Advantages of Atomic Force Microscopes for Polymer Characterization Imaging
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No sample preparation required
Because AFM works on insulating materials, polymer samples can be directly imaged. There is no need to coat the sample as for SEM.
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Direct visualization of 3D topography
The AFM gives three dimensional images in the horizontal and vertical axes. Not only can you visualize surface features, you can measure their height.
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With phase mode, substructure is imaged
Phase mode measures the compliance map of a polymer’s surface. A topography map and surface compliance map are measured simultaneously.
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Nanometer scale images in liquid
Polymer samples can be directly imaged while submerged in a liquid.
Images of Polymeric Materials
Height image of biaxially oriented polypropylene fiber film (BOPP). The very fine structures in this polymer film are imaged. 2µmx2µm image, with a 29 nm height scale in z.
Phase image of filled polymer film. The height is from topography, and the color from phase signal. Several different filler materials, as well as the surface texture can be visualized at the same time.
SBS block copolymer. AFM allows easy visualization of the phase separation in this block copolymer. This is a height image, showing a 1.7µm x 1.7µm area, the height scale is 21 nm.
Phase-separated polymer blend film – polysytrene and polymethylmethacrylate -PS/PMMA. AFM makes it simple to distinguish between the two phases. Topography image showing 4µm x 4µm area. The height scale is 23 nm.
Polymer Characterization Techniques
Keywords
In the AFM instrument, a sharp probe is scanned over a surface. The motion of the probe is captured by a computer, an the line profiles are used to create a surface topogram.
A phase mode image is created by monitoring the amplitue and phase of a vibrating probe as it is scanned across a suface. A change in the amplitude/ phase occurs when the probe scans of areas of varying hardness.
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AFMWorkshop AFM Products for Polymer Imaging
TT-2 AFM
HR AFM
Our Users Selected References: AFM for Polymer Characterization (2016)
