Crosslinking, thermal properties and relaxation behaviour of polyisoprene under high-pressure

The transient hot-wire method has been used to measure the thermal conductivity κ and heat capacity per unit volume ρc_p of untreated (virgin) and crosslinked cis-1,4-poly(isoprene) (PI) in the temperature range 160-513 K for pressures p up to 0.75 GPa. The results show that the crosslinking rate of the polymer chains becomes significant at ∼513 K on isobaric heating at 0.5 GPa changing PI into an elastomeric state within 4 h without the use of crosslinking agents. The crosslinked PI and untreated PI have about the same κ = 0.145 Wm⁻¹ K⁻¹ and c_p = 1.81 kJ kg⁻¹ K⁻¹ at 295 K and 20 MPa, but different relaxation behaviours. Two relaxation processes, corresponding to the segmental and normal modes, could be observed in both PI and crosslinked PI but these have a larger distribution of relaxation times and become arrested at higher temperatures (∼10 K) in the latter case. The arrest temperature for the segmental relaxation of untreated and crosslinked PI, for a relaxation time of ∼1 s, are described well by the empirical relations: T(p) = 209.4 (1 + 4.02 p)^0.31 and T(p) = 221.3 (1 + 2.33 p)^0.40 (p in GPa and T in K), respectively, which thus also reflects the pressure variations of the glass transition temperatures.     

Effects of cross-links, pressure and temperature on the thermal properties and glass transition behaviour of polybutadiene

The thermal conductivity κ, heat capacity per unit volume ρc(p) and glass transition behaviour under pressure have been established for medium and high vinyl content polybutadiene PB with molecular weights 2600 and 100,000 and their highly cross-linked (ebonite) states obtained purely by high-pressure high-temperature treatments. Cross-linking eliminates the glass transitions and increases κ by as much as 50% at 295 K and 1 atm, and decreases ρc(p) to a limiting level close to that of the glassy state of PB, which is reached before the ultimate cross-link density is achieved. The pressure and temperature behaviours of κ are strongly changed by cross-links, which increases the effect of temperature but decreases the effect of pressure. We attribute these changes to a cross-linked induced permanent densification and consequential increase of phonon velocity simultaneously as conduction along polymer chains is disrupted. The glass transition temperatures for a time scale of 1 s are described to within 0.5 K by: T(g)(p) = 202.5 (1 + 2.94 p)(0.286) and T(g)(p) = 272.3 (1 + 2.57 p)(0.233) (p in GPa and T in K) up to 1 GPa, for PB2600 and PB100000, respectively, and can be estimated for medium and high vinyl content PBs with molecular weights in between by a constant, pressure independent, shift in temperature.