Influence of the glass transition on the secondary relaxation of an epoxy resin

Abstract

The dynamics of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA) was studied by employing broadband dielectric spectroscopy over a wide temperature range extending from below to above the glass-transition temperature. Dielectric spectra reveal the existence of two relaxation processes: the structural relaxation, slowing down for decreasing temperature and freezing at $T_g$, and a secondary process present in both liquid and glassy phase. Above the glass transition the temperature behavior of the structural relaxation time is properly described by a Vogel-Fulcher-Tamman equation with the singularity at $T_0$=234 K. The analysis of the variation of the relaxation strength versus temperature of both processes clearly shows the onset of the structural relaxation at $T_{\mathrm{on}}$≈350 K. Below this temperature the two relaxations progressively separate their time scales and change their shapes. The occurrence of the glass-transition phenomenon is markedly evidenced by the changes of the relaxation strength and of the low-frequency slope of the secondary relaxation.