Analysis of relaxation on polypropyleneglycols above vitrification temperature

The dielectric spectra of polypropyleneglycols H-(C₃H₆O) _{N p} -OH (PPGs), where N _p = 1, 2, 3, 7, 12, 17, 20, 34, 69, were analyzed in terms of the Dissado Hill (DH) cluster model above the vitrification temperatures. In PPGs, the structural clusters are associates formed by intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonds. The activation processes of cleavage and formation of intermolecular hydrogen bonds in clusters, when the total number of intermolecular hydrogen bonds changes, are characterized by the parameter n _DH. The fluctuation processes of simultaneous exchange of molecules between adjacent clusters correspond to redistributions of intermolecular hydrogen bonds between clusters, when only the position but not the total number of intermolecular hydrogen bonds changes, and are characterized by the parameter m _DH. The relaxation time τ_DH at 303 K and 423 K and the parameters n _DH and m _DH of the dielectric spectra were calculated. The activation energies of relaxation in the range 210–323 K were determined. The mean statistic squares of the dipole moments of clusters 〈μ_c²〉 and di-PG, PPG-425 (N _p = 7), and PPG-2025 (N _p = 34) molecules 〈μ_m²〉 at 303 K and 423 K were calculated. The number of the units of the oxypropylene chains involved in relaxation was determined. The dependence of the parameters of the DH model, relaxation energies, 〈μ_c²〉 and 〈μ_m²〉 on N _p were studied.