Abstract
Four simple experimental tests are described for the determination of the kinetic order of the thermoluminescence emission process, given a distribution of electron trap activation energies in the sample. These tests are concerned with the dependence of the thermoluminescence intensity during isothermal decay on the irradiation dose rate and exposure time. Low dose rate and low total dose are assumed. First- and second-order kinetics were found in polystyrene and zinc sulphide samples respectively.