The segmental dynamics of 1.5–2.0 nm polymer films confined between parallel solid surfaces is investigated with dielectric spectroscopy in polymer/silicate intercalated nanocomposites. The confinement effect is evident by the observation of a mode, much faster than the bulk-polymer $\alpha$ relaxation and exhibiting much weaker temperature dependence. This is discussed in relation to either the interlayer spacing restricting the cooperative volume of the $\alpha$ relaxation or to the dominance of the more mobile interphase regions as predicted by simulations; the data qualitatively support the former.

Molecular dynamics simulations were performed for a series of ${\mathrm{AB}}_{\mathrm{2}}$ dendrimer models, in explicit-solvent solutions where the ratio $R_g\mathrm{/L}$ ${\mathrm{(R}}_g$ is the radius of gyration and $L$ the size of the simulation box) is kept between ${\text{0.15⩽R}}_g\text{/L⩽0.2.}$ Results on static properties (size, shape, density profiles) are in good agreement with recent theoretical and experimental studies. Dynamic properties are systematically investigated on the local and entire molecule length scale. The dynamic characteristics of the examined models capture the qualitative behavior observed experimentally in dendrimer molecules. The systematic and comparative nature of this study affords detailed insight into the origin and the relative contribution of different relaxational mechanisms in the observed dynamic spectra.

We recently proposed a concentration fluctuation model to describe the segmental dynamics of miscible polymer blends [Kumar et al., J. Chem. Phys. 105, 3777 (1996)]. This model assumes the existence of a cooperative volume, similar to that in the Adam-Gibbs picture of the glass transition, over which segments have to reorganize in a concerted fashion to facilitate stress relaxation. No molecular theory exists for the cooperative volume. Consequently, here we critically compare two alternative functional dependences for this quantity in the context of the segmental dynamics of the most extensively studied miscible polymer blend, 1,4-polyisoprene (PI) and polyvinylethylene (PVE): (a) The Donth model, which assumes the Vogel form for the temperature dependence of relaxation processes, with a relaxation time that diverges at the Vogel temperature, roughly 50 K below the glass transition, and (b) a more recent dynamic scaling model that predicts the relaxation time diverges algebraically, only about 10 K below the glass transition. We find that the dynamic scaling model provides a near-quantitative description of the segmental relaxation in PI/PVE blends. In contrast, the Donth model predicts that the relaxation time spectrum for PI, the faster relaxing component, is bimodal, in qualitative disagreement with NMR experiments and our dielectric measurements reported here. Our results therefore emphasize two findings. First, our model can describe the segmental relaxations of the components of a polymer blend in a near-quantitative manner. Second, and more fundamentally, it appears that the dynamic scaling model describes segmental dynamics of polymers near their glass transition.

A model based on a single Brownian particle moving in a periodic effective field is used to understand the non-Gaussian dynamics in glassy systems of cage escape and subsequent recaging, often thought to be caused by a heterogeneous glass structure. The results are compared to molecular-dynamics simulations of systems with varying complexity: quasi-two-dimensional colloidlike particles, atactic polystyrene, and a dendritic glass. The model nicely describes generic features of all three topologically different systems, in particular around the maximum of the non-Gaussian parameter. This maximum is a measure for the average distance between cages.