Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, Vol.37, No.17, 2373-2382, 1999
Creep behavior of amorphous ethylene-styrene interpolymers in the glass transition region
The viscoelastic behavior of amorphous ethylene-styrene interpolymers (ESIs) was studied in the glass transition region. The creep behavior at temperatures from 15 degrees C below the glass transition temperature (T-g) to T-g was determined for three amorphous ESIs. These three copolymers with 62, 69 and 72 wt % styrene had glass transition temperatures of 11.23 and 33 degrees C, respectively, as determined by DMTA at 1 Hz. Time-temperature superposition master curves were constructed from creep curves for each polymer. The temperature dependence of the shift factors was well described by the WLF equation. Using the T-g determined by DMTA at 1 Hz as a reference temperature C-1 and C-2 constants for the Williams, Landel, and Ferry (WLF) equation were calculated as approximately 7 and 40 K, respectively. The master curves were used to obtain the retardation time spectrum and the plateau compliance. The entanglement molecular weight of the ESIs was much closer to that of polyethylene (1,390) than to that of polystyrene (18,700); this was attributed to the unique chain microstructure of these ESIs with no styrene-styrene dyads.
Keywords:ethylene-styrene interpolymers;creep;viscoelasticity;superposition;plateau compliance;entanglement molecular weight