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Infrared Imaging: A Complementary Tool to AFM for Adhesive Surface Analysis

2001 Dahlquist Award Winner

Peter Gabriele & Herb Hand
Adhesives Research, Inc. Glen Rock, PA

David Schaefer & Joshua Robinson
Department of Physics, Astronomy and Geoscience
Towson University, Towson, MD

Andinet Amare
Bio-Rad Inc., Cambridge, MA

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a useful tool for probing pressure sensitive surfaces (PSA) at the micron and sub-micron level. Investigators hope that the spatial resolution of microstructure will provide clues to function. Nevertheless, AFM cannot distinguish functional group chemistry associated with topology. In contrast, FT-IR imaging microscopy is an emerging technology that has the power to spatially resolve chemical composition at the functional group level. No single technique exists that can determine the chemical nature and degree of orientation within a surface system while simultaneously being able to determine the morphology. Our interest in this study was to complement AFM with FT-IR imaging to examine structural features, chemistry, and topology. We report that FT-IR imaging can be a useful adjunct to AFM in adhesive surface analysis.