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We present an investigation of the effect of the interaction between a thin polystyrene film and its supporting substrate on its glass transition temperature (Tg). We modulate this interaction by depositing the film on end-tethered…
The advances in new technologies have prompted the need for functional systems smaller than the gyration radius of polymer chains. Thus, understanding how nanoconfinement affects polymer properties has been the focus of a lot of research…
Polymeric thin films of various thicknesses, confined between two repulsive walls, have been studied by molecular dynamics simulations. Using the anisotropy of the perpendicular and parallel components of the pressure tensor the surface…
The glass transition temperature $T_{\rm g}$ and the temperature $T_{\alpha}$ corresponding to the peak in the dielectric loss due to the $\alpha$-process have been simultaneously determined as functions of film thickness d through…
Ultra-thin crystal targets in shape of self-supporting membranes were produced for our experiments with parametric x-rays emitted by low-energy electrons. Concise description of the technology developed for production of silicon crystal…
A new concept of micromachines has been developed for measuring the mechanical properties of thin metallic films. The actuator is a beam undergoing large internal stresses built up during the deposition process. Al thin films are deposited…
We tune the thermodynamics of hydrogen absorption in Mg by means of elastic clamping. The loading isotherms measured by hydrogenography show that Mg films covered with Mg-alloy-forming elements, such as Pd and Ni, have hydrogen plateau…
Gels are used to design bilayered structures with high residual stresses. The swelling of a thin layer on a compliant substrate leads to compressive stresses. The post-buckling of this layer is investigated experimentally; the wavelengths…
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…
Hyper-viscoelastic polymers have multiple areas of application including aerospace, biomedicine, and automotive. Their mechanical responses are therefore extremely important to understand, particularly because they exhibit strong rate and…
Equilibration of polymer melts containing highly entangled long polymer chains in confinement or with free surfaces is a challenge for computer simulations. We approach this problem by first studying polymer melts based on the soft-sphere…
To engineer strain relaxation of sputtered BST thin films on Pt-Si wafers, homo-buffer layer method was applied to eliminate Pt hillock formation. Thin BST homo-buffer layers were deposited at room temperature and subsequently the main BST…
Shatterproof polymer films are widely for windows used because they can be easily installed on existing glass windows to improve safety. Applying them to glass plates has been reported to not only prevent fragments from scattering but also…
Specific heat of polycrystalline BaTiO3 thin films on the fused quartz substrate was measured by ac-hot probe method. Phase transition temperature, excess entropy and spontaneous polarization were determined as a function of film thickness…
We describe an alternating current method to measure the Nernst effect in superconducting thin films at low temperatures. The Nernst effect is an important tool in the understanding superconducting fluctuations and, in particular, vortex…
A hydrostatically stressed soft elastic film circumvents the imposed constraint by undergoing a morphological instability, the wavelength of which is dictated by the minimization of the surface and the elastic strain energies of the film.…
The $\alpha$-process (segmental motion) of thin polystyrene films supported on glass substrate has been investigated in a wider frequency range from 10$^{-3}$ Hz to 10$^4$ Hz using dielectric relaxation spectroscopy and thermal expansion…
Simulations are used to examine the microscopic origins of strain hardening in polymer glasses. While stress-strain curves for a wide range of temperature can be fit to the functional form predicted by entropic network models, many other…
In a fusion reactor internally coated with liquid metal, it will be important to diagnose the thickness of the liquid at various locations in the vessel, as a function of time, and possibly respond to counteract undesired bulging or…
The glass transition temperature and relaxation dynamics of the segmental motions of thin films of polystyrene labeled with a dye, 4-[N-ethyl-N-(hydroxyethyl)]amino-4-nitraozobenzene (Disperse Red 1, DR1) are investigated using dielectric…