Glass transition of polydimethylsiloxane–vanadate hybrid materials studied through and NMR

Abstract Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis of quadrupolar nuclei is shown to be a robust and powerful tool for studying glass transition of elastomeric nano-composites. In the case of polydimethylsiloxane–vanadate (PDMSV) materials, single pulses on 17 O and 51 V nuclei allow an observation of the effect on the quadrupolar splitting of motional changes above the calorimetric glass transition ( 177±1 K ). Moreover, intensities of quadrupolar echoes are found sensitive to changes of motional correlation times occurring at the glass transition. Their variations give rise to consistent values of T g (=184±5 K for 17 O , =178±2 K for 51 V ). These results obtained through twin probing NMR analysis of half integer quadrupolar nuclei unambiguously confirm previous assumptions on chemical homogeneity and co-polymer effects.