Explain what is done in thermogravimetric analysis.

Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is a powerful technique for the measurement of thermal stability of materials including polymers. In this method, changes in the weight of a specimen are measured while its temperature is increased. Moisture and volatile contents of a sample can be measured by TGA.

Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is a method for thermal analysis and following steps are:

• when sample is being heated the mass of sample is measured
• mass being lost during this process provides information about the composition of the sample

For example, if we have a mixture of different compounds with different known volatilities, we can use that information in order to determine at which point is some compound lost + which compound is actually lost.