Thermal analysis: the next two decades

As some of the most important analytical methods, thermal analysis techniques have been greatly improved and perfected due to the requirements of materials characterization. Over the past four decades, the major developments have been associated with computerizing thermal analysis techniques. In the coming 20 years, thermal analysis techniques will continue to develop in at least two different directions. First, more precise measurements can be carried out using traditional thermal analysis techniques by making a small extra effort. This will lead to a variety of new information regarding a material’s structure interface and morphology obtained from the results. Second, thermal analysis techniques can be combined with other in-situ temperature-controlled experiments, such as diffraction, scattering, microscopy, and spectroscopy, for investigation of the structure and dynamics of materials. This will generate information of the structural evolution with changing thermal properties and therefore, greatly aid in the understanding of structure–property relationships of the materials.