Study on the α- and β-relaxations and their relations in poly(5-acryloxymethyl-5-ethyl-1,3-dioxacyclohexane) (PAMED)

The dielectric losses of poly(5-acryloxymethyl-5-ethyl-1,3-dioxacyclohexane) (PAMED) synthesized by us are investigated by fitting them using a single Cole-Cole relation or a superposition of a Havriliak-Negami relation and a Cole-Cole relation, respectively, in a wide frequency and temperature range. The β-relaxation intensity increases with increasing temperature but after a crossover temperature T*, it drops slightly. Meanwhile, the α-relaxation strength always decreases and becomes zero at T*. The above mentioned results can be explained by a scenario that the glass-formers in the supercooled liquid and in the glassy state consist of spatially and dynamically heterogeneous solid-like and liquid-like clusters.