ORIENTATION AT POLYMER LIQUID INTERFACES - A THERMODYNAMIC STUDY

Acrylic acid or maleic anhydride bulk grafted polyethylene and maleic anhydride bulk grafted polypropylene surfaces are able to reorganize when in contact with a liquid medium of known polar component surface energy. The potential surface energy property related to this characteristic is well known. In this study, experimental behaviors observed with liquids of various properties are discussed in the frame of Sanfeld's thermodynamic analysis of interfacial polar group orientation. A good correlation appears between theoretical and experimental results for the affinity of orientation as a function of the dielectric constant of the liquids. For a given grafted polyolefin, the final interfacial polarity depends essentially upon the dielectric constant of the liquid medium. © 1990.