1996 Volume 45 Issue 4 Pages 347-351
Contact mode Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) was applied to observe surface morphology and to measure surface roughness of several polyolefin films, namely a blend of Linear Low Density Polyethylene and Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE/LDPE), a blend of High Density Polyethylene and Low Density Polyethylene (HDPE/LDPE), and Cast Polypropylene (CPP). AFM pictures showed no damage on the surface of these films and morphology could be well observed. Roughness parameters were obtained from cross-section profiles of AFM pictures. Rz (mean roughness of ten points) was adopted as the roughness parameter. Rz values of LLDPE/LDPE, HDPE/LDPE and CPP are below 100 nm, 140 nm, and 800 nm, respectively. Rz is compared with surface haze, which is one measure of optical transparency of polymer films. It was found that the Rz values are correlated to the surface haze and that this relation is consistent within these three kinds of polyolefin resins.
