Is the original Kissinger equation obsolete today?

The original Kissinger, Friedman, and modified Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS) methodologies were used to evaluate the apparent activation energy of theoretically simulated complex processes consisting of two overlapping independent JMA-like (Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-like) subprocesses. Three overlay series were studied, each representing one of the basic conceptual types of peak overlap. It was shown that, in the case of complex processes, both the tested isoconversion methods (KAS and Friedman) provide good qualitative information about the activation energies of the involved overlapping signals. However, from the quantitative point of view, the data are not easy to interpret, and deconvolution procedures are necessary for meaningful results to be obtained. On the other hand, in most cases, the apparent activation energy determined by the original Kissinger equation for the overlapped dominant peak corresponded very well to the true values determined for the sole processes. This suggests large robustness of the Kissinger methodology that even nowadays may be considered very advantageous and utilized in kinetic analysis of complex processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]