the temperature range of RT to 1,400°C for specific heat and better than 2.0% for latent heat over the temperature range of RT to 1,600°C. This DSC can be operated with inert, oxidizing, and reducing atmospheres and under vacuum.