DSC study of oxidation induction periods

A theory of the evaluation of kinetic parameters of induction periods for non-isothermal processes is outlined and a method to obtain the parameters from non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry measurements, based on the dependence of onset temperature of oxidation peak on heating rate, is presented. The applicability of the method is demonstrated on the study of oxidation induction periods of edible oils and polyolefines. In all cases, the parameters of an Arrhenius-like equation describing the temperature dependence of induction period have been obtained. It is shown that the method gives the parameters not affected by oxygen diffusion which are transferable to be used in modelling the non-isothermal induction periods where the effects of diffusion, heat transfer and evolution of reaction heat are explicitly involved. A method of estimating the residual stability after a thermooxidative stress of the material is suggested.