Influence of the specific surface area on crystallization process kinetics of some silica gels

The influence of the specific surface area on the crystallization processes of two silica gels with different specific surface areas has been investigated in non-isothermal conditions using DTA technique. The activation energies of the crystallization processes were calculated using four isoconversional methods: Ozawa-Flynn-Wall, Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose, Starink and Tang. It has been established that, the decrease of the surface area from S=252.62 m2 g−1, in the case of sample GS2, to S=2.52 m2 g−1, in the case of sample GS1, has determined a slight increase of the activation energy of the crystallization process of the gels. Regardless of the isoconversional method used, the activation energy (Eα) decreases monotonously with the crystallized fraction (α), which confirms the complex mechanism of gels crystallization. It has been proved that the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami model cannot be applied for the crystallization processes of the studied silica gels.