On the possibility of modeling of polymers glass transition in a wide range of cooling and heating rates

The presented work continues the investigation of the problems connected with modeling of the kinetics of polymers glass transition in a wide range of temperature change rates. In our previous work Tropin et al. (2015) , an attempt to model a big set of heat capacity curves of polystyrene glass transition has been made, and the inability of the common methods to do this within a single set of parameters has been demonstrated. To go a step further, in this work we proceed with the common and several novel methods of modeling. To normalize the models with each other, a fit of the 10 K/min cooling/heating DSC curves of polystyrene is made, and the literature model parameters readjusted. Further, the modeling of the reduced heat capacity curves at the cooling and heating rates in a wide range of q = 10− 6-106 K/s with a logarithmic step is performed. The comparison of Tg(q) behavior with lately measured data for polystyrene is made. It is shown, that the methods need some modifications to qualitatively describe details of the glass transition kinetics in a wide range of q. Some of the possibilities to advance the models are discussed.