Abstract
Except for discrepancies mentioned with respect to pressure investigations, which need future clarification, we can conclude in a general way, as follows. As far as only average parameters of macroscopic specimens are considered (complex moduli, or dielectric constants, volume or heat content etc...), the free volume concept can relate variations of molecular mobility to changes of an average free volume in a semiquantitative way. This average free volume can no longer fully characterize the wide variety of molecular motions involved in the kinetics of redistribution of holes in the liquid during recovery experiments. These kinetic processes involve a wide distribution of retardation times, which may be associated with local distribution of holes, or with that of cooperating groups of molecules, or molecular segments. On the other hand, free volume is not necessarily the fundamental molecular parameter which controls rate of configurational changes, characterized by variation of entropy of the liquid. Even if this is the case, most of the above discussion may be applied to any other average excess parameter, as far as the Doolittle equation is formally adopted, in which f/b is expressed in terms of the new parameter, rather than that of free volume. However, since relaxational free volume, as determined from the WLF equation, and independently measured volume changes are often in close agreement, this means that variations of excess entropy, or those of configurational free energy, and changes in volume are closely related. This conclusion is in agreement with that of Eisenberg and Saito, who found that the Gibbs—Dimarzio theory, based on configurational entropy, is practically equivalent with the free-volume approach. Thus, the free volume concept remains still a valuable tool for unifying different kinds of rate processes from both a theoretical and an experimental point of view, especially in the glass transition range.
Competition between Structural Relaxation and Crystallization in the Glass Transition Range of Random Copolymers
