Regensburg 2022 – scientific programme
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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik
CPP 37: Interfaces and Thin Films and Responsive and Adaptive Systems
CPP 37.1: Invited Talk
Thursday, September 8, 2022, 10:30–11:00, H39
Non-equilibrium Properties of Thin Polymer Films — •Günter Reiter1 and Sivasurender Chandran2 — 1Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs Universität Freiburg — 2Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh 208016, India
Rapid industrial processes often freeze polymers in non-equilibrium conformations, which, in turn, cause material properties that are significantly different from the predictions of equilibrium theories. Thus, by choosing appropriate processing pathways, we potentially can control macroscopic properties and performance of polymers. However, due to our current lack of fundamental understanding of the behavior of non-equilibrated polymers, we have to rely on empirical knowledge, imposing trial-and-error approaches for achieving desired properties. Considering these aspects, we discuss recent studies on polymer films revealing that quantitative relations exist between properties and processing pathways, suggesting possible relations for processing-induced deviations in chain conformations. These relations propose that long-living and long-ranged correlations between polymers have been induced by processing, as indicated by the observation of relaxation times much longer than known for equilibrated polymers. We present an example where control of processing conditions for thin films allowed to translate the molecular relaxations during equilibration into a predictable lifting of macroscopic loads.