Investigation of the shear-mechanical and dielectric relaxation processes in two mono-alcohols close to the glass transition

TL;DR

This study compares shear-mechanical and dielectric relaxation processes in two mono-alcohols near the glass transition, revealing that dielectric Debye-type relaxation aligns with structural alpha relaxation, while mechanical signatures are minimal.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the relationship between dielectric and mechanical relaxations in mono-alcohols, highlighting the dominance of non-Debye dielectric processes in structural relaxation.

Findings

Dielectric Debye-type peak corresponds to structural alpha relaxation.

Mechanical relaxation spectra show both alpha and beta processes.

Relaxation strength of Debye-type process is less than 3% of total.

Abstract

Shear-mechanical and dielectric measurements on the two monohydroxy (mono-alcohol) molecular glass formers 2-ethyl-1-hexanol and 2-butanol close to the glass transition temperature are presented. The shear-mechanical data are obtained using the piezoelectric shear-modulus gauge method covering frequencies from 1mHz to 10kHz. The shear-mechanical relaxation spectra show two processes, which follow the typical scenario of a structural (alpha) relaxation and an additional (Johari-Goldstein) beta relaxation. The dielectric relaxation spectra are dominated by a Debye-type peak with an additional non-Debye peak visible. This Debye-type relaxation is a common feature peculiar to mono-alcohols. The time scale of the non-Debye dielectric relaxation process is shown to correspond to the mechanical structural (alpha) relaxation. Glass-transition temperatures and fragilities are reported based on the mechanical alpha relaxation and the dielectric Debye-type process, showing that the two glass-transition temperatures differ by approximately 10K and that the fragility based on the Debye-type process is a factor of two smaller than the structural fragility. If a mechanical signature of the Debye-type relaxation exists in these liquids, its relaxation strength is at most 1% and 3% of the full relaxation strength of 2-butanol and 2-ethyl-1-hexanol respectively. These findings support the notion that it is the non-Debye dielectric relaxation process that corresponds to the structural alpha relaxation in the liquid.