Surface mobility and diffusion at interfaces of polystyrene in the vicinity of the glass transition

Symmetric polydisperse (Mw = 23 × 104, Mw/Mn = 2.84) and monodisperse (Mw = 21 × 104, Mw/Mn < 1.05) polystyrene (PS), and asymmetric polydisperse PS/poly(2,6-dimethyl 1,4-phenylene oxide) (PPO) interfaces have been bonded in the vicinity of the glass transition temperature (Tg) of PS. In a lap-shear joint geometry, strength develops in all cases with time to the fourth power, which indicates that it is diffusion controlled. Strength developing at short times at the polydisperse PS/PS interface, at 90°C, is higher than that at the monodisperse interface, at 92°C (at Tg − 13°C in both cases), presumably due to the contribution of the low molecular weight species. The decrease of strength at the PS/PPO interface when the bonding temperature decreases from 113 to 70°C, i.e., from Tg + 10°C to Tg − 33°C of the bulk PS, indicates a high molecular mobility at the surface as compared to that in the bulk, and can be expressed by a classical diffusion equation, which is valid above Tg (of the surface layer).