ERROR IN DETERMINING ACTIVATION-ENERGY CAUSED BY THE WRONG CHOICE OF PROCESS MODEL

In this paper we propose an equation which establishes the relation between the relative error in choosing the process model and the absolute error in determining the activation energy. It is demonstrated by model data that even a small error caused by choosing the contracting cylinder equation instead of the contracting sphere equation leads to an error in the activation energy which is essential in further calculations. The conversion of non-isothermal data to the isothermal form is given as an example of a practical calculation. It is shown that the activation energy error caused by the wrong choice of model makes adequate transformation impossible. It is concluded that for practical purposes it is necessary to employ methods which solve the inverse kinetic problem and do not use discrimination. © 1990.