Assessment of activation energies of transitions by thermally stimulated discharge current (TSD) experiments

The thermally stimulated discharge currents are very sensitive to the changes in molecular mobility of polar particles. Using the short-circuit arrangement without an air gap the depolarisation current can be described easily, if the activation energy A, is known. There are many methods to determine the activation energy, but these require either complicated experimental work or are limited in accuracy. The present method makes possible the calculation of A from a single TSD experiment with an accuracy of 2% or better. The demonstration shows the resolution of different transitions in unplasticized PVC. 15 ref.--AA