TITLE:

SIMULATIONS OF THE THIN POLYMERIC FILMS

DATE:

Friday, April 24th, 2009

TIME:

3:30 PM

LOCATION:

GMCS 214

SPEAKER:

Arlette Baljon, Department of Physics, San Diego State University

ABSTRACT:

While small molecules crystallize at low temperatures, most polymeric system form a disordered glassy state. The nature of the transition from a liquid state at high temperature to a glassy one at low temperature is a long outstanding question in condensed matter physics. Experiments on thin polymeric films reveal that the transition temperature depends on the thickness of these films as well as on the nature of the interaction between the polymer film and the underlying substrate.
During the last decade my group has performed large-scale computer simulations to investigate the nature of the glass transition in thin polymeric films. Initially we employed coarse-grained polymeric models. More recently, in collaboration with our colleagues at the Dutch Polymer Institute, we have worked with atomistic models of polystyrene polymers. In this talk I will review our past accomplishments and discuss our current and future work in this area.

HOST:

Peter Salamon

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