Mlynarczyk, Paul John2014-05-202014-05-202014-05-20http://hdl.handle.net/2097/17782A polymer has drastically different physical properties above versus below some characteristic temperature. For this reason, the precise identification of this glass transition temperature, T[subscript]g, is critical in evaluating product feasibility for a given application. The objective of this report is to review the behavior of polymers near their T[subscript]g and assess the capability of predicting T[subscript]g using theoretical and empirical models. It was determined that all polymers begin to undergo structural relaxation at various temperatures both nearly above and below T[subscript]g, and that practical assessment of a single consistent T[subscript]g is successfully performed through consideration of only immediate thermal history and thermodynamic properties. It was found that the best quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) models accurately predict T[subscript]g of polymers of theoretically infinite chain length with an average error of less than 20 K or about 6%, while T[subscript]g prediction for shorter polymers must be done by supplementing these T[subscript]g (∞) values with configurational entropy or molecular weight relational models. These latter models were found to be reliable only for polymers of molecular weight greater than about 2,000 g/mol and possessing a T[subscript]g (∞) of less than about 400 K.en-USStructural relaxationPolymer scienceGlass transition temperatureQuantitative structure-property relationshipReportChemical Engineering (0542)Polymer Chemistry (0495)