Issue 17, 2011

Influence of backbone rigidity on the surface rheology of acrylic Langmuir polymer films

Abstract

We present an experimental study on the surface rheology of ultrathin films of poly(tert-butylacrylate) (PTBA) and poly(tert-butylmethacrylate) (PTBMA) for which steric hindrance imposed by the methyl group leads to a large intrinsic rigidity of the polymer chain. Whilst PTBA films show weak temperature dependence, PTBMA films undergo a solid–liquid transition at a temperature well below Tg, the glass transition temperature of the bulk polymer. The peculiar behaviour observed for the shear moduli beyond the fluid–solid transition is similar to that observed recently with dispersions of soft colloidal spheres [D. A. Sessoms, et al., Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A, 2009, 367, 5013–5032], where, upon cooling, the system undergoes first a glass transition, followed by a jamming transition. The transition that we observe in PTBMA films could be similar or, alternatively, could be analogous to the glass transition of the bulk polymer.

Graphical abstract: Influence of backbone rigidity on the surface rheology of acrylic Langmuir polymer films

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
24 Feb 2011
Accepted
11 Apr 2011
First published
16 May 2011

Soft Matter, 2011,7, 7754-7760

Influence of backbone rigidity on the surface rheology of acrylic Langmuir polymer films

L. R. Arriaga, F. Monroy and D. Langevin, Soft Matter, 2011, 7, 7754 DOI: 10.1039/C1SM05338H

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