Thermally stimulated depolarization study of natural rubber and polystyrene mixtures

Abstract The glass transition of natural rubber (NR) in a mixture with polystyrene (PS) was investigated by global thermally stimulated depolarization current (t.s.d.c.) measurements and by the partial polarization technique. The experiments were carried out on samples with different NR/PS ratios and different PS particle dispersion. The activation energy ( E α ) and the approximate number of dipoles ( N ) which take part in α relaxation were determined. A simple method for approximating the N ( E α ) distribution was proposed. The results show that the presence of PS significantly decreases N as well as the width of the distribution. The agglomeration of PS particles reduces their activity. The specific influence of PS is expressed most at low PS concentrations. The results confirm the existence of attractive interactions at the NR-PS interfaces.