Physical Aging Behavior of a Glassy Polyether

• Main Authors: Xavier Monnier, Sara Marina, Xabier Lopez de Pariza, Haritz Sardón, Jaime Martin, Daniele Cangialosi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-03-01
• Series: Polymers
• Subjects: calorimetry; physical aging; glasses
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/13/6/954

The present work aims to provide insights on recent findings indicating the presence of multiple equilibration mechanisms in physical aging of glasses. To this aim, we have investigated a glass forming polyether, poly(1-4 cyclohexane di-methanol) (PCDM), by following the evolution of the enthalpic state during physical aging by fast scanning calorimetry (FSC). The main results of our study indicate that physical aging persists at temperatures way below the glass transition temperature and, in a narrow temperature range, is characterized by a two steps evolution of the enthalpic state. Altogether, our results indicate that the simple old-standing view of physical aging as triggered by the <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi>α</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula> relaxation does not hold true when aging is carried out deep in the glassy state.