STRUCTURE INVESTIGATIONS OF A CROSS-LINKABLE MAIN-CHAIN LIQUID-CRYSTALLINE COPOLYESTER BY INFRARED-SPECTROSCOPY, DIFFERENTIAL SCANNING CALORIMETRY AND WIDE-ANGLE X-RAY-SCATTERING

FTIR spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and wide-an gle X-ray scattering (WAXS) were used for the characterization of stru ctural properties of a cross-linkable ternary liquid crystalline (Ic) copolyester and its binary model copolyesters. The copolyesters based on itaconoylbis(4-oxybenzoic acid), sebacoylbis(4-oxybenzoic acid) and 2-methylhydroquinone were annealed at different temperatures to analy se the structural changes of mesogenic and spacer segments due to thei r phase transitions. The results of the DSC and WAXS measurements are useful to explain the small effects in the IR spectra connected with p olymer morphology. FTIR spectroscopy is able to provide information ab out the molecular structure along the polymer chains and also about th e interactions between these chains. Micro- and macromolecular structu res influence the orientation and crosslinking processes in dependence on temperature and time. It was shown that an increase in the ordered state and quality of crystallinity was obtained using different annea ling procedures.