Experimental evidence against the existence of an ideal glass transition

The absolute liquid heat capacity of poly(alpha-methyl styrene) was determined at temperatures far below T-g and T-K in previous work by use of pentamer/polymer athermal mixtures. Here the data is compared to data compiled by Wunderlich and coworkers from 0 K to above T-g in order to obtain the absolute entropy for the polymer in its equilibrium state at temperatures as much as 180 K below the glass temperature or 130 K below the Kauzmann temperature. The results provide no evidence of a second-order transition or of a smeared transition in the entropy. In addition, we find no evidence that the entropy would become negative at a finite temperature. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.