A Comparative Study of Phase Changing Characteristics of Granular Phase Change Materials Using DSC and T-History Methods

In the present article, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and a modified T-history method have been used to study the phase changing behavior of granular composites. Further modifications and improvements of the two methods are employed to handle granular materials undergoing phase change over a temperature range. A simple procedure has been advised to obtain accurate results from the DSC measurements based on the estimation of the thermal resistance between the sample and its enclosure. The concept of enthalpy and its relationship with temperature has been employed in the T-history analysis to obtain enthalpytemperature and apparent heat capacity curves similar to those obtained using DSC. Comparisons have been made between the results of the two methods to highlight the critical issues concerning their applications.