Abstract Submitted for the MAR08 Meeting of The American Physical Society Vibrational Spectroscopy of Polymers at High Pressures1

Submitted for the MAR08 Meeting of The American Physical Society Vibrational Spectroscopy of Polymers at High Pressures1 ERIK EMMONS, K.C. CHIARTKUNCHAND, RICHARD KRAUS, JEFFREY THOMPSON, AARON COVINGTON, Physics Department and Nevada Terawatt Facility, University of Nevada, Reno — Vibrational spectroscopy of polymers at highpressures (>1 GPa) is an interesting but relatively unexplored field. Early studies by Bridgman in the 1940s revealed a crystalline phase transition in only one polymeric material, poly (tetrafluoroethylene), at high pressures. Since that time, however, there have been relatively few studies of high-pressure polymorphism in polymers, with the exception of experiments on polyethylene. Hence, there is still not a clear picture of how common structural phase transitions are at high pressure in polymeric materials, in contrast to the situation for small organic molecules. The results of high-pressure vibrational spectroscopic studies of semi-crystalline polymeric materials such as αand β-poly (vinylidene fluoride) will be presented. 1Research supported by the U.S. DOE under grant DE-FC52-06NA27616 at UNR. Erik Emmons University of Nevada, Reno Date submitted: 26 Nov 2007 Electronic form version 1.4