Combined thermal analysis of fluid plasticizers

The paper deals with the study of plasticizers using different thermal methods. The literature data on the melting points of plasticizers proved uncertain; we intended to gather the data by other methods, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and thermally stimulated discharge (TSD). Results of ten plasticizers are demonstrated. During this work, we found that most of plasticizers have no well-defined melting point, and the solidification of plasticizer is similar to the glass transition of polymers. Only the di-n-butyl-phthalate showed regular crystallization. Thermally stimulated discharge current (TSD) method revealed that these compounds have several transitions –dispersion ranges assigned to different molecular motions.