Ea. Mcgonigle et al., Influence of physical aging on the molecular motion and structural relaxation in poly(ethylene terephthalate) and related polyesters, MACROMOLEC, 33(2), 2000, pp. 480-489
A combination of dielectric relaxation, dynamic mechanical thermal analysis
, and positron annihilation measurements is reported on melt-cast films of
poly(ethylene terephthalate), poly(ethylene naphthalate), and their copolym
ers. The effects of change in the chemical structure of the polyesters are
rationalized in terms of increased restriction of the mobility of the polar
segments of the chain by the incorporation of the bulky naphthalate struct
ure. All the quenched samples exhibit physical aging when raised to elevate
d temperatures, the rate depending on the degree of undercooling used in th
e aging experiments. The free volume surprisingly does not change significa
ntly with temperature and leads to the suggestion that the reduction in the
dielectric permittivity is a consequence of a reduction in the mobility of
the local segments. The increased storage modulus is also consistent with
a reduction in mobility. This proposal is further confirmed by the observat
ion of a good correlation between the rates and extents of the physical agi
ng as detected by dynamic mechanical and dielectric relaxation measurements
. Similarities in the activation energies of the beta relaxation process fo
r all the polymers investigated indicate that the dipole relaxation process
es have a common origin and can be ascribed to motion of the linking polar
entity. This study implies that aging is accompanied by an increase in orde
ring within these polyesters.