Photon correlation spectroscopy to study the dynamics of α- and β-relaxation in amorphous poly(Alkylmethacrylates) above Tg

2008

A short survey of the underlying principles of isotropic light scattering from amorphous bulk polymers is given. The interrelation between the time dependent longitudinal compliance and the autocorrelation function of density fluctuations is briefly reviewed and a comparison with poly(vinylacetate) PVAc is presented. For four poly-(alkylmethacrylates) - poly(methylmethacrylate) PMMA, poly(ethylmethacrylate) PEMA, poly(n-butylmethacrylate) PBMA and poly(n-hexylmethacrylate) PHMA - the results of photon spectroscopic studies are given and discussed in terms of the occurrence of primary and secondary relaxation processes within the accessible time range of the experiment.