Abstract: | Surface-specific IR+visible sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy was used to obtain chemical composition of two polymer
surfaces. The SFG surface vibrational spectrum of pure low density polyethylene and that of a commercial sample of the same
kind of polymer, which contains additives, are markedly different. This correlates well with the very different surface mechanical
properties, i.e., stiffness (indicative of the elastic modulus) and friction, which were measured by atomic force microscopy
(AFM) on the same polymer surfaces. The surface of CLDPE is dominated by methoxy (−OCH3) contained additives, segregated from the bulk, which explains a lower stiffness, adhesion and friction of the surface, as
measured by AFM.
This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |