Differential thermal analysis unit with heated sensor plate

摘要

A differential thermal analysis unit has temperature sensors associated with a heated sensor plate which has test specimen and reference specimen coupling zones of a ceramic material or a single crystal or polycrystalline thermoelectric semiconductor material. A differential thermal analysis (DTA) unit has: (a) a sensor plate (16) which is thermally coupled to a heat source (12) and which has respective coupling zones (18, 22) for a test specimen (20) and a reference specimen (24), at least the coupling zones (18, 22) being made of a ceramic material or a single crystal or polycrystalline thermoelectric semiconductor material; (b) respective test specimen and reference specimen temperature sensors (30, 32) for determining the local sensor plate temperature at the test specimen and reference specimen measurement sites; and (c) a processing unit (38) connected to the temperature sensors (30, 32) for producing an output representative of the test specimen parameter of interest.