Relaxation Kinetics of Nanoscale Indents in a Polymer Glass

A. Knoll, D. Wiesmann, B. Gotsmann, and U. Duerig
Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 117801 – Published 17 March 2009

Abstract

Nanometer scale indents have been written in a cross-linked polystyrene sample, and their relaxation has been studied at annealing temperatures well below the glass transition of the polymer. The indents represent a highly nonequilibrium state of the polymer which is subjected to mechanical stress of up to 0.4 GPa and thermal quench rates on the order of 108K/s during writing. It is shown that the relaxation towards equilibrium evolves logarithmically over more than 10 orders of magnitude in time. The relaxation kinetics are accurately described in terms of a thermally activated process with an energy barrier whose magnitude decreases linearly with the distance from equilibrium.

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  • Received 29 September 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.117801

©2009 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

A. Knoll, D. Wiesmann, B. Gotsmann, and U. Duerig*

  • IBM Research, Zurich Research Laboratory, 8803 Rüschlikon, Switzerland

  • *drg@zurich.ibm.com

Comments & Replies

Knoll et al. Reply:

A. Knoll, D. Wiesmann, B. Gotsmann, and U. Duerig
Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 119802 (2009)

Comment on “Relaxation Kinetics of Nanoscale Indents in a Polymer Glass”

Pere Roura and Jordi Farjas
Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 119801 (2009)

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Vol. 102, Iss. 11 — 20 March 2009

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