Nondestructive Measurement of a Glass Transition Temperature at Spin-Cast Semicrystalline Polymer Surfaces

Despite the importance of glass-forming materials, the glass transition itself remains poorly understood. Although the glass transition is not a thermodynamic phase transition, derivative thermodynamic quantities such as thermal expansion and volume-dependent properties such as the refractive index...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Macromolecules 2001-04, Vol.34 (8), p.2395-2397
Main Authors: Hyun, J, Aspnes, D. E, Cuomo, J. J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Exact sciences and technology
Organic polymers
Physicochemistry of polymers
Properties and characterization
Surface properties
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Summary:Despite the importance of glass-forming materials, the glass transition itself remains poorly understood. Although the glass transition is not a thermodynamic phase transition, derivative thermodynamic quantities such as thermal expansion and volume-dependent properties such as the refractive index show discontinuities as this condition is reached. Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) a semicrystalline polymer composed of crystallites embedded in an amorphous polymer matrix, and it exhibits strong optical absorption in the ultraviolet. This allows us to tailor the penetration depth of light with wavelength, which in turn allows us the opportunity to investigate the glass transition in both bulk and surface regions of the same sample by examining the optical properties at both short and long wavelengths. Here, we use ellipsometry to monitor these transitions.
ISSN:0024-9297
1520-5835
DOI:10.1021/ma0012797