Abstract :
A useful relationship, ln(Tg)=ln(Tg,∞)−m[η]−ν, between intrinsic viscosity and glass transition temperature for a series of homologous polymers was obtained by combining the Mark–Houwink–Kuhn–Sakurada (MHKS) relation for intrinsic viscosity and molecular mass, and the Fox–Flory equation for glass transition temperature and number-average molecular mass. This relationship was applied to poly(2,6-dimethylphenylmethacrylate) (PDMPh) in a variety of solvents (ideal to good) such as toluene, tetrahydrofuran/water, tetrahydrofuran, and chlorobenzene systems. The parameter α estimated by this procedure in toluene, tetrahydrofuran/water, tetrahydrofuran, and chlorobenzene systems are 0.506, 0.511, 0.567, and 0.673, respectively which are in agreement with those of Mark–Houwink–Kuhn–Sakurada values by less than 5% differences. The Tg,∞ quantity estimated from this equation also is within the standard deviation of that obtained from the Fox–Flory method. The m quantity is increasing as the thermodynamic quality of the solvent improves, therefore, m may be considered as an indicator of coil conformations in a given solvent.
