(103b) On the Equivalence of Glass Transition Temperatures In Polymer Nanocomposites and Polymer Thin Films
AIChE Annual Meeting
2008
2008 Annual Meeting
Materials Engineering and Sciences Division
Nanoscale Structure in Polymers II
Monday, November 17, 2008 - 12:55pm to 1:20pm
Motivated by recent experiments, we examine within a percolation model whether there is a quantitative equivalence in the glass transition temperatures ($T_g$) of polymer thin films and polymer nanocomposites (PNCs). Our results indicate that while the qualitative behaviors of these systems are similar, a quantitative equivalence cannot be established in general. However, we propose a phenomenological scaling collapse of our results which suggests a simple framework by which the results of the thin films may be used to quantitatively predict the properties of PNCs.