Determination and interpretation of isothermal and non-isothermal transformation kinetics; the effective activation energies in terms of nucleation and growth

A general model for the kinetics of solid state phase transformations has been discussed. The model is valid for both isothermal as well as non-isothermal transformations. In certain specific cases, the model can be simplified such that it reduces to so-called Johnson-Mehl-Avrami (JMA) kinetics. The model kinetic parameters are independent of the time-temperature program. In addition, it has been shown that in certain cases where the presented model does not pertain to JMA exactly, the JMA description still holds within practical accuracy. This holds for example, for nucleation of mixed nature. In this case, it is possible to obtain the activation energies for growth and for nucleation, separately, from measurements, if it is possible to vary the nucleation mode, for example by pre-annealing. This determination of the separate activation energies has been tested on a virtual and a real phase transformation: crystallisation of glassy Pd40Cu30P20Ni10. (C) 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers.