9500926 Blum This research aims to study the molecular motion of polymers on solid surfaces. This work is important because the properties of multiphase materials, especially composites depend not only on the properties of the major components, but also on the properties of the interface and interfacial materials. Since the interfacial layers are normally quite thin, microscopic tehcniques such as spectroscopy are needed for their characterization. The focus of the present work is on the microscopic dynamics of interfacial polymers. This complements the more abundant structural studies which have been done. Together, knowledge of the structure and dynamics of interfacial materials will help researchers to design interfacial systems with optimum properties for advanced applications such as advanced composites or particle stabilization. %%% Specifically, solid-state deuterium NMR and other techniques will be used to probe molecular motion of specifically deuterated polymers. The use of deuterium labelling is important because it is no a significant perturbation of the interface and the deuterons act as reporter groups based on their position which is synthetically controlled. Of specific interest is the dynamics of surface-bound homopolymers and block copolymers on silica or alumina. ***
