Some evidence against the existence of the liquid‐liquid transition. II. Properties of and measurements with a torsional braid analyzer

A torsional braid analyzer (TBA) has been constructed for an investigation into the behavior of this instrument. An explanation was desired for the presence of the proposed second liquid‐liquid transition T ′ ll peak in the log decrement–temperature curve of a low‐molecular‐weight polystyrene whose loss tangent increases monotonically as a function of increasing temperature at constant frequency. The response of the TBA was studied as a function of amplitude of oscillation, the nature of the braid, the braid tension, frequency, and the nature of the impregnant. All of the braids examined were shown to be extremely nonlinear in their response. Two peaks in the damping of the composite system as a function of temperature are attributed to the interaction between the impregnant properties and the nonlinear response of the glass fiber braid.