Error of kinetic parameters for one type of integral method for thermogravimetric measurements

As a supplement of the paper of Gao et al. [Gao Z, Amasaki I, Kaneko T, Nakada M. Polym Degrad Stab 2004;83:67], the error levels of the activation energy and pre-exponential factor by the so-called 'h-constant method' are theoretically analysed and quantitatively assessed. It is demonstrated that the errors of the two kinetic parameters are in essence attributable to the temperature integral approximations. The deduced error level gives a reasonable interpretation of the error values found by Gao et al.