Thermal analysis for polymers is a series of techniques, including calorimetry, TGA, TMA, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and dielectric analysis, which are used to characterize different aspects of polymer systems. Thermal analysis methods often cannot be used for identification purposes by themselves without data from some complementary techniques. For example, a polymer with a melting point of about 220[degree]C could be either nylon 6 or poly(butylene terephthalate). Appearance of an amine functionality in the IR spectrum of the same materials would identify the material as a nylon, but may not be specific as to which type. Using both pieces of data, thermal and IR, the material could be identified as nylon 6, demonstrating the complementary nature of thermal analysis. Thermal analysis often is most useful for quantitative analysis and studying the state of a polymer. Thermal methods are good qualitative tools because they are used to rapidly determine whether a polymer is the same of different from a standard, or to determine the quantity of a component after it has already been established that the component is in the system. Characterizing the state of a system can include determining physical properties, such as heat capacities and linear and volumetric expansion coefficients, as well as reaction, including degradation reactions and kinetics. Following a brief description on the theory of each technique, several examples of the more usual applications are given to show how these techniques can be applied to polymer characterization.