It provides information on the temperature at which transitions occurs as well as quantitative measurement of the heat associated with the event.
Most transitions are complex due to the fact that they involve multiple processes.
Examples would include the enthalpic relaxation that occurs at the glass transition, and crystallization of amorphous or metastable crystalline structures prior to or during melting. Enthalpic relaxation is an endothermic process that can vary in magnitude depending on the thermal history of the material. Under some circumstance it can make the glass appear to be a melting transition. Simultaneous crystallization and melting make it nearly impossible to determine the real crystallinity of the sample prior to the DSC experiment. These problems are compounded further when analyzing blends of materials.