Aims: A simple and easy optical method is proposed for the determination of glass transition temperature (Tg) of polymers.
Methods & results: Tg was determined using the technique of microsphere imaging to monitor the variation of the refractive index of polymer microsphere as a function of temperature. It was demonstrated that the method can eliminate most thermal lag and has sensitivity about six fold higher than the conventional method in Tg determination. So the determined Tg is more accurate and varies less with cooling/heating rate than that obtained by conventional methods. The most attractive character of the method is that it can simultaneously determine the Tg of several polymers in a single experiment, so it can greatly save experimental time and heating energy.
Conclusion: The method is not only applicable for polymer microspheres, but also for the materials with arbitrary shapes. Therefore, it is expected to be broadly applied to different fundamental researches and practical applications of polymers.