Molecular Transitions of Polymers at Cryogenic Temperatures: A Literature Review

Abstract

Polymer materials are used in a wide array of applications. Due to their versatility, we are constantly synthesizing new polymer materials to optimize their role in the specific applications. The applications focused on in this review all deal with cryogenic temperatures, and more specifically extreme cryogenic temperatures approaching 0 K. With new materials, comes new testing to fully understand the properties of the materials in question. This can be difficult for materials with molecular transitions. Transition here is referring to a thermally-induced rearrangement of the material structure at the molecular or nanometer scale. These rearrangements, if they exist, can lead to changes in properties which would be difficult to predict. The goal of this review is to summarize the different transitions that have been shown or predicted in literature for different polymer materials at these low temperatures.