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a) b - École Polytechnique de Montréal

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6.3.5.2 Focused Ion Beam (FIB) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)<br />

After cryomicrotoming the specimens and coating them with a gold-palladium alloy, a Focused<br />

Ion Beam (FIB), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) technique was used to examine the<br />

HDPE/PS/PMMA blend. The surface of the samples was treated and etched using a Hitachi<br />

focused ion beam FIB-2000A operating a 30 keV gallium beam. FIB uses a focused beam of<br />

gallium ions which are accelerated to energies of 5-50 kiloelectronvolts. Using an electrostatic<br />

lens, the ion beam can be focused on a very small spot, resulting in a high resolution because of<br />

the small emitting area. In this work, a 0.8 nA beam current and a dwell time of 3 μs was applied<br />

in or<strong>de</strong>r to remove approximately 3-4 μm of the surface. Milling was carried out parallel to the<br />

observed surface. Since each polymer component has a different interaction with the gallium<br />

beam, this approach induces topological differences and hence increases the contrast between<br />

components(Virgilio, et al., 2005a). The milled surface of the specimen was then examined by a<br />

scanning probe microscope dimension (AFM) with a Nanoscope IIIa controller in topological<br />

mo<strong>de</strong>. The atomic force microscope measures topography with a force probe. Silicon tips with<br />

spring constant of 40 N/m and a resonant frequency of around 300 kHz was employed.<br />

6.4 Results and Discussion<br />

In ternary HDPE/PS/PMMA blends, the very high interfacial tension of PMMA and<br />

HDPE(γHDPE/PMMA = 8.6 mN/m) and the low interfacial tension of PS/PMMA(γPS/PMMA = 2.4<br />

mN/m) and HDPE/PS(γHDPE/PS = 5.1 mN/m) results in a positive spreading coefficient of PS over<br />

PMMA (λPS/PMMA) with a value of 1.1 mN/m. The other two spreading coefficients are negative<br />

and are λPMMA/PS = -5.9 mN/m and λHDPE/PMMA = -11.3 mN/m. This predicts a complete wetting<br />

case with the <strong>de</strong>velopment of a thermodynamically stable PS layer between the PE and PMMA<br />

as represented for a ternary 40/20/40 HDPE/PS/PMMA blend as shown in Figure 6-4. In Figure<br />

6-4, the various phases can be clearly i<strong>de</strong>ntified by the topographical heights induced by FIB<br />

etching and subsequently quantified by AFM analysis in the topographical mo<strong>de</strong>. Previous<br />

works(Reignier & Favis, 2000, 2003a, 2003b; Reignier, et al., 2003) have shown several submorphologies<br />

of HDPE/PS/PMMA such as matrix/core-shell morphology and double-percolated<br />

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