The utility of variable temperature techniques in the determination of kinetic parameters

Thermogravimetry is a useful, convenient method for the study of polymer degradation. Several approaches have been developed for the extraction of kinetic parameters from thermogravimetric data. Various variable temperature techniques permit a rapid, almost effortless, estimation of the activation energy of any well-defined process. However, the values generated are subject to greater uncertainty than those obtained using an isothermal method in which rate constants at several temperatures are determined and used to construct a temperature dependence plot from which the activation energy may be extracted. Although the isothermal method is the more time-consuming it provides more reliable results than can be obtained using dynamic methods.