MOLECULAR-WEIGHT DEPENDENCE OF SPREADING RATES OF ULTRATHIN POLYMERICFILMS

We study experimentally the molecular weight M dependence of spreading rates of molecularly thin precursor films, growing at the bottom of d roplets of polymer liquids. In accord with previous observations, we f ind that the radial extension R(t) of the firm grows with time as R(t) = (D(exp)t)(1/2). Our data substantiate the M dependence of D-exp; we show that it folloais D-exp similar to M-gamma, where the exponent ga mma is dependent on the chemical composition of the solid surface, det ermining its frictional properties with respect to the molecular trans port. In the specific case of hydrophilic substrates, the frictional p roperties can be modified by the change of the relative humidity (RH). We find that gamma approximate to 1 at low RH and tends to zero when the RH gets progressively increased.