Influence of the Quenching Temperature on the Dynamic Mechanical Property of Poly(Vinyl Chloride)

In this paper, we report the dynamic mechanical behavior of amorphous poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) samples that have received three different thermal treatments: (a) quenched from a temperature near calorimetric T-g, 80 degrees C; (b) quenched from a temperature above T-g, 90 degrees C; and (c) quenched from a temperature well above T-g, 130 degrees C. Dynamic mechanical measurements have been done at a heating process from about 50 to 115 degrees C, and from each run, we obtained tan phi and the storage modulus as functions of temperature for two frequencies, 10 and 1 Hz. The results clearly show that the quenching temperature has dramatic effects on the dynamic mechanical behavior of amorphous PVC and the range of physical aging is not limited to below the alpha-relaxation peak temperature (T-alpha).