From Strong to Fragile Glass Formers: Secondary Relaxation in Polyalcohols

A. Döß; M. Paluch; H. Sillescu; G. Hinze

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.095701

From Strong to Fragile Glass Formers: Secondary Relaxation in Polyalcohols

A. Döß, M. Paluch, H. Sillescu, and G. Hinze

Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 095701 – Published 14 February 2002

Abstract

We have studied details of the molecular origin of slow secondary relaxation near $T_{g}$ in a series of neat polyalcohols by means of dielectric spectroscopy and $^{2} H$ NMR. From glycerol to threitol, xylitol, and sorbitol the appearance of the secondary relaxation changes gradually from a wing-type scenario to a pronounced $β$ peak. It is found that in sorbitol the dynamics of the whole molecule contributes equally to the $β$ process, while in glycerol the hydrogen bond forming OH groups remain rather rigid compared to the hydrogens bonded to the carbon skeleton.

Received 10 August 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.095701

Authors & Affiliations

A. Döß¹, M. Paluch^2,*, H. Sillescu¹, and G. Hinze^1,†

¹Institut für Physikalische Chemie, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, 55099 Mainz, Germany
²Max-Planck-Institut für Polymerforschung, 55128 Mainz, Germany

^*Present address: Institute of Physics, Silesian University, 40-007 Katowice, Poland.
^†Electronic address: hinze@mail.uni-mainz.de