Improved method for determining the glass transition temperature of highly cross-linked polymers by thermomechanical means

The peculiarities of thermomechanical tests of epoxide and epoxy-phenol polymers are analyzed. Substantiation of the physical interpretation of their glass transition temperature as a boundary region between predominantly glassy and predominantly highly elastic states is given, which allows construction of tangent lines, consideration of plastic deformation arising during the testing procedure, and errors caused by defects of graphical presentation upon interpretation of the thermomechanical curves to be avoided.