Friction of polymers: from PDMS melts to PDMS elastomers

Abstract: The slip behavior of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer melts flowing on non-adsorbing surfaces made of short non-entangled PDMS chains densely end-grafted to silica has been characterized. For high enough shear rates, constant slip lengths proportional to the bulk fluid viscosity have been observed, in agreement with Navier's interfacial equation, and demonstrating that the interfacial Navier's friction coefficient is a local quantity, independent of the polymer molecular weight. Comparing the interfacial shear stresses deduced from these measured slip lengths to available friction stress measured for crosslinked PDMS elastomers, we directly compared the interfacial melt or elastomer friction coefficient to the monomer-monomer friction.