https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2009-00900-5
Dewetting as an investigative tool for studying properties of thin polymer films
1
Institut de Chimie des Surfaces et Interfaces, UHA-CNRS, 68057 Mulhouse Cedex, France
2
Laboratoire de Physicochimie des Polymères, Centre d'Innovation et de Recherche en Matériaux Polymères (CIRMAP), Université de Mons Hainaut, 20 place du Parc, 7000 Mons, Belgium
3
Materia Nova Asbl, Parc Initialis, 1 avenue N. Copernic, 7000 Mons, Belgium
4
Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie Théorique, UMR CNRS Gulliver 7083, ESPCI, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
Corresponding author: guenter.reiter@physik.uni-freiburg.de
Employing mass conservation, time-resolved dewetting experiments of thin polymer films allow to determine in real time the dynamic contact angle and the slippage length. Moreover, based on a systematic variation of interfacial properties of a polymer brush, dewetting makes it possible to calculate the force it needs to extract a single polymer chain from its own melt. In the visco-elastic regime close to the glass transition, the temperature and molecular weight dependence of the relaxation time of residual stresses resulting from film preparation by spin-coating can be obtained from the evolution of the shape of the dewetting rim. The presented examples demonstrate that dewetting represents a powerful approach for a sensitive characterization of rheological, frictional and interfacial properties of thin polymer films.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2009