Substrate effect on the melting temperature of thin polyethylene films

Y. Wang, M. Rafailovich*, J. Sokolov, D. Gersappe, T. Araki, Y. Zou, A. D.L. Kilcoyne, H. Ade, G. Marom, A. Lustiger

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

118 Scopus citations

Abstract

Strong dependence of the crystal orientation, morphology, and melting temperature (Tm) on the substrate is observed in the semicrystalline polyethylene thin films. The Tm decreases with the film thickness decrease when the film is thinner than a certain critical thickness, and the magnitude of the depression increases with increasing surface interaction. We attribute the large Tm depression to the decrease in the overall free energy on melting, which is caused by the substrate attraction force to the chains that competes against the interchain force which drives the chains to crystallization.

Original languageEnglish
Article number028303
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume96
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 20 Jan 2006

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