NETZSCH DSC 204 instruments save their runs as .ngb-sd7 files. Older Proteus versions wrote them
as a single database file, newer ones as a ZIP-based container; both are read here and exported as
CSV and Excel, with the DSC signal in mW/mg and each heating and cooling segment on its own.
From µV to mW/mg
The instrument records the DSC signal in µV. Proteus converts it with the sensitivity calibration of the instrument, a curve of the form (P2 + P3·z + P4·z² + P5·z³) · exp(−z²) with z = (T − P0) / P1, and divides by the sample mass. The coefficients P0 to P5 and the sample mass are stored in the measurement file, so the converter does the same calculation:
DSC (mW/mg)(orDSC (mW)when no sample mass is stored),DSC (µV)as recorded,Sensitivity (µV/mW)at each point.
Checked against a Proteus text export of a DSC 204 F1 run with heat, cool and heat segments, every DSC value agreed within 0.00002 mW/mg and the sensitivity curve within 0.000006 µV/mW.
Heating and cooling separately
A typical program heats, cools and heats again. Besides the full table you get a ZIP with one CSV per segment (for example segment 5 for the second heating of a heat, cool, heat run with isothermal holds), and the charts draw each heating and cooling as its own line. The segment table names every step, such as “200 → 0 °C at 10 K/min”.
DSC direction
Proteus can draw DSC curves with exothermic effects up or down. The CSV keeps the sign recorded by the instrument; if your peaks point the other way than in your Proteus plots, set “DSC direction” to Inverted under "More options".
Pitfalls
- Files without a sensitivity calibration (for example from some DTA/TG sample carriers) give the DSC signal in µV only.
- Proteus exports may show a slightly smoothed temperature, and an exported DSC curve can include processing done in Proteus after the measurement. The CSV contains the measured data.
- Peak areas, onsets and glass transitions evaluated in Proteus are stored in the analysis file
(
.ngb-taa,.ngb-od7), which holds no data and cannot be converted.
STA runs with mass and DSC together: see NETZSCH TGA data to Excel.
More about what this tool reads and writes: Thermal Analysis File Converter (NETZSCH NGB).