Testing of a scanning adiabatic calorimeter with Joule effect heating of the sample.

We evaluated a scanning adiabatic resistive calorimeter (SARC) developed to measure the specific enthalpy of viscous and gel-type materials. The sample is heated employing the Joule effect. The cell is constituted by a cylindrical jacket and two pistons, and the sample is contained inside the jacket between the two pistons. The upper piston can slide to allow for thermal expansion and to keep the pressure constant. The pistons also function as electrodes for the sample. While the sample is heated through the Joule effect, the electrodes and the jacket are independently heated to the same temperature of the sample using automatic control. This minimizes the heat transport between the sample and its surroundings. The energy to the sample is supplied by applying to the electrodes an ac voltage in the kilohertz range, establishing a current in the sample and inducing electric dissipation. This energy can be measured with enough exactitude to determine the heat capacity. This apparatus also allows for the quantification of the thermal conductivity by reproducing the evolution of the temperature as heat is introduced only to one of the pistons. To this end, the system was modeled using finite element calculations. This dual capability proved to be very valuable for correction in the determination of the specific enthalpy. The performance of the SARC was evaluated by comparing the heat capacity results to those obtained by differential scanning calorimetry measurements using a commercial apparatus. The analyzed samples were zeolite, bauxite, hematite, bentonite, rice flour, corn flour, and potato starch.