Using thermoanalytical data. Part 2. The dependence of kinetic data available from thermogravimetry on sample and instrument parameters: a method for calculating ‘true’ kinetic parameters

Abstract Kinetic data available from TG measurements are discussed with respect to thermal coefficients such as sample specific heat, reaction enthalpy, instrument heat-transfer coefficient and heat capacity. The dependence of the available kinetic parameters Z, E and N on these thermal coefficients is examined using a numerical model. A relationship is also derived for calculating the kinetic parameters from experimental TG curves whilst taking into account the perturbation induced by the above-cited thermal coefficients. The dehydration of calcium oxalate is used to evaluate experimentally the predictive power of the kinetic parameters obtained in this way, i.e. their ability to describe the sample behaviour under a wide range of operational conditions (different masses and heating rates), including isothermal reactions.