Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Zhang, Yichuan
• Fuentes, Carlos A
• Koekoekx, Robin
• Clasen, Christian
• Van Vuure, Aart W
• De Coninck, Joël
• Seveno, David

Titel

Spreading Dynamics of Molten Polymer Drops on Glass Substrates

Ist Teil von

• Langmuir, 2017-08, Vol.33 (34), p.8447-8454

Ort / Verlag

United States: American Chemical Society

Erscheinungsjahr

2017

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Wetting dynamics drive numerous processes involving liquids in contact with solid substrates with a wide range of geometries. The spreading dynamics of organic liquids and liquid metals at, respectively, room temperature and >1000 °C have been studied extensively, both experimentally and numerically; however, almost no attention has been paid to the wetting behavior of molten drops of thermoplastic polymers, despite its importance, for example, in the processing of fiber-reinforced polymer composites. Indeed, the ability of classical theories of dynamic wetting, that is, the hydrodynamic and the molecular-kinetic theories, to model these complex liquids is unknown. We have therefore investigated the spreading dynamics on glass, over temperatures between 200 and 260 °C, of two thermoplastics: polypropylene (PP) and poly­(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF). PP and PVDF showed, respectively, the highest and lowest slip lengths due to their different interactions with the glass substrate. The jump lengths of PP and PVDF are comparable to their Kuhn segment lengths, suggesting that the wetting process of these polymers is mediated by segmental displacements. The present work not only provides evidence of the suitability of the classical models to model dynamic wetting of molten polymers but also advances our understanding of the wetting dynamics of molten thermoplastics at the liquid/solid interface.