Enthalpy relaxation and annealing effect in polystyrene.

The effects of thermal history on the enthalpy relaxation in polystyrene are studied by differential scanning calorimetry. The temperature dependence of the specific heat in the liquid and the glassy states, that of relaxation time, and the exponent of the Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts function are determined by measurements of the thermal response against sinusoidal temperature variation. A phenomenological model equation previously proposed to interpret the memory effect in the frozen state is applied to the enthalpy relaxation and the evolution of entropy under a given thermal history is calculated. The annealing below the glass transition temperature produces two effects on enthalpy relaxation: the decay of excess entropy with annealing time in the early stage of annealing and the increase in relaxation time due to physical aging in the later stage. The crossover of these effects is reflected in the variation of temperature of the maximum specific heat observed in the heating process after annealing and cooling.