Spincast, thin, glassy polymer films: highly metastable forms of matter
G. Reiter, P. G. de Gennes. Eur. Phys. J. E 6, 25-28 (2001)
Abstract
Ultra thin films of glassy polymers such as polystyrene (PS) can show a) anomalously large thickness changes, b) unexpected dewetting properties, c) large shifts in the glass temperature Tg. The present discussion focusses mainly on point a). A certain cascade of metastable states is presented together with (tentative) explanations.