Defects and Failure Analysis

A final area of direct practical relevance for AFM on polymers is the analysis of defects and failure mechanisms. In fact this application is natural owing to the direct visualization of surface structures and morphologies of polymers and polymer products and therefore it is omnipresent. [Pg.177]

Examples, which have in parts already been explicitly mentioned, are defects, such as marks of processing equipment on polymer films, filler particles that were removed from the polymer matrix, irregular ordering and pinholes in latex assemblies, or altered morphologies due to mechanical deformation and concentration of stresses, among others. [Pg.179]

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