Self-bonding in an amorphous polymer below the glass transition: A T-peel test investigation

Films of amorphous polystyrene (PS) with a weight-average molecular weight (Mw) of 225 × 103 g/mol were bonded in a T-peel test geometry, and the fracture energy (G) of a PS/PS interface was measured at the ambient temperature as a function of the healing time (th) and healing temperature (Th). G was found to develop with (th)1/2 at Th = Tg-bulk - 33 °C (where Tg-bulk is the glass-transition temperature of the bulk sample), and log G was found to develop with 1/Th at Tg-bulk - 43 °C Th Tg-bulk - 23 °C. The smallest measured value of G = 1.4 J/m2 was at least one order of magnitude larger than the work of adhesion required to reversibly separate the PS surfaces. These three observations indicated that the development of G at the PS/PS interface in the temperature range investigated (