=+25. Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB), a semicrystalline polymer that is fully biodegradable and biocompatible, is obtained from renewable resources. From a sustainability perspective, PHB offers many attractive properties though it is more expensive to produce than standard plastics. The authors of “The Melting Behaviour of Poly(3-Hydroxybutyrate) by DSC. Reproducibility Study” (Polymer Testing, 2013: 215–220) wanted to investigate various physical properties of PHB by using a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC).

For each of 12 PHB specimens, the authors used a