Interfacial chemistry, adhesive bond formation

One important influence in the formation of a good adhesive bond is surface or interfacial chemistry. In the broader sense, in which two substances are held together by interfacial forces, adhesion is of importance in many technologies such as in thin films and semiconductors. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss ion beam methods of surface characterization applicable to the broad area of adhesion with emphasis on adhesive bonding. 

There are relatively few well-documented examples of interfacial primary bonding in the literature but it is possible to find examples in the areas of organic coatings on steel, metallized plastics and adhesion promoters. As the following examples will show, the exact definition of the chemistry resulting from primary bond formation at the interface has only become possible with the advent of surface analysis techniques. Such investigations rely heavily on XPS and ToF-SIMS for interfacial analysis. 

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