Molecular dynamics in polymer networks containing caprolactone and ethylene glycol moieties studied by dielectric relaxation spectroscopy

Abstract

Copolymer networks with methacrylate main chain and caprolactone and ethylene glycol side groups were obtained by free radical copolymerisation of caprolactone methacrylate (CLMA) and poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (PEGMA). Dielectric relaxation spectroscopy was used to analyse molecular mobility of the different groups in the system. Only one main dielectric relaxation process was found in CLMA/PEGMA copolymer networks, located between those of the corresponding homonetworks, indicating that the system does not present phase separation. The copolymers show a secondary relaxation process at temperatures below −50 °C, which can be assigned to the overlapping of the corresponding secondary processes for the homopolymer networks; one of them was related to the local mobility of caprolactone units in CLMA and the second one was assigned to the twisting motions within ethylene glycol moiety in PEGMA. Besides the relaxation processes, the mobility of space charges has been analysed by means of conductivity and electric modulus formalisms.