The tri-allylthiourea cadmium chloride crystal grown was characterized by recording the powder X-ray diffraction pattern and indexing the diffracting planes. The thermal expansion coefficients along a- and c-axes are 2.19 x 10(-5) and 6.15 x 10(-5) K-1, respectively. The specific heat of the crystal was measured to be 590.43J/molK at 293.15K. The thermal decomposition process was analyzed according to the result of differential thermal analysis and PXRD patterns of residues at different temperatures. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.