Glass Transition and Structure Relaxation Parameters of Glycerol/Water Mixtures with High Concentrations: A DSC Study

In order to examine the effects of water contents and heating/cooling rates on the glass transition and the structure relaxation parameters of glycerol/water mixtures, five aqueous solutions (60%, 70%, 80%, 90% and 100%) were investigated using the differential scanning calorimetry. Four scanning rates (10, 15, 20, 25 K/min) were used to obtain the glass transition parameters. The fitting results of plasticization constants indicated that Gordon-Taylor relationship could not be used effectively without considering scanning rates and that point on calorimetric step was chosen as the glass transition temperature. The specific heat changes during glass transition processes were relative not only to water content but also to heating rates. With the increasing of water contents in glycerol aqueous solutions, the structure relaxation activation energies and dynamic fragilities were decreased. Since the thermodynamic fragilities were increased with the increasing of water content, so the dynamic fragility and thermodynamic fragility were changed inversely if the water contents were changed in glycerol/water mixtures.