The Melting Process of Acetylsalicylic Acid Single Crystals

Abstract

Crystallisation is generally regarded as a nucleation — growth mechanism of a solid phase and often studied using thermo chemical methods. The present work postulates an analogy to melting processes, looking at melting as nucleation — growth of a liquid phase. The melting process of acetylsalicylic acid single crystals was investigated by DSC measurements under isothermal conditions. The fraction of material molten after a certain time period, α(t), was calculated by integrating the DSC curves. The resulting kinetic curves were fitted using the Avrami-Erofeev equation: –ln(1–α)=kt ⁿ, where parameter n was analysed. According to established methods, functions I('2')=[t('2')]/[t('2')+t('3')]100% and I('3')=[t('3')]/[t('3')+t('2')]100% were introduced, where t('2') and t('3') is the absolute time of consumption two- and three-dimension nuclei growth, respectively. Applying correlation analysis, relationships between two- or three-dimensional growth and the independent variables describing the single crystals (for strictly definite trajectories into the space of sizes) were found. Particular correlations were:a) Two-dimensional growth is a function of the total surface area of the crystal, S, and of the surface area of the (ac)-face, S _ac; b) Three-dimensional growth is a function of S/M (where M is the mass of the single crystal). It is also a function of S _ac/M and of S. The obtained experimental data are explained by the ‘layer’ structure of crystals of acetylsalicylic acid.