Comparison of thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetric results for cellulosic fabrics by chemometrics

A set of natural cellulosic and regenerated fabrics was analysed by thermogravimetry (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results were interpreted by chemometrics methods of data analysis, viz., principal component analysis (PCA) and SIMCA. PCA scores plots conveniently displayed the overall information from the TG and DSC data respectively, and the SIMCA classification analysis provided supporting quantitative information. The chemometrics analysis showed that both the TG and DSC data from the natural cellulosic fabrics clustered in a sequence: raw fabrics, linen, bleached fabrics and poplin. This sequence was related to the thermal degradation parameters of maximum weight loss rate and enthalpy of these fabrics.