Some factors affecting the location of the (above Tg) peak in thermally stimulated depolarization currents in polystyrene

For polystyrene, independent measurements of dielectric relaxation time T determined from the TSD p peak and of conductivity a show that the relation στ= εoε holds. Space charge p peaks are known to be hard to reproduce in TSD experiments. Factors such as electrode⁻ sample contact, applied voltage, sample preparation and number of free charge carriers are examined separately and lead to consistent results. In polystyrene containing 1% sodium acetate segregation occurs at high temperature and the ρ peak resembles that of the parent polystyrene. When the salt is well dispersed this is no longer the case.