Glass Transition Temperature of Polymer Nanocomposites: Prediction from the Continuous-Multilayer Model

The continuous-multilayer model introduced in our previous study for the T-g behavior of thin films is adapted to nanocomposite systems. T-g enhancement in both thin films and nanocomposites with attractive interfacial interactions can be explained by the same model. Various shapes of nanoparticles are proposed to rationalize the adaptation of the one-dimensional model for the T-g behavior of thin film to three-dimensional system such as nanocomposite. The tendency of predicted T-g enhancements in poly(methyl methacrylate) and P2VP nanocomposites with silica particles are qualitatively fit to experimental data in literatures. For the further quantitative fitting, the model is partially modified with the consideration for other factors affecting T-g deviation in nanocomposite. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 47: 2281-2287, 2009