Title: master curve
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - master curve
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.12784
Status: current

Definition
Viscoelastic spectrum of a polymer or polymer material constructed using the time–temperature superposition (TTS) principle, so that the spectrum covers a wide range of lengths of time or frequencies of measurement.

Note
A master curve is usually constructed by superimposing a sequence of isothermal measurements of a viscoelastic property vs. time.

Related Terms
- Viscoelastic spectrum: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12817
- Williams–Landel–Ferry equation: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12821
- time–temperature superposition principle: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12813

Source
- PAC, 2013, 85, 1017. 'Glossary of terms relating to thermal and thermomechanical properties of polymers (IUPAC Recommendations 2013)' on page 1032 (https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REC-12-03-02)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12784/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12784/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12784/xml

Citation: Citation: 'master curve' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.12784
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Accessed: 2026-08-09T08:15:39+00:00