Abstract
Dynamic controlled atmosphere differential thermal analysis (DTA), in which the furnace atmosphere is constantly maintained (by purging gas flows) under preselected conditions, such as oxidising, inert, reducing or of the same composition as the gaseous decomposition or pyrolytic products of the sample under test, provides a valuable technique whereby individual DTA peaks may be suppressed, enhanced, moved up or down the temperature scale or even remain completely unaffected (crystallographic inversions/reversions). Such predictable phenomena can be of considerable value in diagnostic mineralogy, content and composition evaluation of minerals together with increasing the detection limits of species such as carbonates.
