Thermal Characterization of FFKM: A Taguchi DOE-Based Study of DSC and TG Parameters

The thermal characterization of high-performance elastomers, such as perfluoroelastomers (FFKM), is essential to ensuring their reliability under severe chemical and thermal conditions. However, variations in experimental parameters can significantly affect the accuracy and reproducibility of thermogravimetric (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analyses. In this study, a Design of Experiments (DOE) approach based on the Taguchi method was applied to evaluate the main parameters influencing these analyses. The evaluated factors included sample mass, atmosphere flow rate, the presence of isothermal steps, heating rate and cooling rate. The Taguchi design allowed the identification of the most significant factors with a reduced number of experiments. The results, analyzed by Minitab® software, showed that the heating rate had the greatest influence on the thermal response of FFKM in TG analysis, while the sample mass was the most influential factor in DSC analysis. These findings contribute to establishing more consistent and reliable conditions for the thermal characterization of high-performance fluorinated elastomers.