| The dielectric technique was used to study the relaxation processes of five linear aliphatic polyesters. The polyesters studied were poly (ethylene succinate/adipate) or PESA, poly (trimethylene succinate/adipate) or PTSA, poly (butylene succinate/adipate) or PBSA, poly (ethylene succinate) or PES, and poly (ethylene adipate) or PEA. Three of the polyesters were copolymers (PESA, PTSA, and PBSA), and the remaining two (PES and PEA) were homopolymers. Two of the five were amorphous (PESA and PTSA), and the remaining three (PBSA, PES, and PEA) were semicrystalline.; All the five polyesters were synthesized in the laboratory using a poly-condensation reaction between a series of aliphatic diols and diesters. The succinic and adipic groups in the copolymers are in equimolar amounts. The polymers were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry and density measurements. Elemental analysis done on the polymers confirmed that their compositions matched theoretical estimates.; The relaxation processes were studied dielectrically using an IMASS time domain dielectric spectrometer (TDS) and an HP 4284A LCR meter. Together they allowed a frequency range from 0.001 Hz to 1 MHz. Typically in the subglass region, good data were obtained between 0.01 Hz and 100 kHz. In the glass transition region, good data were occasionally available over the entire range.; Two relaxation processes were detected in the subglass temperature region for all the polymers, and in the case of the copolymers PTSA and PBSA, they were also well resolved. Both the processes showed Arrhenius behavior with modest activation energies characteristic of subglass processes in general. They also progressively merged with increasing temperature, which implies a lower activation energy for the faster process which is consistent with the current understanding of relaxation phenomena.; The glass transition region of all the polymers also showed a merging of the dominant α relaxation with the subglass processes which had appeared in this region in a coalesced form. This feature has previously been noted mostly in polymers with bulky side-groups. |
