Some issues on polymer crystallization kinetics studied by DSC non isothermal tests

In this work constant cooling rate crystallization experiments were carried out by a DSC, working with an iPP and using a very little amount of material, to minimize the heat transfer resistance in the mass of the sample. The resulting data were corrected to take into account also for the external heat transfer resistance. The corrected data were compared with data produced in the past, working with larger amounts of the same resin in a less accurate DSC apparatus, confirming that in the field of polymer crystallization kinetics the calorimeter has to be used carefully. The data were also used to check a kinetic model previously tuned under isothermal conditions. Up to 10 degrees C/min (0.167 K/s) the isothermal model is accurate enough, but faster tests requires an improvement of the model.