Successful application of polymers in fields like adhesion, biomaterials, protective coatings, friction and wear, composites, microelectronic devices, and thin-film technology generally requires special chemical and physical surface properties, such as chemical conposition, hydrophilicity, roughness, crystallinity, conductivity, lubricity, and cross-linking density.

For polymers which do not possess the surface properties required for specific applications, this book presents various methods of surface modification, and illuminates the important relationship between surface analysis and surface modification. The changes in physical and chemical properties of very thin surface layers brought about by the methods described can rarely be analyzed by conventional techniques. Polymer Surface Modification and Characterization, therefore, also presents different analytical techniques developed particularly for the purpose of the study of polymer surfaces.

From the Preface: “Over the last decade, polymers have been used successfully in many industrial applications, including adhesion, packaging, thin films, biomaterials, and coatings. Surface chemical and physical properties play an important role in the success of many of these applications. Advances in surface modification techniques have been made to provide polymer surfaces with specific properties, as required by these applications...”

Target Audience: Chemical engineers, polymer chemists and scientists, plastics engineers, and others requiring an understanding of the field.

Table of Contents:

Polymer Surface: Modification and Analysis

Contact Angle Measurement

X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy

Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry

Surface Grafting

Plasma Modification

Corona and Flame Treatments

Index