Buletinul Institutului Politehnic din Iași Secția Chimie și Inginerie Chimică ISSN: 2537-2947
ISSN-L: 0254-7104
2025, Volume 71(75), Issue 2 (JUNE), pp. 9 - 17
Application of Thermogravimetric Analysis in the Investigation of the
Sublimation Process
CERASELA-IONELA CLEMINTE, “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of
Iaşi, “Cristofor Simionescu” Faculty of Chemical Engineering and
Environmental Protection, Iaşi, Romania GABRIELA LISA, “Gheorghe Asachi”
Technical University of Iaşi, “Cristofor Simionescu” Faculty of Chemical
Engineering and Environmental Protection, Iaşi, Romania,
gabriela.lisa@academic.tuiasi.ro
Abstract Sublimation is essential in chemical vapor deposition
(CVD), which is used to obtain thin material layers with applications in
semiconductor manufacturing, integrated circuits, or photovoltaic panels. By
optimizing the sublimation process, advanced materials with unique
properties can be obtained, revolutionizing fields such as electronics,
optics, and the aerospace industry. This study evaluates the influence of
temperature on the sublimation rate of naphthalene, frequently used as a
standard for studying the sublimation of aromatic hydrocarbons. For this
purpose, thermogravimetric analysis was applied under isothermal conditions,
using air as a carrier gas at temperatures of 40, 50, 60, and 70°C, with
different naphthalene layer thicknesses. The processing of thermogravimetric
curves allowed the determination of the mass loss percentage over time. The
sublimation rate was determined from the slope of these curves. The mass
loss rate of naphthalene followed zero-order kinetics. The study
demonstrated that isothermal thermogravimetric analysis provides a simple
method for determining kinetic parameters such as activation energy and
pre-exponential factor. Keywords: naphthalene, activation energy,
sublimation process, thermogravimetric analysis