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Two different approaches to investigate the local complex conductivity and the surface charge with Scanning Force Microscopy (SFM) techniques are presented. It is shown that the measurement of local electrical properties with SFM leads to interesting information about the composition of electrically heterogeneous surfaces
A stoichiometric amineepoxy formulation was cured in the presence of a thermoplastic, namely poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP). The epoxy system consisted of the resin diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) and the aromatic curing agent 4,4'-diaminodiphenylsulfone (DDS). As shown for this system in a former study by Oyama et al. [Oyama HT, Lesko JJ, Wightman JP. J Polym Sci B 1997;35:33146. [36]], preferential absorption of amine molecules by PVP can occur. In the present study, the focus is on the variations of local elastic properties within the epoxy interphase adjacent to the PVP layer. The curing was performed close to the glass transition temperature, Tα, of the PVP film, namely at 170 °C. Variations of the local amine concentration were tracked using energy-dispersive analysis of X-rays (EDX), by taking benefit of the sulfur contained in DDS. Using temperature-dependent dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), a series of epoxy reference samples of different amineepoxy concentration ratios, r, was investigated in order to work out the relationship between r and the epoxy storage modulus at room temperature. In the excess-epoxy regime, r<1, the modulus is observed to increase with departure from the stoichiometric ratio, r=1. Considering the respective suppression of the ß-transition, the observed characteristic can be explained by an antiplasticisation effect. Depth-sensing indentation (DSI) experiments across the epoxy/PVP interphase provided evidence for strong modulus variations. In consistency with the EDX and the DMA data, in the vicinity of the PVP layer the local epoxy modulus is increased. The total change of the epoxy Young's modulus is ~1.1 GPa. However, the total width of the modulus decay of ~175 µm is ~2.5 times larger than the one of the DDS concentration gradient. This finding is discussed in terms of additional spatial variations of the DGEBA concentration as well as long-range diffusion currents of DDS induced by the interdiffusion processes and their effect on the final network of crosslinks.
With an extended contact and non-contact mode scanning force microscope samples with different heterogeneous electrical properties can be characterized. The contact mode method allows the determination of local electric conductivities of heterogeneous systems at the sample surfaces. An interpretation of this behaviour can be obtained in combination with other SFM modes such as topography, friction and compliance used simultaneously. The non-contact mode SFM allows to get more information about the local surface charge of heterogeneous samples. In this paper two new SFM approaches will be discussed on examples of carbon-fibre reinforced, organic and ceramic materials