Thermal variation of free‐volumes size distribution in polypropylenes. Probed by positron annihilation lifetime technique

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Abstract
Positron annihilation lifetime measurement was applied to the study of free‐volume properties in three kinds of polypropylene as a function of temperature in the range of 25–180°C at thermal equilibrium. Positron lifetime data for polypropylenes were analyzed with a Laplace inversion technique in order to obtain continuous positron annihilation lifetime (PAL) distributions. At each temperature, four distinct PAL distributions were recognized. The distribution of the longest lived component was associated with a pick‐off annihilation of ortho‐positronium (o‐Ps) trapped in free‐volume of amorphous region, which grew bigger as the temperature increased. The hole radius distributions of free‐volumes were estimated from the results of o‐Ps lifetime distributions. A detailed analysis showed a mean radius of free volumes was 0.34 nm at room temperature and that was 0.42 nm near the melting point for each specimen. The distributions of hole radii of free volumes were found to be broader after thermal treatments. The relaxation of free volumes was attributed to the thermal equilibrium and the evacuation of included molecules in free volumes. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.