Kinetic analysis of solid-state reactions: The universality of master plots for analyzing isothermal and nonisothermal experiments

Master plot methods based on the integral and/or the differential forms of the kinetic equation describing solid-state reactions have been redefined by using the concept of the generalized time, theta, introduced by Ozawa. This redefinition permits the application of these master plots to the kinetic analysis of solid-state reactions, whatever the type of temperature program used for recording the experimental data. In isothermal conditions, a single curve is enough to construct the experimental master plots. In nonisothermal conditions, the knowledge of both ct as a function of temperature and activation energy is required for calculating the master plot curves from the experimental data. practical usefulness of the present master plot methods is examined, and exemplified by being applied to the thermal decomposition of ZnCO3 under isothermal, linear nonisothermal, and nonlinear nonisothermal conditions.