Surface mobility gradient and emergent facilitation in glassy films

Zhai, Qiang, Gao, Xin-Yuan, Lee, Chun-Shing, Ong, Chin-Yuan, Yan, Ke, Deng, Hai-Yao ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6065-483X, Yang, Sen and Lam, Chi-Hang 2024. Surface mobility gradient and emergent facilitation in glassy films. Soft Matter 20 (22) , pp. 4389-4394. 10.1039/D4SM00221K Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Confining glassy polymers into films can substantially modify their local and film-averaged properties. We present a lattice model of film geometry with void-mediated facilitation behaviors but free from any elasticity effect. We analyze the spatially varying viscosity to delineate the transport properties of glassy films. The film mobility measurements reported by Yang et al., Science, 2010, 328, 1676 are successfully reproduced. The flow exhibits a crossover from a simple viscous flow to a surface-dominated regime as the temperature decreases. The propagation of a highly mobile front induced by the free surface is visualized in real space. Our approach provides a microscopic treatment of the observed glassy phenomena.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Publisher:	Royal Society of Chemistry
ISSN:	1744-683X
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	17 June 2024
Date of Acceptance:	3 May 2024
Last Modified:	09 Nov 2024 18:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/169862

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