Dynamics of density fluctuations of a glass-forming epoxy resin revealed by Brillouin light scattering

Brillouin light scattering is used for studying the spectrum of density fluctuations of the glass-forming epoxy resin diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A. Spectra at different temperatures ranging from the glassy to the liquid phase are obtained from a direct subtraction of depolarized from polarized spectra. In addition to the structural relaxation, evidence is given of a fast secondary relaxation process, which affects Brillouin spectra also at temperatures lower than that of the glass transition T-g. For the elaboration of isotropic spectra, we exploit the possibility of using the same relaxation function gained from dielectric spectra taken from the same sample. The temperature behavior of the relaxation strength shows the existence of an onset for the structural relaxation, located at a temperature about 93 K higher than T-g, consistent with the results of previous dielectric spectroscopy and depolarized light scattering investigations. The role of secondary relaxations of intramolecular nature in the mode-coupling analysis of real glass formers is also discussed.