Studies of magnetic resonance phenomena in polymers. I. The effects of free volume and segmental mobility on the motion of nitroxide spin probes and labels in poly(methyl methacrylate)

Thin films of spin-probed and spin-labeled poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) have been examined by electron spin resonance (ESR) at X-band frequency (9.2 GH_z) and at various temperatures. Direct spectral evidence is presented to indicate that the composite ESR spectra observed in a certain temperature range originate from two states of distinctly different mobility, one with slow motions corresponding to a glassy state and the other with fast motions corresponding to a liquidlike state. The coexistence of these two states at temperatures considerably below the glass transition temperature can be explained as a result of the effect of free volume in a solid polymeric glass.