Segmental relaxation in linear vs circular polymers

Cyclic polymers lack free end groups and generally possess lower viscosities, higher glass transition temperatures (Tg’s), greater thermal stability and faster crystallization rates than comparable linear polymers. Until the early 2010’s, there was limited interest in this field because of difficulties in making cyclic polymers with negligible linear impurities. However, synthetic approaches have evolved drastically with the introduction of new techniques, catalysts and methods. This has led to an uptake of interest in cyclic polymer properties and potential applications. This experiment focused on characterising the segmental relaxation of high and low molecular weight linear and cyclic polymers via quasielastic neutron scattering.