The adhesion of amorphous polystyrene surfaces below Tg

The bonding of polystyrene (PS) surfaces below Tg was investigated by two different fracture tests: the lap-shear joint method and the cantilever beam method. Adhesion energy values obtained by the two methods are in agreement and develop with (time)1/2, at temperatures as low as Tg−16 °C. Even if the double cantilever method is the most common test found in the literature for adhesions above Tg, for low adhesion values, below Tg, the lap-shear joint geometry is more appropriate. Moreover, when the glass transition temperature is used as a reference temperature, polydisperse and monodisperse PS adhesion energy curves are superposable, suggesting that the auto-adhesion is not significantly favored by the presence of numerous chain ends at the surface (due to the low molecular weight chains provided by the polydisperse PS).