Issue 22, 2024

Surface mobility gradient and emergent facilitation in glassy films

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.

Graphical abstract: Surface mobility gradient and emergent facilitation in glassy films

Associated articles

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
17 Feb 2024
Accepted
03 May 2024
First published
09 May 2024

Soft Matter, 2024,20, 4389-4394

Surface mobility gradient and emergent facilitation in glassy films

Q. Zhai, X. Gao, C. Lee, C. Ong, K. Yan, H. Deng, S. Yang and C. Lam, Soft Matter, 2024, 20, 4389 DOI: 10.1039/D4SM00221K

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