Recent Work "Modeling the Energy Storage and Structural Evolution during Finite Viscoplastic Deformation of Glassy Polymers"
The enthalpic response of amorphous polymers depends strongly on their thermal and deformation history. Annealing just below the glass transition temperature (Tg) causes a large endothermic overshoot of the isobaric heat capacity at Tg as measured by differential scanning calorimetry, while plastic deformation (cold work) can erase this overshoot and create an exothermic undershoot. This indicates that a strong coupling exists between the polymer structure, thermal response and mechanical deformation.