In this study, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) method were used to analyze the main characteristics of sweet potato starch, and to analyze the thermal degradation process of sweet potato starch. Specifically, X-ray diffraction to study its structure, thermogravimetric analysis to study the thermal degradation kinetics, and differential scanning calorimetry to study the thermogram of sweet potato starch. The thermal decomposition kinetics of sweet potato starch was examined within different heating rates in nitrogen atmosphere. Different models of kinetic analysis were used to calculate the activation energies using thermogravimetric data of the thermal degradation process. Activation energies obtained from Kissinger, Flynn-Wall- Ozawa, and Šatava-Šesták models were 173.85, 174.87 and 174.34 kJ/mol, respectively. The values of activation energy indicated that the thermal degradation of the sweet potato starch was a single reaction mechanism or the combination of multi-reaction mechanisms. The differential scanning calorimetry analysis show that two decomposition stages were presented: the first at a low temperature involves the decomposition of long chain; and the second at a high temperature represents the scission of glucose ring. This information was helpful to design the processing process of many natural polymers. Thermogravimetric Fourier transform-infrared (TG–FTIR) analysis showed that the main pyrolysis products included water, methane, carbon dioxide, ammonia, and others.

Ventilation rate is a physical index that is strictly controlled during cigarette manufacturing because an abnormal ventilation rate can affect the release of mainstream smoke, tar, and other components harmful to human health. Therefore, the standard rod is used for measuring the ventilation rate, which necessitates accurate and effective periodic inspections. In this study, we designed and built a set of special tobacco ventilation rate standard rods to assess the standard device during its verification period and used a digital thermal flowmeter as the flow standard.We determined the micro-pressure adjustment interval through fluid simulation, and conducted an experimental verification based on the simulation results. At the adjustment point where the differential pressure value was 0 Pa, the period verification device was tested under the standard values of 27.38%, 58.83%, and 71.95%. The results show that the measurement errors of the device are –0.42%, 0.55%, and –0.13% respectively, which all meet the verification regulation requirements and indicate that the device is applicable in practical situations.