Enthalpy relaxation of polymers: On the possible role of liquid-crystalline order

Isothermal physical ageing experiments were performed by differential scanning calorimetry to probe the enthalpy relaxation in a methacrylate copolymer carrying azobenzene mesogenic side groups. Further evidence of the ability of the configurational entropy model developed by Gomez Ribelles in describing the structural relaxation mechanism of polymers is provided. The trend of the equilibrium structural relaxation time was also determined as a function of the reduced temperature T-g/T. The comparison of the aging dynamics of the copolymer with those of previous analogous copolymers containing different amounts of azobenzene counits allowed us to highlight effects of the liquid-crystalline nematic order on the properties of structural relaxation.