Examination of Polymer Blends by AFM Phase Images

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) belongs to the high-resolution surface morphology investigation methods. Since it can, in many cases, be applied air, samples can more easily inspected than by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). In addition, several special modes exist which enable examination of mechanical and other physical parameters specimen, such as friction, adhesion between tip sample, elastic modulus, etc. tapping mode, e.g., phase imaging used qualitatively distinguish different materials on surface. This is especially interesting for polymers, evaluation energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) mostly irrelevant. Here we give an overview experiments filaments 3D printing fused deposition modeling (FDM). Furthermore, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), poly(lactide acids) (PLAs) with features, thermochromic or photochromic properties, are investigated compared SEM images.