Abstract:
<p align="justify"> Polypropylene is a thermoplastic polymer, widely employed by converter industries to produce different plastic objects. In order to control and optimize the final properties of the polypropylene material, the evaluation of transition temperatures and enthalpies by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) has a very important role. Therefore, it is fundamental to know how the analytical conditions influence the results. In this study heating and cooling rates, 10°C/min and 20°C/min, and two different rates of nitrogen flow, 20mL/min and 50mL/min were investigated. It was concluded that thermal properties are influenced by rates of heating and rates of nitrogen flow. Best precision was obtained with the low heating rate, 10°C/min, and high flow rate, 50mL/min. These conditions are being used with the DSC method for polyolefin quality control and material characterization. </p>