Cooperative rearranging regions in polymeric materials: Relationship with the fragility of glass-forming liquids

From measurements performed on different polymeric glass-forming liquids using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), we determined the values of the fragility index m according to the concept proposed by Angell. We calculated the average size of a cooperative rearranging region (CRR) at the glass transition i.e. z(Tg), according to the definition proposed by Solunov. This quantity is linked to the Kauzmann temperature which was determined from dielectric spectroscopy or viscosimetry measurements performed on different samples including three-dimensional polymeric networks and linear polymer families with variable lateral chain lengths. By using our experimental data and others collected in the literature in order to scan a large domain of fragility values, we show that the fragility index m, characterising the glass-forming liquid, can be correlated to z(Tg) which characterises the glass formed.