On the role of the β process as precursor of the α relaxation in aromatic polyesters

By performing broad band dielectric spectroscopy measurements in a series of amorphous aromatic polyesters we show that different fast modes, contributing to the β relaxation, appear at temperatures below the glass transition temperature, Tg. At high temperatures, (T > Tg) the different β modes tend to merge and the data have to be described by a single β peak. We tentatively assign a molecular origin to each of the different β modes. But also we find a strong connection among the merged β processes and the precursor of the structural α relaxation, implying that this relaxation may posses an important degree of intra-segmental cooperativity. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.