Related papers: Rubbery layer on polystyrene surface well below th…
Thin polymer films have striking dynamical properties that differ from their bulk counterparts. With the simple geometry of a stepped polymer film on a substrate, we probe mobility above and below the glass transition temperature…
We describe a series of surface levelling experiments in glassy polystyrene (PS) of varying molecular weight. The evolution through a mobile surface layer is described by the glassy thin film equation that was introduced and used in a…
The free surface of glassy polymers exhibits enhanced segmental dynamics compared to the bulk, forming a liquid-like layer that lowers the glass transition temperature (Tg) in nanometersized polymer samples. Recent studies have shown that…
We measure the isothermal rejuvenation of stable glass films of poly(styrene) and poly(methylmethacrylate). We demonstrate that the propagation of the front responsible for the transformation to a supercooled-liquid state can serve as a…
We perform molecular dynamics simulations of an idealized polymer melt surrounding a nanoscopic filler particle to probe the effects of a filler on the local melt structure and dynamics. We show that the glass transition temperature $T_g$…
Free surfaces in glassy polymer films are known to induce surface mobile layers with enhanced dynamics. Using molecular dynamics simulations of a bead-spring model, we study a wide variety of layer-resolved structural and dynamical…
Thin liquid films on surfaces are part of our everyday life, they serve e.g. as coatings or lubricants. The stability of a thin layer is governed by interfacial forces, described by the effective interface potential, and has been subject of…
The mechanical response of rubbers has been ubiquitously assumed to be only a function of the imposed strain. Using innovative X-ray measurements capturing the three-dimensional spatial volumetric strain fields, we demonstrate that rubbers…
Despite their technological relevance, a full microscopic understanding of glasses is still lacking. This applies even more to their surfaces whose properties largely differ from that of the bulk material. Here, we experimentally…
Motivated by recent experimental results on glassy polymer nanoparticles, we develop a minimal theoretical framework for the glass transition in spherical confinement. This is accomplished using our cooperative-string model for supercooled…
We have studied the liquid-like response of the surface of vapour-deposited glassy films of polystyrene to the introduction of gold nanoparticles on the surface. The build-up of polymer material was measured as a function of time and…
Soft membranes are commonly employed in shape-morphing applications, where the material is programmed to achieve a target shape upon activation by an external trigger, and as coating layers that alter the surface characteristics of bulk…
Stability of lubricating fluid infused slippery surfaces is a concern for scientists and engineers and attempts are being made for its improvement. Lubricating oil coated slippery surface for aqueous drops is one of the important candidates…
A directed polymer is considered on a flat substrate with randomly located parallel ridges. It prefers to lie inside wide regions between the ridges. When the transversel width $W=\exp(\lambda L^{1/3})$ is exponential in the longitudinal…
Soft solids and their surface deformations control the response of many natural and artificial systems. Yet, their underlying properties are vigorously debated, particularly for polymer networks. While molecular-scale theories predict no…
The presence of a viscoelastic mechanism distinctly different from the segmental a-relaxation and the Rouse modes within the glass-rubber transition zone of polymers had been justified by theoretical considerations, and subsequently…
Confining glassy polymer into films can substantially modify their local and film-averaged properties. We present a lattice model of film geometry with void-mediated facilitation behaviors but free from any elasticity effect. We analyze the…
A simple and predictive model is put forward explaining the experimentally observed substantial shift of the glass transition temperature, Tg, of sufficiently thin polymer films. It focuses on the limit of small molecular weight, where…
The deformation kinetics for glassy polymers confined in microscopic domain at very low temperature regime was investigated using a transition-rate-state dependent model considering the shear thinning behavior which means, once material…
Motivated by recent experimental studies probing i) the existence of a mobile layer at the free surface of glasses, and ii) the capillary leveling of polymer nanofilms, we study the evolution of square-wave patterns at the free surface of a…