Universal behaviour of glass transition exponents in various polymeric systems

Abstract

The fast transient fluorescence (FTRF) technique was used to study the critical exponents during glass transition in free-radical cross-linking copolymerization (FCC). Methyl methacrylate (MMA), ethyl methacrylate (EMA) and various combinations of MMA with EMA were used during FCC experiments. Pyrene (Py) was used as a fluorescence probe and its fluorescence lifetimes from its decay traces were measured during glass transition. Changes in the viscosity of the pre-gel solutions due to glass formation dramatically increased the Py fluorescent lifetimes, which were used to study the glass transition of MMA, EMA and their mixtures as a function of time, at various temperatures and monomer concentrations. The results were interpreted in the view of percolation theory. The critical exponents, beta and gamma, were measured near the glass transition point and found to be around 0.37 +/- 0.015 and 1.69 +/- 0.05, respectively, in all systems studied, which are in good agreement with the static percolation results.