AUTHOR=Sanz Alejandro , Linares Amelia , García-Gutiérrez Mari Cruz , Nogales Aurora , Paszkiewicz Sandra , Zubkiewicz Agata , Szymczyk Anna , Ezquerra Tiberio A. 

TITLE=Relaxation Dynamics of Biomass-Derived Copolymers With Promising Gas-Barrier Properties

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2022.921787

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2022.921787

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=<p>This article presents an experimental study on the relaxation dynamics of a series of random copolymers based on bio-friendly comonomers with interesting gas barrier properties. We analyze the relaxation response in the glassy and ultraviscous regime of poly (trimethylene furanoate/sebacate) random copolymers via dielectric spectroscopy. We report lower values of dynamic fragility [a dimensionless index introduced in 1985 (Angell, Relaxations in Complex Systems, 1985)] in comparison to popular polyesters widely used in industry, such as poly (ethylene terephthalate), suggesting that the amorphous phase of these furanoate-based polyesters adopt an efficient chain packing. This is consistent with their low permeability to gases. We also discuss on different equations (phenomenological and theory-based approaches) for fitting the temperature-evolution of the alpha relaxation time.</p>