Improvement of the T-history Method to Measure Heat of Fusion for Phase Change Materials

Though conventional calorimetry methods such as differential scanning calorimetry and differential thermal analysis are used generally in measuring heat of fusion, T-history method has advantages of a simple experimental apparatus and no requirements of sampling process, which is particularly useful for measuring thermophyical properties of in-homogeneous phase change materials in sealed tubes. However, the degree of supercooling used in selecting a range of latent heat release and neglecting sensible heat during the phase change process can cause significant errors in determining the heat of fusion. In the present study, it was shown that a 40% discrepancy exists between the original T-history and the present methods when analyzing the same experimental data. As a result, a reasonable modification to the original T-history method is proposed.