APS March Meeting 2011
Volume 56, Number 1
Monday–Friday, March 21–25, 2011;
Dallas, Texas
Abstract: X5.00003 : Nanomechanical characterization of polypropylene-based materials with multifrequency atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based methods
3:42 PM–4:18 PM
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Author:
Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a powerful technique with broad
applications to characterization of surfaces, primarily used for nanoscale
quantitative topographic measurements and qualitatively distinguishing
between material properties on the surface.
We describe recent advances in our capabilities to quantify nanoscale
mechanical measurements of surface properties using recently developed high
frequency and multifrequency methods. Initial focus of this work is for
polymeric materials (and specifically polypropylene based blends), where
nanomechanical characterization is critical for effective understanding of
structure-property relationships, especially for more complicated
multi-component materials such as blends and composites.
SPM techniques rely on complicated tip-sample interactions that must be
effectively separated and understood if we are to ultimately identify and
quantify specific materials and material properties at the nanoscale. We
describe different approaches to this problem utilizing a number of AFM
based techniques including force curves, bimodal imaging and contact
resonance imaging. Ultimately, these techniques yield quantitative maps of
conservative and dissipative tip-sample interactions that are then converted
into elastic and viscous moduli maps. We describe initial applications of
these methods to measure mechanical properties such as storage and loss
moduli of model polypropylene containing blends including
polypropylene/rubber and polypropylene/polystyrene blends. Finally,
quantitative moduli values obtained by methods described above are compared
to those obtained by bulk methods.
To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2011.MAR.X5.3