A method for the application of carbenes as reactive intermediates for surface modification of polymeric substrates has been developed; the efficacy of the process has been demonstrated by irreversible dyeing of polystyrene, polythene, nylon, silica, and controlled pore glass, and to a limited extent, polytetrafluoroethylene.

Polymeric film-forming systems for dermal drug delivery represent an advantageous alternative to more conventional topically applied formulations. Their mechanical properties and homogeneity can be characterised with atomic force microscopy (AFM), using both imaging and nanoindentation modes, and Raman micro-spectroscopy mapping. Film-forming polymers, with and without a plasticizer and/or beta...

A variety of parts in microsystems technology are manufactured by injection moulding of polymeric materials. In Particular the high cooling velocity affects negatively the process and the resulting part properties. The scope of this paper is to investigate the influence on the reachable flow length in injection moulding of different polymeric materials. The results indicate that the mould tempe...

The static and dynamic properties of ring polymers in concentrated solutions remains one of the last deep unsolved questions in polymer physics. At the same time, the nature of the glass transition in polymeric systems is also not well understood. In this work, we study a novel glass transition in systems made of circular polymers by exploiting the topological constraints that are conjectured t...

Progress on these topics is occasionally updated in Coating Materials News (CMN) issues since polymer substrates are being used with greater frequency in displays, solar panels, laminated window glazing, reflectors for illumination, and other optical applications. Injection molded or form cast polymer parts are now mass-produced as economical and light-weight replacements for glass parts. The s...

We present here results which indicate that polymeric monolayers confined at the air–water interface may provide interesting model systems for the study of glass transition phenomenology in a strongly confined 2D geometry. We report on photoinduced relaxation of the pressure–area isotherms in Langmuir monolayers of a photosensitive polyacrylate, using null-ellipsometry to study the evolution of...

In this paper we present a study of photoinduced eeects, including molecular relaxation in a side chain liquid crystalline polymer. In particular, we have studied relaxation phenomena using Ellipsometry and Photoinduced Birefringence in pump-probe experiments, which were carried out as a function of temperature, optical pump intensity and sample preparation and history. Two speciic areas were i...

We present an analysis of heterogeneous dynamics in molecular dynamics simulations of a polymeric film supported by an absorbing surface. Using a bead-spring model for polymers, we show that slow, immobile beads occur throughout the film, with the probability of their occurrence decreasing with distance from the substrate. Still, enough immobile beads are located near the free surface to cause ...