Eur. Phys. J. E (2007) 22: 287-291
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/e2007-00035-8

Regular Articles

Reply to comment on “The properties of free polymer surfaces and their effect upon the glass transition temperature of thin polystyrene films" by S.A. Hutcheson and G.B. McKenna

¹ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
² Department of Physics and Guelph-Waterloo Physics Institute, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada
³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4M1, Canada

^* e-mail: james.sharp@nottingham.ac.uk
^** e-mail: jforrest@uwaterloo.ca

Received: 8 December 2005
Published online: 6 April 2007

Abstract

In this reply we address the comment by Hutcheson and McKenna regarding our recent manuscript [EPJE 15, 473 (2004)] which studies the embedding of gold (Au) nanoparticles into Polystyrene (PS) surfaces. In particular, we clarify comments concerning the force used to model the embedding process. We also repeat our simulations using correct values for the creep compliance J(t). We show that these new simulations more accurately describe the data presented in our original paper and reinforce our main conclusions regarding the nature of the properties of free polymer surfaces. Finally, we address their inability to reproduce our simulation results by showing that the use of their force [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 076103 (2005)] in our embedding simulations enables us to mimic their own simulation results.