Molecular dynamics in glass-forming poly(phenyl methyl siloxane) as investigated by broadband thermal, dielectric and neutron spectroscopy

The molecular dynamics of glass-forming poly(methyl phenyl siloxane) (PMPS) is studied by thermal (10−3–5 × 102 Hz), dielectric (10−3–109 Hz) and neutron (5 × 108–1012 Hz) spectroscopy. Because of the broad frequency range of 15 orders of magnitude the study provides a precise determination of glassy dynamics in a wide temperature range using different probes. The relaxation rates extracted from the different methods agree quantitatively in both their absolute values and in their temperature dependencies. A detailed analysis of the temperature dependence of the relaxation rate fp by a derivative technique shows that the α-relaxation of PMPS has to be characterized by a high and a low temperature branch separated by a crossover temperature TB = 250 K. In both temperature ranges the temperature dependence of fp has to be described by Vogel/Fulcher/Tammann laws with different Vogel temperatures. Also the analysis of the dielectric strength in its temperature dependence gives a crossover behavior from a low to a high temperature region with a similar value of TB. TB can be interpreted as onset of cooperative fluctuations and the formation of dynamical heterogeneities. The dependence of the relaxation rate on the scattering vector Q extracted from neutron scattering obeys a power law τ ∼ Q−Slope, where the power Slope varies between Slope = 2 and Slope = 3.5 with increasing temperature. This anomalous dependence of the relaxation time on the momentum transfer is discussed in terms of dynamic heterogeneities in the underlying motional processes even at temperatures above TB. Besides the segmental dynamics the fast Methyl group rotation is considered as well. The relaxation rates of this process have an activated temperature dependence with an activation energy of 8.3 kJ/mol. The data were discussed in the framework of the threefold jump model were the incoherent elastic scattering from ‘fixed’ atoms which are frozen on the time scale of the Methyl group rotation was taken into account.