Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is a thermoanalytical technique in which the difference in the amount of heat required to increase the temperature of a sample and reference is measured as a function of temperature.

Both the sample and reference are maintained at nearly the same temperature throughout the experiment while the sample holder temperature increases linearly as a function of time. The reference sample should have a well-defined heat capacity over the range of temperatures to be scanned.

The evaluation of the different heat flows (sample vs reference) reveals information about physical transformations of the sample, e.g. a phase transition or glass transition.