This presentation explores the differences in physical properties between glassy polymer films that are extremely thin (tens of nanometers) versus those that are thick enough to reflect a bulk state (tens of microns).  In addition, a comparison will be made between free-standing films versus glassy polymer layers in a co-extruded multilayer construction.  Their behavior will be characterized by gas permeation measurements and ellipsometry.  A main issue is that, in some cases, very thin films of glassy polymers densify (or physically age) with time much faster than observations on thicker films would suggest.  This means that the properties of these thin films can be very different from bulk films.  The techniques, interpretations and implications of these observations will be discussed at length.

Properties of thick vs. thin glassy polymer films

245th National Meeting (2013)

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