EFFECT OF POSITIVE CHARGE CONCENTRATION ON T-G OF COMPLETELY AMORPHOUS SALT-POLYETHER SOLUTIONS

Solutions of salts in amorphous polyethers and charged species derivat ized with polyethers have been found to both adhere to a common plot o f glass transition temperature, T-G, against cationic charge per polye ther oxygen. It is proposed that the T-G increase is mainly due to the (ion-dipole) solvation of cations, which increases the barriers to se gmental motions. The salt induced shrinkage of the polymer only partia lly contributes to the increase and coordinative crosslinking by the c ations has been ruled out as a principal cause. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scie nce B.V. All rights reserved.