Phase transitions, crystal growth

Effect of heating rate on phase transition evolution in phase change materials

A. K. Borisov, S. A. Gur'eva, V. A. Marikhin

Ioffe Institute, St. Petersburg

Abstract: The influence of heating modes on the kinetics of phase transformations in phase change materials was studied using differential scanning calorimetry. Using tetracosane as an example, it was shown that changing the heating rate significantly affects the thermodynamic parameters of phase transitions. For each of the studied scanning rates, temperatures, enthalpies, and heat capacities were determined for both the solid-solid phase transition and the melting process. The onset temperatures of phase transformations were found to be sensitive to the heating rate, but to a lesser extent than the temperatures of the transition peaks and end points. A quantitative analysis of solid-solid transformations based on the theory of diffuse phase transitions revealed the influence of the heating rate on the kinetics of their heterogeneous development. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the extrapolation method for determining the true phase transition temperatures was demonstrated; these were found to be equivalent to the experimental data values at a heating rate of 0.1$^\circ$C/min.

Keywords: phase transitions, thermal analysis, phase change materials, $n$-alkanes, calorimetry.

Received: 17.10.2025
Revised: 07.11.2025
Accepted: 10.11.2025

DOI: 10.61011/FTT.2025.11.62140.280-25

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