Macromolecules, Vol.31, No.8, 2578-2585, 1998
Dynamics of linear and star poly(oxypropylene) studied by dielectric spectroscopy and rheology
We give a quantitative comparison of dielectric and viscoelastic relaxation of identical poly(oxypropylene) (POP) diols and triols with molar masses in the range 260-11 000 g/mol. The segmental relaxation probed in dielectric spectroscopy (DS) is slower by a factor of 8 +/- 1, while the conformational relaxation of the whole chain is faster by a factor of 2.5 +/- 0.5. The molar mass dependence of the conformational relaxation is close to the prediction of the Rouse model. POP diol with molar mass larger than 4000 g/L shows the influence of entanglement. A "fast" beta-relaxation with Arrhenius temperature dependence is observed in all samples by DS. Measurements made on very low molar mass samples show that hydroxyl end groups are involved in this relaxation.
Keywords:POLY(PROPYLENE GLYCOL);BRILLOUIN-SCATTERING;LIGHT-SCATTERING;RELAXATION SPECTROSCOPY;TEMPERATURE;POLYMERS;LIQUID