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ARKS IK - creating Isoconversional Kinetics

Purpose of the program

The ARKS IK (Isoconversional Kinetics) software belongs to the TSS-ARKS software. It is intended for creation of the so-called model-free kinetics on the basis of available sets of experimental data generated by methods of thermal analysis. In addition the program provides fast simulation of processes in a well stirred BATCH reactor.

The ARKS IK software inherits all the best qualities of its predecessor IsoKin and has many new features - new interface, revised and improved algorithms, completely reworked documentation, etc.
ARKS IK is supported by videotutorils which help in mastering software:

IK Tutorial 1 kinetics creation
IK Tutorial 2 analyzing thermal stability
IK Tutorial 3 simulating adiabatic mode

Kinetics evaluation is implemented by using the method of cross-sections which is similar to the well-known differential isoconversional Friedman method with essential modifications.

ARKS IK is recommended for fast preliminary analysis. It is specifically useful for revealing complexity of a reaction. Simulation based on the kinetics created can be assumed to be correct if the reaction profile is simulated within the temperature diapason covered by the set of experimental data, that is, the kinetics is used for interpolation. See CISP Newsletter N 7 for more details.

If simulation is aimed at prediction of the reaction course out of the temperatures covered by experiments (extrapolation) the results may be unreliable. It is strongly recommended to create formal or descriptive model and then use it for simulation.

The convenient project-oriented interface facilitates ARKS IK application.

ARKS IK comprises two main modules – Simulation and Estimation. The access to these modules is provided by the ARKS IK suite shell which makes use of the package more convenient and vivid.

Loading data

ARKS IK allows handling multi response data containing integral and/or derivative responses: heat, gas generation and mass loss.

ARKS IK provides direct access to experimental data stored in ARKS TA (or ARKS TAr) databases for importing them. The possibility is also envisaged to paste responses from clipboard.

Storing data

ARKS IK stores original and processed data into internal database. Database consists of data volumes. Every data volume includes number of data sets; each data set may represent results of separate run, simulated results, conditions of an experiment, and kinetics created. The ARKS IK database is fully compatible with the ARKS-FK database so that the same data sets can be processed by either software. Moreover a data set may contain both isoconversional kinetics created by ARKS IK and formal kinetic model created by ForK

ARKS IK allows saving estimation projects. Every project includes all the information prepared for estimating kinetic parameters - kinetic model, initial guess on parameters and their limits, references to experimental data sets, etc.

Type of kinetics

ARKS IK handles model-free kinetics that can fit complex multi peak DSC curves and data from isothermal calorimetry. Isoconversional kinetics is always based on the overall conversion degree as state variable.

Reactor’s model

A chemical reaction is considered to proceed in a continuous stirred BATCH reactor which can operate under the following thermal modes:

forced temperature mode - reactant temperature is equal to the environment temperature;
general mode - heat exchange between reactant and environment obeys Newtonian law;
adiabatic mode - no heat exchange with environment (available only for simulation);
operating conditions (environmental temperature, heat transfer coefficient) can be defined as tabular functions on time;
a reactor may have jacket and several cooling coils, every cooling tool can be characterized by the unique set of parameters (surface of heat exchange, heat exchange coefficient, cooling agent temperature)

Simulation module provides modeling of a reaction's behavior. The following possibilities are envisaged:

loading the complete kinetic data set;
loading kinetics from database;.
loading conditions from database or defining original conditions;
loading existing responses and conditions;
defining parameters of numerical integration method;
simulating a process; calculation of pressure in a reactor void volume including pressure of gas products, pad gas and vapor pressure by using the overall vapor pressure presented by the Antoine equation
Determining adiabatic Time to Maximum Rate (TMR) and Total Energy Release (TER) for a reaction course under adiabatic conditions
analyzing thermal stability of a substance;
manual inspection of the effect of controls variation
viewing results of simulation in tabular and graphic form in selectable axes;
saving simulated responses as pseudo experimental ones into the database.

The video tutorials IK Tutorial simulating adiabatic reaction course and IK Tutorial analyzing thermal stability will give you more precise ideas about this module.

Estimation module is used for estimation of kinetic parameters when evaluating chemical kinetics. The following possibilities are envisaged:

loading experimental data from database;
checking data compatibility and sufficiency for kinetics creation;
calculation of the overall conversions and rates of conversions variation
loading complete project;
simultaneous processing of several data sets obtained under different conditions (e.g. DSC data and results of isothermal experiments);
editing data;
adjusting parameters of the kinetics evaluation method
viewing kinetics created,
NEW. Statistical assessment of the quality of the kinetics created using the coefficient of determination,
post-processing of the kinetic parameters including smoothing, gluing the tails (extrapolating parameters in the very beginning and the very end of a curve); manual editing,
viewing original data and simulated responses in graphic form; one can export data (all data used for estimation or some selected data sets) into the Excel just by selecting the menu option; at that both experimental and simulated responses will be transferred
saving results into database.

The video tutorial IK Tutorial kinetics creation demonstrates some basic steps of kinetics evaluation.

Installation

Requirements: CPU: Intel Pentium 1200 MHz and faster, Memory: at least 1024MB, Disk space: 50 MB,
CD-ROM: present, OS: MS Windows 7, 8, 10, 11

ATTENTION!

When installing ARKS IK under Windows 7 and higher we strongly recommend to use the default path C:\Users\[username]\CISP\[program name]
When installing TSS-ARKS applications one can meet the problem with Anti-virus tools you use. Some of them may suspect that TSS-ARKS programs are hazardous ones. Please don't worry. This may happen due to new powerful protection system (provided by the Enigma Protector - one of the world leaders in this area) which sometimes causes alarm because anti-virus tools cannot look inside the protected code. As a result the application will be blocked. To avoid such problem ask your IT service to exclude .Users\[username]\CISP folder from virus check

CISP guarantees that TSS-ARKS is 100% clean, which means its applications do not contain any form
of malware, including but not limited to: spyware, viruses, trojans and backdoor.

Be aware - even if you are the licensed user of TSS or TSS-ARKS software with valid guarantee or maintenance when you upgrade IsoKin to ARKS IK you will have to get new registration key. Please email us the request and don't forget to indicate your company and your name

IMPORTANT! Be aware that on the expiration of the Warranty/maintenance Period the License on any TSS or TSS-ARKS application remains valid for the version last updated during maintenance Period. Therefore if your maintenance has expired you wouldn't be able to use new updates. If you nevertheless download the setup of new version and replace your working version with new one it won't work and you will lose working program! To avoid such situation check please whether you have valid maintenance before downloading any TSS-ARKS program.

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