A New Phenomenon: Sub-Tg, Solid-State, Plasticity-Induced Bonding in Polymers

Polymer self-adhesion due to the interdiffusion of macromolecules has been an active area of research for several decades. Here, we report a new phenomenon of sub-Tg, solid-state, plasticity-induced bonding; where amorphous polymeric films were bonded together in a period of time on the order of a second in the solid-state at ambient temperatures, up to 60 K below their glass transition temperature (Tg), by subjecting them to active plastic deformation. Despite the glassy regime, the bulk plastic deformation triggered the requisite molecular mobility of the polymer chains, causing interpenetration across the interfaces held in contact. Quantitative levels of adhesion and the morphologies of the fractured interfaces validated the sub-Tg, plasticity-induced, molecular mobilization causing bonding. No-bonding outcomes (i) during the uniaxial compressive straining of films (a near-hydrostatic setting which strongly limits plastic flow) and (ii) between an 'elastic' and a 'plastic' film further established the explicit role of plastic deformation in this newly reported sub-Tg solid-state bonding.