Combined microwave/conventional-heating calorimetry

A calorimetric device intended to study the ‘microwave effect ’ – an apparent acceleration in kinetics or lowering of transition temperatures in inorganic and organic systems under the influence of microwave radiation – is being developed. Previous studies have often compared experiments where the thermal energy has been supplied using conventional heating and microwave power in different equipment. This leads to uncertainties in temperature measurement and calibration of the instrument which make direct comparison of results problematic at best. This work will introduce the design of a calorimetric apparatus which overcomes existing problems by using microwave- inert temperature sensors and the potential for combined microwave and conventional heating in the same apparatus. Novel to this work is the means to operate the device as a modulated temperature calorimeter so that heat capacity changes can be monitored independently of latent heat effects. Such an approach is capable of overcoming the problems discussed above and preliminary results will be presented which illustrate the utility of this method