Segmental Rearrangements Relax Stresses in Nonequilibrated Polymer Films

We probed the relaxation of preparation-induced residual stresses in nonequilibrated polymer films through dewetting experiments. While we observed fast relaxations at temperatures close to or below the glass transition, at elevated temperatures these relaxation times were orders of magnitude longer than the reptation time. Intriguingly, applying appropriate scaling of preparation conditions allowed us to present all relaxation times, including published data, from various complementary experiments on a single master curve exhibiting an Arrhenius-type behavior. The corresponding activation energy (75 ± 10 kJ/mol) is similar to values obtained for the relaxation of segments in polystyrene. The observed long relaxation times suggest that residual stresses, a consequence of nonequilibrium conformations inherited from preparation, relax via concerted rearrangements of many segments.