THE SCANNING-RATE DEPENDENCE OF ENERGY-DISSIPATION IN FIRST-ORDER PHASE-TRANSITION OF SOLIDS

We propose that energy dissipation is an essential quantity in studyin g nonequilibrium first order phase transition driven by an external fi eld, and the field scanning rate is a characteristic variable. The tec hnique of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is applied to invest igate the temperature scanning-rate dependence of energy dissipation D elta Q in first order structural phase transitions of RbNO3 powder, VO 2 ceramics and Fe-16.5 wt% Mn alloy. We fit the experimental results t o a general power law Delta Q = Delta Q0 + AT(n) where Delta Q(0) and A are two constants, and n is an exponent parameter.