Polymer coatings often contain degradation-susceptible regions, and corrosion of the metallic substrate can occur directly underneath these regions. In this paper, the microstructure of model coating materials is investigated using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Specifically, AFM is used to study heterogeneity in thin film blends of polystyrene (PS) and polybutadiene (PB) as a function of annealing time at 80 °C. PS/PB blend films with thicknesses of approximately 250 nm are prepared by spin casting from solutions onto silicon substrates. Both topographic and phase imaging in tapping mode AFM are performed on these films under ambient conditions and at different force levels using a silicon tip. For certain force levels, phase imaging provides good contrast between the phase-separated PS and PB regions, primarily because of the large compliance difference between the two materials. This contrast decreases with increasing annealing time because thermal oxidation causes cross-linking in PB, and thus, the compliance of the PB region increases toward that of PS. Nanoscale indentation measurements are then made on the observed phase-separated regions to identify these regions as PS-and PB-rich and to better understand the influence of relative surface stiffness on the phase images. Cast and free-standing films of pure PS and pure PB are also studied as a function of annealing time using AFM, contact angle measurements, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Results from studies of the individual PS and PB films are related to the AFM results for the blend films. The use of phase imaging for cure monitoring of polymers and for studies of chemically heterogeneous polymer systems is also discussed.

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In this study, atomic force microscopy (AFM) is used to investigate the heterogeneity of blended films of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and polybutadiene (PB) on silicon substrates before and after annealing. The blended films with different ratios of PMMA to PB are prepared by spin casting onto silicon substrates from solution. The surface morphology and composition of these cast films are investigated using tapping mode and force mode AFM. Annealing the samples in air at 75 ( 5 °C causes changes in the relative chemical and mechanical differences between PMMA and PB, so the phase image contrast is studied as a function of annealing time. The effect of tapping force level on phase image contrast is also explored. To identify the different components in polymer blends and to understand the influence of relative surface stiffness on the phase images, nanoscale indentation measurements are made on the observed phase-separated regions. Interpretation of AFM results is aided by data collected from both conditioned and annealed PB and PMMA films using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, dynamic mechanical analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and contact angle measurements. A loss in phase contrast between PB-rich and PMMA-rich regions is observed as a function of heating time. This observation correlates well with the increases in glass transition temperature, modulus, and polarity of pure PB with respect to pure PMMA.

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