How to Detect Viscoelastic Properties of Polymeric Materials by Dynamic Atomic Force Microscopy

Several types of dynamic atomic force microscopy such as tapping-mode, force modulation-mode are commonly cooperated by phase-contrast imaging techniques, which were interpreted as elastic contrast by mistake in the past and are nowadays regarded as the representation of energy dissipative processes. However, as theoretically reported, the situation is not so simple when the strong adhesive interaction is involved. Furthermore, elastic and viscous contributions are not easily divided in the case of polymeric systems. Thus, the interpretation of image contrast for them must be very carefully treated. In this study, we will demonstrate how such contrast mechanisms are complicated, using several miscible and immiscible polymer blend systems as model samples.