Proton Magnetic Resonance Thermal Analysis (PMRTA) has been proven to be a convenient yet powerful technique for the thermal analyses of organic and polymeric materials. This technique essentially records the proton magnetic resonance (

1

H NMR) spin - spin relaxation signal of a sample at various temperatures

which decays rapidly for rigidly bound molecules

but more slowly as molecular mobility is acquired. PMRTA monitors physical and chemical changes of a sample

e. g. glass transition

melting and crystallization

softening and hardening as well as thermal degradation and polymerization etc. by automatically detecting the relaxation signals in a programmed heating and cooling process. PMRTA was first initiated by Lynch and Webster et al. in the early 1980s

and commercial instrument has become available now. This article shows some examples to highlight the functions and capacities of this unique technique. In addition

the principles of PMRTA and instrumentation are briefly reviewed.