| Abstract: | The low‐frequency dielectric properties of a number of polymers, composites and blends have been studied using a thermally stimulated depolarization current (TSDC) apparatus that was designed and constructed in‐house. The TSDC technique can be used to determine the glass transition of a polymer sample. This TSDC glass transition temperature has been shown to be very similar to that obtained from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The actual difference between these two values depends on the heating rates used with each technique, however. TSDC data can also be combined with AC dielectric data to produce a data set, which possesses a very wide frequency range. Finally, individual TSDC relaxation peaks can be fit with the Williams‐Walts distribution function to obtain an estimate of their distributions. This is especially useful when studying polymer blends, but could also be utilized in the study of other systems. |
