Light-Scattering Study of the Glass Transition in Lubricants

The sound velocity of four lubricants has been measured as a function of temperature and pressure using Brillouin scattering. A change in slope of the velocity as a function of temperature or pressure allowed the determination of the glass transition temperature and pressure. The glass transition data were used to construct a phase diagram for each lubricant. The data indicate that T_g increased with pressure at a rate which ranged from 120 to 200 C/GPa. The maximum pressure attained was 0.69 GPa and the temperature range was from 25 to 100 C.