Abstract.
Recently, we (P.A. O'Connell, G.B. McKenna, Science 307, 1760 (2005)) introduced a novel nano-bubble inflation method to measure the absolute creep compliance of nanometer thick polymer films. In that work it was shown that even at film thicknesses as small as 27.5nm the glass temperature was unchanged for poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc). Perhaps more importantly, and the subject of the present work, was the observation that these ultrathin films show a dramatic stiffening in the rubbery plateau regime, i.e., the compliance was reduced by over two orders of magnitude compared to the bulk material. In the present work we substantiate the previous results in a study of the thickness dependence of the rubbery compliance of PVAc and polystyrene (PS) films for thicknesses from 13nm to 276nm. We show the substantial stiffening of the plateau region for both materials. Furthermore, the rubbery compliance (inverse of stiffness) scales with approximately the second power ( 1.8±0.2) in the film thickness for both materials.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
P.A. O'Connell, G.B. McKenna, Science 307, 1760 (2005).
A.E. Green, Large Elastic Deformations (Oxford University Press, London, 1970).
A.S. Wineman, Trans. Soc. Rheol. 20, 203 (1976).
D.D. Joye, G.W. Poehlein, C.D. Denson, Trans. Soc. Rheol. 16, 421 (1972).
O. Hassager, S.B. Kristensen, J.R. Larsen, Neergaard, J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 88, 185 (1999).
M. Alcoutlabi, G.B. McKenna, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 17, R461 (2005).
C.L. Jackson, G.B. McKenna, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 221, 131 (1991).
J.A. Forrest, K. Dalnoki-Veress, J.R. Stevens, J.R. Dutcher, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 2002 (1996).
J.A. Forrest, K. Dalnoki-Veress, J.R. Dutcher, Phys. Rev. E 56, 5705 (1997).
K. Dalnoki-Veress, J.A. Forrest, C. Murray, C. Gigault, J.R. Dutcher, Phys. Rev. E 63, 031801 (2001).
J.S. Sharp, J.A. Forrest, Eur. Phys. J. E 12, s01, 97 (2003).
C.B. Roth, J.R. Dutcher, Eur. Phys. J. E 12, s01, 103 (2003).
J.P. Cotton, D. Decker, H. Benoit, B. Farnoux, J. Higgins, C.G. Jannink, R. Ober, V. Picot, J. des Cloizeaux, Macromolecules 7, 863 (1974).
K. Fukao, S. Uno, Y. Miyamoto, A. Hoshino, H. Miyaji, Phys. Rev. E 64, 051807 (2001).
Aquamarijn Micro Filtration B.V., Berkelkade 11, 7201 JE Zutphen, The Netherlands.
J.D. Ferry, Viscoelastic Properties of Polymers, 3rd ed. (Wiley, New York, 1980).
D.J. Plazek, Polym. J. 12, 43 (1980).
E. Suhir, Structural Analysis in Microelectronic and Fiber Optic Systems, Vol. 1, Basic Principles of Engineering Elasticity and Fundamentals of Structural Analysis (Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1991).
U. Komaragiri, M.R. Begley, J. Appl. Mech., Trans. Am. Soc. Mech. Eng. 72, 203 (2005).
J.E. Mark, Physical Properties of Polymers Handbook (AIP Press, New York, 1996).
C.J. Ellison, J.M. Torkelson, J. Polym. Sci. B 40, 2745 (2002).
C.J. Ellison, J.M. Torkelson, Nat. Mater. 2, 695 (2003).
C.J. Ellison, S.D. Kim, D.B. Hall, J.M. Torkelson, Eur. Phys. J. E 8, 155 (2002).
S.A. Hutcheson, G.B. McKenna, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 076103 (2005)
S. Ge, Y. Pu, W. Zhang, M. Rafailovich, J. Sokolov, C. Buenviaje, R. Buckmaster, R.M. Overney, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2340 (2000).
K.L. Ngai, Eur. Phys. J. E 8, 225 (2002).
Z. Fakhraai, S. Valadkhan, J.A. Forrest, Eur. Phys. J. E 18, 143 (2005).
G.B. DeMaggio, W.E. Frieze, D.W. Gidley, M. Zhu, H.A. Hristov, A.F. Yee, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 1524 (1997).
W.E. Wallace, J.H. Van Zanten, W.L. Wu, Phys. Rev. E 52, R3329 (1995).
J. Mattsson, J.A. Forrest, L. Borjesson, Phys. Rev. E 62, 5187 (2000).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
O'Connell, P.A., McKenna, G.B. Dramatic stiffening of ultrathin polymer films in the rubbery regime. Eur. Phys. J. E 20, 143–150 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2005-10125-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2005-10125-4