Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.59, No.10, 4515-4523, 2020
Relaxation Dynamics in Disentangled Ultrahigh Molecular Weight Polyethylene via Torsional Rheology
The relaxation dynamics of disentangled ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) were analyzed by means of torsional rheology in a broad frequency and temperature range. The disentangled specimens were compressionmolded at two different temperatures, solid state (125 degrees C) and melt state (160 degrees C), and the latter was compared with a melt-state-processed commercial UHMWPE specimen. Three different relaxation processes were observed, namely, alpha(-)(c), beta-, and gamma-relaxations, as expected for polyethylene. The relaxation strengths of the alpha(c)- and gamma-relaxations were found to be dependent on the crystallinity content, verified by means of differential scanning calorimetry. The relaxation molecular dynamics of the gamma-relaxation in the solid-state-compressed disentangled sample follows a Vogel- Fulcher-Tammann-Hesse trend, suggesting a dynamic glass-to-rubber transition. The same trend is not found for the gamma-relaxation of both melt-state-processed samples, thus suggesting a role of crystalline polydispersity and entanglement density in the free volume of the amorphous segments.