Filtern
Erscheinungsjahr
Dokumenttyp
- Zeitschriftenartikel (18)
- Vortrag (12)
- Posterpräsentation (9)
- Buchkapitel (2)
- Monografie (1)
- Beitrag zu einem Sammelband (1)
- Beitrag zu einem Tagungsband (1)
- Dissertation (1)
Schlagworte
Organisationseinheit der BAM
Eingeladener Vortrag
- nein (12)
Thermal and Dynamic Glass Transition in Ultrathin Films of Homopolymers and a Miscible Polymer Blend
(2014)
Nowadays nanoscale thin polymer films are widely used in many fields like coatings, membranes, sensors, electronic devices and so on. Meanwhile, a lot of research work has evidenced the fact that many physical properties (glass transition, crystallization, dewetting, physical aging, etc.) of ultrathin polymer films show strong deviations from their bulk behavior. Since the aforementioned properties of polymer are closely related to their application and functionality, the discrepancies motivated us to obtain a more complete understanding of how nanoscale confinement affects the physical properties of polymer. The research work presented in this thesis is focused on understanding how the free surface (air- polymer interface), the polymer-substrate interface and the film thickness influence the glass transition temperature (Tg) and the related segmental dynamics (α-relaxation process) in both homopolymers and miscible polymer blends of thin films. Complementary experimental techniques including Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Capacitive Scanning Dilatometry (CSD), Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy (BDS) and Specific Heat Spectroscopy (SHS) have been used to investigate the glass transition of thin polymer films from both the thermodynamic and the kinetic point of view. In the thesis the film thickness dependence of Tg and segmental dynamics of different thin polymer films have been investigated. For ultrathin polycarbonate (PC) films capped between two aluminum (Al) layers an increase of both the glass transition temperature (Tg) and Vogel temperature (T0) with decreasing film thickness (d) was observed when the thickness became lower than 20 nm. The segmental relaxation time at a fixed temperature was found to increase for the ultrathin PC film of 19 nm measured by BDS, whereas no thickness dependency of the segmental dynamics was detected within the experimental error limit for the PC films supported on silicon dioxide (SiO2) (10-192 nm) in the SHS measurements. These properties are discussed in terms of the thin film geometry and the relevant interfacial interaction between the polymer and the substrate. In the case of thin polystyrene (PS) films with high molecular weight (Mw), Tg is decreasing with reducing film thickness while the segmental dynamics is independent of film thickness. Moreover, the effects of the Mw and the annealing protocol performed on thin PS films on their Tg and segmental dynamics is studied. In the part of thin poly(vinyl methyl ether) (PVME) films, no thickness dependence of the segmental dynamics was observed in the SHS measurements. The last part of the thesis was concentrated on the thin films of a miscible polymer blend, PS/PVME with the weight fraction of 50/50. It was observed that the segmental dynamics became faster with reducing the film thickness. This phenomenon is explained in terms of surface enrichment of PVME in the polymer blend system where PVME has a lower surface energy than PS. The segmental dynamics of the PVME-enriched free surface layer are faster than the bulk dynamics. Such free surface effect becomes so predominant with reducing the film thickness that it affects the segmental dynamics of the whole films detected by SHS using differential AC chip-based calorimetry. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to probe the surface composition in order to confirm such surface enrichment phenomena.
Broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS), specific heat spectroscopy (HCS) and capacitive scanning dilatometry (CSD) are used to study the glass transition and segmental dynamics in thin supported polystyrene (PS) films. Different molecular weights (Mw = 50 kg/mol, Mw = 260 kg/mol, Mw = 1408 kg/mol) and annealing protocols are employed in the study. The segmental dynamics is independent of the film thickness for each Mw in the temperature window of the dielectric measurement. The thermal glass transition temperature, Tg, measured by CSD depends on the film thickness and shows also a dependence on Mw. These observations are explained in terms of the formation of irreversibly adsorbed layer due to chain adsorption on the Al substrates during annealing.
Broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS), capacitive scanning dilatometry (CSD) and differential ac-chip calorimetry (DACC) were used to examine the glass transition and segmental dynamics of ultrathin poly(bisphenol A carbonate) (PBAC) films. An increase of Vogel temperature (T0) as well as glass transition temperature (Tg) with decreasing film thickness was observed when the thickness is less than 20 nm. Moreover, the segmental relaxation time at a fixed temperature was found to increase for the aluminium (Al) capped PBAC films (<20 nm) in the BDS measurements, whereas in the DACC measurements no thickness dependency of the segmental dynamics was detected within the experimental error limit for the supported PBAC films (10-55 nm). These properties are discussed in terms of the thin film geometry and the relevant interfacial interaction between the polymer and the substrate.
Specific heat spectroscopy in the frequency range from 1 Hz to 10³ Hz with a sensitivity of pJ K-1 was employed to study the glass transition behavior of ultrathin poly(bisphenol A carbonate) (PBAC) films with thicknesses ranging from 192 nm down to 10 nm. The amplitude and the phase angle of the complex differential voltage as a measure of the complex heat capacity were obtained as a function of temperature at a given frequency simultaneously. Both spectra are used to determine the dynamic glass transition temperature as a function of both the frequency and the film thickness. As the main result no thickness dependence of the dynamic glass transition temperature was observed down to a film thickness of 10 nm within the experimental uncertainty of ±3 K. The obtained data were compared with literature results in detail.
Specific heat spectroscopy in the frequency range typically from 1 Hz to 1 kHz with a sensitivity of pJ/K was employed to study the glass transition behavior of ultrathin poly(vinyl methyl ether) (PVME) films with thicknesses ranging from 218 nm down to 12 nm. The amplitude and the phase angle of the complex differential voltage as a measure of the complex heat capacity were obtained as a function of temperature at a given frequency simultaneously. Both spectra are used to determine the dynamic glass transition temperature as a function of both the frequency and the film thickness. As main result no thickness dependence of the dynamic glass transition temperature was observed down to a film thickness of 12 nm within the experimental uncertainty of ±2 K. Further the width of the glass transition is independent of the film thickness which indicates that the extent of the cooperativity is essentially smaller than 12 nm.