Investigation of the relaxation behavior of novel terpolymers of acrylonitrile, methyl methacylate and indene

Terpolymer samples were prepared by free radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA), indene (In) and acrylonitrile (AN) in bulk. The samples were chosen so that the molar ratio of AN to MMA varied from 1.00:4.39 to 1.00:0.83, while the molar ratio of In was kept almost unchanged. The glass transition temperatures (Tg) of the samples were determined using differential scanning calorimetry. Moreover, isochronal dynamic mechanical measurements of the complex bending modulus as well as the complex dielectric permittivity were carried out over wide temperature ranges, namely from 50 to 190 °C, depending on the material investigated. All samples exhibited a single common Tg value, which increased to higher temperature upon increasing the content of AN. In addition, the results were investigated quantitatively in the framework of a molecular model. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry