Properties and Entanglements of Amorphous Polymer Interfaces

When two similar polymers contact in the melt to form a polymer-polymer interface, interdiffusion of random-coil chains occurs. For this case, we determine a set of properties, H, as a function of time, t, and molecular weight, M. They in clude the number of chains, n, number of bridges, p, average monomer inter penetration depth, X, the total monomer depth, X o , the center of mass diffusion, χ cm , the average contour interpenetration length, l, the total contour length, L o , and the average bridge length, l p . The time dependent, H(t), and equilibrium solutions, H ∞ , can be summarized as