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The physical properties of polymers are very much dictated by where the operating temperature lies with respect to the transition temperature between glassy and rubbery states. The precise identification of this glass transition temperature, Tg, is critical in assessing the feasibility of a polymer for a given application. In this book, the behavior of polymers near their Tg and the capability of predicting Tg using theoretical and empirical models is assessed. While all polymers undergo structural relaxation at various temperatures both nearly above and below Tg, practical assessment of a single consistent Tg is successfully performed through consideration of only immediate thermal history and thermodynamic properties. The determination of Tg for a wide variety of polymers of theoretically infinite chain length has been found to be accurately performed through the use of novel quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) models. The supplementation of such values to configurational entropy and molecular weight relational models can be used for estimation of Tg for shorter chain length polymers within the same homologous series, but only to a specific lower bound.
About the author
Paul John Mlynarczyk, P.E., holds a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois-Urbana and MS degrees from NC State University and Kansas State University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer with over 5 years of experience in the steel industry, and is currently a Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Tennessee.
