- Author
-
Raghavan, D.
|
Gu, X.
|
VanLandingham, M. R.
|
Nguyen, T.
- Title
- Mapping Chemically Heterogeneous Polymer System Using Chemical Modification and Atomic Force Microscopy.
- Coporate
- Howard Univ., Washington, DC
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Journal
-
ACS Polymer Preprints,
Vol. 41,
No. 2,
1423-1424,
2000
- Keywords
-
mapping
|
microscopy
|
coatings
|
degradation
|
heterogeneity
|
nanoindentation
|
phase imaging
|
polymers
- Abstract
- The objective of this study was to demonstrate an approach to map a chemically heterogeneous system using chemical modification and Tapping Mode Atomic Force Microscopy (TMAFM). This approach is based on selective degradation of one of the phases in a two-phase polymer blend system and the ability of TMAFM to provide nanoscale lateral information about the different phases in heterogeneous polymer system. A 70:30 PEA/PS blend was exposed to a hydrolysis environment and analyzed using TMAFM. Based on the TMAFM results, which show similar degradation patterns between the pure PEA film and the matrix of the PEA/PS blend, the domains in the blend were identified as the PS-rich regions and the matrix as the PEA-rich region. These results are substantiated by AFM force curve measurements and FTIR-ATR analysis of the hydrolyzed PEA and PEA/PS samples. The usefulness of this approach in understanding the degradation process of a coating film will be discussed.