Morphology
Polymer morphology is a microscale property that is largely dictated by the amorphous or crystalline portions of the polymer chains and their influence on each other. Microscopy techniques are especially useful in determining these microscale properties, as the domains created by the polymer morphology are large enough to be viewed using modern microscopy instruments. Some of the most common microscopy techniques used are X-ray diffraction, Transmission Electron Microscopy, Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, and Atomic Force Microscopy.
Polymer morphology on a mesoscale (nanometers to micrometers) is particularly important for the mechanical properties of many materials. Transmission Electron Microscopy in combination with staining techniques, but also Scanning Electron Microscopy, Scanning probe microscopy are important tools to optimize the morphology of materials like polybutadiene-polystyrene polymers and many polymer blends.
X-ray diffraction is generally not as powerful for this class of materials as they are either amorphous or poorly crystallized. The Small-angle scattering like Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) can be used to measure the long periods of semicrystalline polymers.
Read more about this topic: Polymer Characterization
Famous quotes containing the word morphology:
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