Focused Ion Beam Characterization of Bicomponent Polymer Fibers

Abstract

Previous work has shown that focused ion beam (FIB) nanomachining can be effectively utilized for the cross-sectional analysis of polymers such as core-shell solid microspheres and hollow latex nanospheres. While these studies have clearly demonstrated the precise location selection and nanomachining control provided by the FIB technique, the samples studied consisted of only a single polymer. In this work, FIB is used to investigate bicomponent polymeric fiber systems by taking advantage of the component's differing sputter rates that result from their differing physical properties. An approach for cross sectioning and thus revealing the cross-sectional morphology of the polymeric components in a bicomponent polymeric fiber with the island-in-the-sea (I/S) structure is presented. The two I/S fibers investigated were fabricated using the melt spinning process and are composed of bicomponent combinations of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and nylon 6 (PA6) or polylactic acid (PLA) and an EastONE proprietary polymer. Topographical contrast as a result of differential sputtering and the high surface specificity and high signal-to-noise obtained using FIB-induced secondary electron imaging is shown to provide a useful approach for the rapid characterization of the cross-sectional morphology of bicomponent polymeric fibers without the necessity of staining or other sample preparation.

Core–sheath polymer nanofiber formation by the simultaneous application of rotation and pressure in a novel purpose-designed vessel

“…FIB is a difficult operation in core-sheath fibers where different thermal properties of the core and the sheath (different polymers) hinder the interpretation of results, especially in the case of nanofibers. Thus, to avoid unclear or distorted cross-sectional morphology or damage to the samples of core-sheath fibers, [45][46][47] we searched and located larger diameter fibers for FIB preparations as explained under experimental details in Sec. II G 2.…”

Development of the Nanomodified Filler for Asphalt Concrete Mixes

“…The analysis of the advanced world development [6,7], and also a complex of researches executed earlier [8][9][10] laid down in a basis of theoretical preconditions on zeolite modification. In favor of its use as bases for synthesis of the nanomodified agent for asphalt concrete mixes are told by existence of the three-dimensional aluminosilicate framework forming systems of cavities and channels.…”

Far‐reaching geometrical artefacts due to thermal decomposition of polymeric coatings around focused ion beam milled pigment particles

“…Dual beam instruments that combine focused ion beam with a scanning electron microscope (FIB‐SEM) are extensively used for characterization of various materials ranging from semiconductors to biological tissue (Stevie et al ., ; Volkert & Minor, ; Bassim et al ., ), but have not been applied to analysis of organic corrosion barrier coatings. In the past, FIB‐SEM has been used for site specific cross sectioning and/or lamella extraction for transmission electron microscope imaging (White et al ., ; Lins et al ., ; Loos et al ., ; Beach et al ., ; Brunner et al ., , ; Brostow et al ., ; Kawahara et al ., ; Martínez et al ., ; Wong et al ., ; Firpo et al ., ; Qin et al ., ), destructive tomography (Kato et al ., ; Lin et al ., ; Olea‐Mejía et al ., ) and nanofabrication (Aubry et al ., ; Niihara et al ., ; Lee et al ., ; Schmied et al ., ; Orthacker et al ., ; Schmied et al ., ) of polymers and polymeric composites. Out of these examples, only a few studies have been dedicated to characterization of pristine organic coatings and paints (Lins et al ., ; Brunner et al ., , ; Brostow et al ., ; Lin et al ., ; Chen et al ., ; Doutre et al ., ).…”