A Review of Textile Characterization by Thermal Analysis

I. INTRODUCTION

Thermal analysis has become a widely accepted analytical technique for the characterization of textiles. This paper is a review of techniques and applications of thermal analysis as employed in the study of textile fibers. Frequently, thermal techniques are used in conjunction with other forms of analysis, typically IR and X-ray spectroscopy, as well as mechanical methods. The correlation of data obtained from a variety of methods can yield a more complete picture of fiber properties than any single method. However, it is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss methods other than thermal methods. The fundamental principles of thermal analysis have been discussed at length elsewhere.^1.2