Elastic and viscoelastic characterization of inhomogeneous polymers by bimodal atomic force microscopy

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<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>The elastic and viscoelastic responses of inhomogeneous polymers upon interacting with an atomic force microscopy (AFM) probe are simultaneously characterized by a bimodal AFM approach namely the amplitude- and frequency-modulation (AM–FM) method. In this approach, the AFM probe is operated in the AM mode at the first flexural frequency and in the FM mode at a higher flexural frequency. The AM mode provides information about the viscoelasticity of polymers in terms of the mechanical loss tangent, whereas the modulus of polymers is obtained as a function of the frequency shift of flexural frequencies in both modes. For a glassy polymer blend, the AM–FM method provides a consistent result in both the elastic modulus and loss tangent in comparison with those obtained by other methods. Moreover, a significant improvement of the contrast and lateral resolution in the AM–FM modulus image can be observed. However, the current approach shows a substantial increase in the modulus of rubbery polymers.</jats:p>

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