Conducting morphological characterization

Morphological characterization can be conducted by light and electron microscope techniques and by X-ray diffraction and thermal analysis, often used to determine crystallinity. Standard mechanical tests can be used to determine strength, extension to break in tension, and toughness. Normally, a selection of characterization methods is used with samples exposed for selected periods. When mechanical tests are used, the exposure period increment must be fairly short, in case a recovery phenomenon is present (see the section Engineering Properties—Consequences of Photodegradation ). Other tests related to appearance. 

DRS and TSDC were systematically employed in a series of recent papers to investigate the molecular dynamics and ionic conductivity in neat PTE. In many cases, the results were combined with those of morphological characterization techniques, in particular SAXS and DSC, and of water sorption/diffusion... 

The SHG characterization of the quasicrystals was conducted in two stages. The first study was conducted on samples with morphologies similar to those illustrated in Figure 2 where a substantial... 

In this context numerous changes were made. The chapter Properties of Polymers was revised and a new section Correlations of Structure and Morphology with the Properties of Polymers was added. The chapter Characterization of Macromolecules was revised and enlarged. 15 examples have been deleted as they did no longer represent the state of the art and/or were of minor educational value. Several new experiments (plus background text) were added, as, for example controlled radical polymerization - enzymatic polymerization - microemulsions - polyelectrolytes as superabsorbants - hyperbranched polymers - new blockcopolymers - high impact polystyrene - electrical conducting polymers. 

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) seems to have been used only scarcely for the characterization of solid lipid-based nanoparticles [104], This method, however, is routinely applied for the morphological investigation of solid hpid microparticles (e.g., to smdy their shape and surface structure also with respect to alterations in contact with release media) [24,38,39,41,42,80,105]. For investigation, the microparticles are usually dried, and their surface has to be coated with a conductive layer, commonly by sputtering with gold. Unlike TEM, in SEM the specimen is scanned point by point with the electron beam, and secondary electrons that are emitted by the sample surface on irradiation with the electron beam are detected. In this way, a three-dimensional impression of the structures in the sample, or of their surface, respectively, is obtained. 

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