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Characterization of Elastomeric Blends by Atomic Force Microscopy

Published

Author(s)

P Achalla, Jennifer L. McCormick, T Hodge, C Moreland, P Esnault, Alamgir Karim, H Raghavan

Abstract

The bulk mechanical properties of a blend of elastomers are found to depend on the micro and nano scale morphology of the phases of the materials in the blend. In this paper, we examine the phase morphology of blends of incompatible elastomers using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Specifically, nanoindentation and Tapping Mode AFM (TMAFM) imaging techniques are used as experimental tools for mapping the composition of unfilled elastomeric blends. Depending on the composition of the blend, either co-continuous or discontinuous domain/matrix morphology is observed. To identify the different components in Bromobutyl (BIIR)/Natural Rubber (NR) blends, nanoscale indentation measurements were made on the observed phase-separated regions.
Citation
Journal Of Polymer Science

Keywords

atomic force microscopy, blends, cross-linking, elastomer, nanoindentation, nanoscale defects, thin films

Citation

Achalla, P. , McCormick, J. , Hodge, T. , Moreland, C. , Esnault, P. , Karim, A. and Raghavan, H. (2021), Characterization of Elastomeric Blends by Atomic Force Microscopy, Journal Of Polymer Science (Accessed March 29, 2024)
Created October 12, 2021