Activation energy can be estimated by a new simple method, in which logarithm of maximum rate of conversion observed at different heating rates is plotted against reciprocal absolute temperature, because the conversion at the maximum rate is approximately independent of the heating rate. The method is applied to thermal shrinkage of polycarbonate, and the estimated activation energy is in good agreement with those obtained by conventional methods.For estimating activation energy from thermoanalytical curves, numerous methods have been proposed. Most of them are based on particular kinetic equations, and their applicability is, therefore, limited, because they can not be applied to processes other than those following the particular kinetic equations. When the methods are applied to these processes, they tend to lead false and wrong kinetic parameters and mechanism.A few methods, such as proposed by Flynn and Wall [1], Friedman [2, 3] and one of the present authors [3][4][5][6][7], were derived from a general form of the kinetic equation and their applicability is not limited to particular kinetic models, but they have wide applicability to processes of single elementary process following Arrhenius type temperature dependence of activation energy. One example is application to physical processes, such as John lr~ley & Sons, Limited, Chichester AkndOniai Kiad6, Budapest