TY - JOUR A1 - Krämer, Günther A1 - Griepentrog, Michael A1 - Bonaccurso, E. A1 - Cappella, Brunero T1 - Study of morphology and mechanical properties of polystyrene-polybutadiene blends with nanometre resolution using AFM and force-distance curves JF - European polymer journal N2 - Thin polybutadiene/polystyrene blend films were deposited on glass substrates by spin-coating. The two polymers were chosen, as they are immiscible and differ strongly in their mechanical properties. The blend was characterized with Tapping Mode and force–distance curves. Several advantages of force–distance curves measurements compared to Tapping Mode are shown, most of all the capability of yielding quantitative information about several properties, such as Young's modulus and adhesion. Also the aging behaviour of the blend exposed to air could be observed, in particular the increase of the Young's modulus due to cross-linking and dewetting processes. Additionally, the sample was used to improve the resolution of force–distance curves up to 6 nm, which is to date the best resolution achieved with force–distance curves. Such an improvement resolves the major disadvantage of force–distance curves, compared to other scanning mode, i.e. its inferior resolution. KW - Polymer blends KW - Mechanical properties KW - Atomic force microscopy KW - Force-distance curves KW - High-resolution force-volume PY - 2014 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2014.03.026 SN - 0014-3057 SN - 1873-1945 VL - 55 SP - 123 EP - 134 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford AN - OPUS4-30625 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -