tion in crystallinity and hence an increase in the fraction of the amorphous phase. Consequently, the βa process would be expected to intensify. Quenching also generates smaller crystallites and increases the concentration of do-main walls and their contribution should also enhance the βa process. Fig. 10 compares the isothermal dielectric spectra of annealed and quenched P(VDF-TrFE) in the glass transition region. The strength of the βa relaxation in the quenched sample is about 25% larger than that in the spectra of the annealed one, and the dielectric constant ε of the former is consistently higher than that of the lat-ter at −10◦C. Similar enhancement of the βa process for
quenched P(VDF-TrFE) is also observed at other tem-peratures. As will be demonstrated later, quenching the ferroelectric relaxor terpolymer leads to quite different dielectric behavior, where quenching results in a reduc-tion of both the real and imaginary dielectric constants associated with this relaxation process.