Development of an Ultramicro Cell
for Adiabatic Microcalorimeter

To measure heat capacity of a very small amount of sample (about 10 – 100 mg) by an adiabatic microcalorimeter, an ultramicro cell has been developed. This cell is made mainly of Cu plate and DSC pan. The mass of the cell is about 200 mg. Using this cell, heat capacity of ca. 15 mg of benzoic acid (NIST, SRM 39i) sample was measured from 8 K to 300 K. The result of this measurement was deviated a few percent from the literature values. After an improvement in measurement condition, heat capacity of ca. 47 mg of synthetic sapphire (NIST, SRM 720) sample was measured from 85 K to 380 K. The experimental results became better except for the high temperature region.

(by S. Arai & Y. Miyazaki)

	Photo 1. An ultramicro cell for an adiabatic microcalorimeter.
	Fig. 1. Heat capacity of benzoic acid by the ultramicro cell and comparison with literature values.		Fig. 2. Heat capacity of synthetic sapphire by the ultramicro cell and comparison with literature values.