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Glass transition temperature of freely-standing films of atactic poly(methyl methacrylate)

The European Physical Journal E volume 12, pages 103–107 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract.

We have used ellipsometry to measure the glass transition temperature T g of high molecular weight (M w =790 × 103), freely-standing films of atactic poly(methyl methacrylate) (a-PMMA), as well as films of the same polymer supported on two different substrates: the native oxide layer of silicon (Si) and gold-covered Si. We observe linear reductions in T g with decreasing film thickness h for the freely-standing PMMA films with 30 nm <h<100 nm, which is qualitatively similar to previous results obtained for freely-standing polystyrene (PS) films. However the magnitude of the T g reductions for PMMA is much less than for freely-standing films of PS of comparable molecular weight and thickness. We also find that for films supported on either substrate, with thicknesses as small as 30 nm, the T g values do not deviate substantially from the value measured for thick films.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and the Guelph-Waterloo Physics Institute, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1

    C.B. Roth & J.R. Dutcher

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  1. C.B. Roth
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  2. J.R. Dutcher
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Roth, C., Dutcher, J. Glass transition temperature of freely-standing films of atactic poly(methyl methacrylate). Eur. Phys. J. E 12, 103–107 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjed/e2003-01-024-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjed/e2003-01-024-2

PACS codes.

  • 36.20.-r - Macromolecules and polymer molecules
  • 64.70.Pf - Glass transitions
  • 68.60.Bs - Mechanical and acoustic properties of thin films