Energy contents of amorphous polystyrene with different thermal histories

The Tian-Calvet microcalorimeter has been used to measure the heat of solution of atactic polystyrene in toluene at 30°C. By using a special technique for polymer sample preparation, it has been possible to measure directly the difference in conformational energy of the polystyrene chain at different temperatures, from 30 to 100°C. and to calculate its contribution to the specific heat.