Microscopy and calorimetry as complementary techniques to analyze sugar crystallization from amorphous systems

A comparison of microscopic and macroscopic techniques to evaluate sugar crystallization kinetics is presented using amorphous lactose and lactose-trehalose mixtures. Polarized light video microscopy (PLV) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were applied to measure crystallization kinetics, induction times and time for complete sugar crystallization at different storage temperatures (60-95 degrees C). DSC was also employed to measure the glass transition temperature (T(ag)) of the systems. PLV permitted direct observation, in real time, of growth of individual crystals and morphological aspects at a scale not detected by DSC. Taking the average of several microscopic observations, the results for temperature dependence of crystallization rate and time to complete lactose crystallization were similar to those obtained by DSC. Both PLV and DSC techniques showed that the presence of trehalose delayed lactose crystallization, without affecting the T(ag) value. For the analysis of sugar crystallization in amorphous systems, PLV and DSC proved to be complementary techniques. Validation of results obtained by PLV with results from DSC opens a new area of microstructural analysis of crystallizing systems.