Calculation of the Avrami parameters for heterogeneous solid state reactions using a modification of the Kissinger method

Several isothermal experiments are generally needed to determine the parameters of the Avrami equation which describe most of the heterogeneous solid state reactions. Differential scanning calorimeters are suitable for such experiments. While most differential thermal analysis (DTA) apparatus cover a wider temperature range than DSC apparatus they cannot be used to perform isothermal determinations. However, Kissinger has already shown how activation energy and frequency factor can be calculated from DTA experiments for the case of homogeneous reactions following first order kinetics. We derive in this paper an extension of the Kissinger method and show its applicability to heterogeneous reactions described by an Avrami expression. The new method will allow the study of the kinetics of metallic reactions at the higher temperature range obtainable with DTA. The transformation kinetics of the metastable equiatomic tin-nickel alloy are given as an example.