Microscale mobile surface double layer in a glassy polymer

This study examines the origin of the widely different length scales, h(t)—nanometers to micrometers—that have been observed for the propagation of the near-surface enhanced mobility in glassy polymers. Mechanical relaxations of polystyrene films with thicknesses, h, from 5 nm to 186 μm have been studied. For h < ~1 μm, the films relaxed faster than the bulk and the relaxation time decreased with decreasing h below ~100 nm, consistent with the enhanced dynamics originating from a near-surface nanolayer. For h > ~1 μm, a bulk-like relaxation mode emerged, while the fast mode changed to one that extended over ~1 μm from the free surface. These findings evidence that the mobile surface region is inhomogeneous, comprising a nanoscale outer layer and a slower microscale sublayer that relax by different mechanisms. Consequently, measurements probing the enhanced mobility of different mechanisms may find vastly different h(t)’s as shown by the literature.