Interphase Evolution in Polymer Films by Confocal Raman Microspectroscopy

Abstract

Liquid-glassy polymer diffusion is an important topic in polymer physics, with several mechanistic aspects that still remain unclear. Here we describe the use of confocal Raman microspectroscopy (CRM) to study directly several features of interphase evolution in a system of this type. The interphase studied was generated by contact between liquid polystyrene (PS) and glassy polyphenylene oxide (PPO). Interphase evolution on thin films made from these polymers was followed by depth profiling in combination with immersion optics. We also applied regularized deconvolution to improve the spatial resolution of the measurements. With the help of these techniques, we examined interphase PPO concentration profiles and kinetics of interphase evolution in the range 120–180 °C, well below the glass transition temperature of the PPO-based films (185 °C). Overall, the experiment captures the most important features needed to discern the mechanistic factors that control this process. In this sense, confocal Raman microspectroscopy emerges as one of the best experimental techniques for the study of diffusion kinetics in this type of system.

Keywords

Polymer interphases Confocal Raman microspectroscopy CRM Depth profiling Spatial deconvolution

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

De Gennes

P. G.

, J. Chem. Phys. 55, 572 (1971).

Kramer

E. J.

Green

P. F.

and Palmstrom

C. J

, Polymer 25, 473 (1984).

Thomas

N. L.

and Windle

A. H

, Polymer 21, 613 (1980).

Geoghegan

Jones

R. A. L.

Van der Grinten

M. G. D.

and Clough

A. S

, Polymer 40, 2323 (1999).

Zhou

Q.-Y.

Argon

A. S.

and Cohen

R. E

, Polymer 42, 613 (2001).

Lin

C. J.

Tsai

I. F.

Yang

C. M.

Hsu

M. S.

and Ling

Y. C

, Macromolecules 36, 2464 (2003).

Tomba

J. P.

Carella

J. M.

García

and Pastor

J. M

, Macromolecules 38, 4355 (2005).

Composto

R. J.

Kramer

E. J.

and White

D. M

, Macromolecules 21, 2580 (1988).

Nealey

P. F.

Cohen

R. E.

and Argon

A. S

, Polymer 36, 3687 (1995).

10.

Shearmur

T. E.

Clough

A. S.

Drew

D. W.

Van der Grinten

M. G. D.

and Jones

R. A. L

, Macromolecules 29, 7269 (1996).

11.

Green

P. F.

and Doyle

B. L

, Macromolecules 20, 2471 (1987).

12.

Farinha

J. P. S.

Winnik

M. A.

Yaneff

P. V.

and Ryntz

R. A

, Macromolecules 37, 6544 (2004).

13.

Jordan

E. A.

Ball

R. C.

Donald

A. M.

Fetters

L. J.

Jones

R. A. L.

and Klein

, Macromolecules 21, 235 (1988).

14.

Hajatdoost

Olsthoorn

and Yarwood

, Appl. Spectrosc. 51, 1784 (1997).

15.

Sacristán

Mijangos

Reinecke

Spells

and Yarwood

, Macromolecules 33, 6134 (2000).

16.

Tomba

J. P.

Carella

J. M.

Pastor

J. M.

and Merino

J. C

, Polymer 43, 6751 (2002).

17.

Everall

, Appl. Spectrosc. 54, 1515 (2000).

18.

Everall

, Appl. Spectrosc. 54, 773 (2000).

19.

Baldwin

K. J.

and Batchelder

D. N

, Appl. Spectrosc. 55, 517 (2001).

20.

Bruneel

J. L.

Lassègues

J. C.

and Sourisseau

, J. Raman Spectrosc. 33, 815 (2002).

21.

Sourisseau

and Maraval

, Appl. Spectrosc. 57, 1324 (2003).

22.

Tomba

J. P.

De la Puente

and Pastor

J. M

, J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 38, 1013 (2000).

23.

Kuptsov

A. H.

and Zhizhin

G. N

, Handbook of Fourier Transform Raman and Infrared Spectra of Polymers (Elsevier, New York, 1998).

24.

Prest

and Porter

R. S

, J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 10, 1639 (1972).

25.

Brandrup

Immergut

E. H.

and Grulke

E. A

, Polymer Handbook (John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1999).

26.

Vyorykka

Halttunen

Iitti

Tenhunen

Vuorinen

and Stenius

, Appl. Spectrosc. 56, 776 (2002).

27.

Tomba

J. P.

and Elicabe

, Appl. Spectrosc. 57, 920 (2003).

28.

Vyorykka

Paaso

Tenhunen

Iitti

Vuorinen

and Stenius

, Appl. Spectrosc. 57, 1123 (2003).