AbstractWe have investigated the suitability of thermoanalytical methods for compatibility tests on explosives and contact materials. DTA and TG curves of various materials were evaluated using two DTA and four TG methods and one DSC method. TNT was used as model substance. The contact materials were paraffin, polyethylene, an epoxy resin paint and an epoxy glue. In earlier tests the first two were found compatible and the latter two incompatible with TNT. None of the methods provides an absolute value for the activation energy. However, in compatibility tests only the relative change in the activation energy is of interest and, for this, three of the methods proved informative.