Chapter 2.12 - Thermal Analysis

Abstract

This chapter first shows how the study of clays and clay minerals was closely connected with the development of thermal analysis, from its very beginning at the end of the nineteenth century. This is explained by the prominent role of thermal analysis in the study of structural transformations and of the evolution of various types of water. After introducing and defining ‘conventional thermal analysis’ as any form of temperature-controlled thermal analysis (differential thermal analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetry, thermodilatometry, etc.), this chapter describes the more recent and very general sample-controlled thermal analysis which allows improving the control of the thermal path, enhancing the resolution of the recording and clarifying the kinetics of thermal transformations. Several applications of these two types of thermal analyses to the study of clays and clay minerals are described.