Microscopic observation of the effects of elongation on the polymer chain dynamics of crosslinked polybutadiene using quasi-elastic γ-ray scattering.

A synchrotron-radiation-based quasi-elastic γ-ray scattering system has been developed that uses time-domain interferometry to observe microscopic polymer dynamics under uniaxial deformation. The stress-producing mechanism of crosslinked polybutadiene has been studied from a microscopic viewpoint. It was found that the mean relaxation time ⟨τ⟩ of the microscopic polymer motion observed over a relatively high temperature (T) range (i.e. T < 0.0045 K) increased with elongation on both the intra- and intermolecular scales. Following an extensive strain dependence study, it was found that the strain dependences of both the intra- and intermolecular ⟨τ⟩ changed with the stress dependence. It was therefore suggested that ⟨τ⟩ increased due to the constraint of the local polymer chain motion caused by elongation. The local molecular dynamics of polymer chains under uniaxial deformation could be evaluated at intra- and intermolecular scales separately for the first time using our method.