Polymeric Systems Under External Thermal Stress Studied by FTIR Technique

Background: Temperature behavior of a class of PolyEthylene Oxide and Ethylene Glycol (EG) by means of InfraRed spectroscopy as a function of temperature and concentration. Methods: EG and PEO with Mw of 1000 were purchased from Aldrich-Chemie; To collect the FTIR spectra in the 39 degrees C-80 degrees C temperature range by means of a FTIR Vertex 70V spectrometer by Bruker Optics. Spectra were obtained using an average of 36 scans with a resolution of 4 cm(-1) in a window range of 400 / 4000 cm(-1). Each measure was performed under vacuum in order to minimize spectral contributions due to residual water vapor and finally the data were processed through the OPUS/Mentor software interface, Mathematica and Matlab. Results: The addition of EG to PEO increases the thermal restraint of the polymeric matrix due an increase of the H-bond connectivity. Conclusion: The analysis highlights an increased H-bonded connectivity in the polymeric mixture, which determines a higher resistance to temperature changes of the mixture.