Reduction of polymer surface tension by crystallized polymer nanoparticles
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Date
2010-10-14
Authors
Thompson, Russell
Park, Chul B.
Chen, P.
Advisor
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AIP Publishing
Abstract
Self-consistent field theory is applied to investigate the effects of crystallized polymer nanoparticles
on polymer surface tension. It is predicted that the nanoparticles locate preferentially at the polymer
surface and significantly reduce the surface tension, in agreement with experiment. In addition to the
reduction of surface tension, the width of the polymer surface is found to narrow. The reduced width
and surface tension are due to the smaller spatial extent of the nanoparticles compared to the
polymer. This allows the interface to become less diffuse and so reduces the energies of interaction
at the surface, which lowers the surface tension. The solubility of the surrounding solvent phase into
the polymer melt is mostly unchanged, a very slight decrease being detectable. The solubility is
constant because away from the interface, the system is homogeneous and the replacement of
polymer with nanoparticles has little effect.
Description
Copyright (2010) AIP Publishing. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP
Publishing.
The following article appeared in Journal of Chemical Physics 133 and may be found at http://dx.doi.org.proxy.lib.uwaterloo.ca/10.1063/1.3493334
Keywords
Self-consistent field theory, polymer, surface tension