Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol.106, No.6, 3843-3851, 2007
Nanoscale Patterning in crosslinked methacrylate copolymer networks: an atomic force Microscopy study
To understand the properties of materials, their phase structure must be established. It has been difficult in previous work to visualize the heterogeneous crosslinked structure of methacrylate-based networks. In this work, nano-sized phases with worm-like features were detected in the surfaces of model crosslinked methacrylate copolymer containing hydrophobic/hydrophilic co-monomers using tapping mode atomic force microscopy/phase imaging technique. The effects of different surface-contact covers on the height and phase-contrast images of model resin surfaces were also studied. Based on the experimental data, the identification of phase domains was proposed.
Keywords:nano-patterning;cross-linked methacrylate copolymer;atomic force microscopy (AFM);phase imaging;phase separation