Rare earth (RE) metals form two stoichiometric hydrides, REH 2 and REH 3 , and for the yttrium group of RE transformation of a FCC (REH 2) into an HCP (REH 3) lattice takes place during the second step of hydrogenation REH 2 þ ½ H 2 / REH 3. Earlier studies of the hydrogen desorption properties of the rare earth hydrides were limited to Y and RE ¼ La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb and Er. The present work is focused on the studies of the kinetics and mechanism of hydrogen desorption from trihydrides of heavy rare earths, DyH 3 , HoH 3, and ErH 3. The Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy (TDS) studies were performed at pressures below 1 Â 10 À5 mbar during linear heating from room temperature to 1173 K at different heating rates ranging from 1 to 5.5 K/min. Hydrogen desorption traces show the presence of two main events with the low-temperature peak appearing below 573 K, while the second peak is positioned at 1083e1159 K, with the peak temperatures gradually increasing following the rise of the heating rate. Fitting of the peak temperatures in the TDS spectra using the Kissinger method yielded activation energies of hydrogen desorption for both hydrogen desorption events. For DyH 3 and ErH 3 , the shapes of the TDS spectra appear to be well described by a phase-stuctural transformation following a model of nucleation and growth, while for HoH 3 the dehydrogenation mechanism includes a phase boundary reaction. This applied model of phase-structural transformations shows differences in dimensionality and rate-limiting steps as related to the studied compound and the desorption events, REH 3 / REH 2 or REH 2 / RE.