Isothermal kinetic analysis of solid-state reactions using plots of rate against derivative function of the rate equation

Since the advent of digital data capture and the development of quick and accurate numerical methods for data processing, the use of rate measurements (d alpha/dt) for kinetic analysis of solid-state reactions has gained in popularity. Rate measurements may readily be obtained through use of isothermal derivative thermogravimetry (DTG), or from isothermal differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) (on the assumption that the evolution or absorption of heat may be used to measure the extent of reaction, or). In this paper, the feasibility and desirability of using plots of experimental d alpha/dt values against the derivative functions for the various models for solid-state reactions is considered critically and discussed quantitatively.