Feature Article: Atomic Force Microscopy: Applications in the Plastics Industry

Abstract

Abstract The relatively recent invention of atomic force microscopy (AFM) in the early 1980s has proven to be a boon for the characterization of polymers in the plastics industry. Polymer surface morphology can be characterized at high magnification and resolution by AFM, which is an excellent complimentary technique to the electron microscopy (EM) techniques, such as scanning electron (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). AFM has rapidly increased in applications to polymer characterization and has distinguished itself as a primary technique for such characterization. AFM has been especially effective in the characterization of all types of fabricated polymer articles, such as films, injection and blow moldings, and so on and has proven especially effective for characterizing multi-phase polymer systems. One aspect of the AFM technique, in comparison to the electron microscopies, is the ease of sample preparation. AFM requires little or no sample preparation and preserves sample structure, whereas SEM and TEM, typically, require much more sample preparation, which often destroys or modifies sample structure in the process. AFM has the attribute of directness of observation and, therefore, reveals structural features of natural surfaces or cross-sections of fabricated polymer articles, which are often difficult to observe by the electron microscopies, due to the necessity of more extensive sample preparation. The AFM technique also has the advantage of independently providing information both on the in-plane, as well as the height, features of a surface. This article describes aspects of the AFM technique relative to basic principles, sample preparation, morphology of polymers, comparison to the EM techniques and characterization of fabricated plastics.