How to use calorimetry to distinguish a microcrystalline structure from an amorphous structure

Observation of the thermal manifestation of the glass transition is the traditional method for identifying a liquid-like structure. A microcrystalline structure can be identified from the thermal signal of its transformation, by grain growth, to a coarser polycrystalline assembly. The clearest calorimeter signal is the isothermal one, which is monotonically decreasing, unlike the peaked signal for transformations by nucleation and growth. The scanning signals of the two processes are also different in several, more subtle respects. © 1991.